Women empowerment as a tool against food insecurity in Sub Saharan Africa

Promoting food production and security continues to be a major challenge in Sub Saharan Africa. This discussion seeks to explore the opportunities and constraints that women experience in accessing and participating equitably in food production and security. It also examines the role of women in improving food production and security. There is an attempt to describe the impact of gender-based discrimination on food production and its implication on food security. Some of the factors which perpetuate food insecurity have been identified as low agricultural productivity due to lack of high yielding inputs, agricultural support services and inappropriate technology. The availability of resources (land, labor, capital, and knowledge) to ensure that women have the means necessary to participate in intensified food production have been inadequate. The discussion, concludes that in the planning and implementation of food production programs to enhance food security, gender sensitive policies should be put in place, such that women become the focal point of food production. It is suggested that women should become increasingly important such that they influence food production and achieve the primary objective of food security.

Keywords:

Women , Food production , Food security , Sub saharan africa