Women, food security and agriculture in a global marketplace: A significant shift

New directions in development assistance and agricultural investments must recognize and support women's involvement in the full agricultural value chain from production to processing to marketing.

This report reviews current thinking and practice on increasing agricultural productivity, both subsistence and commercial agriculture, and examines what is known about women's roles in both sectors.

First and foremost, the development community'and increasingly the private sector'must recognize women as farmers and agents of economic change. For small-scale and women farmers, the international community must support investments to improve subsistence farming, expand opportunities for commercial farming, and increase access to wider and more lucrative markets. For the millions of landless and land-poor women and men, the international community must expand opportunities for wage employment, both on- and off-farm.

Detailed recommendations include:

• implement gender-responsive approaches to improve productivity in subsistence farming
• improve knowledge about women in commercial agriculture and make gender-sensitive policies and practices of agribusinesses.

R. Mehra., M. Hill Rojas, A significant shift, International Center for Research on Women - 2008