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Removing the obstacles for women farmers

September 8^th, 2016

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Removing the obstacles for women farmers

Across Indonesia’s palm oil producing regions, women work in the plantations alongside men. Yet despite providing the toil and backbone to one of the nation’s most successful industries, women often remain marginalized. A similar story is told in Ghana’s cocoa plantations.

Through the Green Commodities Programme, UNDP is bringing together government, big business and small-scale farmers across 10 countries to address sustainable agricultural practices. The programme helps improve access to resources, close the gender gap and provide women with equal opportunities.

“I need capital to improve the health of my plantation but because my yield is so low I would not be able to pay back a loan,” says Istiqomah, a 36-year-old mother of two.

Women make up almost half the world’s farmers. Yet smaller farms and less access to education and finance makes it more difficult for them to adopt new technologies. They also often lack the knowledge and technology to improve their crop yields.

Improving the productivity of women farmers by providing access to finance and technology is a critical way to eradicate poverty, but it also addresses deforestation and climate change.

In Ghana, cocoa is the main source of income for 800,000 small-scale farmers. 25 percent of cocoa farmers are women. But this vital industry is also contributing to high levels of deforestation.

Since 2014, the UNDP has distributed over 800,000 seedlings to nearly 10,000 cocoa farmers, of which 21 percent were women. Once grown, the trees will serve to shield the cocoa plants from sunlight, keep the soil moist during dry seasons, and rehabilitate 8,500 hectares of forest.

“My children’s school fees and all family needs depend on cocoa,” says Mercy Adoma, one of the female cocoa farmers from Asunafo North in Ghana.

She has benefited directly from the tree-planting programme, revitalizing her plantation and making it more productive.

Mercy and her fellow cocoa farmers have benefited from a series of trainings by UNDP, through the Ghana Cocoa Board, on good agricultural practices, forest laws and regulations. These trainings support community tree tenure rights and help promote sustainable practices.