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Allow women to leave no one behind
FAO and the African Union launch the Regional Outlook on Gender and Agrifood Systems
28 October 2020, Rome / Harare – Agri-food systems cannot be transformed if there is no gender equality. That was the simple message behind today’s launch of a new report from the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and the African Union that shines a spotlight on the role of women in agri-food systems.
The report, Leaving no one behind: A Regional Outlook on Gender and Agrifood Systems, was launched by FAO Director-General QU Dongyu and African Union Commissioner for Rural Economy and Agriculture Josefa Sacko at the 31st Session of the Conference FAO Regional for Africa.
“Rural women are the pillars of our food systems and agents of change for food security and climate justice. But they are also disproportionately affected by poverty, inequality, exclusion and the effects of climate change,” she said. United Nations Deputy Secretary General Amina Mohammed via video message at launch.
“This excellent report will make an important contribution to the United Nations Food Systems Summit (2021) and to the policies and strategies that empower rural women and girls in Africa,” she said.
“According to the findings of the report we are launching today, we need to step up our efforts to create an environment conducive to the empowerment and entrepreneurship of rural women in the agri-food sector,” said Director General QU. “I am confident that our joint efforts will pave the way for a more responsible future for rural women and girls in Africa.”
Leaving no one behind
Commissioner Sacko commended the Director-General for the solid partnership and joint efforts to contribute to the evidence base for women’s empowerment.
‘When we talk about empowerment, we need to have a scientific evidence base to advise policy makers, and this report contributes to that effort,’ said Commissioner Sacko. “Women play a substantial role in African agriculture, but it is not sufficiently appreciated or documented.”
Based on an analysis of 40 gender assessments of agriculture and rural livelihoods from 40 countries, the report provides an in-depth analysis of the challenges and best practices for empowering women in the priority areas of the Comprehensive Agricultural Development Program in Africa (CAADP) and the Malabo Declaration.
The ways to follow
The report makes recommendations for promoting gender equality and women’s empowerment to achieve the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals and the 2063 Agenda of the African Union, including:
- Develop gender-sensitive and gender-focused activities on food security, nutrition and resilience. For example, programs that provide money to beneficiaries through mobile phones help bridge gender gaps by overcoming mobility constraints and decreasing reliance on official documentation that women may have difficulty obtaining.
- Increase female entrepreneurship and female empowerment in agribusiness. Several countries have set up specific funds for farms owned by women. For example, the Embita Eswatini Women’s Finance Trust provides microloans for rural women with no collateral requirements and no husband’s approval requirement. To date, the fund has distributed € 15 million.
- Ensure that public-private partnerships are inclusive for women to improve their participation in value chains.
The challenges
In Africa, women are the backbone of their families, communities and rural economies, as food producers, processors and traders. They usually guide nutritional decisions for the family.
The dramatic effects of climate change coupled with the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic mean that women face multiple challenges. The number of hungry people is on the rise and women are more likely than men to suffer from food insecurity.
Improving the status of women and harnessing their potential as “food heroines” will be key to ending hunger in Africa, the report said.
Panafrican Farmers Organization (PAFO) President Elizabeth Nsimadala agrees. He called for greater partnership to tackle inequality. “In Africa, inequalities between women and men are among the largest in the world,” she said in a video message during the launch. “Together, we can improve the situation of rural women”.
Barriers that we can remove together
Women often have only weak access to land – agriculture with short-term agreements from family or traditional authorities. These fragile rights can disappear overnight, preventing women from planning ahead or engaging in long-term conservation agriculture.
Women benefit less from advanced agricultural processes and tools, agricultural services and training, and have less access to rural finance. They tend to use manual equipment and buy fertilizer less often.
Women face obstacles to participate in larger and more profitable value chains. They often lack knowledge of the business standards needed to expand their business, especially phytosanitary standards which involve specialist knowledge. With lower education rates and discriminatory legal environments, women lack access to opportunities, affecting their own and children’s food security.
Contacts
Zoie Jones
FAO Regional Office for Africa
[email protected]
FAO Office of Media Relations
(+39) 06570 53625 [email protected]
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