This year's International Women's Day focuses on the empowerment of rural women and their role in eradicating hunger
LONDON (TrustLaw) – This year’s International Women’s Day on March 8 will focus on the empowerment of rural women and their role in eradicating hunger and poverty.
Below is a factbox on women in agriculture.
* Women comprise an average 43 percent of the agricultural labour force of developing countries. This ranges from about 20 percent in the Americas to almost 50 percent in East and Southeast Asia and sub-Saharan Africa
* Nearly 80 percent of economically active women in the least developed countries work in agriculture
* Women produce 80-90 percent of food in Africa and the Caribbean and about half of all food worldwide
* Women hold just 1-2 percent of all titled land in the developing world. In many countries, including India, Nepal and Thailand, less than 10 percent of women hold title to their land, which limits their access to resources and credit
* Female farmers receive only 5 percent of all agricultural extension services – e.g. training and information on new technologies and techniques. In rural sub-Saharan Africa, small scale women farmers receive less than a tenth of available credit
* Only a tenth of total aid for agriculture, forestry and fishing goes to women
* If women had the same access to resources as men, it is estimated they could increase yields on their farms by 20–30 percent
* Equal access to resources would raise total agricultural output in developing countries by 2.5–4 percent, lifting 100-150 million people out of hunger
* In many parts of the world, especially Asia and South America, women are more likely to go hungry than men. It is estimated 60 percent of chronically hungry people are women and girls
* On average, rural women and girls spend almost an hour a day gathering fuel and carrying water. In some places this may take up to four hours a day
* A study in Africa found that, over the course of a year, women carried more than 80 tonnes of fuel, water and farm produce for a distance of 1km. Men carried an average of 10 tonnes for 1km each year
* Three quarters of crops grown in sub-Saharan Africa are on smallholder farms. Of these, three quarters are weeded by hand – accounting for 50-70 percent of all labour. Some 90 percent of this weeding is done by women
For related story, see here. For more facts and figures have a look at this detailed infographic: The Female Face of Farming – Farming First.
(Sources: Women in agriculture: closing the gender gap for development - FAO, UN Women)
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