Publications
Sowing stories, cultivating equality | A strength that is often invisible: Living with a rare illness, a woman turns the food she can eat into a farm that feeds others (By Siguenda Piemoe–Adams, Suriname)
01/09/2026
Living with the rare, invisible illness, Siguenda stops waiting for perfect health and starts growing healthy, gluten- and lactose-free food her body can accept. Cassava, deeply rooted in Suriname’s history and in the traditions of the women who came before her, becomes the foundation of a small farm and agro-processing business. 9 p.
Sowing stories, cultivating equality | The land gives and the land takes away: Reclaiming ancestral wisdom, one harvest at a time (By Mutinta Handoondo, Zambia)
01/09/2026
Growing up in rural Zambia, Mutinta dismissed her grandmother’s seed-saving and natural farming practices as “old ways”. Years later, after watching the land deteriorate, she returned home with an agricultural education and a new understanding: ancestral knowledge and modern science did not have to compete. Facing doubts that a young woman could lead, Mutinta put both to the test. 8 p.
Sowing stories, cultivating equality | Planting the water before the tree: In dryland Buhera, a young woman farmer learns that the land restores itself only when you listen to it (By Vimbai Nhengu, Zimbabwe)
01/09/2026
Born into a dry and degraded land that grandparents remember as abundant, Vimbai is inspired by traditional rainwater-harvesting practices to restore her community’s landscape. She begins raising trees from seed, only to watch her carefully tended exotic species fail. Learning to listen to the land, she turns to resilient indigenous trees. 9 p.
Sowing stories, cultivating equality | When the watermelons rot: Returning to her village, a young woman finds power, belonging, and a business (By Toyosi Olatayo, Nigeria)
01/09/2026
At fifteen, Toyosi watched her family’s watermelon harvest rot in the fields when no buyers came, convincing her that farming was a trap. Years later, studying geography, she understood that farmers were not failing, the systems around them were. Determined to change this, she searched relentlessly for a buyer for the cassava grown in her community until one company finally listened. 8 p.
Sowing stories, cultivating equality | From a listener in the field to a voice in the community: My journey as a woman farmer (By Shahida Dahri, Pakistan)
01/09/2026
As the daughter of a tenant farming family in Sindh, Pakistan, Shahida first sits beside her mother at an FAO Women Open School, simply listening. A small kitchen garden becomes the place where she grows vegetables, confidence and new skills, from composting to digital tools for identifying plant diseases. Despite those who believe a girl should stay at home, she becomes a Women Farmer Facilitator supporting 30 women. 10 p.
Sowing stories, cultivating equality | Building climate resilience, one basin at a time: A woman farmer in Trinidad and Tobago holds onto her soil and water as the seasons turn against her (By Salisha Bellamy, Trinidad and Tobago)
01/09/2026
After losing her first maize crop to drought, Salisha realizes the changing seasons are no longer temporary. Through a FAO-funded climate resilience training, she rebuilds her farm with contour planting, check dams, mini-terraces and fruit basins that hold water on the slopes. As the soil begins to recover, so does her confidence. 9 p.
Enabling linkages between social protection and agriculture for women farmers in Madhesh Province of Nepal (JP RWEE)
01/08/2026
The policy brief examines how stronger linkages between social protection and agriculture can support women farmers in Madhesh Province, Nepal. Drawing on national evidence, local context and JP RWEE's experience, it outlines key barriers and opportunities for improving access to services, strengthening resilience, promoting women’s economic empowerment and enhancing coordination between agriculture and social protection systems. 8 p.
Sowing stories, cultivating equality | The rainbow plate: From wild jackfruit to a blue plastic plate, a Ugandan woman's fight for what children eat (By Sarah Nakame, Uganda)
01/08/2026
Growing up in Uganda, Sarah remembers a childhood filled with diverse local fruits and foods. Years later, while visiting schools, she is struck by the sight of children facing the same monotonous meal day after day on blue plastic plates, a memory that stays with her. When she becomes a mother, that concern turns into action. 9 p.