International Women’s Day (IWD), observed each year on March 8, centered this year on accelerating efforts to empower women, particularly within the vital Agri-food systems.
To mark this occasion, CGIAR, the African Women in Agricultural Research and Development (AWARD), the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI), and CIFOR-ICRAF came together to promote gender-inclusive policies that aim to tackle existing inequalities.
The meeting emphasized the significant challenges faced by women in Africa, with various research programs and organizations putting forth solutions to address these issues. A key focus was on the essential role of women in the continent’s agri-food systems, highlighting agriculture as a foundational element of many African economies, as seen in the GDPs of numerous countries.
According to a forthcoming report, 49% of agri-food system (AFS) workers in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) are women, 11% higher than the global average. The report also reveals that women constitute the majority of employees in Central and Eastern Africa, accounting for 48% of the workforce in crops, livestock, fisheries, and forestry.
ILRI Director General Appolinaire Djikeng emphasized the need for systemic change, urging stakeholders to move beyond statistics. “Let us internalize the data, contextualize it, and identify solutions. Women’s empowerment benefits all of us,” he stated.
His remarks precede the release of the report, The Status of Women in African Agri-Food Systems in Sub-Saharan Africa, which examines gender disparities and outlines strategies to enhance women’s participation in agriculture.
Dr. Eliane Ubalijoro, Director of CIFOR-ICRAF, stressed the importance of applying a gender lens to agri-food systems to ensure women’s visibility across the entire supply chain.
“The key question is land ownership, how and where women own the land they work on. Using a gender lens in AFS research is essential to fostering collaboration between men and women. This requires gender-responsive policies and ensuring women are fairly compensated for their work,” she explained.
Nicoline de Haan, Director of CGIAR’s Gender Impact Platform, acknowledged progress in promoting inclusivity and equality for women in agriculture. However, she highlighted the need for targeted investments to ensure women have equal opportunities to contribute to Africa’s food security and economic growth.
“It’s time to move beyond analysis paralysis, not just talk about problems, but focus on solutions, by embracing gender-transformative approaches, we can improve women’s access and create a world where norms, agency, and power are openly discussed and equitably shared,” she said.
The report outlines significant gender gaps in empowerment, access to resources, and financial support within agri-food systems. It builds on the 2023 global report by the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations but focuses specifically on the African context, offering insights into current challenges and sharing best practices.
Dr. Susan Kaaria, Director of AWARD Fellowship, emphasized the report’s role in informing the Post-Malabo Declaration, which seeks to advance food security across the continent.
“The report provides data-driven recommendations to address gender gaps in access to resources, assets, and decision-making in agri-food systems,” she said. “We need evidence-based analysis to understand where we are and to focus on where we need to go.”
The discussions and findings underscore the urgent need for gender-responsive policies and investments to empower women in Sub-Saharan Africa’s agri-food systems, ensuring their contributions drive sustainable development and economic growth.
In a conversation with Alessandra Galie, a project lead at ILRI, she reveals that women face diverse challenges, evidenced by a model project piloted among the women in Tanzania. The project aimed at empowering women, mainly smallholder farmers, to venture in poultry and livestock farming that is sustainable.
She calls for a broader spectrum view when addressing these issues since they are intertwined with community traditions, and some of which are majorly patriarchal, hence a difficulty in solving them without proper inclusion and sensitization at community levels.
