Danielle Nierenberg, one of the founders of Food Tank, is
passionate about farming and food issues.
She recently spoke in New York to TedXManhattan. Here’s what
she said:
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As both a woman
and a social entrepreneur, this issue is deeply personal.
I’ve spent years traveling to more than 50 countries
across sub-Saharan Africa, Asia, and Latin America—meeting with women farmers
and farmers’ groups, scientists and researchers, policymakers and government
leaders, students and academics, and journalists collecting their thoughts on
what’s working to help alleviate hunger and poverty, while also protecting
the environment.
Here’s what I’ve
learned: women are indisputably the backbone of our global food system.
Across the planet, women and girls play a huge role in
producing, processing, marketing, and retailing food and other agricultural
products, and combined with their traditional primary responsibility for
preparing family meals and for child-care, in creating a well-nourished
world.
But get this:
women make up more than half the world’s population and they make up nearly
half of the world’s farmers BUT their contributions as farmers often go
unnoticed and are almost universally ignored.
Oftentimes, these working women are denied access to
education, refused by banking and financial institutions, and ignored by
extension agents and research organizations. They are still routinely
discriminated against just because they’re women. Furthermore, while men typically
produce cash or commodity crops that need to be processed into something
else, women grow vegetables and fruits, and raise small livestock that
nourish families.
According to the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization,
if women farmers had the same access to resources—land, credit, education,
extension services—they could increase food production by 20-30 percent and
lift as many as 150 million people out of hunger and food insecurity.
It’s a no brainer for governments, corporations, NGOs, and
individuals: investment in women farmers will help alleviate hunger and
poverty and will lead to more social justice and empowerment for girls and
women.
To learn more about how to help these women truly succeed,
I encourage you to read about women and agriculture at FoodTank.com, watch the video of my TedXManhattan presentation, and connect
with me on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter, by following @DaniNierenberg and
#FoodTank.
I want to keep
doing this much-needed work on behalf of women farmers, but I can’t do it
alone. I need your help. If you are motivated by this issue and if you would
like to see Food Tank produce more women-focused research, reports, data, and
presentations, become a Food
Tank Sustainer today.
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