Women are key to agriculture and food security in Sudan
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Authors
Siham Osman
Issue Date
2016-03
Type
Language
en
Keywords
Agriculture , Gender
Alternative Title
Abstract
In Sudan, women have always been active in agriculture and food security, constituting 17% of the total agricultural labor. Women also bear almost the entire burden of household work including water and fuel wood collection and food processing and preparation (FAO, 1994). Women’s participation is significant in subsistence food production for household consumption. In Northern and Eastern states, women’s participation in agriculture is confined to their households, while in Western and Central states; women have always been active in agriculture within and outside household compounds. They contribute 80% to 90% of labour for household production and 70 percent of total labour for agricultural production. Yet, despite all their contributions and the role they play in the agricultural sector and household food security, they have restricted access to land ownership, agricultural inputs and credit; all of which are needed to be economically successful and can make it difficult for them to escape poverty or provide food for their families. In this regard, Practical Action for the last 15 years has been working with rural women in North Darfur, Kassala and the Blue Nile states addressing these issues through a series of projects focusing on economic and social development programs with the expectation of achieving the goals of empowering women with productive capacities and skills. Practical Action has identified two approaches as imperative for female empowerment, the first is social mobilization and collective agency; second is economic security. As long as the disadvantaged suffer from economic deprivation and livelihood insecurity, they will not be in a position to mobilise. Practical Action prioritise women-headed households in all its interventions, ensuring women have access to project benefits. The women’s farm is one of Practical Action’s initiatives to improve food security for the targeted families. This activity targeted the most vulnerable people; through increasing availability and quality of food for targeted groups and improves their access and utilization of nutritious food. On the other hand, it offers them a source of income. Moreover, they developed higher self-esteem, became more visible in their communities and more mobile. In Kassala state, six women group farms have been established as agricultural associations, with involvement of Kassala Women Development Associations (KWDAN) for organizational building, and the Ministry of Agriculture-horticulture department for technical support in vegetable cultivation. Practical Action facilitated implementation through strengthening linkages between the partners, women farmers and the Village Development Committees (VDCs). With support and guidance, the women farmers have gained the necessary skills in agriculture and successfully harvested vegetable crops (okra, cucumber, Jews mallow, purslane, rocket & carrots) which are used for home consumption as well as marketing the surplus to other villagers. Furthermore the women farmers are receiving training in cooking demonstrations to use the farm products for the first time in the villages facilitated by KWDAN. “We are happy to have a piece of land where we are able to cultivate and gain experience in vegetable farming methods. We are proud to be a farmer to produce, eat and feed our families with nutritious food and thus ensuring better health,” said one woman farmer. Another woman from the Group said: “I grow cucumber, okra, mulukhia (Jute leaves), and some fruits. The price of fresh okra in the market is 5 SDG and the dry one is 2 SDG. I use it for cooking twice a day, which means I save from 4 to 10 SDG each time during the harvesting period – from okra alone, besides the other vegetables grown in the farm” Blog link - http://practicalaction.org/blog/news/campaigns/women-are-key-to-agriculture-and-food-security-in-sudan/