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INVESTING IN WOMEN SMALLHOLDER
FARMERS
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UN News Centre
INVESTING IN RURAL WOMEN WILL REDUCE
HUNGER & POVERTY - UN
14 October 2011 –
14 October 2011 - Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon is calling
on the international community to give rural women the same access to
productive resources as men, noting the huge benefits that would ensue, from
increased food production to a drop of 150 million in the number of the world’s
hungry people.
“Despite the heavy responsibility rural women shoulder, they
lack equal access to opportunities and resources,” he said ahead of tomorrow’s
celebration of the International
Day of Rural Women. “This hampers their advancement and holds
all people back.
He cited UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) studies showing that over 100 million
people could be lifted out of poverty if rural women had the same access to
productive resources as men. Productivity on women’s farms would increase up to
30 per cent and the number of hungry people would drop by as much as 17 per
cent, which translates into improvements for up to 150 million individuals.
Currently the number of hungry people worldwide is estimated at
around 1 billion.
“The benefits would reverberate even further as these women’s
children gain better access to health services, education and nutrition,” Mr.
Ban said. “We know how to achieve these gains: invest in rural women; eliminate
discrimination against them in law and in practice; ensure that policies
respond to their needs; give them equal access to resources; provide rural
women with a role in decision-making.”
“These measures will help drive sustainable development – one of
the great imperatives of the twenty-first century. As we prepare for the United Nations Conference on
Sustainable Development, to be held next year in
He noted that study after study has demonstrated that rural
women are pivotal to addressing hunger, malnutrition and poverty, as farmers
and nurturers, entrepreneurs and educators, healers and helpers who can
contribute to food security and economic growth in the world’s most remote and
vulnerable settings.
General Assembly President Nassir Abdulaziz Al-Nasser also
stressed the critical contribution of rural women in enhancing agricultural and
rural development, improving food security and eradicating rural poverty, and
called on Member States, the UN system and civil society to continue their
efforts to improve their living conditions and quality of life and help them
achieve sustainable development.
“More needs to be done to harness the contribution of rural
women to development,” he said. “Currently there is a gender gap in
agriculture, linked to women’s weaker access to land rights, modern
technologies and financing. If women farmers had stronger legal rights and
greater business opportunities, millions of people would be better fed.”