The Centre for Indigenous Knowledge and Organisational Development (CIKOD), a Non-Governmental Organisation (NGO) has empowered rural women groups in the Asaloko community in the Bongo District to venture into organic indigenous vegetable production.

This is to improve their nutritional status and economic livelihoods.
The vegetables would also give them additional source of income, especially during the dry season and motivate members of the community to adopt the practice.

The over 50 women showcased their cultivated vegetable farms to members of the community and other stakeholders including; staff of CIKOD.

The beneficiaries also mounted a food platform prepared by the women vegetable farmers as a way of encouraging many community members to revisit the farming of the indigenous vegetables, which are getting extinct.

Speaking to the Media on the sidelines of the brief ceremony, Mr Wilberforce Laate, the Deputy Executive Director of CIKOD, said the idea of empowering the women to go into agro ecological farming was to encourage them to recycle the waste they generated and the community into composting to generate manure for farming.

He said the programme was not only to build the capacity of the women and keep them healthy, but to also help keep the environment clean.

Mrs Mary Asaah, the leader of the Women’s group, said apart from the vegetables improving upon their nutritional status and giving them income, they did not have to take money from their husbands to buy vegetables for cooking as they used to do.

“Aside this, we have also been economically empowered and sell some of the vegetables in the market to make a living and to cater for our families especially our children. We are grateful to CIKOD and Water Aid Ghana”, she added.

Mrs Christiana Asindikye Ngee, the QueenMother of the Bongo Traditional Area, commended the NGOs for the support and said the traditional council was passionate about the project.

She called on other women groups in the District and outside the District to take the opportunity given by the project to go into vegetable farming to help improve their livelihood.