Why is sustainable agriculture so important for developing countries? 63 % of population live in rural areas Agriculture and agro-processing account for 30-60 % of GDP in developing countries, and an even larger share of employment Women now make up more than 40% of the global labour force and 43% of the agricultural labour force. Most women in the workforce in developing countries are engaged in agriculture and they produce between 60% and 80% of food crops in these countries. The Food and Agriculture Organization estimates that if women farmers had the same access to resources as men, agricultural output in developing countries would increase by between 2,5 and 4,0 %.

World Hunger and Food Security About 18 million people die each year from hunger, 10 million of them are chidren 850 million are undernourished – 1 in 8 people worlwide 2 billion suffer from micro nutrient deficiency 1.2 billion are overfed 1 in 5 children affected by food insecurity

Women Empowerment A root cause of poverty: the imbalance between... What rural women do: What rural women have: Family care Domestic work Agricultural production Income - generation Management of household food security Natural resources management Marginal access to formal credit Less education Fewer rights

Purpose of the Black Sea Women Cooperation for Sustainable Development Feed the Future Goal: Sustainably Reduce Poverty High Level Objective: Inclusive agriculture sector growth -Agriculture Sector GDP Per capita expenditures in rural households Women’s Empowerment in Agriculture Index Increased private investment in agriculture and nutrition activities Increased employment opportunities in targeted value chains Increased resilience of vulnerable communities and households Improved agriculture productivity Expanding markets and trade Percent change in value of exports of targeted commodities Value of incremental sales (farm-level) -Value of new private investment in ag sector or value chain of local firms/Cooperative operating sustainably -Jobs created by investment in agricultural value chains The Index is rooted in the FTF Results Framework Develop a measure of the inclusion of women in agriculture for Feed the Future M&E Inclusion is broad and multi-dimensional FTF defines it as: “the empowerment of women in their roles and engagement throughout the various areas of the agriculture sector, as it grows, in both quantity and quality” The question came up as to Why women’s empowerment in agriculture? AVAILABILITY ACCESS STABILITY UTILIZATION  Sustainable Agriculture and Rural Development  12

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