Why investing in rural women is a trillion-dollar opportunity
Rural women are the innovators, leaders and changemakers at the core of our planet’s food systems. That’s why supporting them is essential to building a sustainable future.
In honour of the International Day of Rural Women, we’re celebrating their vital contributions. Join us as we explore how empowering women through training, access to resources and leadership opportunities leads to stronger rural communities and measurable improvements in income, food security and resilience. This episode continues our collaboration with the Global Donor Platform for Rural Development.
Find out more: Why investing in rural women is a trillion-dollar opportunity - Episode 93
Transcript
Transcript
::This is Farms. Food. Future. – a podcast that’s Good for You, Good for the Planet, and Good for Farmers.
Brought to you by the International Fund for Agricultural Development.
::Welcome to Episode 93 - I’m Brian Thomson.
::And co presenting this edition. I'm Michelle Tang.
::With Rural Women’s Day just around the corner, this episode is all about them: how they’re innovating, leading, and why supporting them is essential for climate resilience and sustainable food systems.
::Women in farming typically earn about 20 percent less than men and often work on smaller, less productive farms…
::Exactly. Want to expand your farm? You need credit.
Try new techniques? You need training.
Make long-term investments? You probably need to own your land.
::For many rural women, that’s still an uphill battle, making their work much harder.
And on top of that, female-headed households lose more income to heatwaves, floods, and droughts than male-headed households, sometimes BILLIONS of dollars a year.
::Billions. And that’s before you count the extra hours they spend on unpaid care and domestic work.
::Yes… But when women are empowered with training, access to resources, and leadership opportunities,
the benefits are huge: more resilient farms, stronger communities, and even measurable impacts on GDP and food security.
::First up, we’ll speak with Mary Robinson, former President of Ireland and co-founder of Project Dandelion, about this global campaign that puts rural women at the centre of climate justice.
::Then, we’ll meet Kiran Bisht from Uttarakhand, India, who turned her stitching skills into a thriving business that empowers other women in her village.
::And as part of our Global Donor Platform miniseries, Jenice Achieng from Kenya and Moreen Nyakato from Uganda show us how women-led agribusiness can strengthen entire communities and improve food security.
::As always, don’t forget we also want to hear from you – what you think about our stories and who you want us to be talking to – so please get in touch with us at podcasts at ifad dot org.
::You can also subscribe to this podcast via your favourite podcast platform and please don’t forget to rate us.
::Coming up, we speak to Mary Robinson, former President of Ireland, Chair of the Elders and Co-Founder of Project Dandelion.
::You’re listening to Farms. Food. Future. with me Brian Thomson, and Michelle Tang.
Mary Robinson – former President of Ireland, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, and co-founder of Project Dandelion – leads a global campaign that places rural women at the centre of climate justice.
::The project takes its name from the dandelion seed because they spread far and wide, adapt wherever they land, and bring hope to the most unlikely places. \
::Project Dandelion works the same way, linking grassroots organisers, Indigenous leaders, and global advocates to push for investment in women-led climate solutions.
::Our reporter Katie White spoke with Mary Robinson about why shifting the narrative around rural women is urgent, how underfunding them is a trillion-dollar missed opportunity, and what it will take to back their leadership and match urgency with action.
::President Robinson, thank you so much for joining us today on Farms. Food. Future. It's an honour to have you here.
::Well. I'm very happy to join you.
::Today you're here as the voice for Project Dandelion. I'm going to ask you to share with us what the mission of Project Dandelion is and what some of its core values are.
::Project Dandelion is a women head, but not women, only global campaign for climate justice. It's not a single movement, but it's a sort of ecosystem uniting movements and movements of movements, faith groups, grassroots activists, global advocates, indigenous people under one canopy. We feel it's like a dandelion seed. It's designed to spread widely, adapt locally and then carry hope into unexpected places. And in terms of our values, project underline is rooted in justice, recognising the multiple layers of injustice of the climate and nature crisis. Secondly, unity knowing is only together if we can build our strength that we can do what is needed. Thirdly, resilience, recognising the resilience and innovation of women leaders. Particularly at local level and hope. Hope in action hope in doing hope in making a change. So together we aim to seed a safe world and a liveable world and future for all.
