AGRICULTURAL NEWS - The participation of women in the agricultural sector should be promoted, in order to create much-needed employment opportunities and ensure food security.
This was according to Wandile Sihlobo, head of economic and agribusiness intelligence at Agbiz.
According to Sihlobo, women constituted between 60% and 80% of smallholder farmers, but made up only 15% to 20% of landholders in sub-Saharan Africa. He explained that women’s incomes made a larger impact on food security than that of men.
“Studies have shown that every R1 in income earned by women achieved the same impact as R11 earned by men. Therefore, increasing the effective participation of women in commercial agriculture will significantly increase the potential to address food insecurity.”
