Agriculture: Empowering women

Over 50% of all economically active women in developing regions work in the agricultural sector, but the gender gap persists. It is therefore essential to mainstream gender in production enhancement policies, while also empowering women.

© One Acre Fund/H Tucker

Aster Wotango, chairwoman of the Aheba Women’s Group in Ethiopia, has learned to save, enabling her to borrow money to buy four hens and earn income from the sale of eggs. This savings concept was introduced by Farm Africa through Village Savings and Lending Associations established in remote rural areas of the country. Around €100,000 has been saved and over 13,000 women are able to access credit for the first time. Other members of Wotango’s group have borrowed money to set up similar small businesses to produce maize flour, spices, coffee, mangoes and local beer.

Women from the village of Peko-Misegese in Tanzania are obtaining fairer prices for their crops by communicating with potential buyers and obtaining market information via mobile phone. They have also created a twice-a-week market and built storehouses.

Further east, in Rwanda, Jeannette Maniraho joined the One Acre Fund programme and obtained a loan of fertiliser, an input that was otherwise hard to procure as the selling outlet was located a five hour walk away. The fertiliser was delivered on time and from the very first year she was able to harvest enough rice to feed her family, and have a surplus. The One Acre Fund has delivered seeds and fertiliser to over 100,000 farmers in Burundi and Rwanda.

Finally, since setting up her South Sea Orchids business in 1996, Aileen Burness has been supporting women in Fijian villages to help them earn a living in horticulture - some 270 women have become flower growers or set up their own businesses. Burness’ current mission is to train women on other Pacific islands.

These few examples illustrate how women manage to access productive resources, express their needs and be heard, placing them on an equal footing with men. Yet reducing the gender gap continues to be a challenge for most societies - developed or not - at several levels: work, income, democratic representation, education, etc. This issue is even more relevant in agriculture, a sector in which women’s crucial role has been overlooked until recently, and where glaring inequalities prevail regarding access to resources, markets and services.

Source: Spore magazine N. 173 December 2013 - January 2014
http://spore.cta.int/images/stories/pdf/SE173-WEB.pdf