Working with Women: An Essential Component of Global Food Security and Agricultural Development

Throughout sub-Saharan Africa, food insecurity and malnutrition remain major barriers to development. Hunger has risen at a steady 2 percent per year in sub-Saharan Africa since 2007, 1 and over 22.7 million people across the region are undernourished. 2 , 3 Compounding the problem are population growth and urban migration, which are on the rise throughout the region. The population is expected to jump from just over 1 billion people to 1.6 billion by 2030, 4 and, for the first time, Africa's urban population will be larger than its rural population. As the demand for food increases and people move out of the agricultural sector into the burgeoning economies of developing cities, the need for higher quality, more efficient, and increasingly productive agriculture will be more urgent than ever. In sub-Saharan Africa, women produce between 60 and 80 percent of the food consumed, 5 and this gender disparity will only increase as economic growth in urban areas drives men to seek higher-paying jobs outside their rural hometowns. Therefore, any effort to address these issues in a meaningful way must have a focus on women. The underlying causes of global hunger and food insecurity are complex and manifold. Access to agricultural information and education, high-quality inputs, reliable markets and supply chains, and a range of nutritious crops all play a major role in determining the overall food security of a region. Although women farm the majority of the land and make many essential household decisions around food security, ...