Conservative socio-religious outlooks and scarce of fund are two hurdles in empowering women in the field of agriculture, female peasant leaders observed at a discussion in Barisal Reporters’ Unity yesterday.
They stressed stressed on recognising and evaluating the role of women in agriculture sector and enacting the Rights to Food Act.
Marking the International Day of Rural Women Barisal Women Farmers Forum arranged the discussion in association with GROW, OXFAM Bangladesh and their local partner AVAS.
They speakers called for training more women to increase their participation in the sector to check migration of rural population to urban areas, in order to achieve the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.
Leaders of Barisal Women Farmers Forum – Maksuda Begum, Zayeda Begum, Nurjahan Begum, Munira Parvin Minu, Jannatul Begum spoke on the occasion.
The leaders highlighted that about 50% of the total population are female and more than 70% of them are directly or indirectly involved with different kinds of agricultural farming.
In developing countries like Bangladesh, rural women represent approximately 43% of the agricultural labour force, and produce lion share of the food available. So, they should be grown into a responsible force to ensure food security.
However, role of rural women, majority of whom depend on natural resources and agriculture for their livelihoods, is yet to be recognised, they said.
They stressed that trainings be provided to the workforce and research be done on women’s role in agriculture for generating interest in them and develop skills.
Journalists called for field level investigation and information collection to demonstrate a clear picture of women’s role and contribution to the sector and identifying the obstacles they face in this sector of the country.
The first International Day of Rural Women was observed on 15 October in 2008 to recognise the critical role and contribution of rural women, including indigenous women, in enhancing agricultural and rural development, improving food security and eradicating rural poverty.
