More Women More Farms
The second activity is to involve more women in the farming community. The program is called More Women More Farms.
Giving women equal access in farming will ensure that all hands are on deck on the pathway to achieving food and nutrition security globally. It is estimated that 40 – 50% of the world’s farming population is made up of women, playing active roles in different parts of the food value-chain from production to marketing. Succinctly, women play strategic roles in farming as they are often referred to as better managers and multi-taskers.
In developing countries of Asia and Africa, it is reported that agriculture is the most important sector to women. Despite their active involvement in food production and marketing, women are rarely recognized as farm managers or given opportunities to make farm decisions.
This is as a result of societal and cultural beliefs that prevent them from engaging actively in farming. This activity will encourage the participation of women in farming communities, improve their capacity to produce more agricultural commodities as well as bridge gender gaps in farming. With this activity, we will be looking at farms where women are underrepresented or where they are overlooked to select women to be part of a training program.
There are two important parts of the training which are, strategic planning and post-harvest management. The strategic planning section will focus on preparing ahead of farming seasons, knowing what and when to plant, sourcing the right inputs as well as adopting resource efficient methods. It will also involve training them on best agricultural and sustainable soil management practices as well as improved technologies that will increase their output with minimal environmental trade-offs. The training on post-harvest management on the other hand will focus on identifying the best markets for their produce before harvest, best packaging methods that appeal to consumers as well as how best to store surpluses for off-season periods. Also, some of the women trained will be packaged to access credit facilities and other opportunities to improve their businesses.
The training modules will be prepared by Nicaise Sheila Sagbo and specialists located in the country where the training will be conducted. The activity will be conducted partly in the United States and in developing countries such as Benin, Togo, Niger, and Burkina Faso. The foundation will assign 20% of its total time for this activity. It will be funded grants that Gleme Foundation Co will apply to, and donations from individuals and entities. The expenses related to this activity are 20% of the overall budget. It furthers our mission to make agriculture accessible to everyone. The trainings will enable women contribute significantly to food production, improve their livelihoods and thus, motivate more women who are interested in farming.