While women constitute 43% of the agricultural workforce, they produce 20%–30% smaller crop yields than men due to their lack of access to and control over resources, including land, labour, credit, agricultural information, inputs and market opportunities. Young people likewise struggle with low levels of access to farming finance, information and land, which limit their opportunities in rural areas.

 

Breaking down the barriers to women and young people’s employment in agriculture can benefit agriculture, food security, and communities. For example, if male–female differences in access and yields could be overcome, the number of undernourished and hungry people worldwide would fall by 100–150 million.

 

We use our understanding of how gender, social relations and underlying power dynamics affect the participation of women, youth and marginalized groups in development work, and the value they derive from such work. This helps us to design and deliver targeted programming to redress inequalities in wealth and nutrition, and to create opportunities for women and youth in agricultural value chains.

 

Our Initiative:

• Empower women and youth by creating new job opportunities in agriculture
• Encourage participation in producing eco-friendly pest control solutions
• Provide inclusive advisory services for marginalized groups
• Pilot innovative communication methods to address inequalities in agricultural services
• Facilitate technology adoption among women and youth farmers
• Highlight inspiring female scientists and innovators as role models