Women’s Day: What is the importance of women in agriculture?

In Peru, about 5 out of 10 farmers are rural women, who account for more than half of the country’s food production.

However, a report from the National Statistical and Informatics Institute (INEI) indicates that although women are of great importance in domestic trade in agricultural products, the participation of men tends to be more active.

According to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), equal participation can go a long way in fighting hunger. The body says that if women had the same access to resources as men, food production would increase by almost 30%, resulting in 150 million fewer people in the world going hungry.

“Rural women need more opportunities to participate, improve their skills, gain access to assets and participate in production and marketing farm products”, they point out.

Only in Peru was it found that women working in agriculture report various barriers that prevent them from playing a more active role in economic development from the country:

• They have little access to productive resources and credit.
• Lack of technical assistance and training needed to improve their performance.
• Few own land or have small plots of poor quality. They have an average of 1.8 hectares of agricultural land, while men in the same condition have 3 hectares.

With regard to land, it is noted that it is not recorded in any agency that women have more hectares of agricultural land than men, and on average, out of every 10 landowners, almost 7 are men and 3 are women.

In addition, most women farmers50% do not have ownership and have not started the process and only 12% have ownership.

In terms of access to credit, recent data show that only 6.4% of all female agricultural producers have applied for credit.

Most of women farmers they choose not to apply for a loan because of the conditions they have in the financial system, the high cost or interest rate, and the requirement for guarantees and cumbersome procedures.

It should be kept in mind that the income level of the client is an important factor when applying for a loan, and data show that women in rural areas receive the lowest income of their own.

The average income of men in rural areas there were 1166 soles, female – only 764, i.e., about 400 soles less.

In addition, it is estimated that up to 90% of their earnings are invested in food, nutrition, health care, education and other income-generating activities, since in many cases women are the breadwinners of the family.

In other cases, the situation is aggravated, since in rural areas 43.1%, or four out of 10 women, do not have income their own, so they are economically dependent on third parties, such as their father or husband, since the activities they perform are not paid.