“ADOPT FOR THE NEW AGRICULTURAL STRATEGIES. WOMEN ON-PEAK”

In rural communities of Sub-Saharan Africa, women endure the burden of every consignment. They give birth and raise their children, are responsible for the home, its cleanliness, and provisions, and head out to the fields to earn their families’ daily remunerations.

Yet, women make up more than half of the agricultural labor force and they are inclined to have minor rates of land possession, as well as limited access to lines of credit, markets, and technology, leading them to generate lower yields than their male counterparts.

It’s still an unfinished discussion and more importantly, some crucial questions aren’t answered yet, inventing new agricultural strategies has been the basis for increasing agricultural productivity, promoting agricultural development, and boosting economies.

Historically, researchers and extension workers have been primarily responsible for identifying and injecting socio-economic and environmental factors into the process of developing and introducing agricultural innovation.

However, this is typically characterized as top-down strategies, whereby a team of experts advances the innovations, extension workers promote its use and farmers either adopt or reject the strategy based on the features significant to them.

In the past, Agro-strategies were therefore rather straightforward, relating primarily to increasing the effectiveness of agricultural policies functioning and not their relevance or impact on farmers. On the other hand, recently the choices of strategies for farmers are largely determined by the need to increase production, profits, and welfare of the farmer’s community.

Adopting strategies by farmers should be an investment. It takes time, however, for the rewards to flow and farmers may be reluctant to invest in an uncertain climate with more constraints, where some of the benefits are for society. Should it be the farmer or society that pays?

As the Status Quo, women are faced with many more constraints and also more opportunities. Nevertheless, agricultural strategies might make or disrupt a woman and her ability to perform daily farming activities. It is therefore the introduction of simple-to-implement strategies that can change this reality, drastically. And guess what? It’s already being done in many places around the world.

In order to remain at the core of the agriculture production chain, the only option at hand is to rapidly adopt new strategies, herewith are the argument that supports women as dominants of adaptability so far. “Do they”?

• The economic productivity of the rural poor is fundamentally about permitting women to comprehend their full perspective and improve their own and their families quality of life.
• Women represent the majority of the rural poor (up to 70%), especially where migration, marital instability, male mortality, and single parenthood have left them as heads of household.
• Although many times it goes unrecognized, women play a major role in the livelihood and survival strategies of poor rural households.
• Women have proven to be a driving force in achieving project effectiveness and reducing poverty.
• Research shows that better nutritional outcomes and welfare gains can be achieved by improving women’s education level, access to resources, and control over income.

Therefore, we conclude by confidently urging agro-strategist that, for the significance of adoption and sustainability of the strategies formulation they need to appreciate the quintessence of Participatory and Feedback-response mechanisms. Also, achieving these vital undertakings requires the integration of economic, environmental and social considerations into strategy-making, in particular by the internalization of the Bottom-up approach throughout the process, and the diffusion of environmentally sound strategies worldwide. This will not only anchor the adaption mechanisms of women but also their male counterparts and other groups of the community.