Women farmers decry gender inequality in agri-business

Rural women entrepreneurs have called on the government to empower them with capacity building skills through economic integration and food security initiatives.Women entrepreneurs in rural communities are mostly engaged in agriculture and their work is often invisible and excluded from many profitable aspects of agri-business.Gender equality in agricultural activities in rural communities remains a challenge among women whose husbands deny access to resources such as land, credit, and other services.Josephine Mukayiranga, the vice president of a cassava flour processing company in Ruhuha Sector, Bugesera District, said that some men in rural societies exclude their wives from more profitable aspects of agri-enterprises.“We do most of the agricultural work but we are not recognised in the community. We want the government to empower us so that our work is valued,” she said.Mukayiranga stated that, Non-Government Organisations like the International Fertilizer Development Center (IFDC) supports them in agricultural production.“IFDC has taught us better farming methods and the cassava production has increased dramatically in the last two years,” she said.She said that, IFDC facilitates them to access credit from microfinance institutions and gives them capacity building skills.IFDC is a public international organization that addresses critical issues such as international food security, the alleviation of global hunger and poverty, environmental protection, and the promotion of economic development and self-sufficiency.Caritas Kayirisa, the gender specialist at the Ministry of Agriculture, said the government was putting in place mechanisms to ensure that there is gender equity in agricultural value chain.She made the remarks recently while meeting women agriculturists from all over the country in a roundtable discussion that focused on gender equity in agriculture.“We should consider the work done by women because they are the ones who do most of the agricultural chores,” she noted.According to a report released last year by farmer entrepreneurship promotion group, Agri-Hub Rwanda, poverty remains concentrated in rural areas and conditions in agriculture are especially difficult for women.The report, which is titled “A woman’s Business: Gender equity in agricultural value chains”, states that despite the fact that Rwanda is ahead in addressing gender parity in Africa, respecting gender value chains in agricultural work remains a challenge.“We want to break this perception where most of the women’s work is attributed to their husbands in rural communities,” Kayirisa said.For Rose Mukamusonera, a maize producer from Muhazi Sector in Rwamagana District, the government should step up efforts to empower them economically.“Our work is not visible and recognized at all in our communities because it’s attributed to our husbands, which is really discouraging,” she said.Mukamusonera noted that IFDC trained them in new farming technologies and provided them with high-quality agro-inputs including fertilizer and high-yielding seed varieties.Kayirisa further said that if women had the same access to resources as men, they could increase farm yields and become leaders and agents of change for economic growth, social progress and sustainable development.According to John Veerkamp, the country representative of IFDC, gender equality and rural women’s empowerment are central to IFDC’s mandate to achieve food security for all.“The concern for increasing the quality of life for rural women can be seen in the general concern to alleviate the socio-economic status of the rural poor household,” he said.“Rural women should be empowered because most of them are small business entrepreneurs and investors who dedicate most of their earnings to the well-being of their families and societies.”