Women: Empowering Africa's agriculture backbone

Despite the role and impact of women in African agriculture, there's still an unsettling disparity in the support they receive compared to men. But what does the future hold for women farmers.


Do land, seeds and crops have a gender? Perhaps they do in sub-Saharan Africa, where women produce up to 80% of foodstuffs for household consumption and sale in local markets, according to a report by the World Bank and the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO).


For crops such as rice, wheat and maize make up about 90% of food consumed by rural dwellers, it is women who mostly sow the seeds, do the weeding, cultivate and harvest the crops and sell surpluses.