UN programme instructs women on climate-resilient farming - UN Women

UN programme instructs women on climate-resilient farming | UN Women - Headquarters

“Although commercial farming is still a male-dominated industry where women have to work doubly hard, the reality is that women have always been farmers, working the land and producing food”, said Disebo Makatsa, a South African woman who turned her mother’s vegetable garden into Dee-Y Trading, a 368-hectare vegetable and dairy farm in Free State province.

“What many small-scale women farmers need are skills, finance, technology, and access to markets, to move into the formal economy”, she said.

Makatsa is one of 4,560 South African women farmers who received training through the UN Women and FAO programme, supported by Standard Bank.

In South Africa, the programme has focused on helping them grow crops including maize and beans. In Malawi, UN Women reached 10,461 women, with a focus on growing ground nuts. In Uganda, it helped 1,400 women learn to cultivate farm-raised fish, and in Nigeria the programme reached 12,500 women with techniques to produce shea butter and rice.