Securing Rights for Women Farmers
March 21, 2012
Women working in the fields in Malawi.
Despite the large role women play in agriculture in the developing world, experts say they continue to face discrimination, gender inequality and a lack of access to credit. A global partnership is campaigning to secure rights for women farmers.
The Gender and Agriculture Partnership is made up of U.N. organizations, NGOs, World Food Prize laureates, and others. Its members are currently writing recommendations based on the recent Global Conference on Women in Agriculture in New Delhi.
Mark Holderness is executive secretary of the Global Forum on Agricultural Research, which convened the partnership.
He said, “At the moment we have a sort of the perfect storm of various reports that are highlighting the significance of women in agriculture and how little their needs are being attended to.”
It’s estimated women provide 43 percent of the agricultural work force in developing countries. But Holderness said in specific regions like Africa and parts of Southeast Asia, the figures are actually much higher.
“UNICEF estimates that women in Cameroon are doing 75 percent of the agricultural work - three quarters of the work – yet they own less than 10 percent of the farmland. We see similar things in East Africa as well. In Southeast Asia, women are responsible for 90 percent of rice production, but again own less than 10 percent of the land,” he said.
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