Involving women in SMEs vital, says official

INVOLVING women in small-to-medium enterprises (SMEs) in agriculture, with assistance from authorities, can have a positive impact on the country’s economy, an official says.
Enga commerce, culture and tourism director Margaret Potane said they wanted to encourage women in the province to get into small businesses to build on their subsistence farming lifestyle.
Potane said with assistant from the climate-resilient green growth (CRGG) project, under the Global Green Growth Institute (GGGI), work in agriculture had been progressing well for Enga Women in Agriculture (EWA).
She said CRGG was not only supporting agriculture but also tourism in the province to bring back normalcy after the Coronavirus (Covid-19) disruptions which affected visitors travel to the province.
“There is a link there with CRGG and cultural tourism in the province,” she said.
“CRGG’s objective is to protect the environment and fight against climate change issues, we are in support of that.”
Potane said because Enga was known for bird watching, a CRGG project had begun to re-plant trees, mostly local varieties, to attract birds.
“At the moment, because of the Covid-19, we still don’t have any visitors coming in but we will continue planting for the future.”
She said the provincial government started the SME Women in Agriculture in 2011 after recognising the importance of agriculture and helped them form the Enga Women’s Microfinance.
Potane said funds from the microfinance was used to help fund women to farm the land with lending of minimum K500 to K2,000.