::Why is it so critical to amplify rural women's lived experiences at this moment?
::Well, as we know, smallholder farmers are on the front lines of the climate and nature crisis and despite producing nearly 70% of African's food and a third of the world's food, they are dramatically underfunded, and they receive less than 1% of global climate finance. So, the money is not going to where the productivity and the resilience building is. Women make up a significant proportion of smallholder farmers, and their leadership is driving innovation, productivity, and resilience. I've seen it in so many countries in Africa and Asia. And yet current narratives often cast them as passive beneficiaries rather than powerful. Climate actors and you know, I think it's important that we move on from that. 85% of national action plans positioned women as a group that's particularly vulnerable to the impacts of climate change, which is true. But only 16% of the same reviewed documents positioned women as agents of change in adaptation. The underinvestment in women as smallholder farmers isn't just an unjust it's also economically irrational, because what they are doing is a trillion-dollar missed opportunity and closing the gender. The gap in productivity alone would boost global GDP by nearly a trillion dollars. I’m passionate about us recognising not women as individual vulnerable small farmers with the word small emphasised, but actually as a very dynamic agents for change on the ground, changing everything. About agriculture and producing food and producing it increasingly organically, increasingly regeneratively of nature.
::Such a powerful message framing women not just as passive victims but as real agents of change. How does project dandelion plan on shifting the narrative that surrounds rural women today?
::I think the narrative has to change. First of all, in telling stories about what women are doing and and and the way they're doing it. For example, in Ethiopia, women are stepping into leadership roles within irrigation water, user associations and these were shaped traditionally by men. Almost no women were there initially, but now they make about 25%. Of the leadership and the governance has improved, it's improved the water distribution, it's enhanced food security and women work together in a particular way in a problem solving egalitarian way in the movements movement. Apart from the narrative of the story, we also need to shift to invest where the impact is greatest. We're placing so much emphasis on shifting the narrative that surrounds rural women. But if the investment in women smallholder farmers was prioritised, we'd unlock 1 trillion. And growth and that's a very motivating reason to shift the narrative and it's a real opportunity because too often rural women are cast, as I said, as victims. And in reality, they are the innovators. They are the problem solvers. They are the leaders and smallholder farmers are anything but small. And in particular, when you see them in a regional group context, what they're doing to an economy of a country. They're most often depicted, and they are that, as natural caregivers, but they’re so much more. Their contribution is often over simplified, and the systemic barriers they face are ignored, and they're frequently overlooked and undervalued, and they do need, you know, our empathy. But also they face the harshest impacts of the climate crisis. And when they're given resources, they do transform communities. I've seen it the the best. The best example, I know with SEWA in India. Which through sheer organisation has done so much, Project Dandelion works very closely with with SEWA. So, we want to help shift the narrative from one charity to an investment, one of respect and indeed one of partnership. And rural women are often on the front lines of climate impacts. They suffer most from droughts and floods. They wear long skirts. They hold their children, they can't run, and they die disproportionately. We know that. But when we tell the stories of rural women and the smallholders, they're not stories of marginal gains. They're stories of transformational leadership. And that's what investors want to know, you know, can we invest for real change? Yes, you can.
::And what's next for Project Dandelion? What's the next step?
::Well, the next step is we have to be busier than ever. We can look around the world right now and it's very easy to feel disheartened or depressed by what's going on. But I mean encouraged because I see the potential of what could be. And in Project Dandelion we want to say that being a dandelion for climate justice isn't an exclusive club. We want as many people around the world to step into climate leadership. So, to all of the listeners my first answer to this question would be, what comes next, I hope would be something Co created with all of you. With all of you as listeners saying yes, I could be part of this. I can either help with investment, I can be supportive. I can tell the stories. I I I can value the work of women and we're working on a lot of projects exploring how we better communicate across the intersections of climate change and nature with everything else Climate and health. Climate and food, climate and nature itself. Which really are, you know, the two sides of the same coin. And we often say in the issue is a climate issue, and it really is. But for now, I would literally encourage all of you to have this focus on women's smallholder farmers, not just on UN day. Of the rural women, but keep it, keep the focus and make sure that finance will come because it's an important issue at COP 30 and beyond and to those of you listening from multilateral development banks and other funders. This is a a genuine call to you. Wake up and see where the transformative leadership is and switch much more funding to smallholder farmer women. Take them seriously. They're anything but small and there's a tremendous opportunity and to everyone else you can help amplify this message. Visit project dandelion social media channel and share our campaign and join us in urging financial institutions and world leaders to invest in the very exciting work on the grounds that's changing rural communities. That's building strengths that need to be there. To combat the climate shocks and where the impact will be greatest.
