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Vaidah Mashangwa
AGRICULTURAL transformation in Africa should promote sustainable livelihoods and contribute to the eradication of poverty. To live a life free from hunger is a fundamental human right enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural rights. The country’s economic blueprint Zim-Asset also has Food Security and Nutrition and Social Services and Poverty Eradication as some of its clusters. This on its own emphasises the need for governments to invest in agriculture so as to improve yields. According to the World Bank, extreme poverty decreased from 28 percent in 1990 to 19 percent in 2002, and was projected to fall by 10 percent by 2015. At the moment, results have been positive in East Asia and the Pacific where the target of the Millennium Development Goals has already been met.

In Sub-Saharan Africa, the percentage of people living in poverty was 46.9 percent in 2010.Hunger encourages child labour, leads to the increase in school drop outs particularly of girls, promotes out-migration, prostitution and child trafficking, permanent destitution and underweight children. Statistics say the annual maize requirement for the country is 1.8 million tonnes and according to the Zimbabwe Commercial Farmers’ Union, the country has the potential to surpass annual national requirements provided inputs are availed in time.

The 2013/2014 planting season was described as a good season compared to the previous season despite the flooding of the Tokwe-Mukosi dam basin in Masvingo and in Tsholotsho, Matabeleland North province. Maize production rose to 1.3 million tonnes up from 799,000 in 2013, tobacco from 166 million kgs to 180 million kgs in 2014 and cotton production was also expected to increase in 2014. According to the Journal of Social Development in Africa it must be borne in mind that most of the agriculture surplus is produced by female labour and controlled by men. While there are commercial farmers, most of the women in the rural areas are small-scale farmers and their contribution to the food production in the country is immense though it is usually unrecognised.

Given the importance of women’s agricultural employment in rural areas, policies to make small-scale farming more productive are essential in redressing women’s socio-economic disadvantage in agrarian settings. It is estimated that small farms of less than two hectares occupy 60 percent of the arable land worldwide and that these contribute substantially to global farming production.

In Africa, 90 percent of agricultural production is derived from small-scale farms hence the need for African states to support small-scale farmers. The small-scale women farmers require improved access to agriculture inputs, services and markets to increase their farming returns. According to the World Bank, agriculture as a basis for economic growth requires a productivity revolution in small holder farmers.

It is important for governments, especially in Africa, to note the heterogeneous nature of the agricultural sector, the first area of heterogeneity being the core existence of large commercial farmers alongside small-scale farmers who are mostly women. These small-scale farmers deliver surpluses to food markets and therefore share in the benefits of expanding markets. In most instances, the small-scale women farmers are in subsistence farming mainly due to low asset endowments and unfavourable contexts such as lack of inputs, infrastructure, health services and proper sanitation.

The contribution of women to food security is constrained due to the fact they are typically marginalised at household production and consumption levels. At household level, they cannot make decisions about land selection, type of crop to grow, labour and expenditure. The general lack of access to credit and microfinance makes it hard for women to hire labour, access new technologies, purchase inputs such as fertiliser and improved seed varieties that increase yields and grow crops that require cash investments.

Women have limited access to markets as they are generally established and maintained through relationships among men. There is a 20 to 30 percent yield gap between women and men farmers due to input differentials. The role of women in reducing poverty through agricultural production can be enhanced by increasing their managerial and technical capacity. Women’s access to land and their degree of land tenure security on private and communal land can also be improved through implementing land policies and laws oriented towards equal rights for men and women.

Although some countries are at an advanced stage in terms of formulating gender sensitive policies, laws and other instruments, women received 20 percent of land under the recent land reform programme. In countries such as Tanzania and Ethiopia land administrative committees at the local level are required to have at least one female member. Ethiopia’s land programme also requires that certificates for women bear their photographs to help retain control over the land.

If women are supported in agricultural processes, they are able to open a range of small, medium and micro enterprises as well as take part in the Value-Addition and Beneficiation cluster of Zim-Asset through agro-processing. Women can also be assisted in the creation of community-level water harvesting facilities and land rehabilitation initiatives. Ethiopia is far advanced in that area. This is important since farmers depend on rain-fed cultivation often under difficult climatic conditions. In Kenya, women farmers pooled themselves to establish savings associations, credit facilities and also obtained better trading terms with stockists and traders.

There is increased evidence that increasing women’s but not men’s access to credit increases total household expenditures and improve the long term food security of children and households. States should therefore mainstream opportunities for women with regards to inputs, marketing and institutional finance. Women should also be strongly represented in national farmer organisations as they are generally not represented in most local level decision making bodies.

Countries such as Ghana, Kenya, Mali, Nigeria, Rwanda, Senegal and Tanzania have recently introduced new input subsidy programs. In Malawi, the subsidy program targets poor small scale farmers and this has assisted female-headed households to a great extent. The Ministry of Women Affairs, Gender and Community Development was created for the purpose of accelerating gender equity and equality for the development of communities in pursuant of government’s objectives towards an egalitarian society and the emancipation of women.

The ministry encourages women to identify and undertake agricultural oriented income-generating projects and establishment of saving clubs through the Internal Savings and Lending Programme. The ministry also provides loans to women under the Women Development Fund. If African states, including Zimbabwe, are to reduce food insecurity and achieve sustainable growth, there is dire need to support the agricultural efforts of small- scale women farmers.

Vaidah Mashangwa is the provincial development officer in the Ministry of Women Affairs, Gender and Community Development. She can be contacted on 0772111592 or email [email protected]