The Future of Agrarian Food Security Lies in the Hands of

Women Farmers

The gendered role of women agrarian

farmers in developing countries has

evolved from gathering and

exchanging seeds to ensuring food

security and maintenance of

agricultural biodiversity. According to

the 2011 Food and Agriculture

Organization’s (FAO) “Women in

Agriculture” report, 43 percent of the agricultural labor force in developing countries is

female. Women work in agriculture sectors including crop development, livestock

management, forestry and fisheries. Women farmers are growing exponentially in

developing regions and their roles are pivotal in ensuring agrarian food security

measures. As a result of agricultural privatization and increased production there has

been detrimental degradation to natural resources in agrarian communities. The depletion

of natural resources negatively impacts food security and biodiversity, leaving women at

a disadvantage. There is a binary hindrance: women cannot compete financially or

socially in the current agrarian system.

In Sub-Saharan Africa 80 percent of the agrarian workers are women and similarly in

South Asia 60 percent of the agrarian workers are women. According to the World Bank

women farmers raise 90 percent of the food consumed by the poorest, but they only

receive 10 percent of credit extended for agricultural loans. The World Bank also reports

that women farmers have access to only 5 percent of services that support agribusiness.

Women farmers have been very active in the Andean region in countries like Peru and

Ecuador through the marketing of medicinal plants as well as community products. These

agrarian practices have been imperative to their economic advancement. Similar models

have been put into practice by women farmers in countries like Nepal, where they have

developed 24 varieties of rice. Women farmers in India are experimenting with a concept

known as “mixed cropping”, in which “small change” crops are grown along-side “cash

crops”. These innovative practices are being undertaken to ensure food security in the

region and increased biodiversity. Crop variation has been an effective tool in adaptation

to climate variability and change.

Climate variability has directly impacted the role of women farmers. Climate variability

and change in micro-planning and productive systems have become important. For the

future of women farmers we must assure that the monopolization of commercial varieties

do not become part of intellectual property rights. To address this issue we must

implement a structural framework that is both ‘rights based’ and ‘program based’. The

rights based approach will address the issue of intellectual property rights and the

program based approach will focus on the role of women’s cooperatives, community

registries, seed banks, participatory plant-breeding systems.

Investing in women farmers is the key to the future of food security. A study by the

International Food Policy Research Institute found that across 63 countries, women’s

education led to more productive farming and resulted in a 43 percent decline in

malnutrition. This shows a direct linkage between women’s education and food security.

As a result of our gendered agrarian system globally women farmers received only 2 to

10 percent of extension services worldwide. If women had better access to farm land,

fertilizer and agricultural training, the UN World Food Program predicts that yields in

Sub-Saharan Africa would improve by over 20 percent. According to the UN Food and

Agriculture Organization, simply providing women farmers the same access to land,

technology, financial services, education and markets as men could increase agricultural

production and reduce the number of hungry people worldwide by 100-150 million.

Further proving that the future of agrarian food security lies in the hands of women

farmers.

To learn more, please visit: “Providing Incentives to Women Farmers for Sustainable

Food Production”