Relevance and feasibility of women’s involvement in promoting sustainable food production and security in Southern Africa

Sustentabilidade em Debate

Endereço:
Campus Universitário Darcy Ribeiro - Gleba A, Bloco C - Av. L3 Norte, - junto ao Centro de Excelência em Turismo - CET) - Asa Norte
Brasília – DF / DF
70.904-970
Site: https://periodicos.unb.br/index.php/sust/index
Telefone: (61) 3107-6000
ISSN: 2179-9067
Editor Chefe: Marcel Bursztyn
Início Publicação: 30/09/2010
Periodicidade: Semestral
Área de Estudo: Multidisciplinar

Relevance and feasibility of women’s involvement in promoting sustainable food production and security in Southern Africa

Ano: 2014 | Volume: 5 | Número: 2
Autores: Never Assan
Autor Correspondente: Never Assan | [email protected]

Palavras-chave: women, food production, food security, southern africa

Resumos Cadastrados

Resumo Inglês:

Harnessing women’s potential for food production and food security has been a challenge in

Southern Africa. The face of food production in Southern Africa is often female, but more often

than not, their roles are generally undervalued and constrained by gender inequalities and

limitations on their access to resources, services, and market opportunities. There is a tendency

of men and women participating unevenly in food production, having unequal access to productive

resources and exhibiting different levels of engagement in rural, urban and home-based food

production. Despite of this, there is still a common understanding that food production needs to

be increased in order to cope with the increased human population levels and achieving food

security in the region. With this in mind, food production and security have emerged as key

development targets in Southern Africa. This has propelled the urgent need for promoting food

production, reducing food insecurity and poverty reduction in its totality. This essay attempts to

describe the impact of gender-based discrimination on food production and its implication on

food security. The indispensable role and challenges faced by women in food production are

highlighted. The need to invest in education and training of women to support food production

systems in order to accrue maximum benefit is acknowledged. In this regard, this essay concludes

that it is imperative that planning and implementation of any food production programs focusing

on improving food security should be based on gender sensitive policies