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It makes business sense to acknowledge the role that women play in agriculture as producers, processors and marketers. At production level, different value chains in different contexts will call for different interventions. The key thing is to conduct gender analyses to establish the value chain nodes in which men and women are able to participate in adequately and those ones where there are inhibitions. This helps identify whether the enablers/inhibitors are personal, cultural or institutional and whether there is need for a policy change to help address the differences in participation.
In processing, at the cottage level, there is need for skills development that takes into account the education status of the beneficiaries and introduction of friendly technologies that are easy to adopt in terms of cost, ease of use and efficiency in use. At industry level, labour, whether from men and women, skilled or unskilled should be fairly remunerated. Women should be encouraged to take up agricultural courses and training in learning institutions so that they are not just leaders in cottage industries but also in science labs and institutions where national/international agenda on agriculture is set. Set up of mentoring hubs where experienced persons offer opportunities to budding processors and scientists to learn how industry works is also important.
In marketing/trade, linkages to markets and access to market information for raw and value added agricultural products is important if women are to participate in agri-business. Another concern to consider is: how do women's enterprises remain theirs once they become successful? There have been instances where women's agricultural enterprises are taken over by men once they become economically viable therefore destabilizing women's financial status and ability to engage in agri-business. It is still unclear whether the answer lies in leveraging on collection action such as groups and cooperatives and further research is required to provide necessary evidence.
Gender equality in agri-business, industry
Submitted by Edna Mutua on Mon, 10/07/2017 - 14:11 Permalink
It makes business sense to acknowledge the role that women play in agriculture as producers, processors and marketers. At production level, different value chains in different contexts will call for different interventions. The key thing is to conduct gender analyses to establish the value chain nodes in which men and women are able to participate in adequately and those ones where there are inhibitions. This helps identify whether the enablers/inhibitors are personal, cultural or institutional and whether there is need for a policy change to help address the differences in participation.
In processing, at the cottage level, there is need for skills development that takes into account the education status of the beneficiaries and introduction of friendly technologies that are easy to adopt in terms of cost, ease of use and efficiency in use. At industry level, labour, whether from men and women, skilled or unskilled should be fairly remunerated. Women should be encouraged to take up agricultural courses and training in learning institutions so that they are not just leaders in cottage industries but also in science labs and institutions where national/international agenda on agriculture is set. Set up of mentoring hubs where experienced persons offer opportunities to budding processors and scientists to learn how industry works is also important.
In marketing/trade, linkages to markets and access to market information for raw and value added agricultural products is important if women are to participate in agri-business. Another concern to consider is: how do women's enterprises remain theirs once they become successful? There have been instances where women's agricultural enterprises are taken over by men once they become economically viable therefore destabilizing women's financial status and ability to engage in agri-business. It is still unclear whether the answer lies in leveraging on collection action such as groups and cooperatives and further research is required to provide necessary evidence.