Gender inequality in agriculture remains evident among rural communities in Zambia. Cultural gender roles continue to hamper women farmers ’access to access to finance, inputs and training. However, closing gender gaps in agriculture has the potential to improve household food nutrition as well as increase household incomes of rural communities.
In Chipata district of
Eastern province in Zambia, a smallholder farmer - Belita Phiri - pioneered the
formation of a group called Eastern Women and Youth Empowerment aimed at supporting
vulnerable women and children. The Association can be described as a
conglomerate of women and youth groups that are striving to be
self-sustainable.
“Initially we didn’t feel the need register
our group as a cooperative but the needs of the [vulnerable] children were
growing,” Belita said.
She explained that the
socio-economic statuses of the various groups were assessed to help ascertain
the vulnerability of the group members as well as the impact that empowering their
groups will have on their individual households.
Through the Eastern Women and Youth Empowerment, Belita has been mobilizing vulnerable but viable women groups to enhance their access to knowledge and livestock inputs.
