Rural Women's Day: As Women Decry Poor Harvest, Others, SNWOT, WFP Introduce Better Farming Techniques

By Raymond Dingana

During activities to mark the 2022 edition of the International Day of Rural Women in Bambili, North West Region of Cameroon, Saturday October 15,2022 ,the South West, North West Women Task Force (SNWOT) in partnership with World Food Program (WFP) brought in an agric technician to educate more than 50 women on better farming practices.

Before the women were taken to class, they brought out some of the issues affecting them. 

Speaking on behalf of the women, Andangfung Afungsha of the Christian Women Fellowship (CWF) listed some of the reasons why harvest has been unfortunate:

Andangfung Augustina Afungsha Talking At The Event

"Lack of farm to market roads, lack of farm inputs like enhanced seeds, long hours at the farms that leads to backache, abusive use of inorganic manure amongst others are like a wall standing in the way of bountiful harvest."

After listening to the rural women as they tabled their problems, Binui Victorine was tasked to introduce them to improved farming techniques in order to tackle pitiable yields.

Binui Victorine, Agric Technician

She told the women that farming starts with preparing the farm, advicing the women to avoid high ridges:

"When this is done, the manure is covered making it difficult for the roots of the crop to tap from the manue.The manure is always on the top soil reason why the top should be made good use of."

Women should always endeavor to offroot maize stalks attacked and destroyed by fungus because allowing them there will destroy the farm, she said.

When it comes to planting, Binui informed the women that distance matters a lot for good harvest to be arrived at: 

"Plant at least four grains of corn in a hole and space them not less than 40 and 60 cm depending on the size of the ridges. Always check and remove those that are not doing well in order to allow the others to breath in order to guarantee better yields."

When it is time to harvest, Binui indicated that treating the Barn is very important: 

"After sweeping the Barn, burn cypress plant so that the smoke goes up and kill the weevils. Always make sure that Cypress plants are in the barn to drive away insects that pose a danger to maize,beans and others. This will scare away weevils and other insects."

Though the lessons were for women who answered present at the Presbyterian Church Hall in Bambili, Binui Victorine also invited them to share the knowledge with their husbands for better results at the end.

www.drayinfos.com

For any inquiries, get to us on +237 686238865