::Thank you to Mary Robinson and Katie, you can find out more at www.projectdandelion.com
::Up next, we’re back with our Life Stories series, featuring women’s entrepreneurship and self-reliance in the north of India.
::You’re listening to episode 93 of Farms. Food. Future. with me Michelle Tang and Brian Thomson.
In Lamkot village, high in the hills of Uttarakhand, in northern India, Kiran Bisht spends her mornings surrounded by fabric, scissors, and sewing machines.
::She trained in sewing for six months, but the real challenge began when she decided to open her own shop in 2024, with support from IFAD’s Rural Enterprise Acceleration Project, or REAP for short.
::What started as a step to support her family has grown into a hub of empowerment.
::That's right, Michelle. She's now teaching 6 local women how to sew and giving them steady work. Her shop makes school uniforms, custom garments and clothes for the nearby markets.
::It may be a small shop, but it's making a big difference.
::Our reporter Katie White spoke to Kiran to find out more about her story.
::Kiran, thank you for joining us and welcome to the podcast. Can you take us back to the start? Could you tell us a little bit about your life growing up?
::First of all, thank you and greetings from my side as well.
I was educated from an early age. I come from a middle-class family, and because of that, I was raised in the village itself. When we were children — during our childhood — there weren’t many facilities available. Today, there are plenty of amenities, but back then, we had very limited access. Even when we were studying, there were very few resources. I completed my 12th grade with Biology as my subject, and even our regular days were not easy back then. We had to finish all our chores in the morning before going to school, and even after returning home, there was a lot of work to do — we had to help in the fields and take care of the few animals we had. Gradually, growing up in this environment, I completed my 12th grade education. Life in the hills, particularly for women- young girls- is harder as compared to boys.
Girls face a lot of challenges — in education, in daily life, in everything. I also faced many such challenges but still managed to complete my 12th grade. After that, at a young age — only 18 — I was married off. I wanted to study further, but I wasn’t allowed to. Once you’re married, there’s no scope for education from the in-laws’ side. So, facing all these hardships and limitations, I grew up — and have reached where I am today.
::What is a dish that reminds you of your home? Did you and your family cook together?
::Ma’am, we grew up in the mountains. We didn’t have expensive or fancy food items. It was a small family, and food was made on a clay stove. I remember sitting with my mother near the stove — she would cook while we sat around her. My mother used to make aloo parathas (potato-stuffed flatbread) that were really tasty — I still remember the taste. Back in our time, there were no pizzas or burgers like there are today. Everything we ate was made with whatever was available locally. Since we belonged to the mountains, we didn’t have those kinds of dishes like chowmein, momos, pizza, or burgers. In the village, the whole family would sit together and make something simple, and that togetherness brought happiness. So, my sisters, father, grandmother — all of us would sit together while my mother cooked at the stove.
::Can you share with us a memory from your childhood that you hold close to your heart?
::Ma’am, when we were little and used to go to school, there weren’t many resources.
We had to attend school with very limited means. Even then, we had to finish all the house chores in the morning before leaving. And after coming back from school, we had to help at home again. If our parents were working in the fields, then we had to take food to them. We had to fetch fodder for the cows and calves too. I remember our school principal ma’am — she always used to speak in English. She would always be very well-dressed — wearing elegant saris and everything. Seeing her, we used to think, “If only we could grow up and become like her someday — educated, independent, and strong.” That image of her stayed in my mind. Looking at her, we always used to feel inspired to become like her one day.
