Though female farmers make up a significant portion of farmers globally, they often face barriers that make it substantially more difficult for them to succeed. For one, female farmers are less likely to own the land that they farm on, which makes it more difficult for them to secure loans for investment in their farms. This insecurity of land ownership not only impacts the ability to secure credit, but also makes female farmers less likely to adopt new technologies because of the uncertainty in long-term investment. Female farmers are also often pushed out of planting cash crops, which are seen as more economically productive. Female farmers are less likely to plant cash crops, such as cocoa or oil palms, and have been found to more heavily favor subsistence crops, such as peppers or tomatoes, which are less often considered eligible for credit. Finally, women are often excluded from farmer’s cooperatives.
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A 2019 World Bank brief explains how global population growth, changing dietary preferences, and various climate risks all contribute to “an ever increasing need to invest in agriculture.” So much so that global demand for food is expected to increase 70% by 2050, which will require at least $80 billion of imbursements annually, much of which will need to come from the private sector. However, the 2019 Rural and Agricultural Finance State of the Sector Report, a joint publication by the Mastercard Foundation Rural and Agricultural Finance Learning Lab and ISF Advisors, tells us that there is currently a gross amount of unmet smallholder finance demand.
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