Over 70% of people in sub-Saharan Africa depend on agriculture for their livelihoods. In sub-Saharan Africa, over 60% of employed women work in the agricultural sector and a significant number of them are smallholder farmers. Thus, it may be rightly said that African women are the backbone of the continent’s agriculture and nutrition.

However, despite the pivotal role that women play in Africa’s agriculture sector, two recent flagship reports by the Food and Agriculture Organization and the World Bank show that a gender gap exists in agriculture, with rural women farmers facing a number of constraints not experienced by their male counterparts.