Closing the ‘Crop Gap’: Addressing the Inequalities faced by Female Smallholders

Around the world the face of farming is often female. According to the FAO women comprise an average 43% of the agricultural labour force in developing countries, and up to 50% in Eastern and Southeastern Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa. Women’s role in sustaining communities at both a local and regional scale is irrefutable: in Africa female farmers produce an estimated 70% of food. 

As it stands however, women currently produce 20-30% less than male farmers, a phenomenon known as the ‘crop gap’. 

Despite their outsized importance in the global food system, female farmers face a growing number of challenges. Not only do these obstacles negatively impact individual female smallholders, they fundamentally undermine global efforts to address hunger and poverty. 

Growth in small scale agriculture is two to four times more effective at reducing hunger and poverty than any other sector. Giving female farmers the tools and support needed to close the gender gap is projected to supercharge that impact. 

The FAO estimates that closing the gender gap could increase yields on smallholder farms by 20-30%, lifting 100-150 million people out of hunger (equivalent to decreasing global hunger by 17%). 

Not only would yields increase, studies show that increasing women’s incomes produces compounding benefits for their communities. Women invest up to 10 times more of their earnings than men into family and community well-being, including education and preventative healthcare measures such as vaccinations. 

At a national level, this translates into huge financial gains across the board. In Nigeria, the Gates Foundation estimates that closing gender gaps for female farmers could add as much as $9.3 billion to the national economy. 

With so much set to gain, why do female smallholder farmers still face challenges across the globe? And what are the key obstacles in the way of them reaching equality and closing the ‘crop gap’?  

Female smallholder farmers face two compounding sets of challenges. Firstly, the interconnected issues facing smallholders around the world of climate change, supply chain disruption and government instability. The communities Haller works with in Kenya have seen the worst drought in decades, followed by intense periods of rainfall leading to further soil erosion and degradation. 

But in addition to these obstacles, female smallholders around the world face their own unique set of difficulties. Globally, the burden of unpaid domestic tasks falls far more heavily on women. Female farmers bear the brunt of care and reproductive roles within their families and communities, limiting the time they can invest into their agricultural livelihoods. 

In addition, women’s access to land and credit is severely limited. Globally, women own less than 20% of land, often because of historical precedence designed to uphold a patriarchal system of governance. In Kenya for example, over 65% of land is governed by customary laws that actively discriminate against women, meaning female smallholders have to access land through either their husbands or sons.

With limited access to land, female farmers are also challenged by lack of access to credit and other financial services. Globally, female smallholders are seldom the focus of development initiatives. Across 2019-20, just 4% of Official Development Assistance from 31 of the world’s richest countries centred on gender equality and empowerment, and an even smaller fraction of that funding was invested into rural women. In Africa, women receive just 2-5% of agricultural extension services, which provide the technical advice, inputs and services needed for effective farming.  

This lack of access to funds means women are less likely to own livestock, invest in new technologies and machinery, adopt sustainable agriculture practices and other advanced techniques. 

Herein lies another untapped opportunity: research has shown that helping to close the agricultural gender gap in low and middle income countries can lead to greater crop diversity and positive environmental outcomes. Studies pointed to improvements in the number of crops being grown and the number of nutrient dense crops being grown as female smallholders were better equipped with knowledge and funding. If just 50% of farmers adopted regenerative agricultural practices across Africa, by 2040 we could see a 30% reduction in soil erosion, and a 20% increase in soil carbon content. With women accounting for 80% of smallholder farmers in Kenya, they’re set to play a critical role in ensuring the adoption and success of regenerative techniques. 

The focus of regenerative agriculture on moving away from a monoculture also serves to boost female smallholders. The emphasis on year round opportunities for production and harvest means that households no longer receive one lump sum a year, traditionally controlled by the male head of the household. 

It’s a positive feedback loop: women have been shown to instinctively implement more sustainable agricultural practices, and regenerative agricultural techniques produce more positive outcomes for female smallholders. 

Regenerative farming is one underutilised ladder to help lift up female smallholders, but it must sit within a wider system of changes. At a community level there needs to be a focus on education around gender equity, and at an institutional level progress can’t be realised without changes to laws and norms that discriminate against women. 

Haller is committed to helping female smallholders through several different means. Our community outreach programs have a strong focus on family planning, information often otherwise inaccessible. This allows women to better plan for their family size, reducing the burden of childcare and domestic tasks. 

Haller also operates a nano-enterprise system to provide seed capital to female community members, enabling them to start small businesses and manage their money effectively. Helping women move beyond subsistence farming so they can start to build sustainable livelihoods. 

Women’s centrality in global food systems needs to be recognised, and the crop gap addressed, to ensure global movement towards ending poverty and hunger for all. The rhetoric around International Women’s Day must be translated into meaningful action beyond March 8th.