The majority of producers in developing countries are women. Although they contribute significantly to the food security of their families, they remain chronically disadvantaged in male-dominated agriculture in terms of access to land, credit, technology and education.
Women vegetable farmers in Burkina Faso. Photo: Michael Jooß, GIZ
Brot für die Welt is a globally active developmental organization of the German Protestant Regional and Free Churches and their deaconry. In more than 90 countries, Brot für die Welt helps poor and marginalized people to independently improve their lives.
Food and nutrition security exists when all people at all times have physical, social and economic access to food, which is consumed in sufficient quantity and quality to meet their dietary needs and food preferences. Food and nutrition security is achieved by having monetary income available to buy food/and or producing food in agriculture. What and how much these two sources contribute to food and nutrition security depends on people’s life circumstances. Whether in the countryside or in the city, in small or large families, young or old, women always play an important role in food and nutrition security both as wage earners and food producers.
Women use their income to ensure the food and nutrition security of their family
The money women earn is becoming increasingly important for the food and nutrition security of many families, particularly in cities. Urban households are much more dependent on purchased food than rural. This, in turn, increases the dependency on monetary income and the ways to earn it.
The income that women earn is usually low but essential for feeding their families, even in households in which several people work. Many men can frequently no longer fill the role society prescribes them as the sole breadwinner of their families due to a lack of jobs and low wages. Additional income earned by women is crucial. More and more households in Latin America, sub-Saharan Africa and many countries in Asia are not only dependent on the unpaid care work but also the money that women earn. The situation escalates in families in which men react violently against women and children due to these changes that challenge their role.
Saleswomen offer their products. Photo: Klaus Wohlmann, GIZ
For women who have no partner or husband, the economic situation is usually even more difficult, particularly if they have young children. They remain solely responsible for taking care of and feeding their families. Due to low education and training opportunities, the poor access to the formal labour market as a result and the responsibility of looking after the house and family, they rely on employment in the informal sector that is marked by social insecurity, particularly if they live in a city. According to the ILO (2018), women make up to 90 per cent of the employees in the informal sector in the African countries. In the Asia-Pacific region, this figure is two thirds. The structural disadvantage that results in women and girls having a lower social, educational and economic status compared to men, affect the ability of women and girls to determine their lives themselves and to use their right to sufficient food and a balanced diet, particularly if they are poor.
Women ensure food and nutrition security as farmers
In rural areas, women can often grow and sell food themselves in order to feed their families. Women play an important role as farmers and managers of natural resources, particularly in Africa. However, they are faced with many challenges in this area. An analysis conducted by the FAO (2011) shows the severity of the situation: If female farmers had the same access to productive resources as men, they could increase their productivity by 20 - 30 per cent. This could result in an increase of food production in developing countries by 2.5 - 4 per cent.
However, agriculture is globally considered a man’s domain. In most contexts, the typical gender-specific division of work is the trend: Women look after the farming household and support the men as helpers or workers, not as equal farmers even though they have agricultural knowledge, expertise and experiences. This attitude is maintained, frequently by the women themselves who do not question the typical allocation of roles, even if reality is changing and men are employed outside of agriculture, for example in construction, mining, trade or in the transport sector.
Women thresh rice and separate the chaff from the grain in the village of Banankoro Mali. Photo: Joerg Boethling, GIZ
While men work in better paid jobs and may even migrate, women remain in agriculture that, as a result, has become feminised. Although women are frequently responsible for food and nutrition security, it is usually men who own the land and decide how it is used. However, women can only fully develop their potential as farmers if their agricultural skills, experience and knowledge are recognised and encouraged by the men in their families and communities as well as by state and non-state development players who are present in rural areas. This include reducing or redistributing the workload of women as well as the equal access to and control of resources.
Restricted access to and control of land - a particular challenge for female farmers
Due to their weak position in society, women often only have restricted access to and control of land, water and other resources. In Uganda, for example, women do most of the field work. However, hardly any of the fields belong to them. Only 14 per cent of women own land compared to 46 per cent of men. 40 per cent of men and women do own their land jointly (FAO, 2017). Legal inequality such as in inheritance law or also in local legal systems prevents, or in many countries in the Global South, restricts the access to and control of land, for example in the form of land ownership of women. In order to feed their families, it is not only important for women to own their own land, but also have access to public or community land to gather water, fire wood, animal feed, herbs and fruit. The right to use this land is frequently regulated by local land rights systems that generally benefit men. Widows, divorced or abandoned women must expect them being denied access to this land.
