7 March, 2019, Johannesburg, International Women\u2019s Day has become a worldwide rallying point to support the progression of women and girls\u2019 rights across the world. This year International Women\u2019s Day focuses on \u201cBetter the balance, better the world\u201d and offers an opportunity to reflect on the role women play in agriculture and identify what can be done to harness this potential into viable businesses that create employment and address Africa\u2019s food and nutrition challenges.<\/p>\n
Between 2017 and 2018, the Gra\u00e7a Machel Trust (GMT) and its African Women in Agri-Business network (AWAB) worked on the African Food Basket Initiative <\/em>in Malawi. <\/em>This initiative illustrates how with the right resources, access to loans, and better skills; women can become major players in the agricultural sector in Africa.<\/p>\n Key to harnessing women\u2019s potential in the agriculture value chain and upstream investments is improving their skills and access to finance and markets. Women have been part of the Africa\u2019s agriculture fabric for time immemorial. They constitute 70% of Africa\u2019s agricultural labour force. The challenge has been how to get more return on investment for women in agriculture given the mammoth task they face in building their businesses. The African Food Basket initiative goes a long way to illustrate the huge challenge that women in agribusiness face as they thrive to grow their businesses. These challenges include the limited access to working capital loans which then trickles down to limited productivity outputs due to the inability to access key production inputs that are essential to making their businesses successful and viable. This happens in a context where they lack affordable inputs, looming climate change, related water scarcity, as well as the challenges land tenure poses.<\/p>\n One of the AWAB members, Martha Nkhoma highlighted that before the initiative; \u201c\u2026no bank ever showed interest in lending me a business working capital loan because though I had worked for a long time as a civil servant, I had accumulated no assets of value to secure loans of significant value to grow and sustain my business.\u201d<\/p>\n To address these challenges, GMT and AWAB convened a community of women-owned businesses and 1,000 smallholder farmers to partner together and work towards growing drought resistant seeds that would be sold to the market. The model assumes a partnership with smallholder farmer groups where farmers are advanced breeder and later certified seeds by the women owned seed companies, and upon harvest, the farmers pay back for the seed. The model also saw the women seeking team financing where their businesses worked together to negotiate a large loan and use that injection to grow their various businesses. The farmers also got various trainings to advance their knowledge in climate-smart agricultural practices.<\/p>\n A number of successes have been registered through this project that show that this approach works and if replicated in other parts of the African continent will see women championing food production on the continent. Over 10 women-owned seed companies were registered as legal entities in Malawi, and productivity increased from 800kg\/hectare to 1500kg and 75% of this seed for example soya bean was certified. The women also managed to secure a team loan that will ensure the growth of their businesses.<\/p>\n As we commemorate International Women\u2019s Day, there is an urgent need for governments and financial institutions to re-examine their policies to ensure that they are gender sensitive. The Trust calls for:<\/p>\n Women in agriculture are gamechangers that will play a critical role in addressing Africa\u2019s food and nutrition challenges. For this to happen, better balance needs to exist when it comes to land ownership, and access to finance for women in agriculture on the African continent. The Gra\u00e7a Machel Trust calls for continued efforts from policymakers and financial institutions to ensure that access and resources do not limit the women\u2019s potential.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n For more information contact:<\/strong><\/p>\n Gwadamirai Majange \u2013 gwadamiraim@gracamacheltrust.org<\/a><\/u><\/p>\n Sarah Mpata \u2013 sarahm@gracamacheltrust.org<\/a><\/u><\/p>\n\n