::And what were the biggest challenges that you faced when you were growing up?
::we were from a rural area. And because we were both middle-class and from a village, girls were not given many opportunities to study. Boys were given preference. Boys’ education was focused on, but girls’ education was not considered important at all the mindset was, let the boys complete their education and move ahead, girls can stay behind. This was the biggest difficulty for girls in the hills: boys got preference; girls were not encouraged. Even if some girls were good at studies and wanted to move ahead, they were silenced with comments like, “You will get married soon. There will be wedding expenses. Where will we get that money from?” So, the girls themselves became quiet, thinking maybe it was better to fall behind, so they stayed silent. Because of this, many talents remained suppressed and never got a chance to grow. People said I was doing whatever I wanted, moving forward, doing this and that — because I was trying to progress by doing sewing.
After some time, my husband’s health deteriorated significantly, and because I was doing sewing to move ahead, everyone abandoned me.
Everyone left me. But I worked hard, earned my livelihood through sewing, educated my children, took care of their schooling, managed my husband’s medical expenses, and looked after the household. This is how I kept moving forward.
::So, you created a business around sewing. When did you create your business and what led you to that decision?
::After having my daughter, I learned sewing. One of the biggest challenges in our area is that there were no female tailors. So, I had to learn sewing from men (gent tailors). Because of this, many rumours spread in the mountain area. People said a lot of things and didn’t let me go out much. Despite all this, I learned sewing and started doing it from home. After starting sewing at home, I decided to take it further.
But then, my family abandoned me — they said, “She is doing whatever she wants.” After that, my husband’s health worsened. I didn’t know how to manage everything because the income from sewing at home was not enough to support my family.
So, I thought about what I could do and how. Then, I took a small shop, kept a machine there for myself, and started working there. Even after starting this work, I faced many difficulties because our society is male-dominated. Because of this male dominance, women going out and working is a big issue. I might be the first lady tailor in my area. Because I was a lady tailor, women had to come less to men for tailoring. Slowly, my livelihood began to run.
erything. Then, gradually, in:I took a loan of ₹1,50,000 from the bank, and they helped me with ₹75,000. With that money, I bought a few more machines. After increasing the machines, I expanded my work. When I had one or two machines, I called the girls and women around me who wanted to work but were hesitant. I taught them sewing as well. Many of them didn’t want to sit at the shop, so I gave them work to do from home. I told them, “You do the work at home and bring it to me.” Slowly and step by step, I am running my own business and 7712 women are connected with me through this. I am also running a livelihood program for self-help groups.
::And what have you learned since starting your business? And why is it so important for you to pass on the skills that you've learned to other women?
::after starting my business, if I talk about myself, I make ladies’ garments.
I make everything — aprons, micro-mats, and other things. From this, I’ve learned that if a woman has her own income and livelihood — if she has money in her hands — she doesn’t have to depend on anyone else for ₹100 or ₹500 or ask for ₹50. If you have your own money and livelihood, you can give equal education to your children, whether they are boys or girls. You won’t have to ask any family member to send the girl to school or give her the same education as the boy. You can save your own money and provide for your children yourself. This is the biggest lesson I learned in my business — that if you have money, livelihood, and a source of income, you can stand on your own feet. You will gain confidence, self-reliance, and empowerment will come to you first and foremost. Ma’am, I want to make other women around me self-reliant, to help them stand on their own feet, and provide them with new means of livelihood. I want that all the women connected with me, as long as I live or can work, I should be able to help all the women around me stand on their feet, empower them, make them self-reliant, and tell them: “Earn for yourself and make decisions for yourself.”
::And what you do is part of this Sita Self-Help Group? And how does that group support the community?
