Agro-Pastoral Products - Rural Women Acquire Processing Skills

Some 30 women drawn from rural communities from the South West and North West Regions have been trained on the modern techniques of production, processing and conservation of agro-pastoral products. The three-day workshop from 27-30 August, organised by the Ministry of Women Empowerment and the Family, according to the Director of Economic Advancement of the Woman, Dr. Niger-Thomas Agbaw Margret, sought to beef up the capacity of rural women in production, processing and preservation of agro-pastoral products into value added consumable goods to boost their revenue and reduce waste.

"Considering the fact that rural women produce a lot of food and there is about 20 to 50 per cent of post-harvest lost because some cannot sell their food stuff when they produce because transportation from farm to market poses a problem. So, we thought it was necessary to give them some capacity so that they could know how to make use of excess so that they can make more money and thus alleviate poverty," Dr. Niger-Thomas told Cameroon Tribune.

The Regional Delegate of Women Empowerment and the Family for the South West, Moffah Juditha Lyengu Luma, said the rural women who are producers of agro-pastoral products need to move ahead from just production to processing and preservation using the modern techniques. Participants like Dorothy Fese Ebako and Ndom Grace Bih lauded the organisers of the workshop which they say would greatly help them reduce the amount of post-harvest lost and improve their standards of living. The women attested that they can now produce corn starch, maize spaghetti, maize biscuit, beverage from Soya beans, cassava doughnuts amongst others. The workshop also focused on commercialisation strategies, financial management and how women can transform CIGs into cooperatives.