Pierre says: Female farmers in South Africa
[{“type”:”text”,”content”:”The problem? Gender specific obstacles such as lack of access to land, financing, markets, agricultural training and education, suitable working conditions and equal treatment. We must agree that this puts female farmers at a significant disadvantage long before they plough a field or buy a cattle farm. This sounds very much like the problems we have in making a success of land reform!nnLorie Fleenor, 33, is an eighth-generation Bristol, Tennessee, farmer. u201cIt is easier to have my husband, Ben, handle business transactions and phone calls for the family farm, even though I run the farm and make the decisions. I guess being a woman, I have to go above and beyond to prove myself,u201d she says.nnIt is a fact that, on average, women-run farms produce 20-30% less than farms run by men. According to the FAO the reasons for this have nothing to do with aptitude for farming, but everything to do with the gender-specific obstacles. According to the FAO the empowerment of women will result in women achieving their highest economic potential and help feed a hungry world. nnI donu2019t think we can disagree with the position that the FAO takes on this very important issue. The above refers to the USA and the United Nations. The question we must answer is whether anything is significantly different in South Africa. I believe that our history and circumstances resulted in us being in a worse position when weu2019re confronted by the record of womenu2019s participation in the agricultural value chain and especially in farming. Furthermore, we must decide what we are going to do about it?”,”position”:0,”id”:”cJLYvONJI847uuGC”}]