Global Forum on Food Security and Nutrition (FSN Forum)

Inequalities

Women and youths in this region have the following challenges as inequality:

- inaccessibility to land

- lack of finance

- lack of agricultural support tools from government agencies

- no place in decision making

- lack of access to information and training

- cultural barriers

Best practices

My recommendation for best practices so far include:

Most lands in our communities should be shared equally with women given the right to access and own lands. With this, women and youths who constitutes the main labour force working tirelessly to produce food will be able to cultivate and increase production due to access to land.

Women like men should be given access to loans. This can be done through the creation of cooperatives by bringing together women in rural communities to come as one under a single plateform to manage their own finance and resources and create institituitions where they can be able to take loan and credits with little or no collateral.

Government agencies should assist rural women and youths in supplying them with agricultural tools, such as hoes, machets, improved seeds and even organic fertilisers, lives birds, ruminants and feed and vaccines. This will boost production in the agricultural sector thereby increasing resilience and food availability and security.

Women and youths, especially girl children, should be given an oppurtunity to play a role in community leadership and decision making especially on issues of agriculture and environmental management. Women are natural managers and thus if given a role they are going to take credible decisions that will build trust and confidence amongst them.

Women and youths should be offered free informal training courses to assist them in gaining modern knowledge on agricultural practices. This is a great stem in helping the local women and youths to understand the environmental effects of conventional agriculture and thereby being encouraged or motivated to be more involved in sustainable agriculture practices.

Generally, our African culture affects and limits women in aspects of land ownership, decision making and ownership of natural resources. I think working with community leaders to uplift some of these barries can go a long way to reduce inequality and give women the opportunity to take charge in their activities and communities.

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33502362/

Thank you.

Eyongetta Njieassam