* Any views expressed in this opinion piece are those of the author and not of Thomson Reuters Foundation.
Robynne Anderson is the main Representative to the United Nations, World Farmers Organisation. The opinions expressed are her own.
Farmers. Workers. Entrepreneurs. Care-givers. Bread-winners. Bread-makers. Mothers. Wives. Daughters.
Women are the backbone of the rural economy, especially in the developing world. Yet they receive only a fraction of the land, credit, inputs (such as improved seeds and fertilizers), resources and agricultural training and information compared to men.
Empowering and investing in rural women has been shown to have significant benefits to increasing productivity, reducing hunger and malnutrition and improving rural livelihoods. And not only for women, but for everyone.
But what are the facts behind these statements? Farming First, a global coalition that advocates for the sustainable and socially responsible increase in agricultural output, have teamed up with the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation to produce an interactive infographic that illustrates the compelling story of women and agriculture.
The result is a striking visual representation of the statistics that underlie the urgent need to invest in rural women.
The impacts of the gender gap in agriculture are significant. Women farmers typically achieve yields that are 20-30 percent lower than men.
Yet the vast majority of literature reviewed confirms that women are just as efficient as men and would achieve the same yields if they had equal access to productive resources and services.
Given equal access to resources as men, women would achieve the same yield levels, boosting total agricultural output in developing countries by 2.5 – 4 percent.
This additional yield could reduce the number of undernourished people in the world by 100-150 million or 12–17 percent. In South Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa alone, that would reduce the numbers of malnourished children by 13.4 and 1.7 million respectively.
The further empowerment of female farmers is crucial to ending poverty and hunger.
If we are to produce enough food to feed an estimated population of 9 billion people by 2050, investing in women will be instrumental in meeting this demand, not only making them self-sufficient, productive farmers, but also allowing them to contribute more effectively to the economy, sustain better livelihoods, healthcare and education for themselves and their families.
Go to farmingfirst.org/women to explore the full interactive infographic and to tweet it and embed it on your own website
