- Empowering women farmers is crucial for improving food security, climate resilience, and rural livelihoods in Asia and the Pacific.
- Closing gender gaps in productivity and wages could add up to US$1 trillion to global GDP and lift approximately 45 million people out of food insecurity.
- Achieving real change requires tackling discrimination, institutional biases, and policy gaps, as well as expanding access to financial products, technical training, and market information for women farmers.
According to Alue Dohong, Assistant Director-General and Regional Representative of FAO, women are the “backbone” of agriculture in the region with nearly 58 per cent of all employed women across Asia and the Pacific working in agriculture.
“And yet, for all their labour, women farmers continue to face persistent and systemic barriers,” Dohong said a statement ahead of the 38th Session of the FAO Regional Conference for Asia and the Pacific (APRC 38) held on 20 to 24 April in Brunei Darussalam.
He highlighted several entrenched barriers that women farmers face across the region, such as wage gaps which see women earning 82 cents for every dollar earned by their male counterparts.
Importantly, only 10 to 20 per cent of women holding land rights in the region.
“Without a title to the land they work on, women cannot access credit, cannot make long-term investments, and cannot fully benefit from the systems they spend their lives sustaining,” said Dohong.
He added: “Addressing these inequalities is not just a matter of fairness, it is fundamental to the issues we care about — food insecurity, climate resilience, rural poverty, and sustainable development. We cannot meaningfully progress on any of these challenges while leaving women behind.”
‘Women are key agents of change’
FAO research suggested that closing gender gaps in productivity and wages across agrifood systems could add up to US$1tn to global GDP and lift around 45 million people out of food insecurity.
Beyond economic gains, improved gender equality would strengthen household well‑being, boost resilience to climate change and accelerate progress towards the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
“Empowered women farmers are key agents of change,” said Dohong.
He added that real commitment to women farmers would require tackling discrimination, institutional biases and policy gaps that limit women’s equal participation in agrifood systems.
This included developing financial products that are accessible to smallholder women farmers, expanding access to technical training, and improving the flow of market information, he added.
Year of the women farmer
With the United Nations declaring 2026 the International Year of the Woman Farmer, FAO is promoting gender-transformative actions that address the root causes of inequality by shifting norms, power relations, and institutional practices.
Dohong has observed progress in the region, highlighting countries such as Cambodia, Nepal, Pakistan, Papua New Guinea and Sri Lanka for implementing programmes that challenge discriminatory norms and structural barriers, often involving both women and men.
“These efforts are not isolated experiments. They show what can be achieved. We must connect them, learn from them, and build on them.”
He added that APRC38 provides a critical platform to align policy, investment and partnerships around inclusive and climate‑resilient agriculture that benefits smallholders, women, youth and vulnerable communities.
“2026 offers a unique opportunity to turn visibility into lasting change. The International Year of the Woman Farmer brings renewed attention and calls for collective action and increased investment by governments, partners, and the private sector to close gender gaps, strengthen women’s livelihoods, and promote their leadership across agrifood value chains. Sustaining and accelerating progress requires continued collective effort. FAO remains firmly committed to working with Member Nations and partners to translate commitments into action.”
