New data by the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations (FAO) shows that 76% of working women in sub-Saharan Africa are employed in agrifood systems, the largest share worldwide.
The report, “The status of women in agrifood systems in sub-Saharan Africa”, was launched recently in Mauritania. It stated that in off-farm segments, this share is even higher and in rural areas, women are four times more likely than men to engage in off-farm work. In addition, women’s contribution to agrifood systems extends well beyond formal employment.
“Their unpaid care work at community and household levels, from fetching water to caring for children and elders, is indispensable for the protection of local food systems and food and nutrition security,” the report stated.
Developed by FAO, the Natural Resources Institute of the University of Greenwich (NRI) and African Women in Agricultural Research and Development (Award), the report is released during the International Year of the Woman Farmer, an opportunity to galvanise global support for gender equality and women’s empowerment in agrifood systems.
Challenges faced by women in Africa’s agrifood sector
“This international year is more than a celebration. It is an invitation to do more, better, and more consistently for women who are sustaining agrifood systems and feeding the world from their households to communities and entire continents. And this report provides the evidence and the roadmap of what needs to be done and how,” said Beth Bechdol, FAO deputy director-general at the launch.
The report highlights significant challenges faced by women across the agrifood sector, including limited access to and control over natural resources and a greater probability than men of experiencing food insecurity.
Women in the region also have limited access to social protection, with only 13% receiving cash benefits and less than 7% able to access pensions.
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Nevertheless, women continue to navigate and overcome these obstacles through resilience, adaptability and innovation. This is done by diversifying their livelihoods, establishing community savings and credit associations, and implementing agro-ecological practices, among others.
Clara Park, FAO senior gender officer, said women’s capacity to cope is often a response to structural failures rather than a choice, and it must not serve as a substitute for meaningful policy reform
“Our focus must shift from celebrating individual endurance to implementing the collective solutions that drive systemic change,” she said.
Based on the evidence, the report presents policy, programme and investment recommendations for more gender-just agrifood systems in sub-Saharan Africa. The proposed roadmap focuses on tackling the root causes of gender inequalities for lasting change.
Specifically, it calls for gender-transformative approaches to challenge discriminatory social norms, the scaling up of social protection for formal and informal workers, and the establishment of stronger legal frameworks to prevent and address gender-based violence across agri-food systems.
Investing in women improves food security
The FAO report also highlights that closing the productivity and wage gaps in Africa could increase the regional GDP by 2.58% (approximately $53 billion) and reduce food insecurity by 3.79%.
Tsholofelo Mosesane, a female crop farmer based in Taung in North West, said women farmers should be prioritised because they carry more than crops; they carry families, communities, and resilience.
“Despite doing a large share of agricultural work, they often lack access to land, funding, tools, and training. Supporting them isn’t charity, it’s fairness and smart investment.
“When women farmers thrive, food security improves, children are better nourished, and local economies grow,” she said.
Fatmata Binta, FAO regional goodwill ambassador for Africa, said investing in women farmers is not a side conversation, but is central to ending hunger, building climate resilience, and creating a more just and inclusive Africa.
“If this International Year of the Woman Farmer is to mean anything, it must be the moment we move beyond words into action, into impact, and into transformation,” Binta said.
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