In some countries of Africa, including Sudan, women work in agriculture and various handicrafts such as pottery, palm tree products. I will talk briefly about the work of rural women in agriculture.
Women - married or unmarried - carry out all the traditional agricultural operations of a harsh nature on her physical constitution, but she bears all those in order to:
1/ Provide a material income for her family throughout the periods following the agricultural season, which is related only to autumn (rainfed agriculture).
2/ Providing a stock of agricultural products to meet the needs of the family throughout the year.
Thus, you have participated in providing:
1/ Food security
2/ Nutrition: by preparing daily meals for her family members as well as, many dried meals to be stored and consumed throughout the year.
With all of what was mentioned above, we find that women do not find sufficient support from the family men (father, husband or brother). Rather, their rights are digested and they do not even receive a word of thanks for all this mighty work.
So, I address the following:
1/ Training of women working in the agricultural field;
2/ Transferring to her simple technologies that are easy to trade and work with;
3/ Financing women with rewarding and non-pressurizing financing terms for capital recovery;
4/ Ensuring the education of her children;
5/ Provide a stable, safe and clean environment;
6/ Ensuring nearby markets to sell and exchange their products;
7/ A guarantee that she will obtain a financial profit of her own in return for the work she does and for the agricultural products she sells and other processed or handcrafts.
Prof. Dr. Nawal Abdel-Gayoum Abdel-Rahman
General Director of
National food Research Centre
Khartoun North, Khartoum
Sudan
Nawal Abdel-Gayoum Abdel-Rahman