In order to meet the climate-related challenges for small-scale farming, women and men must equally provide their perspectives and equally look for solutions.
It can also be observed that women frequently cultivate land that is less fertile, which results in low harvest, while men grow cash crops on more fertile parcels of land and sell them to generate income. Since women are responsible for caring for their families, they usually choose to grow a wider range of food crops compared to men, which contributes to a varied and healthy diet and to biodiversity on the fields. Women also frequently keep animals such as chickens, goats or pigs that increase the food supply or contribute to their income. The farming families live the gender-specific distribution of resources and labour depending on the region and context with more or less flexibility and permeability.
Woman at harvest. Photo: Dorothea Hohengarten/GIZ
Lack of equality puts food and nutrition security at risk
The restricted access to and control of land are not the only challenges that female farmers face. Women are also at a disadvantage when it comes to access to loans, technologies including digital technologies, training and further education in the areas of agriculture and marketing as well as consulting, which is usually provided by men for men. With the feminisation of agriculture, feminising agricultural consulting should have long since followed in terms of concepts, content and staff.
Disadvantaging women also has a negative impact on food and nutrition security in times of climate change. Women and men have local knowledge on which agricultural production is based. Women use their experiences and knowledge to adapt to climate change in the best possible way. Due to their limited access to capital, information and knowledge about climate change and the adjustment strategies, they suffer from the consequences particularly severely and differently to men. In order to fully understand the challenges that climate change presents to small-scale farming, women and men must equally provide their perspectives and equally look for solutions. Failure to do so increases the risk that women will continue to be at a disadvantage with negative consequences for the climate, small-scale farming and food and nutrition security.
Members of the Kufuna Kwefaako Farmers Group in Uganda visualize the gendered division of labor in their families. Photo: Carsta Neuenroth/Brot für die Welt
Sustainable development goal 2 addresses the described problem with a sub-goal of doubling the agricultural productivity and the incomes of women and other marginalised groups through better access to land, markets and other productive resources by 2030 (UN, 2015). The corona pandemic has caused the number of men, women and children affected by food and nutrition insecurity to increase dramatically, so the efforts necessary to achieve this goal must be considerably increased.
The people affected by food and nutrition insecurity are lacking political influence, the technical and financial resources to implement constructive solutions as well as income security to improve their situation. Ultimately, they have to overcome economic, social and political marginalisation so they can achieve food and nutrition security and ensure their right to food. This article has demonstrated why this cannot happen without the equal participation of women.
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Felix Phiri has been Head of the Department of Nutrition, HIV and AIDS at the Ministry of Health in Malawi for almost 20 years. A conversation about constants and change.
The guiding orientation framework developed by the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) summarizes the requirements for the transformation of agriculture and food systems – and identifies principles and approaches for transformative change.
Every second, worldwide, we lose valuable and healthy soil with the size of four football fields. This was only one of the many facts being presented to a wide audience in Bonn and worldwide via livestream at the World Desertification and Drought Day on 17th June 2024. This was the 30th anniversary of the United Nations Convention on Combatting Desertification (UNCCD), which was celebrated at the Bundeskunsthalle in Bonn.
Diversifying our protein supply to include plant-based foods and cultivated meat can be a game-changer for climate mitigation and climate adaptation, especially in the countries of the Global South. However, a great deal of research is still required to capitalise on this potential. And political support, as Ivo Rzegotta, Good Food Institute, demonstrates.
In Himachal Pradesh, India, natural disasters are becoming more frequent and climatic conditions are changing – with negative consequences for apple production and farmers' livelihoods. Holistic and multidimensional innovation bundles are required for the entire value chain in order to make the food system more resilient in the future.
Africa’s largest youth generation has the potential to transform agriculture sustainably. Young entrepreneurs like Febelsa in Mozambique are building agricultural businesses that fuel local growth.
A Contribution by Emmanuel Atamba & Larissa Stiem-Bhatia
Drawing on dialogues with experts in Kenya, TMG Research releases its latest policy brief highlighting the critical need to strengthen coordination mechanisms in food systems governance. Emmanuel Atamba and Larissa Stiem-Bhatia from TMG Research summarize the results.
