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...

A voice comes through the radio. It is Ramkali Mahato’s favourite show. She turns up the volume to hear local women talking with elected officials about empowerment issues and traditional social norms. Inspired by the show, Ramkali now strives to do the same in her daily life, speaking up against...

  Marula has long been a staple in Namibian homes, where both the nut and the fruit have a reputation for being healthy and the nut oil is popular for skin care and cooking. In recent years, international companies, too, have caught on to the oil – and with demand booming,...

The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) in collaboration with the Rwanda Development Board has launched a new project to enhance the digital skills and innovation capabilities to foster agri-preneurship among youth and women in Rwanda. “This project is coming in addressing first of all the critical challenge...

Destruction of Indigenous women and of Indigenous food systems were two powerful weapons used by colonists to conquer the North American continent. Today, stories of recovering traditional foodways are braided in with stories of re-making women’s place in society, as well as reclaiming the important role of two-spirit people. Previous to colonization,...

El documento tiene como objetivo contribuir a una mejora en las condiciones laborales de las mujeres en la industria bananera latinoamericana, a traves de directrices para el empleo seguro y saludable de las trabajadoras en una industria que históricamente ha estado dominada por los hombres. Cuenta con contribuciones de mujeres...

The ENRD newsletter provides all the latest rural development news from Europe straight to your inbox once a month. From policy updates to ENRD meetings and from project outcomes to online videos, this new and updated tool aims to provide something for everybody interested in rural development policy in Europe....

Since 2014 the ongoing conflict has been affecting people’s lives and driving humanitarian needs in eastern Ukraine, particularly in the Donbas region. The recent war in Ukraine is posing additional risks on civilians, particularly women and children, as is predicted to become the largest humanitarian emergency in Europe since World...