Financing agricultural value chains to empower rural women

Agriculture in Africa is the main sector to generate income for the large number of populations mainly in rural areas and a major contributor to the GDP of the countries. Agricultural value chain finance provides the necessary resource for smallholder farmers to increase their production and be integrated into higher-value market opportunities. In Africa, women represent more than half of the population, the majority live in rural areas. In addition, a considerable number of the agricultural workforce are women who are also responsible for nutrition and food security at the household level. And some of them are the sole provider of their families. Africa has a male dominated society where over the years there has been a gender gap in different sectors, including agriculture, with women holding the smallest percentage of land recorded. And women have been mostly excluded from important actions in agriculture such as decision-making, access to information and technology, as well as access to financial resources and services. The first initiatives were taken by women to unite their efforts to defend their rights and fight together for their social and economic development. This was done by joining cooperatives and peasant organizations. Through the same farmer organizations, advocacy has been done and different programs have been designed by governments and civil society organizations to empower and invest in rural women in terms of promoting gender sensitive decision making; support economic services to improve the living and working conditions of women; prioritize technological development policies targeting women farmers and promote their knowledge, skills and experience in food production and sustainable agriculture. While recognizing the achievements of African women farmers, much remains to be done. In this context, PAFO has the vision to launch a study on the Financing of agricultural value chains to empower rural women.