This is a benchmark for everybody: More rights for women are a very influencing solution in the struggle against extreme poverty and hunger worldwide, says Stephan Exo-Kreischer, Director of ONE Germany. The organisation specialises in political campaigning as a lever for sustainable change.
By leasing a three hundred hectare fruit plantation in Ethiopia, Lutz Hartmann has realised a long-cherished dream: to run his own business in Africa. Now he has a personal interest in the issue of Africa’s development.
A contribution by Michael Windfuhr (German Institute for Human Rights)
Land rights are no longer governed by the law of the strongest. That is what the international community has agreed to. Governments and private companies have a duty to respect human rights and avoid corruption.
A contribution by Roselyn Korleh and M. Sahr Nouwah (WHH)
The Liberian town of Kinjor is a picture-book example for what happens, if land rights aren’t protected, and it illustrates how to move forward from there. The keyword: Multi-Actor Partnership
"One World no Hunger" (SEWOH) becomes one of the five core themes of the BMZ. Dirk Schattschneider, SEWOH Commissioner about previous approaches, future areas of action, and the political will to end hunger.
How the UN Voluntary Guidelines on the Responsible Governance of Tenure of Land, Fisheries and Forests (VGGT) contribute to fairer and more secure land access.
At the UNCCD COP15, the Töpfer Müller Gaßner Think Tank (TMG) hosted four side events. The agenda of the kick-off event included discussions for the Human Rights and Land Navigator.
Priscilla Impraim is one of the first women in Ghana to enter the chocolate business. Despite some hurdles, she founded the company Ab Ovo Confectionery Limited in 2006 with currently six permanent employees and 25 seasonal employees.
In the midst of global climate discussions, a resounding call emerges: Women's land rights must be the cornerstone of our climate actions. They're not just pieces of the puzzle; they form the foundation for true climate resilience. TMG Think Tank for Sustainability reports from the first African Climate Summit.
In the West Bank, political tensions and increasingly poor weather conditions are making farming more difficult. What needs to be done? Questions for Abbas Milhem, Executive Director of the Palestinian Farmers Union (PFU).
Agriculture as it is currently practiced erodes soils worldwide up to 100 times faster than they can be regenerated by natural processes. In the #HerLand campaign for COP16, the UNCCD is focusing on women as key players in conserving soils and combating drought. The Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) has also contributed to the campaign focusing on securing women's land rights.
Peasant farmers tend to fail due to bank credit limits. But investment could help them generate a sustainable income. This has given rise to an intense discussion about potential digital solutions.
Companies in Africa that need financing between $20,000 and $200,000 find relatively few investors, as this sector is too large for microcredit and too small for institutional investors. This creates a "gap in the middle" where companies have limited options. A project of the World Resource Institute provides a remedy with the Landaccelerator 2020.
Startups are booming in African agriculture. What are the current trend and challenges – and can other regions benefit from innovative approaches? A Video-Interview with Claudia Makadristo, Regional Manager of Seedstars
Lots of apps are entering the market, but what really makes sense? For African agriculture, some of it seems like a gimmick, some like a real step forward. So this is what a smallholder farm in Africa could look like today - with the help of smartphones, internet and electricity.
What Africa is experiencing in the course of digitisation is a disruption. Here three steps are taken in one, there you remain. In any case, the changes are enormous and bring some surprises. A graphic walk.
While Africa is the least affected region by Covid-19 so far, the number of confirmed cases and deaths on the continent is quickly rising. Despite the challenges many African countries continue to face, the African response to the coronavirus pandemic displays innovation and ingenuity.
As President of the IABM cooperative in Muhanga, Alphonsine Mukankusi is not simply focused on the figures. She has learned how to deal with people and how to take on responsibility. At the same time, her work helps her to come to terms with the past
How investing in healthy soils provides incentives for more sustainable agriculture even as it demonstrates the need for far reaching changes in the agrisector.
At the 8th German-African Agribusiness Forum (GAAF) representatives from business and politics discussed successful investment models to improve living conditions in Africa.
The potential the African food sector holds is still far too strongly associated with the continent’s natural resources, Ben Leyka maintains. He seeks to change this with the African Agri Council.
The CompensACTION Initiative for food security and a healthy planet, launched by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) in 2022, is gaining momentum. It aims to financially compensate smallholder farmers for their contribution to preserving ecosystems. Initial successes have been achieved in Ethiopia, Lesotho and Brazil.
