FAO Programme ::: Crops

Women have the least access to the means for increasing yields and moving from subsistence crops to market-oriented production

Increasing crop productivity is crucial to food security, rural development and conservation of natural resources. To feed a world population of 9.2 million in 2050, agriculture will need to double food production, and do so despite a shrinking base of per capita arable land, a steady decline in crop yield gains, mounting stress on ecosystem services, and the impact of climate change. 

The first of FAO's new strategic objectives, therefore, is sustainable intensification of crop production. FAO calls for increasing crop productivity and its contribution to food security and rural livelihoods, through sustainable farming practices (such as integrated pest management and conservation agriculture), better management of biodiversity, and a shift from subsistence farming to market-oriented production.

Gender dimensions of crop production

Women make major contributions to crop production. In home gardens, rural women grow vegetables that are important to household nutrition. Women's roles in crop production are expanding: the out-migration of young men from rural areas in some regions has led to permanent changes in women's responsibilities and tasks.

Yet women have the least access to the means for increasing output and yields, and for moving from subsistence farming to higher-value, market-oriented production. Less than 10% of women farmers in India, Nepal and Thailand own land. Only 15% of the world's agricultural extension agents are women. A study of farm credit schemes in Africa found that women's share of loans was just 10%. Statistics on women's yields, technology adoption rates and use of inputs are rarely reported.

The lack of women's participation in commercial crop production is often not a preference, but the result of limited access to inputs and markets. One study calculated that agricultural productivity in sub-Saharan Africa could rise 20% if women had equal access to land, seed and fertilizer. Women's adoption of new crop production technologies is also strongly affected by who controls and ultimately owns the crop: men often move into "women's" crop production when it becomes more profitable.

Careful analysis is needed to evaluate the importance and impact on the rural poor of bioenergy crops, such as sugarcane, maize and jatropha. Small-scale biofuel crop production could provide income and a source of electricity that would reduce women's domestic burdens. But studies indicate that the alternative - capital-intensive, large-scale plantations - may compete for use of marginal land where poor women grow food crops.

Efforts to conserve and utilize agrobiodiversity need to consider the approach of both men and women towards managing crop varieties and ecosystem services. While male-dominated commercial systems typically use standard varieties of a single species, women manage complex and species-rich production systems designed for overall stability. Because the loss of crop diversity reduces the capacity of poor farmers to adapt to climate change, agricultural research needs to draw on women's production strategies and experience in crop selection.

Finally, gender differences can influence farmers' adoption of Integrated Pest Management (IPM), which aims at minimizing pest problems, misuse of pesticides and environmental pollution. The fact that women are responsible for family health makes them more responsive to information on pesticides and IPM techniques.