PROPEL bridging gap for women, youth in Agriculture

…by hosting nationwide consultations

The Promotion of Regional Communities for Produce through Enterprises and Linkages (PROPEL) has embarked on a mission aimed at creating the necessary avenues for women and youth who are in pursuit of entrepreneurial ventures in the field of agriculture.
This is as the organisation recognises a need for focus to be placed on these two traditionally neglected fragments of society, so as to achieve growth not only in this sector, but by extension the country’s economy as well.

In doing so, PROPEL has organised a string of consultations, which kicked off with the organisation meeting with Guyanese women and youth three weeks ago. However, in continuing this effort, the team collaborated teamed up with the Canadian High Commission in hosting a multi-stakeholder forum on Tuesday.
Speaking at a Sustaining Women and Youth Participation in Agriculture event was the Deputy Director of PROPEL, Munish Persaud, who highlighted that policies implemented in Guyana for the past 50 years failed to address the issues facing these two groups, and more so appreciate these difficulties from their perspective.
In indicating that PROPEL’s recent works are directed towards devising comprehensive solutions for these shortcomings, Persaud noted, “Today is about us stop taking a myopic view of agriculture and a fragmented view of issues, and start looking at agriculture from a holistic point of view, and to understand that there are multiple reasons why people do not do so well in agriculture, especially women and youth. Their issues are a lot different from the issues confronting us on a day-to-day basis.”
The Deputy Director further pointed out, “For us in PROPEL, this discussion will be very instrumental in us crafting our next annual work plan for the 2018-2019 year. We want this discuss to orient our planning for that fiscal year, and also hope that for those of you planning your own programmes, that this will be critical input for your programmes.”
Also welcoming the multi-stakeholder initiative was Jan Sheltinga, a Counselor attached the Development Cooperation Department of the High Commission of Canada.
Sheltinga outlined the importance of gender equality in social and economic advancement, stating that it coincides with the Feminist International Assistance Policy recently launched by the Canadian Government.
On that note, the Counselor relayed, “Inclusive economic growth cannot be achieved without the full and equal participation of women and youth as economic advocates.”
Sheltinga continued by alluding to international research conducted on the matter, and with that underlined, “As we know, women and youth face various forms of both financial and non-financial discrimination, which limits their ability to take advantage of marketable opportunities, especially in the agriculture sector. Globally, research indicates that 1 in 3 married women in developing countries has no control over major household purchases, such as agricultural land, livestock and home improvements.”
Furthermore, the Canadian official solidified PROPEL’s stance on the importance of woman and youth in agriculture as she posited, “When women and youth are assisted, they can realise more opportunities and contribute to the economic success of their families and of course their communities. Empowering women to be full participants in the economic lives of their families and communities can lead to broader economic growth, and of course, lasting change.”
Adding to that, farmers affected by the lack of provision for women and youth in Guyana took the podium during the day-long event to present the areas in which they are mostly affected by the insufficient avenues provided for their growth and development as agro-producers. Among the issues highlighted were lacking of training and extension services, access to markets, land tenure as well as other significant concerns.
PROPEL is a regional organisation working with private sector buyers, producers and governments to support small- to medium-scale producers in the Caribbean, with operations in five countries, namely; Barbados, Dominica, Guyana, Jamaica, and St Lucia. There, initiatives are implemented by the World University Service of Canada (WUSC), and is being funded by the Canadian government.