GENEVA (AFP) — Efforts at reducing poverty by boosting agriculture in the developing world should be aimed more at women, an expert at the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation said Tuesday.
Catherine Bertini said that the foundation's agricultural development programme would now be focused on the needs of women. So far, some 800 million dollars in grant commitments have been made for the overall agricultural development programme.
Around 80 percent of food production in Africa is dealt with by women, while in South Asia, 60 percent of farmers are female, Bertini said on the sidelines of an international humanitarian forum.
"I propose that when we talk about farmers in these programmes, that we say 'she' rather than 'he'," the foundation's senior fellow said.
She pointed to a study that showed that every year, women carried eight times as much fuel, water and farm produce than men -- around 80 tonnes.
"Those women are already working very hard. The next step is to find out what they need," Bertini added.
"If it's a project in the field, we have to be talking to women in the field. Do we have enough women in the partner group to talk to the women who are the potential beneficiaries?" she said.
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