Women are the most significant individuals who should not be left behind in agricultural activities, so the need to empower women in agriculture can be discussed as a tool towards food security, economic growth, and sustainable rural development.
Women comprise up to 70% of agricultural labor in developing regions but face resource and opportunity barriers.
Farming is the underpinning of world economics supporting billions of people and defining the countryside. However, in this base industry, even though women are important contributors in this field and yet their resources, efforts and presence are still undervalued, under-resourced and mostly unrecognized. Women form a huge percentage of personnel in the agricultural sector in the entire world, especially in the developing world and participate in all agricultural practices right through the growing, harvesting to processing, marketing and preparing food at households.
Although they are central contributors, they often experience institutional constraints such as low access to lands, credit, technologies, education, and political decision-making systems. In this essay I will argue that women empowerment in agriculture is not just a gender equality concern, but is a strategic necessity, a robust economic driver and a catalyst that holds the key to global food security and genuine sustainable development of the rural areas. Empowered women farmers have the potential to contribute to stronger food systems and food security, poverty reduction, and the establishment of equality and prosperous communities.
Women are virtually invisible in agricultural work, hiding their importance to the extent that, most importantly, their work is being sidelined in terms of resources and opportunities. In the world, women are estimated to make up 43 percent of the agricultural labour force in the developing nations but the numbers can be as high as 70 percent in certain areas especially in sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia.
They tend to be in charge of subsistence farming, production of food to families and rearing of small animals and thus, directly influence the nutrition of the household. In addition to fields, women also take a lead in the post-harvesting, food processing and selling food in the local market, being a critical part of the food value chain. Yet, even given this wide involvement, they usually gain less access to productive resources as compared to men. They may enjoy little or insecure land ownership, which restricts their capacity to make long term investments. Formal credit and financial services are also strictly limited because of inability to provide collateral or discrimination.
Equal resource access could boost women’s farm yields by 20-30%, reducing global hunger significantly.
Moreover, women continue to get less agricultural extension services, training, and technology thus leading to a knowledge disparity that curbs increase in productivity. Downsides such as this are further exacerbated by cultural mores and gender preferences which restrict their freedom of movement, expression, as well as their ability to vote, and contribute to the decision making of their communities and households. Identification and breaking down of these barriers forms the first step in realizing the potential of these unlimited resources.
Equipping women in agriculture relates directly to improved food security as household and national food security. Women are key in food production as the main producers and mediators of household diet as well as in deciding the quantity size and variety of food that their families receive. Research, especially that carried out by the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), shows time and again that given equal access to resources, women farmers would be able to augment the yields in their farms by 20-30 percent. This productivity in itself will put 100-150 million people out of hunger in the world.
Once women are in control of income and resources, they are more likely to spend them to buy high quality food, health services and education of their children, resulting in dietary diversity and improved health parameters of the whole family. They know the local food crops very well, the old ways of agricultural practices, and methods of preserving food, which is the key to ensuring the variety of food sources and response to climate change. The access to secure women land tenure, better seeds, fertilizers, use of proper technology and customized agricultural training not only enable women to produce more food and more efficiently, but also go straight into more resilient and secure food systems.
Further than food security, women empowerment in agricultural activities is an excellent stimulus to economic development. The more women farmers gain access to the required resources and knowledge, the more likely they will be able to raise their productivity, which directly transcends into the increment of household incomes. The impact of this new economic agency is enormous in terms of multiplier effect.
Contrary to men, who can spend a more significant part of their income on their personal consumption, females will statistically devote the received income to their family well-being, and such way which concerns their children, education, nutrition, and health. This is a strategic investment in manpower and creates a healthy more learned future generation breaking the cycles of poverty among generations. Besides, the role of women in agriculture is not only in primary production, but it goes both into ownership of enterprises in agro-processing, value addition, and local markets connectivity.
Women’s control over income fosters investment in family nutrition, education, and health, breaking poverty cycles.
Through credit, business training women are able to process raw produce of the agricultural farms into more valuable products and generate new income flows and local jobs. They are participating in formal markets which have the benefit of fortifying local economies, promote competition, and cause the demand of any related services. The inclusion of women in the entire value chains in farming and empowering them in their business ventures makes their financial input seen and a vibrant force towards the overall economic growth and poverty alleviation of rural areas.
Further, women empowerment is closely associated with the promotion of sustainable rural development. Women farmers, especially in indigenous and traditional groups of people, tend to hold priceless inter generational knowledge of local ecologies, biodiversity, and sustainable agricultural methods. Their knowledge of their land, sources of water and climate patterns are closely known to them thus making them the important custodians of natural resources.
By giving them the power to decide such an involvement of this traditional ecological knowledge with modern sustainable practices would result in more viable use of resources, i.e. proper utilization of water, soil protection and use of crops and methods resistant to climate changes. It can contribute to fairer and ecologically sustainable development policies because they are significantly involved in community design and governance.
One example is when women groups have played a critical role championing the idea of community controlled irrigation schemes, sustainable forestry programs, and community managed local energy. When women are empowered to speak, their voices are heard, and their leadership accepted, the rural development efforts become more comprehensive, diverse, and truly sustainable, since the focus is on both satisfying the economic demands as well as caring about the environment and social justice.
The problem of women being unable to assert themselves in agriculture can only be corrected by a multi-faceted intervention which includes policy changes, resources, and capacity enhancement. To begin with, it is critical to ensure that women have secure land tenure and property rights that will give them the means of collaterals to take loans and the willingness to invest in the land on a long-term basis.
Second, it is important to provide them better access to money by means of gender-related microcredit schemes, local banks, and teaching financial literacy. Such financial services should be made according to their needs as they have informal economic endeavors most of the time. Thirdly, it is important to widen access to education, agricultural extension facilities and proper technology. This involves coming up with gender conscious training programs, use of female extension officers and the adoption of labor saving technologies which lessen the amount of drudgery that women undergo and have more time in keeping with other productive enterprises or schooling.
Fourthly to integrate women in leadership and involvement in farmer organizations, cooperatives and local government organs is important to allow their voices to be heard in the decision making processes which have direct impact in their livelihoods and the communities. Last but not least, favorable policy and legal structures that eliminate discriminating schemes and foster gender equality in all agricultural sectors are central to establishing an enabling environment towards the empowerment of women.
Female empowerment in the field of agriculture is not only a social justice problem, but it is a strategic issue that is reflected in far-reaching well-being considerations. It knows that by acknowledging and investing in female farmers a society can make an unprecedented uplifting force. Their improved productivity and economic empowerment are direct contributions to food security, as it is now able to feed itself and its citizens sufficiently.
Incorporating women’s ecological knowledge supports sustainable farming and climate resilience in rural areas.
Their higher earnings, which are wisely invested in the grass operations, increase economic activity to eradicate poverty and promulgate a bubbling economy in the rural regions. Moreover, their synergistic understanding and adherence to community welfare is what the creation of sustainable agricultural activities and sustainable rural communities that can withstand the ever-growing climate crisis depend on. Giving women access to land, finance, and education as well as access to decision-making should not just be considered as an equity measure, but as a basic investment in a food-secure and economically prosperous and sustainably developed future for everybody.
Disclaimer: The opinions expressed in this article are solely those of the author. They do not represent the views, beliefs, or policies of the Stratheia.
