Caribbean Agrifood Business Session n°8

Successes from Caribbean women-led businesses/SMEs in the agrifood sector

The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development recognizes the centrality of gender equality to development and a prerequisite for progress across all its 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Four SDGs in particular are relevant for achieving gender equality in the world of work: SDG 5 on achieving gender equality and empowering all women and girls; SDG 8 on promoting sustained, inclusive and sustainable economic growth, full and productive employment and decent work for all; SDG 4 on ensuring inclusive and equitable quality education and promoting lifelong learning opportunities for all; and SDG 10 on reducing inequality with and among countries.

Women make significant contributions to agriculture and agrifood sector and more broadly to the rural economy in all regions of the world as a significant entrepreneurial force at all stages of the value chain, from farm to fork, and in all markets, from local to international. Women create jobs, contribute to the economic growth of their countries and region and support food and nutrition security. It is estimated that globally there are roughly 9.34 formal million women-owned small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in over 140 assessed countries, which is approximately one third of all formal SMEs. Women are clearly an important part of the agricultural labour force, but agriculture and agricultural value chains are equally important to women as source of employment.

Women’s economic empowerment is a prerequisite for sustainable development and pro-poor growth and requires sound public policies, a holistic approach and long-term commitment. Gender-specific perspectives must be integrated at the design stage of policy and programming. Empowering women in agriculture is crucial for agricultural development and food security and can contribute to lessen gender gap, boost per capita income growth, and generally reduce poverty.

When women control additional income, they spend more of it than men do on food, health, clothing and education for their children. This has positive implications for immediate well-being as well as long-run human capital formation and economic growth. Therefore, closing the gender gap in agriculture would generate significant gains for the agriculture sector and for society at large.

Policy interventions can help close the gender gap in agriculture and rural labour markets. Enabling gender responsive policies, services and business environments are crucial to stimulate the start-up and upgrading of women’s businesses and thereby help generate decent and productive work. Women’s economic empowerment also means voice and representation in decision-making, participation in policy and institutional change processes and strong business networks. More investment needs to be done on strengthening data collection and analysis, to better understand and address the constraints that women farmers face in specific value chains.