This spoken word poetry piece is one i wrote and recorded last year in celebrating the “pillars of African agriculture”.
http://soundcloud.com/billene/heed-her-voice/s-Ctay2
As you listen to the piece, here’s some food for thought taken from the NEPAD Agriculture and Food Security website:
- According to the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation over two thirds of all women in Africa are employed in the agricultural sector and produce nearly 90 percent of food on the continent.
- They are responsible for growing, selling, buying and preparing food for their families
- Yet even as the guardians of food security, they are still marginalised in business relations and have minimal control over access to resources such as land, inputs such as improved seeds and fertilizer, credit and technology.
- A combination of logistical, cultural, and economic factors, coupled with a lack of gender statistics in the agricultural sector, mean that agricultural programs are rarely designed with women’s needs in mind. As a result, African women farmers have no voice in the development of agricultural policies designed to improve their productivity.
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Love & Light