Innovative Agriculture and Entrepreneurship Opportunities to Empower Rural Women in Cameroon.
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COFEPLANGUI a women’s cooperative in Nguila has improved their agricultural production from 7 to 12 tons of maize per hectare following training on innovative agricultural techniques and use of improved seedlings provided by UN Women.
During a visit to monitor the activities of the COFEPLANGUI women farmers’ cooperative of Nguila by UN Women through the project type and road support. Madam Nango Naah, President of the cooperative appreciated the support of UN Women which resulted in the changes in their agricultural practices. "Before the arrival of UN Women, we were using poor farming methods resulting to low yields of our fields. After we received training from an agricultural technician hired by UN women through the Ntui Council, we changed our traditional farming techniques. We now sow maize on rows and plant cassava on mounts. These new practices have increased our agricultural production this season," Mrs Nango added.
Given the contribution of rural women in livelihood and food security of their families and local food security through their agricultural production, UN Women has been accompanying women's organizations such as the COFEPLANGUI along the Batchenga-Ntui-Yoko-Lena road, to support the creation of 25 local cooperatives throughout the highway corridor, provide training on innovative agricultural practices and provide improved seedlings to increase agricultural production.
In addition to the training on innovative agricultural techniques, COFEPLANGUI cooperative has also started the land registration process to obtain a land certificate on four hectares on which they started cultivating maize and cassava. This area is part of the fifty hectares of land that was given to the cooperative by the chief of the village in recognition to their efforts.
The gender road project co-financed by the Government of Cameroon, the African Development Bank (AFDB) and the Central African Development Bank (BDEAC) is directly implemented by UN Women Cameroon along with the Batchenga-Ntui-Yoko-Lena highway corridor seeks to promote gender mainstreaming and accelerate economic empowerment of rural women in the context of road construction.