Strength in Numbers: How Women's Agricultural Associations Boost Outcomes and Competitiveness

Associative models are effective ways to encourage various individual women farmers and producers to join together to achieve common objectives.

Women are often overrepresented in seasonal, informal, part-time, and low-wage work with limited access to social protection. It is critical to invest in economic empowerment of women in small-scale agriculture through various means such as education, training and financing, according to the Food and Agriculture Organization.

First and foremost, small-scale farmers generally face many challenges. However, women in small-scale farming face multiple constraints beyond those of male farmers. Women tend to be invisible to policymakers because they are not seen as productive as men. They often are expected to provide unpaid farm work and bear a disproportionate burden of care and reproductive roles within the family and community. They are deprived of access to markets, key assets and inputs, and are frequently excluded from decision-making. And women are even disproportionately impacted by poverty and hunger-including having less access to education and healthcare facilities. These constraints indicate that agricultural policies for women need to be redesigned.

In the 2024 APEC Women and the Economy Forum Ministerial Statement, it clearly states that "We seek to actively promote women's meaningful economic participation and leadership through access to markets, capital and information and communications technologies (ICTs). This includes the provision of training and education with a focus on capacity building and increasing their digital skills, financial literacy, and addressing structural barriers that limit women's participation in the economy and impede gender equality, such as the unequal distribution of paid and unpaid care and domestic work. Women's economic empowerment will build economic resilience for women and is critical to the inclusive economic growth of the Asia-Pacific region as it ensures long-term prosperity for all."

In this regard, it is timely and meaningful for Peru to initiate a project that demonstrates the importance of policies and programs for the productive inclusion of women in small-scale agriculture through different associative models. These models are effective ways to encourage various individual women farmers and producers to join together to achieve common objectives such as: to better face market demand; to improve their competitiveness; to have greater bargaining power; to have greater access to financing; and to optimize production process through information exchange, among others.

I am confident that the implementation of this project will not only contribute significantly to La Serena Roadmap for Women and Inclusive Growth, but it would also help APEC member economies to identify policies, plans, interventions and efforts to improve the competitiveness of women in small-scale agriculture and strengthen their associative capacities for production, trade and business entrepreneurship.

The project consists of two main components. First, the survey, which gathers detailed information highlighting the importance of productive policies and programs for the inclusion of women in agriculture through associativity with a focus on small-scale agriculture. The survey was designed to provide a thorough understanding of the existing approaches and practices, enabling economies to learn from one another's experiences and best practices.

Second, the project features a workshop where participants from APEC member economies can exchange their experiences. This workshop, held in Trujillo this week, served as a platform for sharing best practices, lessons learned and innovative ideas. By encouraging collaboration and knowledge exchange, the workshop helped economies deepen their understanding of effective strategies and identify areas for improvement.

A key takeaway from the workshop is the significant contributions of institutional frameworks, especially in providing access to specialized information, such as integration into the formal economy. When there are policies that offer benefits, services or tools to women's associations, women begin to formalize their businesses, which is a clear benefit. This also enables economies of scale and connections to value chains.

The discussion further emphasized the importance of support and collaboration in the agricultural sector, highlighting the involvement of governments at all levels. This includes not only central governments but also local governments that address more immediate and localized issues.

We learned that the more critical factor is access to preferential credits and financial independence. Farmers need financial independence, tools, working capital, and resources. However, the primary issue is that many farmers do not own the land or their plots, which significantly hinders their ability to access the necessary resources. This is crucial to address.

We also discussed the main challenges faced by some economies. Several opinions were shared, highlighting key issues, although they were not always fully visible. Most challenges are linked to access to digital resources, education and cultural factors. One significant cultural challenge is that women farmers are often still viewed as merely an extension of their domestic roles.

Workshops like this one, along with other broader initiatives, play a vital role in capacity building, as does the digital landscape. Digital technology is recognized as both a success factor and a limitation. It is closely tied to education, and without education, people-especially women and small-scale farmers-are unlikely to benefit from digital innovations.

I recall that the Policy Partnership on Women and Economy published a useful toolkit, APEC GIFTS A+: Policy Toolkit on Promoting Gender Inclusion in Smart Agriculture, in January 2021. This resourceful toolkit was developed to encourage more women participate in smart agriculture and to address the digital divide within the smart agricultural industry. Likewise, it was designed for public and private sector decision-makers to utilize gender-responsive approaches to create an enabling environment for women.

To move forward, we should continue sharing best practices among member economies for strengthening related regulations and legal framework, as well as their enforcement to ensure gender equality. Additionally, APEC members should be encouraged to invest in infrastructure in order to provide female farmers access to education, training, social services and financial services.

***Dr Su-San Chang is the lead shepherd of the APEC Agricultural Technical Cooperation Working Group.

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