At least 30 women from the community of Nyakoi Kerewan in Wuli West District of Upper River Region on Sunday completed a two-day training on organic fertiliser making.
The training was organised by the Kerewan Women’s Association in collaboration with Beakanyang Kafo.
In her welcome remarks, Mrs Jaka Dibassy, president of the Kerewan Women’s Association thanked the Global Environment Facility Small Grant Progam for supporting the training. She thanked Beakanyang for improving livelihoods in Wuli and beyond.
She said as vegetable gardeners the new knowledge and skills from the training would help them make their own fertiliser thereby saving them cost of buying.
In his opening remarks, councilor of Sutukonding ward, Alhagie Kijera, commended the Kerewan Women’s Association and Beakanyang for involving women in climate mitigation and adaptation activities at community level.
Mr Kijera urged the women to take the training seriously and to share the knowledge and skills gained with other women.
Speaking on behalf of the alkalo of Kerewan, Finna Sillah said the skills acquired from the training will go a long way in enhancing production and productively for the women gardeners.
Tumani Danjo, the project officer, said the objective of the training was to build capacity of women to mitigate the effects of climate change.
According to him, the importance of compost cannot be over emphasised as it increases crop yield and improves quality of land.
He said that since the raw materials are locally available, making compost is easier and cost-effective. Danjo said that the continuous application of organic fertiliser will improve water and nutrients retention of the soil.
He noted that their objective is to build the capacity of women to mitigate the effects of climate change and promote effective water management in Kerewan.
“We all know the problems of flooding, drought, rainstorm and rise in sea level, rainfall patterns resulting in poor harvest as some of the impacts of climate change. Climate change is now affecting agriculture, the wildlife, ecosystem, and as such, we need to work together to reduce the impact,” he said.
Mrs Naba Jabby of the Kerewan Women’s Association expressed their appreciation to Beakanyang for partnering with her association in implementing such an important project.
Yaya Sumareh of Beakanyang reiterated his organisation’s commitment to continue working closely with proactive women groups like the Kerewan Women’s Association to mitigate the impact of climate change.
Participants were awarded certificates at the end of the training and expressed their satisfaction with the new knowledge gained.
