-
CENTRES
Progammes & Centres
Location
Despite playing a central role in food systems, women lack secure land rights in more than half of all countries, posing serious implications for food and climate security.
Image Source: Getty
Women play a vital role in enhancing food safety and security. They are intrinsic to food systems, participating as farmers, processors, workers, traders, and consumers. They maintain food security in households and communities, and are vital to food supply chains. In developing countries, they produce up to 80 percent of food. In India, for example, women make up nearly 65 percent of the agricultural workforce. Without the contribution of women’s labour, the agricultural economy would not survive. Despite their pivotal role as food producers and providers, women face greater constraints in accessing resources and are simultaneously more vulnerable to food insecurity and its health consequences. Women and girls form the majority of food-insecure people all over the world.
One of the most significant barriers that women face—affecting both food security (access to sufficient, safe, and nutritious food) and food safety (integral to food security, it refers to food being free from contamination)—is the lack of secure land rights. Although they contribute to nearly half of the world’s food production, women account for less than 15 percent of agricultural landholders globally, according to the United Nations (UN) Women. Even when women own land, they tend to own smaller plots and of poorer quality than men. This has serious implications for ensuring equitable food systems.
The connection between food security and land rights is well-established and multi-dimensional. Secure land rights are key to building sustainable food systems, eradicating global poverty and hunger, and promoting inclusive economic growth. Land rights are directly linked to household agricultural productivity by encouraging investment in land and improving access to financial services and government programmes. Land rights are essential for achieving the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), and several of them explicitly mention secure and equal access to land for women, including SDG 1 (No poverty) SDG 2 (Zero hunger), SDG 5 (Gender equality) and SDG 15 (Life on land).
There is historical context to the gender gap in land rights; in more than half of all countries, customs or laws deny women’s land ownership. In fact, in 90 countries, social customs and traditions restrict women’s access to land. India is an example of a country where, even though inheritance laws have been amended to recognise the land rights of women, they fall short because of prevalent social customs and biases, with women constituting barely 14 percent of land ownership in India.
When women have land rights, it enhances their status and bargaining power at home and in their communities, enabling them to make independent investment decisions, access credit, and adopt sustainable farming practices.
When women have land rights, it enhances their status and bargaining power at home and in their communities, enabling them to make independent investment decisions, access credit, and adopt sustainable farming practices. A recent study investigating the relationship between tenure security and food security in Tamil Nadu found that the former was important for growth and productivity in agriculture: access to more than one acre of land for farmers substantially improved their food security. Another study in Peru found that women’s land ownership had a significant impact on food security and crop diversity. When a female member of the household owned at least one plot of land, food security of that household increased by 20 percentage points, as women tend to cultivate crops that prioritise the dietary needs of the household and overall welfare of the family.
The absence of land rights is known to aggravate the impact of climate change. Already escalating desertification, land degradation, and drought are taking a toll on a global scale, intensifying poverty, reducing crop yields, increasing food and water insecurity, worsening health outcomes, and driving forced migration. The brunt of environmental degradation is borne by women who depend more on natural resources for their livelihoods and survival than men. The UN estimates that by 2050, climate change may push up to 158 million more women and girls into poverty.
Mitigation and adaptation strategies for climate change, including combating deforestation and adopting climate-resilient agriculture, require long-term investments in land. These practices can only be sustained by recognising and securing the land rights of individuals and communities. Women’s unequal access and control over land hinders their adoption of climate-resilient innovations. Further, women are known to use resources more efficiently than men. There is evidence from India to show that when women own land, they can access government compensation for climate-induced crop loss and are more empowered to engage in traditional agro-ecological practices that enhance climate resilience.
Across the world, women have united to collectively negotiate for land rights. In Chad, a successful campaign by women’s groups in provinces where they were excluded from land allocations resulted in the reversal of discriminatory practices and triggered land reforms across the country. Interventions in women’s land rights have been successful when communities have taken advocacy in their own hands.
Mitigation and adaptation strategies for climate change, including combating deforestation and adopting climate-resilient agriculture, require long-term investments in land. These practices can only be sustained by recognising and securing the land rights of individuals and communities.
In India, initiatives have been undertaken by both governments and local communities. State governments in Bihar and Odisha operate programmes that redistribute land to landless households and issue land in women's names, thereby strengthening household food security. When women’s land rights campaigns are combined with collective farming approaches, there are multiple positive outcomes. In the semi-arid, drought-prone region of Telangana, women have formed village-level voluntary groups to campaign for land rights and shift from water-intensive rice and wheat crops to growing millets, helping combat malnutrition and food insecurity in the community. Similarly, in Kerala, the state livelihoods mission for women, Kudumbashree, runs a programme for collective farming, which involves mobilising rural landless women to form joint liability groups consisting of up to 10 members to undertake agriculture on land leased from public and private agencies.
With the growing feminisation of agriculture, integrating women’s land rights in programmes and policies that address food safety and security can enhance the impact of those interventions and lead to more sustainable and inclusive outcomes.
Sunaina Kumar is a Senior Fellow at the Observer Research Foundation.
The views expressed above belong to the author(s). ORF research and analyses now available on Telegram! Click here to access our curated content — blogs, longforms and interviews.
Sunaina Kumar is a Senior Fellow at ORF and Executive Director at Think20 India Secretariat. At ORF, she works with the Centre for New Economic ...
Read More +
PREV