How can agriculture modernise Africa? And does the road to the cities really lead out of poverty? Dr. Reiner Klingholz from the Berlin Institute for Population and Development in conversation with Jan Rübel .
A contribution by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation
Africa’s population is young and ready to take its destiny into its own hands. Agriculture offers amazing opportunities in this regard. The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation wants to support the next generation in this way.
Interview with Gnininkaboka Dabiré and Innocent Somé
Later on you want to become a farmer yourself, or would you prefer to take up another profession? Two young people from Burkina-Faso talked to representatives of the Dreyer Foundation about their parents' farms, the profession of farmer and their own plans for the future.
The soybean is a natural crop that can be used to make a lot of food. So, Tata Bi started a small processing business first on her own, then with a few other women, which provides the women with an additional source of income year-round besides selling the soybeans.
What happens when young people leave the rural areas? How can the region achieve what is referred to as the demographic bonus – and how can it reap the benefits of the demographic dividend? A look at demography shows the following: What is most important is promoting women’s rights and education.
What do electrical engineering, telecommunications and agriculture have in common? They arouse the passion of Strive Masiyiwa: Thirty years ago, he started an electrical installation company with $75, later riding the telecommunications wave as a pioneer. Today he is committed to transforming African agriculture.
A menstrual health pilot in Rural Malawi empowers rural women in Agribusiness through hygiene products and helps to improve working conditions in rural areas.
During the trade Grüne Woche, school classes visited the BMZ (German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development), Brot für die Welt and Misereor. Each class spends one hour at their stand to learn about the global challenges posed by food systems. A review by Jan Rübel.
Agriculture is coming under pressure worldwide: bacteria, viruses and insects are causing problems for crops. In Palestine, Dr. Rana Samara from the Palestinian Academy of Science and Technology is researching solutions to the problem. And she finds them in nature itself.
VR glasses are hardly a conventional tool in agriculture: for the past three years, they have been used in rural areas of Burkina Faso and Cameroon as a training tool for sustainable cotton cultivation.
As a passionate social scientist and entrepreneur from Malawi, Ngabaghila Chatata knows that she can overcome any challenge. Her story stands out in a country faced with high unemployment, particularly in its rural areas. As the managing director of Thanthwe Farms, she has set out to inspire the next generation of young agripreneurs – proving that successful business starts with the right mindset, not only capital.
In Eastern El Salvador, campesinos are cultivating a self-image to encourage rural youth to remain in rural areas. With help from Caritas, they have adjusted the cultivation methods to their soils and traditions - Marvin Antonio Garcia Otero,the deputy director of Caritas of the Diocese of San Miguel believes this is the best way to prevent rural exodus and criminality.
Insurance companies could provide protection during droughts in Africa. How exactly this could be done is what the industry is currently trying to figure out. First experiences are available. An interview with the Managing Director of the Munich Re Foundation, Thomas Loster
The Global Hunger Index (GHI) 2020 shows that the world is not on track to meet the international goal of “zero hunger by 2030”. If we continue at our current speed, around 37 countries will not even have reached a low hunger level by 2030.
Environmental change is having a particularly strong impact on the African continent. Its landscapes see both negative and positive processes. What is science's view of this? A conversation with Cyrus Samimi about mobility for livelihoods, urban gardening and dealing with nature.
In August, Germany’s development ministry set up a division concentrating on One Health topics. Parliamentary State Secretary Maria Flachsbarth on knowledge gaps at the human-animal-environmental interface, the link between One Health and food security, and lessons learnt from previous pandemics.
Financial innovations can prevent a crisis turning into a catastrophe. The livelihoods of people in affected areas may well depend on intervention before a crisis – and on risk funds.
Interview with Bernadette Arakwiye und Salima Mahamoudou (World Resources Institute)
Deforestation is leading to a shortage of ressources. What are the options for counteracting? A conversation with Bernadette Arakwiye and Salima Mahamoudou about renaturation and the possibilities of artificial intelligence.
It began with clicks at a trade fair and ends with concrete reforestation: a campaign at the Green Week in Berlin is now enriching the forests of the Yen Bai Province in Vietnam. A chronicle of an education about climatic relevance to concrete action - and about the short distances on our planet.
