The sixth session of the FAO Geneva Agriculture Trade Talks (FTT VI) was held on 28 June. It provided participants opportunities to analyze gender issues in the global agriculture value chains and possible solutions to address the gender gap.

Ms Carolyn Rodrigues Birkett, Director of FAO Geneva, delivered the opening remarks by stressing the importance of achieving gender equality and empowering all women and girls in rural areas. 

The main speaker at the event, Mr. Pascal Liu, Senior Economist at FAO headquarters in Rome, gave a comprehensive presentation on FAO’s work on gender equity in global agricultural value chains. This was followed by an interactive discussion between participants.

Across the developing world, women make up 50 percent of the agricultural labor force. However, the gender gap is so extensive that women tend to have greater difficulty than men to access global agricultural value chains and benefit from them, and that they are often under-represented in the mechanisms governing these chains and tend to have less decision-making power.

About FTT

The FAO holds a dialogue series titled “FAO Geneva Agriculture Trade Talks (FTT)” to support Member States’ effective engagement in the formulation of trade agreements that are conducive to improved food security. Each session of the FTT features a presentation of FAO’s knowledge and analysis on the topic in focus, followed by an interactive discussion. FTT is based on 3i principle:

Informal: exchanging information, ideas and views without any attributions and reporting.

Interactive: providing a neutral platform for dialogue and engagement among stakeholders.

Inspirational: sharing knowledge and ideas for use in policy and negotiations accordingly.