IFAD launches global campaign to close gender gap in agriculture on Int'l Women's Day

ROME, march 8 (Xinhua) -- Closing the gender gap and boosting the female role in agriculture was crucial to improve the wealth of rural communities, the United Nations International Fund for agriculture Development (IFAD) warned on Friday.

The appeal came as the agency launched a global awareness campaign in favor of rural women empowerment to mark the celebration of the International Women's Day on march 8.

The campaign was built on the base on several social media assets through which the profile of leading rural women around the world could be uploaded and made known, and a dedicated website where their experiences could be comprehensively shared with the public.

"rural women are real groundbreakers," Charlotte Salford, associate vice-president of IFAD's External Relations and Government Department, said in a statement.

"They farm, produce food, start businesses and innovate, despite living in some of the world's most challenging conditions, and while facing extreme inequality and poverty," she added.

Women represent at least 43 percent of the global agriculture labor force, but "they were given less access than men to financing, land rights, and inputs that would help them farm more successfully and move out of poverty," IFAD stressed.

According to the latest "The State of Food and agriculture" report issued by the UN Food and agriculture Organization (FAO) in mid-February, allowing women equal access to productive resources would boost farm yields by an estimated 20 to 30 percent.

In its report, the FAO explained that increasing women's access to land, livestock, education, financial services, technology and rural employment could boost their productivity, and generate benefits in terms of production, food security, growth, and social welfare.

This could raise total agricultural output in developing countries by 2.5 to 4 percent, and help lifting as much as 100-150 million people out of hunger.

"Through the campaign digital platform, women and men around the world can stand in solidarity with 1.7 billion rural women and girls... and ensure that they have equal access to resources and opportunities," the IFAD stated.

"Empowering women is linked to higher food production, better household and child nutrition, poverty reduction and access to education," IFAD's Salford explained on Friday.

"It is a win-win situation that starts with governments investing more resources in rural women."