Assétou KAFANDO
FEATURE
The challenge
The gender parity gap in the agriculture sector remains a challenge for women – especially those in developing nations .
While sub-Saharan African women contribute between 60 and 80 percent of the labor for food production , they tend to have lower productivity due to their lack of access to key resources such as credit and farm inputs .
In Asia , the case is similar , though the cultural landscape can considerably differ between countries and regions . In both continents , improving women ’ s access to agricultural knowledge , technology , and resources is of utmost importance for achieving Sustainable Development Goal ( SDG ) 2 : Zero Hunger .
IFDC works to create and strengthen market linkages for female farmers .
With those in place , technology transfer , coupled with training in good agricultural practices ( GAPs ) and business management , enables them to be increasingly productive .
The following stories from our projects show that empowering women and increasing their engagement in agriculture boost family incomes , nutrition , and well-being .
Assétou KAFANDO
Burkinabé producer Assétou Kafando established her farm in 2009 . Like many other female farmers in sub- Saharan Africa , she lacked access to basic farming resources . From that time , though , she worked hard to create an integrated farm that now includes cultivated plots , cattle and sheep raising , artificial insemination of livestock , a biogas and organic manure production system , and food and feed storage facilities .
During one planting season last year , she more than doubled her production of maize through learning and applying GAPs . To make the most of her money , she followed project training to treat and store her production for a time when prices were higher .
Her joy and knowledge spread quickly through the Benkadi Lomé Women ’ s Group , as other women learned from and applied her knowledge . With an expected sales revenue of about U . S . $ 1,100 , Assétou made plans to further develop her farming operation through mechanization .
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