INTERNATIONAL: Female Farmer's Could Fight Hunger

Empowering women in agriculture could reduce the number of hungry people in the world by 100 million to 150 million, the United Nations said.

Female farmers across all regions control less land and livestock than men, use less improved seed varieties and fertilizer, and are less likely to use credit and insurance, the UN's Rome-based Food and Agriculture Organization said in a report on Monday.

Women make up 43 per cent of the farm workforce around the world, ranging from about 20 per cent in Latin America to 50 per cent in subSaharan Africa, according to the FAO. Because most don't have the same access to agricultural inputs as men, their productivity is lower, according to the report.

"Gender equality is not just a lofty ideal, it is also crucial for agricultural development and food security," FAO director-general Jacques Diouf said in a statement. Policies must "empower women in agriculture to win, sustainably, the fight against hunger and extreme poverty," he said.

Global food output will have to climb by 70 per cent between 2010 and 2050 as the world population swells to 9 billion and rising incomes boost meat and dairy consumption, the UN agency has forecast.

World food prices rose to a record in February, according to an index tracked by the FAO. Rising food costs contributed to riots across North Africa and the Middle East in the past several months that toppled leaders in Egypt and Tunisia.

Ensuring women have the same access as men to agricultural resources could lift production on farms controlled by women in developing countries by 20 to 30 per cent, the FAO said.

Women's empowerment would raise output in developing countries by 2.5 per cent to four per cent, which in turn would reduce the number of hungry people in the world by 12 to 17 per cent, the UN agency said. The world had 925 million undernourished people in 2010, down from a record 1.02 billion hungry the previous year, according to the FAO.

"In many countries women do not have the same rights as men to buy, sell or inherit land, open a savings account or borrow money, to sign a contract or sell their produce," said Terri Raney, the report's editor.

Women generally have less access to land, with between three per cent and 20 per cent of all landholders being female in the developing countries for which data is available, the FAO said.

"Women farmers typically achieve lower yields than men not because they are less skilled, but because they operate smaller farms and use fewer inputs like fertilizers, improved seeds and tools," Raney said.