Women comprise approximately 50% of the labor force in sub-Saharan Africa but are less likely to participate in agribusinesses’ outgrower schemes than men. As a result, women lose out on opportunities for increasing their income and economic empowerment – and agribusinesses miss opportunities for increasing productivity, product quality, and stability in their supply chain.
To help women rise out of poverty and gain economic empowerment, agribusinesses should invest more intentionally in making their outgrower schemes gender-inclusive. Not only will this improve women’s economic prosperity, but it could help women make a more significant commercial contribution to agribusinesses. This includes helping women to invest in productive assets that could improve their farm yields by 20-30%.
Women play a crucial role in the agricultural sector in sub-Saharan Africa, with many spending the majority of their time engaged in agricultural activities. However, female family members hardly receive any income from the sale of cash crops, and often have little say in how that income is spent.
Women farmers in sub-Saharan Africa face numerous constraints that limit their productivity and their participation in smallholder schemes – ranging from limits on access to land, labor, equipment, and inputs – to mobility and time constraints owing to domestic responsibilities. The good news is that, with support from agribusinesses, women farmers can overcome these barriers and significantly increase their yields. For the agribusiness, this can result in an expanded and more stable supply chain, along with improvements in product quality and reduced post-harvest losses. Supporting women farmers can also be linked to positive corporate branding that can lead to customer loyalty and premium pricing.
Our analysis of five outgrower schemes identified several best practices that can help agribusinesses make their own operations more gender inclusive. To read the full list of best practices, download the brief here. For now, here are three examples of practical steps that agribusinesses can take:
Of course, there’s no “one size fits all.” Given the diversity in contexts and the complexities of developing commercially sustainable interventions, each of these best practices will need to be adapted to the specific environment. With that said, it’s clear that it is possible to design outgrower schemes that benefit women as well as being commercially viable. We encourage investors and decision makers to share the message that agribusinesses can benefit from prioritizing gender inclusion and designing outgrower schemes that create space for women to take the lead and drive their own economic prosperity.
AgDevCo is a specialist agriculture impact investor that has established a Smallholder Development Unit (SDU) with support from the MasterCard Foundation (MCF). The SDU will work with rural agricultural enterprises to develop equitable outgrower schemes in eight African countries. Activities will include providing training and better quality inputs for farmers, implement mobile technology solutions, and brokering long term purchase contracts. The SDU aims to develop 25 “outgrower schemes” over 5 years that will improve the livelihoods of up to half a million farmers.
Press release: AgDevCo and The MasterCard Foundation partnership
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