Fight Hunger: Invest in Women Farmers Fact Sheet

Oxfam fact sheet Fight hunger: Invest in women farmers

You may think hunger is about too many people and too little food. That is not the case. Our rich and bountiful planet produces enough food to feed every woman, man, and child on earth.

Hunger is about power. Its roots lie in inequalities in access to education and resources. And women—who produce most of the world’s food—face the greatest inequalities of all.

Millions rely on the hard work and resourcefulness of women farmers. But although women produce 60 to 80 percent of the food in developing countries, they own just 2 percent of the land, and have few opportunities to earn a decent income. Climate change poses an added threat: erratic rainfall and droughts that disrupt the growing season. Today, many of these women farmers and their families are only one harvest away from hunger.

It doesn’t have to be this way. We can change this picture.

We can fight hunger by urging governments and companies to invest in farmers, especially those living in poor and marginalized communities. These investments must focus on women: their knowledge, their energy, and their entrepreneurial drive. And we must support innovative, sustainable farming techniques that protect our food supply in a changing climate.

When we invest in women farmers, we’re helping to ensure they have equal access to resources they need: • Land. Women often farm on small plots, on marginal land or poor soil. They rarely own the land they work, which prevents them from accessing credit or gaining long-term security.

• Water. Many rural communities face more-frequent droughts due to climate change, while infrastructure development projects, such as dams and mines, divert water from irrigation.

As food growers and household caretakers, women are hit hardest—some walking long distances each day to gather water.

• Economic opportunities. All farmers should have the chance to earn a fair price for their crops. But women farmers have fewer opportunities to reach new markets or expand their businesses. Of all credit offered in developing countries, only 10 percent is available to women.

• Training and education. As the climate shifts, farmers will need to adapt their methods, using new techniques like crop rotation and more-efficient water management. Women farmers need access to information, education, and training to help them learn these new methods and to harness the power of their knowledge and ideas.

Ritifu Gideon hoes a row of maize plants in her brother Tegemeo’s field in Mgongo, Tanzania. Although 80 percent of Tanzanian workers rely on farming to earn a living, the country remains vulnerable to food shortages caused by a number of factors, including droughts and irregular rainfall. Jane Beesley / Oxfam

All of these investments must be designed in consultation with women, who are often the last line of defense against hunger.

By supporting their hard work, we’re ensuring a steady food supply for everyone—women and men, wealthy and poor— for generations to come.

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Today, the world’s harvests are at risk.

• More than 925 million people—nearly one-sixth of the world’s population—suffer from chronic hunger. By 2050, 50 million more people will be at risk as a result of climate change.

• Malnutrition is a leading cause of child mortality, accounting for one-third of all deaths of children under age five. Climate change could increase child malnutrition 20 percent by 2050.

• According to the UN World Food Program, the number of global food emergencies has increased from an average of 15 per year during the 1980s to more than 30 per year since 2000.

• By 2020, up to 250 million people across Africa could face more-severe water shortages. In some countries, yields from rainfed crops could be halved during this same period.

Women are on the front lines...

• In poor and rural areas, the proportion of women-led households is increasing as men migrate in search of employment. In sub-Saharan Africa, women head 31 percent of rural households, while in Latin America and the Caribbean and in Asia, women head 17 percent and 14 percent, respectively.

• Drought, hunger, and other consequences of climate change can magnify existing gender inequalities. In Kenya, for example, poverty associated with drought affects women’s education because families more often choose to withdraw girls from school than boys.

...And women hold the key to solutions.

As society’s primary food providers and caretakers, women often have invaluable knowledge about adapting to shifts in the climate.

Farmer Yorn Yee pulls weeds from one of the rice plots behind her home in Kouk Doung, Cambodia.

Yorn also works as an instructor for the System of Rice Intensification, which helps farmers in Cambodia and Vietnam grow more rice using fewer seeds. “It’s like a miracle,” she says. “After five days, one rice stem splits into two shoots.”

Jim Holmes / Oxfam

• During a drought in Micronesia, women found a new source of potable water before government officials recognized them as leaders in solving the problem.

• In the Gambia‘s North Bank Division, the Agency for the Development of Women and Children gives villagers a reserve to fall back on during times of shortage. Women leaders help ensure that villagers save some of their food and seeds in cereal banks at the end of each harvest.

• In Ethiopia, local women administer a surveillance system that helps communities anticipate needs before droughts hit.

On the global level, our leaders are supporting these efforts. At the 2009 G8 Summit in L’Aquila, Italy, US representatives, together with other world leaders, pledged $22 billion in support of agriculture and global food security. They also acknowledged the importance of helping women farmers grow more food and earn higher incomes and endorsed new ways of working to make the world’s farms more efficient and sustainable.

In 2009, the administration of President Barack Obama launched Feed the Future, a global food security initiative focusing on 20 countries with high rates of hunger and malnutrition. The US partners with governments to invest in agriculture and rural development, build social safety nets to protect vulnerable populations, and tackle malnutrition among women and young children.

A moment of opportunity In September 2010, when world leaders come together to examine progress toward the Millennium Development Goals, they must chart a path toward cutting hunger in half by 2015. The Obama administration has requested $1.6 billion for agricultural investments in developing countries in 2011, more than double what was spent in 2008; Congress will decide on that request later this year. To tell lawmakers that you support these and other important initiatives, sign up for Oxfam’s online community: oxfamamerica.org/join.

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