When Suzana Hamimu Kaleju began working as a fish processor 30 years ago in the port of Kigoma, she used to lay the sprat, a type of herring, on the shores of Lake Tanganyika before selling her dried fish in local and regional markets. They would get dusty or sandy so...

Hos Salop’s days always began very early. She would cook breakfast for her husband and her three-year-old grandchild before working on her family farm in the village of Pongro in northwest Cambodia. She collected vegetables, fed the chickens and a pig, cleaned her house and dropped her grandchild off at...

As with every iteration of Foresight Africa, this 2023 edition aim to capture the top priorities for the region in the year ahead, offering recommendations for supporting Africa at a time of heightened global turbulence. The autors hope that Foresight Africa 2023 will promote dialogue on the key issues influencing development...

In a chronically dry region of Kenya, outside Nairobi, women are becoming farmer scientists, working with CIFOR-ICRAF researchers to find ways to make the often-parched soil produce food for their families and the market. The women are testing different types of mulch to see which works best in their difficult conditions. Their next...

Gender equality continues to be an important strategic objective for all European policies. Hence the new Policy Insight on Enhancing gender equality in EU agri-food systems highlights how the CAP is purposely designed to support actions and targets that benefit all EU citizens. It confirms the CAP’s strategic emphasis on...

Research by the Food and Agriculture Association found women are essential to small-scale agriculture, farm labour and day-to-day family subsistence. Slow Food, a worldwide organisation promoting traditional cooking, is celebrating women who grow food and preserve food cultures in their daily lives. According to the FAO, women produce between 60 and...

Women are vital actors in the agricultural sector – making up as much as 80% of the workforce in some parts of the world – yet their work is often not valued or recognised in the way men’s work might be. Agriculture is often still perceived as a man’s business, removing women from...

Mary Wairimu Oloo, who lives in Kenya’s Trans Nzoia County, moved back to her family’s coffee farm after retiring from a government role. Since then she has been diligently improving productivity on the farm, diversifying her income and helping others along the way.  Mary Wairimu Oloo is not just a wife...

We cannot end hunger and poverty without empowering both men and women in agrifood systems. Today, agriculture and food systems face an unprecedented array of challenges. We must feed a growing global population in a context of emerging and persisting crises - economic, energy, environmental, food and social. These include conflicts,...

The International Women's Day (IWD) is a global day to celebrate the social, economic, cultural and political achievements of women, while making a worldwide call to action to strengthen efforts for supporting gender equality and the empowerment of women and girls. The United Nations theme for the observance of IWD 2023 is "...

Digital innovation and technology can transform agrifood systems into environmentally and economically sustainable systems that will promote better production and enhance more equitable rural livelihoods with increased opportunities for women, youth, and vulnerable groups.  The challenge is how to move ahead with a digitalization programme that is effective and efficient,...

Regenerative agriculture techniques provide a lifeline to the world's poorest farmers, restoring soils and increasing yields and incomes while sequestering carbon emissions. Because women account for 80% of Kenyan farmers, women must drive the transition to regenerative farming at scale. According to a report released last year by the IUCN and...

Nambiro Fatuma is a single mother of 4 kids that fully depend on her. She, on the other hand, depends on her income that comes from a family farm owned by her father. “I produce bananas, maize, beans, cassava, sweet potatoes, mangoes and avocados…” she says. “I once thought about starting a poultry...

In Colombia, the coastal town of Buenaventura boasts one of the country’s busiest ports. Local communities rely to a great extent on fisheries and aquaculture to make a living, and women make up a large part of the workforce. These women fish sellers – known as the Platoneras - work...

This essay emphasises the significance of taking action to address the enormous and severe gender disparity in agriculture. It is still a cliché that women are capable of toiling the land but not of owning it. Every day, women in agriculture confront the derogatory stereotype that farming is a man's...

Celebrating the contributions of rural and indigenous women to healthy food systems and a sustainable tomorrow The adoption of agroecology has united local communities by providing sharing and learning opportunities for rural women farmers. African rural and indigenous women remain undeterred in their commitment to the practice of agroecology and continue to...

La nueva serie Informes País Mujeres Rurales, la Iniciativa Mujer Rural y Derecho a la Tierra ofrece una mirada a la situación de las mujeres rurales en distintos países de Latinoamérica. Presenta datos unificados para entender sus condiciones demográficas, analizamos los mecanismos institucionales con los que cuentan para la garantía de...

The Mugisa Tadeo family lives in the west of Uganda. A couple with seven children, they all live on a five-acre patch of land that has belonged to the family for generations. They live from what grows there: bananas, maize and coffee. The coffee earns them a meagre income. Kawoda is...

Across many parts of rural Gambia, women farmers often start their days before dawn to ensure that they have enough water to irrigate their gardens and to cook, clean and bathe at home. “Some of us would wake up as early as 3.00 a.m. to 4.00 a.m. just to get water....

The purpose of this publication is to facilitate gender analysis in value chain operations, considering climate change effects, in order to enhance adaptive capacities of value chain actors. It aims to facilitate the analysis of the factors that determine gender-differentiated vulnerability to climate change and risks. It is intended for...