::Here we work through self-help groups formed by TRIP and NRLM (National Rural Livelihood Mission). The role of these groups is that initially, they provide some funding to us. Then, among us women — whether five or seven or however many — every month, we save some money, like ₹100 per month. After collecting the savings, the money that accumulates is given to any woman in the group who needs it. We also charge a very minimal interest — for example, ₹1 interest on ₹100. When that woman’s work is done, she returns the money. Then, the money is given to another woman. In this way, the money keeps circulating, and whoever needs something gets it. Right now, locally, we are encouraging women towards self-employment. In the mountains, women can do work like sewing, weaving, embroidery, fruit production, and so on — any work they are capable of. We also encourage goat rearing, sheep rearing, cow and buffalo farming — all these activities suitable for the mountains. We also provide money from the self-help groups to women who need some financial help. Nearby, we are also thinking about schools — like school dresses and contracts for those. We get those contracts and give the work to women who know sewing, so they can earn money. They don’t have to depend on anyone or hide anything. Our group’s name is Sita Sahayata Swayam Sahayata Group from Langda.
::What would you like to do next, and what would you like the world to know about your community?
::There was a teacher who was India's first woman teacher. She faced many difficulties and criticism but still carried out her teaching duties and made girls study further. Seeing her, I also feel that I want to empower the women and girls around me, help them stand on their own feet, and encourage them towards self-employment. This way, migration from the mountains can be stopped. Women can stay in the mountains, stay close to their homes, earn their livelihood locally without having to leave their homes. By doing local self-employment, they can educate their children and build a livelihood so that in the future they won’t have to bow to anyone or go to banks to ask for loans. Because when we go to banks for loans, it is very difficult, especially for women who don’t understand what to do and what not to do. My dream is that every girl should stand on her own feet, not just be a daughter or daughter-in-law confined to the home. She should learn to live for herself .
::Thank you Kiran and Katie.
For more Life Stories, check out episodes 79 and 87, featuring stories from Suriname, Ethiopia, Bangladesh, and Colombia.
::And don't forget to check out our latest episodes too!
In episode 90 we look at how we keep feeding more people with less land, less water, and an increasingly unpredictable climate?
::Then in episode 91 we talked with the One Campaign, Global Citizen and the One Acre Fund about what it takes to mobilise political will, strengthen citizen action and reimagine rural finance –
::And in episode 92 for World Mental Health Day, we spoke about mental health and farming, from climate anxiety to healing through agroecology and traditional practices.
::Coming up now as part of our ongoing Global Donor Platform for Rural Development series, we’re talking to Jenice Achieng, owner of Agnesa Bakery and country representative for Y-PARD Kenya and to Moreen Nyakato, CEO of Greeco Organic Farm in Uganda.
::You’re listening to Farms. Food. Future. with me Brian Thomson, and Michelle Tang.
Rural women face no shortage of challenges when it comes to starting out as entrepreneurs.
::From limited access to finance, to the struggle of balancing family responsibilities, to trying to break into markets that don’t always welcome them.
::But despite these barriers, many are finding creative ways to succeed and to inspire others along the way.
::Like our next two guests.
Jenice Achieng is a teacher in Kenya who founded Agnesa Bakery, turning local crops like pumpkin and sweet potato into affordable, nutritious foods.
::She also serves as Country Representative for Y-PARD Kenya, where she champions young people in agriculture.
::And in Uganda, Moreen Nyakato began Greeco Organic Farm with a small kitchen garden at home.
::That's right. What started as a way to feed her family has grown into a social enterprise that now trains whole communities in organic farming and nutrition, and they're both here to tell us all about it. Welcome.
::Janice, Maureen, thank you for joining us today on the podcast.
::To start, what are the issues that keep you up at night?
::Sustainability of my business. High cost of production. That makes it impossible to keep up, but we have to keep going. I worry about the well-being of my community as well. For instance, if I stop my business. Where will these farmers go to? Where will my employees go to so that really keeps me worried? And I think about how do I keep going? How they keep going to ensure that I I run the business and then also support my community.
::Moreen, how about you? What are the issues that keep you up at night?
::The issue that keep me up at night is, looking for ways of how I can achieve my vision. My vision is to see myself having one of the biggest Agri business Skilling centre in my region. There are the many young people who have dropped out of school. More so, the young girl child. So, I would really want to reach out to many more other youth in terms. Of skilling them.
::As an owner of a small business, what has been your experience in accessing finance?
