Women: Zambia's neglected food
heroes
By DOREEN NAWA
IT is undoubted to say that household
food security in Zambia and southern Africa has a female face.
This is because
women and girls form the majority of farmers.
"The prevalence, depth, and severity of poverty are greater in rural Zambia and the region as a whole and this is because women who are Africa's food heroes have been neglected. No support and no clear policies to back their interests," says Elizabeth Mpofu, chairperson of the Eastern and Southern Africa small-scale Farmers' Forum (ESAFF).
According to Ms Mpofu, girls and women form part of the informal economy and only own tiny portions of land producing small volumes of food.
According to Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) 80 percent of Zambia's food is produced by small holder farmers whose majority are women.
Naturally in Zambia, women farmers are often more productive than men and will ensure that the family has access to food and good nutrition.
But these women, 'the food heroes' in Zambia and other developing countries lack support to effectively produce enough food in order to fight poverty and hunger.
It is against this background that issues of women were at the centre of discussion at the meeting.
It has been noted that issues of women in food production must be tackled carefully to counter poverty and hunger and in turn ensure food security.
Speaking during a regional policy dialogue on food security in Lusaka, Beatrice Makwenda, and programmes coordinator from the National Smallholder Farmers Association of Malawi (NASFAM) says: "Food security could not be achieved without women, and that the world's hungry also needed leaders to prioritise actions.
There is need for a major endorsement for investment in women because they are the bulk of food growers in the developing world which include Zambia and Malawi."
Ms Makwenda says despite women being the major household food producers in the developing world, the women face many challenges at the moment like increased production costs, impact of climate change and access to finance.
"It is time to recognize that women are the most important part of the food security and without them there will be no food. We are asking policy-makers and other stakeholders to work in closer partnership with women to listen and respond to their needs in the region or developing countries are to overcome food insecurity," says Ms Makwenda.
General poverty and hunger in Zambia has continued to increase but statistics show that the country's food security conditions remain stable.
But Ms Makwenda says if nothing is done to address the current challenges that women farmers are faced with, the country's food security conditions may not remain stable.
It comes as no surprise why it has been hard to achieve food security in Africa, according to Ms Makwenda, part of the reason for it being so tough is that while women's labour force participation in agriculture is the highest in Africa, less than one in four agriculture researchers are women, and this has left us underserved throughout the agriculture value chain. "Women were not at the decision-making table on food priorities.
Although bringing them on board is not the answer to every problem, it would ensure better and faster progress, and small-scale farmers - a majority of whom are women in Africa - would be better served by means of boosting food production and enhancing livelihoods.
The Zambia Vulnerability Assessment has revealed that most households are food secure despite a small decrease in overall staple food production.
Zambia is ranked 164th out of 187 countries on the Human Development Index and was recently reclassified as a lower-middle-income country by the World Bank.
Poverty and food insecurity are widespread in both rural and urban areas, and Zambia remains extremely vulnerable to recurring natural disasters, including floods, drought and animal disease.
Food security is fragile because subsistence farmers depend on rainfall and traditional hoe cultivation.
Even in years of national food surplus, many subsistence farmers struggle to make ends meet. According to the United Nations World Food Programme, most households in Zambia are currently food secure, with only 62,842 of the country's estimated 13.4 million people being acutely food insecure.
Taking stock of regional efforts towards curriculum reform in agricultural education, to be fully inclusive of women and youth would be step in the right direction.
According to Deputy Minister of Agriculture, Nicholas Banda, small-holder farmers including women are key to the food security in Zambia and globally.
The deputy minister says in order to improve productivity and farming methods, rural women need technical advice, information and training.
"A good development strategy would recognise the (crucial) role of educating and training rural women to improve production and productivity; promote women-friendly farming technologies that could reduce [the work day] and give women more time for other income-generating activities," says Mr Banda.
Women who are at the centre of food production in Zambia face numerous challenges that have been ignored for quite some time.
One of the small-scale farmers representatives at the meeting Lubono Mweemba of Chibombo area says lack of proper infrastructure such as feeder roads, inadequate provision of inputs such as fertilizers and seeds, poor access to markets have been a drawback against increased agricultural production.
"We need a new generation of leaders who are innovative, visionary, entrepreneurial, well-skilled and gender-responsive, and they have to respond to the priority needs of small-holders, most of whom are women," Ms Mweemba said.
Ms Mweemba believes that there is an urgent need to change the attitude and mindset within rural communities, where male dominance prevails in all sectors of development.
"Men should work together with women, recognising that the issue of gender [inequality] affects both men and women, though women feel it more acutely. Men should be fully involved in the goals of reaching sustainable development and reducing gender inequality," Ms Mweemba says. Despite the fact that women make up over 75 percent of agricultural workers and livestock-keepers in developing countries and constitute the majority of food producers, processors and marketers in Africa, their role in determining policies in the agricultural sector still remains a minor one.
According to Ms Mweemba, deep-rooted cultural perceptions could be one reason. "Women's opinions are not valued and their rights [are seldom] acknowledged.
Age-old barriers like the patriarchal system need to be addressed by engaging not only the government but also traditional [village or district] leaders," Ms Mweemba says.
Ms Mweemba says another reason is the lack of access and control over land and all productive resources, as well as the fact that the highest rates of illiteracy are among women, particularly rural women.
"The government should back its agricultural policies with the relevant legal frameworks in support of the development of small-holder women.
They should support women's involvement in the formulation, implementation and review of the budgeting process to ensure that resource allocations are gender-responsive," says Ms Mweemba.
There is also the challenge of implementing other regional gender protocols and conventions that have already been signed but not fully implemented, like the Protocol on the Rights of Women in Africa.
Agriculture is not the sector for the past; it is the sector for the future and anything done to improve it is worth doing.
