This is Part 3 of a 5-part series: Innovations in African Farming
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Studies show that most farmers in Africa are women. But a combination of factors keeps the female food producers in extreme poverty, which is greatly contributing to food shortages on the continent, according to a leading agricultural NGO based in South Africa.

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Vegetables on display at a market in Zanzibar. Research shows that most African food producers are women, but that their output is much lower than what it should be

The Food, Agriculture and Natural Resources Policy Analysis Network [FANRPAN] is working for the development of better food, agriculture and natural resource policies, with a view to ending hunger in Africa. It cooperates with almost 700 organizations, including agribusinesses and government agencies, to improve food production.

A major part of its mission is to uplift the millions of African women farmers, said FANRPAN program manager, Thembi Ndema. The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization estimates three quarters of agricultural workers in sub-Saharan Africa are women.

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Staff members of South Africa’s FANRPAN NGO, which is trying to develop the continent’s female farmers

“They do all the labor – from production, to harvesting, to packaging the food. They are really responsible for most of the [agricultural] work, for producing food for household consumption as well as for sale. They are the pillars behind the African agricultural development sector,” said Ndema.

But she maintained that the productivity of African women farmers remains “much, much lower” than what it should be, for several reasons.

Women farmers ‘sidelined’

“You’re looking at women farmers not having access to enough land. They own, at most, one hectare [each]; they own these really small pieces of land,” said Ndema.

She said African culture, which still considers women inferior to men, is a “major negative factor” keeping female food growers in poverty. “Because of culture, you don’t have women being the owners of big plots of land. The land is traditionally owned by the man, who is the head of the household. So he’s the one who makes the decisions on what is grown on the land,” Ndema explained.

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FANRPAN says women, such as this farmer in Niger, do most of the agricultural work in Africa

She said because female farmers in Africa are “generally so much poorer” than their male counterparts, they’re forced to use “extremely rudimentary tools” and also can’t afford high quality seed.

“So really even if they put that much [more] effort into the production, what they get out of the process is not much because of all these other factors that are not conducive [to] increasing productivity. So rural households headed by women are usually much poorer and more food insecure,” said Ndema.

Because women are so “marginalized” throughout Africa, she continued, they have “almost no decision-making powers,” being excluded from governance. “Because of this, women farmers’ needs are not reflected in local and national agricultural policies,” Ndema said.

Female food producers are also “disrespected” in business relations and so are denied credit and refused access to markets for their produce and state subsidized seed and fertilizer, she said.

Farming in the fields, not boardrooms

Ndema said African agriculture would be “revolutionized” if women farmers were given a “fair deal.”

 

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A female farmer in South Africa. Researchers say African women food producers don’t have access to enough land

“If you look at a statistic like almost 80 percent of agricultural workers are women, it goes without saying that if they’re given access to land and credit and so on, Africa will produce much more food,” she said. “If they’re put in an environment that allows for them to do the work at the optimum, I’m sure that the problem of hunger in Africa would be solved.”

But according to Ndema, many of those concerned with African agriculture, including NGOs and political leaders, are “ignoring” female farmers. “We don’t give them a platform to say for themselves what challenges they are facing; we think for them and then come up with [our own] solutions,” she said.

As an example of the “isolation” suffered by Africa’s women farmers, Ndema told of her interaction with South African female grower, Linda Nghatsane.

“She had this frustration [about] how [agricultural] policies are made in boardrooms and in hotels, but the policymakers never really go down to the farms, to the fields where these women are actually doing the work. She was very clear that farming doesn’t occur in boardrooms and in hotels.”

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African cultures still regard women, such as this grower in Nigeria, as being inferior to men, so their ability to produce food on a large scale is severely limited

With views like Nghatsane’s in mind, and an objective to get the “powers that be” to listen to female food producers and note the challenges they’re enduring, FANRPAN recently launched a project called Women Accessing Realigned Markets [WARM].

“In WARM, we are using what we would like to believe is an innovative method to achieve our goals: theater,” Ndema explained.

‘Unprecedented dialogue’

FANRPAN has recruited actors and they’re performing various scripts in rural villages in two “pilot” countries, Malawi and Mozambique. Audiences consist of powerful figures in local agriculture, such as government officials, state researchers and traditional leaders. Local villagers, including women farmers, also attend the performances.  

The plays are based on common problems experienced by Africa’s female food growers.

In one scenario, unscrupulous shopkeepers ignore state-decreed prices for fertilizer and overcharge women farmers. In another scene, corrupt traders hoard seeds that the government has ordered be given free to farmers, leaving a group of women in despair.

Ndema said after the plays are performed, audience members respond to what they’ve seen. According to her, the project has caused “great reaction” and resulted in “unprecedented dialogue” among female food producers, government ministers and local male leaders – “groups that have never spoken one on one before.”

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A Ghanaian woman sorts fruit … Researchers say African women are prevented from expanding their agricultural businesses because they don’t have access to resources such as credit

She added that in some cases those conversations had resulted in “concrete, positive action” that would improve the lives of many women farmers. In Malawi, for example, Finance Minister Ken Kandodo attended a performance. After watching a play demonstrating the “harsh life” of a Malawian female food producer, said Ndema, Kandodo pledged to help women farmers.

“The minister has since established a fund that women farmers can access so that they are able to purchase inputs and other farming tools,” she said.

‘Big rivers’

Ndema maintained it’s ultimately up to African governments to recognize the benefits of helping women become better and more productive farmers.

In Zambia, for example, she explained that “political will” led the government to open its border and encourage the country’s female food producers to trade in Zimbabwe, which has experienced many food shortages.

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FANRPAN says many challenges remain for Africa’s female farmers

Ndema said this has resulted in some Zambian women farmers “quadrupling” their income. She added, “If we combine political will like this with hands-on training sessions in the field for women farmers about how they can best use new technologies, for example, I think the future for Africa’s women farmers is bright.”

But she said several “big rivers” remained to be crossed before Africa’s female food producers could gain “respect” in agriculture and start to contribute “meaningfully” to efforts to eradicate hunger on the continent.

Ndema insisted that land ownership and credit policies have to be revised in ways that make it easier for women farmers to operate more productive farms.

“If you’re looking at your credit systems and land ownership systems, as well as if you look at the education policies and the research – if all those policies can be revised and realigned so that they also benefit women farmers, there’ll be real progress in African agriculture,” she said.