NETRIGHT supports women farmers in value addition
The Network for Women’s Rights in Ghana (NETRIGHT) has supported over 256 women farmers to add value to their produce.
The women farmers were supported under a project dubbed ‘Leveraging Collective Power for Inclusive Sustainable Development Project,’ being implemented by NETRIGHT with support from STAR Ghana Foundation and the African Women’s Development Fund.
The project, which has 2,560 indirect beneficiaries across the northern and southern zones of the country, builds on NETRIGHT’s previous work on women’s economic rights, around gender-responsive land governance and agriculture.
Learning cafe
At a Learning Cafe in Accra, which brought together about 30 beneficiary farmers, civil society organisations and policymakers, the Executive Director of NETRIGHT, Patricia Blankson Akakpo, said the rural women benefitted from the provision of extension services as well as training in agribusiness, value addition and financial management services.
She said women continued to play a critical role in agricultural production, processing and trade, but did not have access to the needed requirements that would help in adding value to their wares.
According to her, women also continued to face structural barriers in accessing land, finance, agricultural inputs, support services and markets, saying existing interventions often focused on short-term support without adequately addressing the systemic barriers limiting women’s economic empowerment and participation.
To this end, she said there was a need to continue strengthening women’s collective voice, capacity, and engagement with institutions to improve access to economic resources and influence decisions affecting their livelihoods.
She noted that past interventions have strengthened women farmers’ awareness of land rights, economic rights and engagement with policy and decision-making processes.
A Programme Manager at NETRIGHT, Cynthia Sunu, whose speech was read on her behalf, said the project builds on NETRIGHT's longstanding work to advance women’s economic justice and address the barriers they face in accessing and controlling economic resources.
"Over the past few months, this work has yielded important impact, strengthening women’s capacities, supporting their engagement with institutions, and contributing to broader conversations on more inclusive and responsive systems," she added.
"We have seen encouraging changes.
Women are adopting new farming practices, improving how they manage their businesses, and taking more steps to engage with service providers and institutions.
These may seem like small shifts, but they are important signs of progress and resilience," she said.
Project Goal
A Programme Officer, Gifty Lebenam Amekuedi, who gave an overview of the project, said the goal of the project was to facilitate women’s access and control of economic resources through capacity building and advocacy for policy reforms.
She said that after the 18-month duration of the project, from January 2025 to June 2026, it was expected to enable more women to access and control economic resources such as land, credit, and markets.
However, she mentioned that persistent structural barriers, including insecure land tenure, limited access to irrigation and mechanisation, high input costs, and unpaid care responsibilities, continue to constrain women’s economic participation, requiring sustained advocacy and systemic support.
Giving evidence of the project's benefits, most of the participating women farmers said they are now able to add value to their produce and sell it at higher prices, thereby improving their financial standing.
Also, they said now they know how to record their expenditure to ensure that they balance their income and spending.
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