This report is based on extensive research and interviews with several hundred farmers, the majority of them women, carried out by ActionAid staff and consultants in Uganda, Kenya and Malawi throughout the last third of 2009. It is complemented by an extensive global literature review, and our study also benefited from interviews with government, donors, academic and civil society staff in the three countries. Throughout the report we analyse the level and quality of current government and donor spending in areas of critical importance to women and men smallholder farmers.