2SCALE Thematic Papers Gender Mainstreaming in Agribusiness Partnerships | Page 4

1 IN TR ODU CTION 2SCALE training for women in vegetable production, in partnership with East-West Seed - Vegetable Partnership, Mali. Inclusive agribusinesses will play a critical role in the coming decades, not only to feed 9 billion people by 2050, but also to create job opportunities and improve livelihoods for those least integrated into economic channels. An inclusive agribusiness is a business initiative in the agri-food sector that explicitly incorporates low-income and disempowered individuals and groups into the enterprise’s core operations in a way that creates value for both. The latter can play different roles in agricultural value chains, such as: producers of agricultural commodities (smallholder farmers); processors and suppliers of agro-inputs or services (micro and small rural enterprises); workers (e.g., in an agro-processing company); food-product distributors; and food consumers. They can be women, men, young people, or senior people in rural or urban areas. Inclusive agribusiness is not “business as u