Training organized by ONCA for the benefit of women farmers
Achieving the empowerment of women is an essential component in the development of the agricultural sector and consequently the improvement of the standard of living of women in rural areas. As the world celebrates the International Day of Rural Women (October 15) and their role in food systems, it is more important than ever to work on equal opportunities in the agricultural sector, in particular by familiarizing women farmers with the use of digital. In this sense, the National Office of Agricultural Advice (ONCA) is working to set up 4.0 training for rural women. “The National Office of Agricultural Advice pays particular attention to the empowerment of actors and more particularly rural women who are members of agricultural cooperatives.
ONCA therefore intends to intensify its efforts to upgrade the knowledge and know-how of rural women. To support this project, training sessions are planned in the field of digital agriculture under the responsibility of several regional directorates of agricultural advice (DRCA) and the ONCA”, indicates the Office. It must be said that women play a major role in agricultural sustainability and productivity.
They represent a large part of the agricultural workforce. Women also contribute significantly to food security, the management of natural resources and the strengthening of capacities to adapt to climate change. Thus, the new Generation Green 2020-2030 agricultural strategy has focused on the digitalization of the agricultural sector. This is an opportunity for the development and professionalization of the sector as a whole. In addition to being an effective lever for action, digital appears as a solution, which allows farmers to have control, in real time, of the data relating to their farms. At the same time, it is essential that this community be aware of the innovations and possibilities offered by digital technology in the sector.
To achieve these objectives and enable the greatest number of farmers to benefit from them, ONCA has developed new support mechanisms, in particular the development of digital agricultural services. “The objective of these training courses is to contribute to improving and strengthening the knowledge of rural women and their motivation to be part of the new dynamic of digital agriculture and to improve their level of access and use of digi-advice and agriculture 4.0 tools. This training will be organized in Marrakech for the benefit of rural women belonging to agricultural cooperatives in the regions of Beni Mellal, Kenitra, Fez-Meknes, Marrakech-Safi and Souss-Massa. This initiative should benefit 144 women, or 72 participants per session (18 per region) for 32 days.
In this perspective, the training that will be provided is on “farming 4.0, a digitalization of the agricultural sector”. This support should enable rural women who are members of cooperatives to be informed regarding the principle of farming 4.0, the operating methods of a digital platform as well as to master the governance scheme for the digitalization of the agricultural sector. A case study of the ARDNA platform will be carried out. It is a question of presenting the new version of the platform and its evolution as well as highlighting the specificities of each of the applications and their usefulness.
This training also includes the case of the FaceAgri social network. It will allow rural women to reproduce all the operations necessary to use this network. The training will be provided in Darija and led by trainers experienced in working with rural women and women’s cooperatives.
