Promising approaches to address the needs of poor female farmers

Gender norms influence how a society distributes its resources between men and women, including agricultural resources. When agricultural resources are distributed unequally, production tends to be inefficient which constrains small farmers’ opportunities to generate income and ensure their families’ food security. In the past, agricultural interventions have not always paid attention to gender issues thereby reinforcing resource inequalities. A new briefing note brought out by the International Food Policy Research Institute compiles examples of gender-sensitive interventions from Sub Saharan Africa and South Asia that have increased women’s access to and control of agricultural resources and shares the lessons learnt.

Gender analysis is particularly important when assessing women’s access and control of those agricultural resources that are key for poor farmers. These include the availability of land, water, and other natural resources, complementary inputs such as seeds and fertilizer, new varieties and technologies, agricultural extension, labour, credit, markets and social capital. In each case, the note lists out the types of issues that need to be taken into account:

• women tend to have weak property and contractual rights to land, water and other natural resources and also lack legal knowledge
  
• traditional agricultural research and development and extension systems tend not to take into account women’s needs, preferences and resources
  
• new agricultural technologies do not always take into account gendered divisions of labour which means they are unlikely to reduce women’s time and energy burdens
  
• economic and cultural factors tend to restrict women’s access to markets, credit and financial services and social capital
  

Drawing on experiences from seventeen countries, the note lists specific steps that can be taken to help improve women’s access to each of these resources. Amongst others, projects and programs can:

• strengthen and increase women's knowledge of their property and contractual rights
  
• take into account both women’s and men’s preferences when developing and introducing new varieties
  
• train male extension agents to meet the specific needs of female farmers
  
• target credit or design loan packages based on women’s specific needs
  
• organise women into single- or mixed-sex groups to increase their control of project benefits and improve their well-being
  

Enhancing women’s access to agricultural resources not only increases their productivity it also enhances their social status. At the same time, gender norms are complex and take time to change. In this context, individual interventions are advised to adopt a medium-term approach that alternately challenge and respect gender relations. Specific strategies are best designed keeping in mind other project objectives, such as increasing women’s food security or income. Since gender issues are context-specific, interventions should also be adapted to local socio-cultural settings to improve the likelihood of success.