YASP boosts role of women in agribusiness [Archives:2008/1136/Reportage]

Almigdad Dahesh Mojalli
[email protected]
The Yemen Agriculture Program (YASP) said it has targeted 15,000 farmers in five Yemeni governorates as part of its program implemented in collaboration with the office of Rural Women's Development at the Ministry of Agriculture and Irrigation.

This program is an important component of a series of events entitled “Raising awareness about the Issues Facing Women in Agribusiness” which aims to draw attention to specific issues regarding women's work in the field of agribusiness and engage the community in discussion regarding the possible ways to overcome these issues. YASP has also addressed the lack of a constant food supply as root causes for conflict and militancy. The activities are carried out by Ardinc (ARD) , an American non-governmental organization (NGO), based in Sana'a and funded by USAID. The five target governorates include Al-Jawf, Amran, Marib, Sadah and Shabwa.

Dr. Najeeb Al-Hammadi, the general manager of YASP, said that while the program focused on 15,000 farmers, the number of farmers who benefited from the program was actually much greater.

YASP trained over 2,500 farmers in the animal health field and more than 4,000 farmers in the food industry field. “YASP supports more than 26 agricultural associations in the five target governorates with YR 130 million as a concrete support,” said Al-Hammadi. “”The grants were allocated to develop agricultural and animal production. 3