Africa's women farmers need better access to information

Women play a vital role in Africa’s agriculture sector, growing about 70% of the continent’s food. Yet Africa’s smallholder women farmers come up against various barriers that limit their potential as growers. A climate-smart agriculture project aims to provide these farmers with the skills and resources needed to boost their businesses and succeed over the long term. Jeandré van der Walt reports.

- Jeandré van der Walt

FAST FACTS

Women farmers grow about 70% of Africa‘s food.

Smallholder women farmers face various barriers, of which access to information has been identified as one of the biggest.

The Climate Smart Agriculture project aims to equip these farmers with skills and resources to succeed.

A recent virtual round table hosted by Standard Bank and the UN Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women, also known as UN Women, revealed that women are the bedrock of rural Africa as producers, marketers and household heads responsible for nutrition within the family.

“They are also the labourers up and down the value chain, producing, distributing and determining how produce is consumed. They are key role players in the rural sector,” notes Nidhi Tandon, UN Women’s socio-economic adviser for East and Southern Africa.

CHALLENGES HINDERING POTENTIAL

However, despite the important role that women play, they face many challenges that prevent them from reaching their full potential as farmers. According to the panel, some of these include access to land, limited access to technological advances and market opportunities, and the lack of infrastructure. The panel also points out that women are often confined to the local market, which generally offers lowers prices than the urban market.

Alongside these challenges, access to information has been identified as one of the main barriers to Africa’s small-scale women farmers, particularly information and data on yields, soil health, weather patterns, good farming practices, seasonality, market proximity, and market prices. This is according to Graham Chipande, Standard Bank Malawi’s head of relationship banking.