The participation of women in agricultural production is essential to food security and rural
development. However, female farmers face many constraints when linking to modernizing,
closely coordinated agrifood value chains.
Indeed, women are often excluded from market
access opportunities offered by agribusinesses that contract farmers for the production and
delivery of agricultural products, because they lack ownership and control over the necessary
resources for production and marketing.
In some cases, gender equality is not duly addressed by legal, cultural and social norms, which may further contribute to hinder the participation of female farmers in agricultural production and market access.
This study reviews the socio-economic and cultural factors that lead to gender imbalance in
farmers’ access to agrifood value chains and calls for policy incentives, responsible corporate
practices and legal and regulatory reviews in order to promote gender equality and improve
the rights of women farmers in general and of those involved in contract farming in particular.
