Overwhelming evidence has shown that women provide 60-80% of Africa’s agricultural labor. Yet women farmers in sub-Saharan Africa manage 20-30% less productive plots of land than men, not because of a skill or effort issue but because of unequal access to resources.

According to the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) report on the ‘Status Of Women In Agrifood Systems,’ closing this gender gap could add nearly USD 1 trillion to the global economy and reduce food insecurity for 45 million people.

What does this mean in the sub-Saharan African context?

At this year’s Africa Food Systems Forum (AFS) in Kigali, Rwanda, African Women in Agricultural Research and Development (AWARD) sought answers to pivotal questions: what gaps are holding women from fully participating in the food systems, what strategies are working and how can they be scaled up?

Addressing these inequalities is crucial for transforming food systems, especially as we inch closer to taking global stock of the SDGs in 2030.

AWARD co-hosted two high-level side events at AFS: “Gender Responsive Approaches Driving Food Transformation” on September 2, 2024, and “Redefining Women’s Participation in African Agrifood Systems for Accelerated Transformation” on September 4, 2024. These sessions drew from a forthcoming report on the status of ‘Women in Agrifood Systems in sub-Saharan Africa (WAFSA)’ that will analyze evidence on women’s role in agrifood sectors in the sub-Saharan African context. The report is prepared by a consortium led by AWARD, the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), the Natural Resources Institute, and the International Development Research Centre (IDRC), with support from the GENDER Impact Platform and CARE International.

The side event on September 2nd was co-organized by AWARD, IDRC, Centre for Agriculture and Biosciences International (CABI), Global Solutions Initiative, and the Global Panel on Agriculture and Food Systems for Nutrition.

In her keynote address, Dr. Susan Kaaria, Director of AWARD, presented preliminary findings from the forthcoming report, emphasizing the jarring continuous gender gaps in off-farm agrifood employment, access to resources, women’s leadership, and discriminatory structural and cultural norms.

“Women’s work in agrifood systems is diverse but often precarious, shaped by socio-economic and cultural differences. Women are overrepresented in off-farm employment but spend significantly more time on unpaid work—ranging from 2.4 hours per day in South Africa to 10.2 hours in West Africa—limiting their full participation and contribution to the labor market,” she stated.

Speaking at the event, Prof. Amos Laar, Professor of Public Health Nutrition at the University of Ghana, called for equitable access to resources, especially land, which directly affects women’s contribution to food systems.

Increasing food systems’ resilience goes beyond addressing gendered vulnerabilities to creating an enabling environment that supports equality and women’s empowerment as part of the process of gender transformative change.

Speaking at the same panel, Ms. Nana Amoah, Director of Gender, Youth and Inclusion, Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA), underscored the significance of including the voices of rural women and youth in food systems transformation.

“Providing rural women and youth with access to inclusive financial strategies and technologies empowers them to take on entrepreneurial ventures crucial to boosting their livelihoods,” said Nana.

Dr. Patrick Komarwa, Director, Food Security and Climate-Smart Agricultural Transformation, Office of the President, Government of Sierra Leone, echoed her sentiments, urging clearer policies and a multisectoral approach in dealing with the complexity of the intersection of women’s empowerment and food systems. He added that meaningful policy interventions must address macroeconomic factors, food security, and climate change.

Likewise, Dr. Monica Kansiime, Deputy Director of Development and Outreach Africa at CABI urged policymakers to diversify innovations, such as digital platforms, to accelerate knowledge-sharing and training programs for young farmers.

“Integrating farm-to-table models, including digital platforms, to accelerate timely knowledge and skill uptake, training programs and tools allow young people to advise farmers beyond just offering technical advice,” she stated.

Dr. Edidah Ampaire, Senior Programs Specialist at IDRC, emphasized the need to track and support women’s leadership in agrifood systems accurately.

“It is important to have more women representatives in the food systems. But it is also equally important to have accurate representation through numbers for tracking, supporting, and expanding women’s leadership,” said Dr. Ampaire.

She also highlighted the importance of inclusive funding, policy frameworks, and capacity-building initiatives like AWARD’s One Planet Fellowship, which enhances African climate research scientists’ research and leadership skills with a gender lens to analyze the potential of their research to adapt African smallholders to climate change effectively.

So, how can we redefine women’s participation in agrifood systems?

The panel concluded that if implemented effectively, these approaches will help create an enabling environment for women to thrive and contribute to the broader economic growth.

Fast forward to September 4 at another event cohosted by AWARD and IDRC, the conversations took an in-depth dive into the report, aligning the findings to the current realities, framing the future for women in agrifood systems, and the hopes and opportunities to accelerate actions.

“Women’s empowerment is one the key priorities to not only address gender resources but also gender disparities. Working with parties […partnerships] to address these unique challenges is important to enhancing resilience, especially in the era of a changing climate,” said Ms. Mia Beers, Deputy Assistant Administrator, Bureau for Resilience, Environment and Food Security, USAID, in her opening remarks.

Dr. Jemimah Njuki, Chief Economic Empowerment, UN Women, put into perspective the report findings and the emerging priority areas.

“From the report, two contradicting issues arise: women are holding our food systems together, why do the food systems keep failing them? Women provide the bulk of work in African food systems, yet unpaid care work is a significant obstacle to their economic empowerment and well-being,” opined Dr. Njuki.

“If we are running agricultural programs that do not consider unpaid work, then we are failing women in agrifood systems,” said Dr. Njuki.

Dr. Njuki noted that all food systems actors must own the collective failure of the report findings if we are to redefine women’s participation in the food systems for accelerated transformation.

While speaking at a panel session during the event, Mr. Greg Hallen, Program Leader, IDRC, challenged the funding community to review their policies and guidelines. He emphasized the importance of prioritizing women-led initiatives, ensuring research projects have sex-disaggregated data, and supporting capacity-building initiatives seeking to enhance women’s leadership skills.

“We need to continue challenging ourselves on what we can do better, to enable women to thrive in leadership,” said Mr. Hallen.

The panel also highlighted the importance of accurate data, assessing progress, and redesigning frameworks that drive positive change. Dr. Siboniso Moyo, Deputy Director General of the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI), stated, “Addressing gender gaps requires a holistic approach—from design to implementation, evaluation, innovation, and overcoming constraints.”

Meanwhile, Dr. Tacko Ndiaye, Senior Gender Officer at the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), called on agrifood actors to intensify deliberate communication and knowledge-sharing efforts across the value chain to break food-related taboos and enhance power relations at all levels.

“This report offers hope to leverage the competitive strengths of various institutions and provides a roadmap for future tracking and action on a continental scale,” noted Dr. Ndiaye.

NOTE: We look forward to launching the status of ‘Women in Agrifood Systems in sub-Saharan Africa (WAFSA)’ report soon. We encourage you to subscribe to our newsletter to get timely information about its completion and launch.

Click here to view photos from the event.