Women Into Baobab, Shea Business Meet At Paga

By Samuel Akapule

Paga — Women groups who collect and process Baobab and Shea have held a General Assembly Meeting at Paga in the Kassena-Nankana West District of the Upper East Region, to deliberate on how to overcome the challenges confronting their business.

The meeting, which was dubbed "KANBAOCU General Assembly Meeting", was facilitated by the Organisation for Indigenous Initiatives and Sustainability (ORGIIS-Ghana) and attracted stakeholders from the Kassena-Nankana West District and Kassena-Nankana East Municipality, Builsa North District and Builsa South District, and the Nahuri Province in Burkina Faso.

The Executive Director of ORGIIS-Ghana, Mr Julius Awaregye, stated that since 2013 his outfit has been trading with 11,000 women from 416 groups from the Northern, Upper East , and Upper West regions, and those from the Nahuru Province of Burkina Faso, in baoba, shea and moringa.

He said ORGIIS-Ghana received funding from SNV, a Netherlands Base Organisation, DANIDA, and the Joint Action for Farmers' Organisations in West Africa (JAFOWA).

Mr Awaregye said ORGIIS-Ghana had built the capacity of women in agro-processing, environmental development, and linked them to marketing sources - "3f-indian company" Aduna UK, Savana fruits and Environmental Service Group buyers.

He said "majority of them have also been empowered to go into boaba powder, juice and oil for sale in the local and the international markets. Some of them through capcity building programmes organised by ORGIIS-Ghana have developed their entreprenuirial skills in shea butter and baoba."

Mr Awaregye said "This has led to increase of income generation. and the creation of jobs and also reduce the number of middle-men, who used to cheat these women."

He said ORGIIS-Ghana would promote sustainable use of natural resources and renewable energy techniques.

Mr Awaregye stated that in 2012-2013, ORGIIS-Ghana with funding from SNV, Netherlands, implemented renewable energy and natural resource governance in the Kassena-Nankana West and Kassena-Nankana Kassena-Nankana East Municipality.

"In the past, we have partnered DANIDA, SNV, SEND-Ghana the Kassena -Nankana West District Assembly and the Ghana Social Opportunities Project to further the course of sustainable agricultural practices in Kassena-Nankana area", he said.

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