Changing the Narrative: Role of women in promoting Food Security in Tanzania

 Dr. George Mwita, Research & Policy Advisor, Oxfam in Tanzania

This year’s celebration of the World Food Day that is slated for 16 October 2019 in Singida region will bring the country together to focus our attention and efforts on SDG 2, which aims to end hunger, achieve food security, improve nutrition and promote sustainable agriculture by 2030 and how Small Holder Farmers especially women in Tanzania contributes towards achieving the same. This is a matter of human rights, equality and justice on behalf of women.  Rural women and girls comprise one in four people worldwide and they constitute a large share of the agricultural workforce and as a matter of fact, listening to and supporting rural women is fundamental to ending poverty and hunger and achieving peace and development that is sustainable.

In Tanzania, the agricultural sector represents over 25% of GDP and two thirds of the workforce. Thus, the agricultural sector growth would be 3 times more effective in reducing poverty than growth in any other sector. Approximately 80% of Tanzania population live in rural areas. This is according to the World Population Review conducted in June 2019 by the US Census Bureau. Majority of this depend on agriculture as their principal means of subsistence. A portion of this figure is made up of peasant women, whose majority do not own any land and receive barely very little agricultural resources.

The rural woman plays an essential role in the four pillars related to food security: availability, accessibility, utilization and stability. However, women in rural areas across the country are at a disadvantage due to the fact that they do not have access to the same opportunities or resources as men owing to stereotype issues based on gender. There is a gender gap as regards access to certain resources such as: land, technology, loans and agricultural inputs. Furthermore, women have more limited access to training, information, public services, social protection and markets. This is contrary to Article 14 of The Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW), which Tanzania is a signatory, that specifically highlights States’ obligations to eliminate discrimination against women in rural areas. 

It is important to note that women in rural areas play a crucial role for the subsistence of their communities, though this role is not always acknowledged. They take care of domestic chores, such as collecting water and firewood, they do agricultural and livestock tasks and also sell any surplus from their harvests at local markets. What is more, they look after the care and education of their families. Women also play a key role in animal husbandry, fishing and forestry, although their work receives less acknowledgment and their activities in these sectors generally prove less profitable than for men. These calls for an analysis of the legal and policy framework (international commitments, national laws and existing policies) related to unpaid care and domestic work (UCDW) in Tanzania. Already, Oxfam in Tanzania is conducting an analysis of the UCDW within a special focus on its WE CARE project on unpaid work based on the 4 Rs approach: Recognition of unpaid care and domestic work as valuable work. Reduction of the difficulty and time spent on these activities. Redistribution from women to men, and from households to the state, private sector and civil society and representing demands for care work to be valued, reduced and redistributed. 

Therefore, promoting of investment and the restructuring of the agricultural sector in Tanzania represent the most effective way to increase productivity and stimulate their economic growth. Involving key sector stakeholders especially SHF in the ongoing policy reviews will capture all marginalized voices from the rural women. Despite the fact that gender issues are being promoted by the different international organizations such as Oxfam in Tanzania, rural women today do not yet hold senior decision-making positions when it comes to establishing policies related to the challenges facing the world food system. It is essential for commercial and agricultural polices to take into consideration the gender issue and non-discrimination. Impetus can be found for achieving the empowerment of rural women if, when deciding upon the funding of sustainable development projects, those which address the gender issue are given greater consideration.

Even as the country seeks for aid, donor governments and agencies must take both aspects into account in order to decide upon their development policies. They should also take into account that closing the gender gap which exists in the rural sector would certainly be one of the most effective ways to achieve such an increase in productivity. The gender gap as regards access to productive resources, technology, markets and financing is real in Tanzania. For example, access to productive land is essential because if women do not have secure land rights, they cannot enjoy access to credit and loans, rural organizations or certain services and Agri-inputs. Yet ownership of land also means something else: it is an acknowledgment of a social position that enables them to ensure their status in the event of widowhood, separation, abandonment or divorce.

Dr. George N. Mwita