The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) in conjunction with Sweden has launched a new five-year program on “Climate Resilient Livelihood Opportunities for Economic Empowerment of Women in Uganda’s Karamoja and West Nile Regions”.
According to a Swedish Embassy statement in Kampala on Thursday, the purpose of the project is to strengthen inclusive, gender responsive and climate smart resilience of rural women populations depending on their agricultural production systems.
The over $8.5 million, project shall involve government ministries and will target over 50 thousand persons, with over 60% being women.
The project will help to increase women’s access to and control of productive resources such as land, livestock, crop resources and information for farming and empower them to make decisions affecting income generation for their households
“Sweden is committed to supporting the government of Uganda, working with FAO to increase economic opportunities for rural women through support to production, productivity and productive employment in agriculture” said Ola Hällgren, head of Development Cooperation in Swedish Embassy Kampala.
“We hope to increase the economic opportunities for women in agriculture by reducing some of the critical bottlenecks such as the use of rudimentary tools & technology in production, reducing the impacts of climate change and environmental degradation, the lack of markets and access to market information” Ola added.
State Minister for Northern Uganda, Grace Kwiyucwiny commended FAO and Sweden for making a deliberate effort to uplift the 9000 households living below the poverty line in that part of the country through greater women empowerment in agriculture.
.CN/as/APA