New York/Rome –The Meals and Agriculture Group of the United Nations (FAO) welcomes the decision adopted in the present day by the United Nations (UN) Basic Meeting to declare 2026 as Worldwide 12 months of the Lady Farmer.
The decision, which was proposed by the US of America and adopted by consensus, invitations FAO, in collaboration with the opposite UN Rome-based Companies, to facilitate the implementation and observance of the Worldwide 12 months of the Lady Farmer.
It additionally invitations UN Member States, organizations of the United Nations System, different worldwide organizations and stakeholders, together with civil society, non-public sector and academia, to extend consciousness of the essential position that girls farmers all over the world play in agrifood techniques, in addition to their contributions to meals safety, diet and poverty eradication.
On this regard, the Worldwide 12 months of the Lady Farmer 2026 will function a platform for the adoption of efficient insurance policies and actions towards the obstacles and challenges that girls farmers face throughout agrifood techniques, in addition to to advertise gender equality and the empowerment of all girls in agriculture.
The observance will even spotlight the very important position of peasant girls and different rural girls in guaranteeing the financial survival of their households and contributing to each the agricultural and nationwide economies.
Girls in agrifood techniques and the challenges they face
FAO’s current report, The Standing of Girls in Agrifood Techniques, provides complete insights into gender dynamics throughout agrifood techniques. It emphasizes girls’s participation in socio-economic alternatives and calls on all actors to shut important gaps in girls’s productiveness and wages, and work to empower girls working in agrifood techniques.
It additionally reaffirms FAO’s dedication to deepen its concentrate on gender equality and girls’s empowerment, which incorporates advocating for coverage frameworks that search to deal with social norms and structural constraints and using gender-transformative approaches to a better extent in our initiatives and programming for inclusive rural growth.
The report finds that regardless of comprising 39% p.c of the worldwide agricultural labor power, girls encounter important discrimination, confronting challenges in land and livestock possession, entry to high quality and safe jobs, equitable pay, participation in decision-making processes, and accessing credit score and monetary providers.
It requires international dedication to deal with these entrenched disparities to reinforce meals safety, drive financial prosperity, and advance gender equality inside agrifood techniques.
Furthermore, one other current FAO report, The Unjust Local weather, presents a complete evaluation of the impacts of local weather change on rural populations, with a selected concentrate on susceptible teams equivalent to girls, youth, and people dwelling in poverty.
Drawing on knowledge from 24 international locations throughout 5 world areas, the report integrates socioeconomic indicators with georeferenced local weather knowledge, offering insights into how local weather stressors have an effect on incomes, labor allocations, and adaptive methods. It finds for instance {that a} 1° C improve in long-term common temperatures is related to a 34 p.c discount within the complete incomes of female-headed households, relative to these of male-headed households.
In commemorating the Worldwide 12 months of the Lady Farmer in 2026, FAO acknowledges the pivotal position of rural girls in international agrifood techniques and commits to addressing the challenges they face. Via concerted efforts and collaboration amongst Member States, UN entities, civil society, academia, the non-public sector, Indigenous Peoples, native communities, people and different actors, the 12 months will try to lift consciousness, implement concrete actions, and pave the way in which for extra environment friendly, inclusive, resilient, and sustainable agrifood techniques.
