SAWA: Empowering women vegetable farmers in Kenya
Women make up 70% of the agricultural labour force in Meru county, Kenya, but their role in vegetable production and sales goes unrecognised. They face discriminatory attitudes and a male-dominated land tenure system, receive lower prices for their products from middlemen, and tend to be allocated the lowest-quality plots of land to grow crops for their household.
Agnes Nkonge Gakii tends to her vegetable farm in Buuri.
Credit: Traidcraft Exchange/Khadija Farah
Traidcraft Exchange is equipping women in Buuri with the skills and knowledge they need to improve the quality and efficiency of their production. We are working to grow women’s confidence, facilitate their engagement in decision-making, and encourage them to take on leadership roles. We are adapting the tried and tested Commercial Village Model to support farmers to organise into groups, and working with co-ops, private sector and government stakeholders in the vegetable sector to improve market efficiency.
Project name: SAWA (“Sustainable Agriculture and Women’s Advancement”)
Where are we working? Eastern Kenya; Meru county; Buuri sub-county
How long for? 3 years (September 2018 - October 2021)
Who is benefiting? 2000 smallholder households numbering 10,000 people
What are our aims?
To increase the visibility, voice, choice and control of women in the vegetable value chain
To organise and build farmers’ (especially women’s) capacity to enable efficient market access, improved production and better terms of trade
Who are we working with? The project is funded by the UK government's Department for International Development.
For more information about this project, please contact programmes@transform-trade.org
To learn more about our climate resilient agriculture work with smallholder farmers in Kenya, please have a read of our Programme briefing.