Kadir Osman Gyasi: Women working in agriculture are poorly resourced. Even in cultures where they do have access to land, it is often not enough. In Northern Ghana, there were instances where husbands allocated degraded lands infested by striga, a parasitic weed, to their wives. How do the women respond? By adopting technology, including combining organic and mineral fertilizers and cultivating soybean varieties that can control striga. They reduced the infestation levels - demonstrating their ability to restore Africa’s hugely degraded lands through better cropping practices.
What actions can we take at global, regional and national levels to improve women’s empowerment?
Aifa Fatimata Niane Ndoye: The first crucial piece to empower women in agriculture is women producers' access to quality inputs, and modern technologies and innovations. Second, these hard investments must be combined with soft investments: projects in the Gambia, the Sahel region, and Guinea-Bissau have financed both - building boreholes to have enough water for increased plot sizes and training women to manage and maintain irrigation and solar systems.