Adaptation to climate change can be achieved by making agriculture more environmentally sustainable – if the rich countries also reduce their emissions
The WWF has published a sensational study on food waste. The focus: farm-stage food waste. Peter McFeely, Global head of communications and strategic planning at WWF, explains what needs to be done.
Every one degree Celsius rise in temperature increases the risk of conflict by two to ten percent. The climate crisis is a humanitarian crisis, as the photos by Christoph Püschner and Frank Schultze illustrate.
Innovate2030 is looking for creative people from around the world to develop smart and innovative solutions against climate change in cities. Initiated by the Make IT-Alliance.
At the climate conference in Glasgow, activists from various groups protested again – Leonie Bremer from ‘Fridays for Future’ was there too. How can climate protection and development cooperation work hand in hand?
The climate crisis fuels world hunger. What needs to change in the global fight against hunger, and which role plays humanitarian aid in international development cooperation?
Indian farmers restore precious soil material combining traditional with innovative approaches. A case example how governance, agriculture and development cooperation can work together to combat climate change.
This year's United Nations World Drug Report highlights for the first time the nexus between illicit drugs and the environment. In view of climate change, it is time to feed the debate with facts and make drug policy greener
Agroecological methods target diversity and resilience and can thus promote the protection of forests, water and soil. Julia Tomalka and Christoph Gornott, Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK), on the potential of agroecology to safeguard against climate change and build resilient agri-food system.
Martin Frick has been director of the WFP office in Berlin for a year – since then one hunger crisis has followed another. What are the diplomat's answers? A conversation about opportunities in agriculture, the interplay of multiple crises, the importance of resilience and tighter budgets.
Nations adopted four goals and 23 targets for 2030 to foster biodiversity conservation and counter acceleration in the global rate of species extinction at the UN Biodiversity Conference (COP15).
Stephanie Heiland, Project Manager at Sector Project Agriculture and part of this year’s Observer Delegation of the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) at COP27, shares her insights on the role of agriculture and food systems at the climate conference. Among other things, she reports from GIZ’s COP27 side event ‘Climate resilient agriculture and food systems in times of multiple crises and fragility’.
Future generations need more sustainable and stable agri-food systems. But how can this comprehensive transformation succeed and what responsibility does the private sector bear? These questions were the focus of the G7 Sustainable Supply Chains Initiative (G7 SSCI) side event as part of the ‘Champion Youth Action’ day at the 27th UN Climate Change Conference (COP27).
The Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development sees sustainable agri-food systems as an opportunity to protect the climate, preserve biodiversity and ensure food security in the future. Dirk Meyer, Head of Directorate-General 1 at the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development, looks ahead to the upcoming COP27.
The world is facing major challenges that need to be solved. We need to feed an ever-growing population, bring climate change under control and stop the loss of biodiversity. Martina Fleckenstein, Director of Global Policy at WWF, on what is expected from the climate conference in terms of biodiversity and biodiversity conservation.
Women can play a vital role in the change process both when it comes to climate protection and adapting to climate change. But the reality is often still not quite like this: women and girls are particularly badly affected by the climate crisis. Is the topic of gender getting enough attention at the upcoming climate conference? Questions for Bettina Jahn from UN Women Germany.
At LCOY Germany, the local youth climate conference, views on climate protection from all political spectrums are discussed. The Fairactivists, a programme of Fairtrade Germany, participated with a panel discussion on the link between social justice and climate justice.
Journalists Angeline Ochieng and Victor Raballa visited Ms Bilha Munyole, a Kenyan farmer in Kimilili, Bungoma County, on her maize plantation. About the important role of mechanisation in climate-smart agriculture and in building resilience to the impacts of climate change.
Given the urgency of transforming agricultural and food systems, GIZ India's Food Systems and Agroecology Working Group is exploring the potential of agroecology in collaboration with Think20 partners. A policy brief has now been published.
With the annual topic "Earth’s well, all’s well!", Fairtrade Germany is focusing on the concept of agroecology at all levels - and is thus taking the next step towards achieving greater global sustainability. At the Green Week trade fair, Fairtrade Germany will show how this can be achieved taking the cocoa supply chain as an example.
Roughly 800 million people suffer from hunger worldwide. Change is needed - for people and for the environment. Brot für die Welt reports on the starting points offered by everyone's ecological footprint and handprint.
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