Ghanaian Eva Akpene Agbozo is Farmer passionate about solving social crises with creative innovation. She co-founded and is the CEO of Agro Women Africa. Eva Akpene AgboHer key interests are in fighting against poverty, malnutrition, and gender imbalance in Agriculture. Eva Akpene is among the few Ghanaian youths making the agriculture sector attractive and encouraging other young people to get involved in the agric sector. Her key interests are in fighting against poverty, malnutrition, and gender imbalance in Agriculture. Eva Akpene is among the few Ghanaian youths making the agriculture sector attractive and encouraging other young people to get involved in the agric sector. Eva works mostly with women farmers advocating for their rights and fighting for equal access to resources that are readily available to their male counterparts.
Eva’s passion for the setting up of Agro Women Africa came about when she and some colleagues of hers encountered a very poor pregnant widow with 9 children working tirelessly on a piece of land. “We became emotional and approached her, listening to her sad story, the passion to help her and other women increased. And that was how we started Agro Women Africa” she recounted.
Agro Women Africa is a non-profit organization working for the transformation of women farmers and gender inclusion in Agriculture. In alignment with the Sustainable Development Goals, Agro Women Africa is poised to achieving no poverty, gender equality, and zero hunger by 2030.
Eva Akpene and her team visit rural communities and train them on good agronomic practices, farming as a business, and financial literacy. For cocoa communities, they train them on Sustainable Cocoa Farming.
The Agro Women Africa launched two projects in 2021. The Village Savings and Loans Associations (VSLAs), and Plant a Good Seed.
The VSLAs is a project that helps rural women to be able to save some money and get access to loans for their businesses when needed. It is self-managed by the rural women. The VSLAs have given many rural women the opportunity to access financial services without moving to urban areas for such services.
The Plant a Good Seed project is to help rural women access improved and certified seeds for their agribusinesses in order for them to get higher yields at the end of the farming season.
Although Eva and her team focus on rural women, however in her recent visit to some rural communities in the Eastern Region of Ghana for their Village Savings and Loans Associations (VSLAs), Eva encountered something that shocked her.
85-year-old Mr. Timothy Mensah a cocoa farmer who lives alone in a cottage called Akurakese. He has lived in isolation for so many years, approximately 40 years. His children left for Accra and other urban areas in search of greener pastures leaving him to cater to all his needs. He is suffering from short-sightedness and lives without access to electricity nor potable water. The path to his cottage is so bad that he fell off a motorbike twice. And he works on his 20-acre cocoa by himself, of course with very low productivity.
Driven by Mr. Timothy Mensah’s plight and keen on making a social impact, Eva took the story to social media and many well-meaning individuals who were equally moved by the said story agreed to help Mr. Timothy Mensah financially and by any other means necessary.
Eva Akpene’s story is inspiring because while many Ghanaian youths shy away from the agriculture sector, Eva although a university graduate is passionately and innovatively involved in the agric sector. You can get in touch with Eva Akpene on Facebook and Linked-in at Eva Akpene Agbozo
Brief Biography of Eva Akpene Agbozo
Eva had her senior high school education at Keta Senior High and Technical School where pursued General Science as a course. And her undergraduate degree in BSc. Biological Science at the Kwame University of Science and Technology, KNUST.
In the 3 years, Eva Akpene has the dream for her organization to reach out to all rural communities in Ghana and be a channel by which rural women can easily access certified seeds, timely weather updates, markets, and Loans for their farms. In the next 5 years, Eva expects Agro Women Africa to be present in all West African Countries impacting lives.
Eva Akpene’s Final Words for the Youths: “Life is not a matter of speed. Time will always bring you your greatest reward even if it tarries, persevere, and never stop trying. With diligence, hard work, persistence, and consistency, you’ll achieve great things.”
Credit: This article appeared on limitlessmotivation and is published here for educational purpose.
