Inades-Formation Cameroun raises awareness of organic farming among women in Far North Cameroon
Beneficiaries of the Pôle de Connaissances de l’Agriculture Biologique et l’Agroécologie en Afrique Centrale project ” PCAC “, supported by Inades-Formation Cameroun in the Far North region, were recently trained in organic farming techniques.
The idea of introducing a module to raise awareness among beneficiaries of the importance of involving women in project activities at the start of the activities to be carried out was launched at the beginning of the consolidation phase of the ACCP project.
The introductory module on sensitizing beneficiaries to the importance of integrating women into Organic Agriculture and Agroecology activities was carried out in three districts of the Mayo Kani department. These were the arrondissements of Moutourwa, Kaélé and Guidiguis, from July 02 to 08, 2024.
Awareness-raising sessions
In the Moutourwa district, the awareness-raising module was held in the village of LAF and was attended by 20 beneficiaries, including 15 men and 05 women. This is a village where resistance to women’s involvement in ACCP project activities is most keenly felt. Very few men agree to work with women.
In this region, several methods were used to raise awareness among beneficiaries. In particular, stories of successful joint action by men and women in organic farming and agroecology.
In the Kaélé district, Indes-Formation Cameroun teams worked in the village of Kani . Here, awareness-raising focused on women’s sensitivity to men. 24 beneficiaries took part in the workshop, including 17 women and 07 men. A favorable environment, insofar as the phenomenon is felt differently in this locality where women are in the majority.
In the Guidiguis district, the awareness-raising module was rolled out in the villages of DANBA and LAMTARE , which were respectively attended by 13 men and 08 women, for a total of 21 beneficiaries and 24 participants, including 11 women and 13 men.
It should be noted that women are more involved in cereal production (red millet, beans and cowpeas) in these localities. And since Inades-Formation Cameroun’s interventions, there has been greater collaboration between men and women, especially in off-season sorghum production. In this latter activity, the men are involved in setting up nurseries and sowing seedlings in the field, while the women fetch water for the poquets (a kind of hole dug to sow seedlings) used to sow sorghum seedlings.
The initiative is continuing, and Inades-Formation, in its specific interventions on gender, intends to further implement strategies for the effectiveness of gender transformation in the project’s area of invention, which is highly marked by the division of labor between men and women.
It’s worth mentioning that cultural barriers don’t always make it easy for men and women to pool their efforts in production activities. The area is heavily Islamicized, and men prefer to keep their wives at home, for various reasons.
MEIGNO Raphaël ; Advocacy Officer and Gender Focal Point at Inades-Formation Cameroun