By DOREEN NAWA
IT is undoubted to say that household
food security in Zambia and southern Africa has a female face. "The prevalence, depth, and severity of poverty are greater in rural Zambia and the region as a whole and this is because women who are Africa's food heroes have been neglected. No support and no clear policies to back their interests," says Elizabeth Mpofu, chairperson of the Eastern and Southern Africa small-scale Farmers' Forum (ESAFF).
According to Ms Mpofu, girls and women form part of the informal economy and only own tiny portions of land producing small volumes of food.
According to Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) 80 percent of Zambia's food is produced by small holder farmers whose majority are women.
Naturally in Zambia, women farmers are often more productive than men and will ensure that the family has access to food and good nutrition.
But these women, 'the food heroes' in Zambia and other developing countries lack support to effectively produce enough food in order to fight poverty and hunger.
It is against this background that issues of women were at the centre of discussion at the meeting.
It has been noted that issues of women in food production must be tackled carefully to counter poverty and hunger and in turn ensure food security.
Speaking during a regional policy dialogue on food security in Lusaka, Beatrice Makwenda, and programmes coordinator from the National Smallholder Farmers Association of Malawi (NASFAM) says: "Food security could not be achieved without women, and that the world's hungry also needed leaders to prioritise actions.
There is need for a major endorsement for investment in women because they are the bulk of food growers in the developing world which include Zambia and Malawi."
Ms Makwenda says despite women being the major household food producers in the developing world, the women face many challenges at the moment like increased production costs, impact of climate change and access to finance.
"It is time to recognize that women are the most important part of the food security and without them there will be no food. We are asking policy-makers and other stakeholders to work in closer partnership with women to listen and respond to their needs in the region or developing countries are to overcome food insecurity," says Ms Makwenda.
General poverty and hunger in Zambia has continued to increase but statistics show that the country's food security conditions remain stable.
But Ms Makwenda says if nothing is done to address the current challenges that women farmers are faced with, the country's food security conditions may not remain stable.
It comes as no surprise why it has been hard to achieve food security in Africa, according to Ms Makwenda, part of the reason for it being so tough is that while women's labour force participation in agriculture is the highest in Africa, less than one in four agriculture researchers are women, and this has left us underserved throughout the agriculture value chain. "Women were not at the decision-making table on food priorities.
Although bringing them on board is not the answer to every problem, it would ensure better and faster progress, and small-scale farmers - a majority of whom are women in Africa - would be better served by means of boosting food production and enhancing livelihoods.
The Zambia Vulnerability Assessment has revealed that most households are food secure despite a small decrease in overall staple food production.
Zambia is ranked 164th out of 187 countries on the Human Development Index and was recently reclassified as a lower-middle-income country by the World Bank.
Poverty and food insecurity are widespread in both rural and urban areas, and Zambia remains extremely vulnerable to recurring natural disasters, including floods, drought and animal disease.
Food security is fragile because subsistence farmers depend on rainfall and traditional hoe cultivation.
Even in years of national food surplus, many subsistence farmers struggle to make ends meet. According to the United Nations World Food Programme, most households in Zambia are currently food secure, with only 62,842 of the country's estimated 13.4 million people being acutely food insecure.
Taking stock of regional efforts towards curriculum reform in agricultural education, to be fully inclusive of women and youth would be step in the right direction.
According to Deputy Minister of Agriculture, Nicholas Banda, small-holder farmers including women are key to the food security in Zambia and globally.
The deputy minister says in order to improve productivity and farming methods, rural women need technical advice, information and training.
"A good development strategy would recognise the (crucial) role of educating and training rural women to improve production and productivity; promote women-friendly farming technologies that could reduce [the work day] and give women more time for other income-generating activities," says Mr Banda.
Women who are at the centre of food production in Zambia face numerous challenges that have been ignored for quite some time.
One of the small-scale farmers representatives at the meeting Lubono Mweemba of Chibombo area says lack of proper infrastructure such as feeder roads, inadequate provision of inputs such as fertilizers and seeds, poor access to markets have been a drawback against increased agricultural production.
"We need a new generation of leaders who are innovative, visionary, entrepreneurial, well-skilled and gender-responsive, and they have to respond to the priority needs of small-holders, most of whom are women," Ms Mweemba said.
Ms Mweemba believes that there is an urgent need to change the attitude and mindset within rural communities, where male dominance prevails in all sectors of development.
"Men should work together with women, recognising that the issue of gender [inequality] affects both men and women, though women feel it more acutely. Men should be fully involved in the goals of reaching sustainable development and reducing gender inequality," Ms Mweemba says. Despite the fact that women make up over 75 percent of agricultural workers and livestock-keepers in developing countries and constitute the majority of food producers, processors and marketers in Africa, their role in determining policies in the agricultural sector still remains a minor one.
According to Ms Mweemba, deep-rooted cultural perceptions could be one reason. "Women's opinions are not valued and their rights [are seldom] acknowledged.
Age-old barriers like the patriarchal system need to be addressed by engaging not only the government but also traditional [village or district] leaders," Ms Mweemba says.
Ms Mweemba says another reason is the lack of access and control over land and all productive resources, as well as the fact that the highest rates of illiteracy are among women, particularly rural women.
"The government should back its agricultural policies with the relevant legal frameworks in support of the development of small-holder women.
They should support women's involvement in the formulation, implementation and review of the budgeting process to ensure that resource allocations are gender-responsive," says Ms Mweemba.
There is also the challenge of implementing other regional gender protocols and conventions that have already been signed but not fully implemented, like the Protocol on the Rights of Women in Africa.
Agriculture is not the sector for the past; it is the sector for the future and anything done to improve it is worth doing.
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