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Women hold the key to food security in Africa, say FAO and the African Union. However, the gender gap in farming is wide and opportunities remain unequal between men and women. How to close the gap? Enter technology and innovation.A report from FAO and the African Union (AU) says that addressing the gender inequalities in Africa is a necessary step to end hunger by 2025. Indeed, a lot of work is still to be done here.
Figures show a significant gap between men and women in African farming: the female share of the agricultural labour force in sub-Saharan Africa is the highest in the world. In most sub-Saharan countries, women represent more than 50 percent of the workforce; in some areas more than 60 percent.
Yet, despite women making up the majority of farm workers, on average only 15% of landholders are women, and they receive less than 10% of available credit. The lack of access to financial services is only one of the factors putting women at a disadvantage in this scenario.
Female African farmers face many obstacles: denial of land rights, lack of access to lines of credit and appropriate technologies, and gaps in skills and information. In addition, female farmers are victims of very similar challenges facing many women worldwide: time constraints due to the hours of household work they are expected to perform on top of their farming activities.
In terms of production, women are also lagging behind men because they have limited access to agricultural extension services, preventing them from adopting technologies that would help increase their yields. As a result, a yield gap between men and women of 20% to 30% has been noted.
In a world where policies can be slow to address inequality, there is benefit in realising that technology can offer practical solutions to the long-standing problems that have deprived women from carving their place in the business, thus allowing the journey to gender equality to move forwards.
Technology for women empowerment
"When we look at the problems holding back production from smallholder farmers, such as lack of information and financial exclusion, we think those can all be solved with technology that is available to use," says Clinton van Eden, Head of Africa Operations of Block Commodities, a leading AgriTech company in Sub-Saharan Africa.
READ THE FULL ARTICLE HERE : Fighting for gender equality in African farming: Empowering Women to achieve food security
Figures show a significant gap between men and women in African farming: the female share of the agricultural labour force in sub-Saharan Africa is the highest in the world. In most sub-Saharan countries, women represent more than 50 percent of the workforce; in some areas more than 60 percent.
Yet, despite women making up the majority of farm workers, on average only 15% of landholders are women, and they receive less than 10% of available credit. The lack of access to financial services is only one of the factors putting women at a disadvantage in this scenario.
Female African farmers face many obstacles: denial of land rights, lack of access to lines of credit and appropriate technologies, and gaps in skills and information. In addition, female farmers are victims of very similar challenges facing many women worldwide: time constraints due to the hours of household work they are expected to perform on top of their farming activities.
In terms of production, women are also lagging behind men because they have limited access to agricultural extension services, preventing them from adopting technologies that would help increase their yields. As a result, a yield gap between men and women of 20% to 30% has been noted.
In a world where policies can be slow to address inequality, there is benefit in realising that technology can offer practical solutions to the long-standing problems that have deprived women from carving their place in the business, thus allowing the journey to gender equality to move forwards.
Technology for women empowerment
"When we look at the problems holding back production from smallholder farmers, such as lack of information and financial exclusion, we think those can all be solved with technology that is available to use," says Clinton van Eden, Head of Africa Operations of Block Commodities, a leading AgriTech company in Sub-Saharan Africa.
READ THE FULL ARTICLE HERE : Fighting for gender equality in African farming: Empowering Women to achieve food security