Over 100 contribute to new book by World Bank, FAO
and IFAD:
Women in agriculture: critical food producers
Women make up over half the agriculture labour force yet they are
frequently subject to discrimination, poverty and hunger. A new
publication launched today investigates the situation of women in the
rural workforce and how some of the main challenges facing such women
can be overcome.
Launched on the occasion of International Rural Women’s Day on 15
October, the Gender in Agriculture Sourcebook reviews the complex issues
that face more than 36 percent of the world’s working women employed in
agriculture.
Based on the work done by gender specialists from the World Bank, FAO,
IFAD and international experts, the Sourcebook is intended both as a
reference and a tool book for those working in agricultural development.
Among the book’s findings it notes that involving women in the design
and field testing of new crop varieties, machinery and tools, in
Honduras, Nepal, the Philippines, Rwanda, South Africa and Zambia,
speeds the adoption of innovations and increases agricultural
productivity and incomes.
“Compared to men, women have much less access to essential productive
resources such as land, irrigation, agricultural technology and
extension services, less education and training, and fewer financial
resources like credit,” notes Marcella Villarreal FAO Director, Gender,
Equity and Rural Employment Division.
In Ghana, it is estimated that if women and men had equal rights to
land, and if women had equal access to fertilizer, profits per hectare
would double.
In Burkina Faso, Kenya and Tanzania, for example, providing women
entrepreneurs with the same inputs and education as men could increase
incomes from business by as much as 20 percent. In the same countries,
by allocating land, labour and capital equally to men and women,
production could increase by between 10 and 20 percent.
A recent FAO study found that “being a member of a female-headed
household in highland Ethiopia meant having a 35 percent chance of being
destitute, compared with only an 8 percent chance if one belongs to a
male-headed household.”
The Sourcebook aims to inspire the imagination of practitioners and
to provide them with the tools needed to apply lessons learned,
experiences, and innovations for designing and investing in agricultural
projects that address the needs, capacities and aspirations of both
women and men as well as their communities in a challenging rural
environment, said Yianna Lambrou, the FAO’s project team leader.
Compiled over more than two years and involving 100 contributors and
reviewers, the Sourcebook brings together good practices from all the
regions and innovative activities that successfully, integrated gender
issues into projects and programmes.
It synthesizes experience gained and the tools needed for
practitioners to assist rural women and men. It also provides an
up-to-date understanding of gender issues in themes of cross-cutting
importance for agriculture and rural development such as agricultural
markets, climate change and bionergy, rural finance, land policy and
administration, natural resource management, fisheries and aquaculture,
livestock and forestry.
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