Beasts of burden; Rural women work so hard for so little

Beasts of burden; Rural women work so hard for so little

Last week, two important days were commemorated around the world – the International Day of the Girl and the International Day of Rural Women. Unfortunately, the commemorations were low-key across the region, with few pictures circulating in social media.

Our governments through the relevant ministries as well as the media, religious organisations and civil society all kept a low profile on these important days set aside to celebrate the gains and highlight the challenges faced by women and girls.

Yet, women and girls in the region continue to be denied their basic rights. Even worse is the fact that those rights have been acquired blood, sweat and tears. But even when women fight and gain some rights, governments remain lukewarm in implementing them.

A classic example is the two-thirds gender principle outlined in Kenya’s constitution but which the country’s government has simply disregarded.

Until the time governments acknowledge that empowering women is good for the region, our economies will remain uncompetitive. Rural women, in particular, have continued to suffer debilitating poverty occasioned by retrogressive cultural practices and the politics of marginalisation.

The only source of financial freedom for rural women is productive agricultural enterprises, which unfortunately have not been strengthened enough to erase the circle of poverty.

This is despite the fact that rural women contribute immensely to agriculture and rural enterprises, fuelling local and global economies. They are active players in achieving the Sustainable Development Goals. Yet, every day around the world, rural women and girls face insurmountable constraints from the prevailing social, economic and political order.

Owing to restrictive structures, they are prevented them from fully enjoying their human rights, and their efforts to improve their own lives and those of others around them are continuously hampered.

Land ownership, which is largely patriarchal in most African cultures, has relegated women to ploughing on land that they can never hope to own. The high cost of agricultural inputs coupled with low returns from agriculture, moreover, have made tilling the land unattractive and compounded the woes of rural women.

Pressure to force governments to increase budgetary allocation to the agricultural sector and subsidise agricultural inputs has not yielded much fruit. It is unbelievable that the produce from these poor farmers is expected to compete in global markets with that from highly-subsidised farmers in the developed world.

But there is a glimmer of hope. It is plausible that the East African Legislative Assembly last week added its voice to the push for more budgetary allocation to the agricultural sector in partner states. The Assembly insisted on the need to have legal and regulatory frameworks which are responsive to the needs of smallholder farmers, the youth, women and other stakeholders.

Increasing the budgetary allocation to the sector is in line with the Malabo Declaration, which the EAC partner states are signatories to. Although the Assembly says the target which is pegged at a minimum 10 per cent, annually or progressively, it should be much higher than that considering that agriculture is the sole source of income for millions of rural people.

The EAC should therefore expedite the domestication of the Malabo Declaration within the period 2014-2025 by putting in place a regional legally-binding Protocol or instruments to ensure its realisation.

Apart from the Malabo Declaration on “Accelerated Agricultural Growth,” regional leaders should also formulate key recommendations to strengthen agriculture in line with the Maputo Declaration on “Agriculture and Food Security.”

The governments must also deal with the associated issues of land rights, including speculation and land rush that are hindrances to agricultural development. They must develop a regional legal framework on sustainable investment in agriculture where public-private partnership is enhanced.

It is obvious that if agriculture is well funded, it would ensure the youth and women gain employment opportunities.

Corruption, which has penetrated many sectors in the region, has not spared the agricultural sector. From the misappropriation of funds meant to subsidise agricultural inputs to tendering, corruption is stifling the sector. The acquisition of land titles and tenure, availability of credit, supplies, water allocation, marketing, and development of agribusinesses are all tainted.

Indeed, corruption in the issuance of government contracts and licences for agricultural supplies is commonplace. Low quality, undelivered goods and high prices are typical outcomes of the collusion between government officials and private-sector firms. When a government agency buys fertilizer from a private sector company at an elevated price for a share of the profits by its managers, for example, the cost of agricultural production immediately increases.

Governments must now work towards sealing all the loopholes in the sector so as to ensure that farmers are not fleeced. This will also uplift the lives of rural women and girls.

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