Can Africa feed itself? The role of the woman/L'Afrique peut-elle se nourrir elle-meme? Le role de la femme.

AuthorMuigei, Nancy Chepkoech

Agriculture accounts for 30% of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and women contribute 60-80% of the labour used to produce food both for household consumption and for sale. In Benin 70% of the female population live in rural areas, where they carry out 60-80% of the agricultural work and furnish up to 44% of the work necessary for household subsistence and in Congo, Women account for 73% of those economically active in agriculture and produce more than 80% of the food crops (IFAD, 1993:6).

The number of hungry people in Africa has continually risen despite it being the back bone of many economies in Africa and women are caught in this crisis, an increase of 20% from 176 million in 1993 to 210 million in 2006. Alarming reports of the food crisis and soaring prices have been blamed on lower agricultural production, weather shocks, more meat consumption and shifts to biofuels crops, reports from the World Bank indicate. The wheat prices are up 120%, rice's are up 75% and yet poor families spend up to 80% of their budget on food.

Africa is said to be larger than the US, Europe, Brazil, Australia and Japan combined and its GDP of 47 economies of Sub-Saharan Africa in aggregate approximately GDP of Belgium so why the disconnect? Can Africa feed itself? And can the role played by women be ignored?

Back in my village in Emgwen Constituency, Nandi North District, in Kenya, I have observed my grandmother Kobot Samoea a widow, carry out her daily activities, where she wakes up very early in the morning to milk her 2 cows at 6.00am, then proceeds to weed her vegetables until 8.00am, then lives for the market to sell her milk and a tittle vegetables from her small Shamba. Speaking to my grandmother she tells me unlike 10years ago when she could sustain herself through her little farming in her small farm, she now cannot afford fertilizers or to use the modern technology as she sees our rich neighbours employ in their farms. The cost of production has increased and with the global food crisis, energy crisis and oil prices she is unable to continue farming but rather depend on hand outs and food donation.

So what needs to be done to mitigate on this crisis, where women are trapped and are unable to provide enough foods for themselves and Africa as they constitute to the majority in the continent who play a vital role in agriculture? What ways could be embraced to ensure that Africa is able to move away from this crisis and provide sufficient to feed...

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