Beyond inclusion: How women and youth can future-proof agriculture
As the 2030 deadline for achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) draws near, with less than five years remaining, progress on gender equality (SDG 5) and youth empowerment is still falling short. In food systems, this gap is not just a moral issue but a structural challenge that undermines global food security and climate resilience. The pressing question is clear: how do we unlock the full potential of women and youth to build inclusive, climate-resilient food systems? This article was originally published by IOL
According to studies, women make up nearly 43% of the global agricultural labour force, yet, compared to men, they consistently have less access to land, inputs, decision-making power, training, and financial resources.
This results in a gender productivity gap of around 20 to 30% on farms of similar size. Closing this gap could increase yields on women’s farms by up to 30%, feeding an additional 150 million people.
Youth face similar systemic barriers, from limited access to credit to exclusion from decision-making spaces, even as they represent the future of farming and rural innovation.
The Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations (FAO) highlights that women, particularly young women, consistently face barriers to accessing land, technology, and extension services.
Its landmark Status of Women in Agrifood Systems report estimates a 24% productivity gap between women and men farmers on farms of the same size. Closing these gender and age-related gaps could add nearly USD 1 trillion to global GDP, reduce food insecurity for millions, and raise rural household incomes, strengthening community resilience.
In South Africa, a 2017 report by the Department of Agriculture, Land Reform and Rural Development showed that women owned only 13% of farms and agricultural land.
This is due to the discriminatory land distribution laws as well as social and patriarchal norms preventing women from accessing land.
This link between gender equality and climate resilience is critical. Women and young women are often on the frontlines of climate impacts, from droughts to soil degradation, yet their knowledge and adaptive capacity remain underutilised.
CGIAR research shows that when women farmers receive climate-smart agriculture training and resources, adoption of sustainable practices rises – improving soil health, water management, and yields.
Investing in women, and especially young women, is not a side issue but a climate-smart, economically transformative solution with exponential impact.
Financial inclusion of women and youth is also critical as we race towards the 2030 deadline and is also a critical enabler for achieving all the goals.
The Mastercard Foundation’s research and reports highlight significant funding gaps for women and youth in agriculture, particularly across Africa.
Their work underscores how gender bias in funding decisions for equity and debt finance creates hurdles for female entrepreneurs, limiting their ability to grow agribusiness ventures. Through initiatives like the Africa Growth Fund, the Foundation is taking steps to close these gaps by mobilising capital for women-led and youth-led enterprises and providing tools to build their financial and business capacity. Rural women especially are also left out of formal financial services.
This exclusion discounts their essential roles in the sector, stymies their potential, and hinders their well-being and that of their households and communities.
To future-proof agriculture, we need more than incremental change. We need transformative design. For example, in Zambia, CGIAR’s Internship & Innovation Grant challenge supported youth-led agribusiness ideas that are climate-smart, giving entrepreneurs the coaching, investor-readiness training, and support to bring locally adapted innovations to scale – Green Giraffe is one success.
Similarly, in Ghana, an assessment of climate-smart agriculture (CSA) technologies found that when affordability, cultural norms, labour burden, and accessibility are considered, women and youth significantly embrace new technologies with lower drudgery and relevant value.
These are not edge cases – they show what’s possible when barriers are consciously addressed. The REACH-STR project in Ghana is investing in the next generation of climate resilience experts – especially women, youth, and persons with disabilities.
Through scholarships, mentorship, and research-policy advocacy training, early career scientists are developing tools and policy insights to tackle climate risks, migration, and livelihood vulnerabilities in northern Ghana’s Upper West and Savannah regions.
The path forward involves reforming policies and financing mechanisms to replicate and scale these kinds of successes: expanding access to land, technology, and finance; institutionalising gender and youth inclusion in research and extension; and creating spaces where the ideas of women and youth are central to designing resilient agricultural systems.
These critical conversations must continue to grow in urgency and depth – and events like the CGIAR Gender Conference 2025 in Cape Town will provide an important space to drive evidence into action and turn inclusion into lasting impact.
The conference will not just reflect on what has been done but set the agenda for the next five years, charting a clear path toward achieving SDG 5 by 2030.
By convening global researchers, policymakers, and practitioners, it offers a rare opportunity to co-create solutions that can transform food, land, and water systems, unlock the potential of women and young women, and ensure the future of agriculture is inclusive, climate-smart, and resilient.
