Seeds and Skills for Women to Grow Vegetables

They say "teach a man to fish feed him for a lifetime" , in this case it's teach a woman how to grow food feed her and her family for a lifetime.

Research has shown that when women have better access to resources like training, they tend to invest more in the nutrition, education, and health of their family, causing a ripple effect of benefits that can extend to the entire community.

Although women farmers produce more than half of the food grown in the world, they are often not able to benefit from available resources because of institutional and cultural barriers they face. According to the UN statics, worldwide, women receive only about 5 percent of agriculture extension services and own about 2 percent of land worldwide.
While women play important and ever-increasing roles in rural economies throughout Africa, unfortunately, most agricultural extension services are directed at programs for men.

In Liberia – The hardest hit by Ebola – women who received training and seeds provided by the Seed Programs International, are growing vegetables in the kitchen gardens for their families and their communities. During the Ebola outbreak, when quarantines prevented food and other resources from coming into the area, most program recipients and their family did not go hungry because there were so many women growing their own food. In an effort to keep women in engaged in the Liberia seed programs, our partner Church Aid has taken the lead in hiring trained female extension trainers in January of 2016.

Church Aid Women’s Empowerment Program recently hired 2 female extension trainers for the women’s seed program. On a recent skype call Women’s empowerment program director Miatta Sirleaf said “Hiring women to work in the field as agricultural extension trainers has encourage more women to become extension trainers in the future.”
The presence of women on agricultural extension teams has enabled our partners to reach a greater number of women.

Female agricultural extension agents bring particular characteristics and unique perspectives to the Skills and Seeds for Women projects. Church Aid reported that the participation and commitment of female agricultural extension agents, the quality of their work and their ability to reach women in the community has been successful. Female extension trainers’ approach, background, knowledge, commitment and ability to reach female program participants and keeping them engaged surpassed all expectations.

REAP another SPI partner in Bentol Liberia, helps to empower young girls and other students by integrating school gardens and agriculture training into primary school curriculums. More than 30 percent of students in the schools return to rural areas to farm for a living after graduating. While both young boys and girls benefit from the training, it is especially important for young girls to learn these skills, says Mayor Christine Norman of Bentol – “This helps the girls avoid dependence on men for food and financial security, and they can share what they learn.” Mayor Christine Norman also added "passing these skills to future generations, the children who are often under the care of women helps to create similarly self-sufficient and empowered future farmers who are prepared to feed themselves and their community”

With your support SPI has provided good seeds and much needed access to training to a group of women who now have skills and seeds to help themselves and their families. Thank you!