Okyenhemaa, Nana Adutwumwaa Dokua has emphasized the need to educate students on the importance of agriculture to encourage the teaming youth who churn out from schools to delve into the agric sector and contribute their expertise in farming.

According to the Queen mother of the Akyem-Abuakwa State, teachers should desist from the act of using weeding as punishment in schools when students go wrong saying such acts inculcate in students makes them think that weeding or farming is a punishment which makes them show no interest in agriculture.

She made to comments when speaking at the official launch of the 5th Women in Food and Agricultural Leadership Training Forum & The Gold in The Soil Awards in Koforidua, under the theme "Overcoming Barriers of Women in Agribusiness: The Role of Stakeholders’’.

The Executive Director of Agrihouse Foundation, the initiator of Women in Food and Agricultural (WOFAGRIC) and Gold in the Soil Awards, Alberta Nana Akyaa Akosa on her side explained that over the past five years, the WOFAGRIC program through its headline sponsors ( Global Affairs Canada and YARA Ghana) has been able to support over 240 women with various farming equipment directly to enhance their agribusiness.

The Agrihouse Foundation is set to hold the fifth edition of its annual Women in Food and Agriculture Leadership and Gold in the Soil Awards.

This year, the two-day event will take place from Wednesday, July 26, and Thursday, July 27, 2023, in the Eastern Region, on the theme ‘Overcoming barriers to agribusiness women development – the role of stakeholders.

Annually, WOFAGRIC serves as a mentoring, networking, and learning platform for women in agriculture.

Through WOFAGRIC, about two thousand women in agriculture working in selected regions of the country have benefitted from soft skills, competence-based training sessions; mentorship, business plan development coaching; farm management skills, record keeping; and presentations.

The Gold in the Soil Awards has in the last four years recognized women in agriculture who are pioneers and trailblazers, pushing boundaries along the value chain.

The women-focused awards ceremony moves across regions and has recognized and awarded about seventy-five (75) women in agriculture – including twenty (20) with physical disabilities who are thriving as farmers, processors, marketers, women in transport, packaging, Technology, and input dealers among others.