::As a young entrepreneur in the beginning, it wasn't easy because accessing finance in my country the easiest would be a bank loan and accessing these bank loans you need security and the main security they look at is land. Women in my country, like most of them, do not own land. It was not easy without collateral. But later I got the collateral but also still it is not easy because the loans are of a very high interest rate.
::Jenice, would you have a concrete example to share with us too about accessing finance?
::When I began, I thought it would be easier. I'll just walk into a banking institution, come out with with a loan. But that proved not the case, because two years into my business, I I was told I was not bankable. And again, the collateral I could not manage. I needed a title deed. I did not own land. I needed a logbook for a car I did not own a car. I came across one product promoting women in agri-entrepreneurship at that time, so into this bank and my my pitched my business. And told them I needed a loan. I was actually told to wait for three years to be in business for three years. Three years or such a long time because my my business is really capital intensive. If I don't invest in the machineries or the equipment, then I am out of business. So, I took loans from family and friends microfinance which has very high interest rate. I am a teacher as well, so when I got employed, they took a personal loan. Many years I am still repaying the loan and I have three more years to finish up hoping that I am able to get funding or a learning mechanism that will suit my enterprise.
::What is one thing that is missing that will also help young entrepreneurs like yourself?
::So, what's missing is a tailored product. That suits specific entrepreneurship. In this case. We cannot, we cannot serve loans with the same interests rates in the rural areas as to those who are in the urban setups running totally different enterprises. Agri-enterprises really need tailored models. That so that the interest rate or repayment period aligns with the agricultural season. If the financial institution decides that they value their interest more than the well-being of the entrepreneur, you're not going to have entrepreneurs to take loans in the future.
Michelle
Moreen, what is the one key message that you would want donors and also financial institutions to consider?
::Number one is. To consider direct financing to the young entrepreneurs who are doing something out there. Yes, because most of the money from donors goes to big organisations or NGO's, and then it so happens that we are the implementers. So, the other bigger NGO holds the fund. And we are given very little incentives to run the implementation part of it. And then the bigger monies, the bigger fund remains with the NGOs. So, I think that should be looked into because I believe in our communities, in our rural communities, there are very many young people who are really innovative, who have innovative businesses, but they really need a push. So, you find when it is really so hard to grow your enterprise and being young people, we have so many other young people that look up to us, yes. And we would like to inspire them into the agri-business sector. If we can be empowered, yes, if we have managed to persist and run our businesses for five, 8-10 years, if we could be empowered, it would be more easier for us to empower more youth. To come up in the Agri business sector.
::Jenice, what inspired you to take this path?
::For me, it's how I was brought up. My grandparents and my parents of farmers alongside their jobs. And I saw how rewarding it was especially when it came to offering assistance to other families that were vulnerable in my community, and so I saw how hard work, repairs and the importance of giving back to the community.
::Thank you Janice and Moreen.
Remember you can visit www dot donor platform dot org for more info on the Global Donor Platform for Rural Development.
::And that brings us to the end of this episode.
::Thanks as always to our producers and editor here in Rome, Rosa González, Francesco Manetti, Francesca Primavilla, to our reporter Katie White and to Aneesha Bedi and Ellie Lee.
::But most of all thanks to you for listening to this episode of Farms Food Future brought to you by the International Fund for Agricultural Development.
::We'll be back in two weeks to celebrate World Food Day, digging into school meals, food policy and why local solutions matter more than ever.
::And on the second Monday in November, we'll explore what's at stake for food and farming at COP 30 from global climate negotiations to grassroots solutions.
::Stay tuned.
::This is farms, food, future, a podcast that's good for you, good for the planet, and good for farmers brought to you by the International Fund for Agricultural Development. You can find out more about all of our stories at www.if at Dot org forward slash.
::Podcasts.
::Remember, we want to hear from you what you think about our stories and who you want us to be talking to. So please get in touch at podcast at ipad.org. Send us your voice or text messages to this address and we'll be happy to play you out in the next show. Also, don't forget to subscribe to this podcast.
::Via your favourite podcast platform and please rate us and once again we'll be trying to be good for you. Good for the planet and good for the farmers. Until then from me, Brian Thompson and the team here at IFAD. Thanks for listening.
