January 2023| Dodoma, Tanzania
A team of local PEP researchers held a national policy conference to share their findings on bridging the gender agriculture productivity gap and empowering women through Climate-Smart Agriculture (CSA) practices.
January 27, 2023 – At a recent national policy conference, local PEP researchers shared findings to show how Climate-Smart Agriculture (CSA) can boost women's productivity and close the gender gap among smallholder farmers.
Women are disproportionately impacted by the adverse effects of climate change and are more vulnerable to climate shocks as a result of entrenched gender inequalities and restricted access to essential resources. According to local PEP researchers in Tanzania, climate-smart agriculture (CSA) can be instrumental in empowering women, narrowing the gender productivity gap, and enhancing their resilience against climate change.
Over 15 policy stakeholders and advisors, academics, representatives of civil society and the private sector were among the event's attendees, including representatives of the Ministry of Agriculture and the Tanzania Chamber of Commerce Industry & Agriculture, and experts from the Ministry of Investment, Industry and Trade.
Dr. Mkupete Jaah Mkupete presented the findings and recommendations from the team's PEP project examining whether adopting CSA technologies could increase women's productivity and bridge the gender gap.
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He explained that supporting women's access to CSA approaches has demonstrated promising outcomes in closing the gender agriculture productivity gap. While the difference is subtle, adopting CSA practices can lead to women's productivity outperforming men's. Notably, he explained, there was a significant productivity increase among female adopters, as women who adopted CSA practices were 36% more productive than non-adopters—highlighting the transformative potential of CSA in promoting equality and boosting agricultural productivity for all farmers.
The audience expressed appreciation for the team's methodology and findings and emphasised the significance of integrating gender awareness into the implementation of policies to address the gender-specific outcomes of climate-smart agriculture. In particular, Obeth Martin, the Agricultural Director of the Ministry of Agriculture's Environment Section, participated enthusiastically in the discussions with the team, expressing support for their policy recommendations.
The team hopes that the attendance of high-level representatives at this event will lead to adopting some of their policy recommendations. Encouragingly, Monica Kawanara, an Economist at the Ministry of Agriculture (MOA), has invited the team to lend their expertise in implementing gender-targeted policies in Tanzania, where entrenched social norms hinder women from benefiting from policy interventions.
A local journalist reported on the event, underlining the public interest in the team's results and recommendations.
The research team organized the event with financial and advisory support from PEP and Global Affairs Canada (GAC).
