Project aimed at boosting agri business for Enga women

THE climate-resilient green growth (CRGG) project is supporting the Enga Women in Agriculture (EWA) initiative to promote agriculture businesses in the province, an official says.
Enga commerce, culture and tourism director Margaret Potane said the involvement of the CRGG project in the province had boosted interest of local farmers to promote local small-to-medium enterprises (SMEs) in agriculture.
“CRGG promotes food security, climate change awareness and forest conservation as well as an SME sector.”
Potane said since the introduction of the project to partner with the EWA in 2011, membership had increased from 35 to 5,000 women, all registered under two groups which focused on agriculture food security.
Patane said EWA engaged with officers from the Department of Agriculture and Livestock (DAL) in Enga to set up nurseries for women to remove the reliance on fertilisers.
She said the aim was to promote the use of natural fertilisers such as compost and animal waste to produce organically grown vegetables.
She said the main consumer of their vegetables would be the Porgera mine.
She said the provincial government had given K47,000 for the Surinki Women’s Cooperative Society and had incorporated the CRGG project into their five-year development plan (2022-2026).