**8. Female gender and food security in sub-Saharan**

#### **8.1 Women and crop production**

Smallholder farmers produce 80% of agricultural production in sub-Saharan Africa [36, 37]. In subsistence farming, as practised in Africa, women are the primary sources of food production and little from men is necessary [37–41]. Sub-Saharan African women have the highest average agricultural labour force participation rate in the world, at 62.5% in 2012, compared with 36.4% globally. In Ghana, for instance, women produce 70% of the country's food crops, offer 52% of the agricultural labour force, provide 85% of the labour for agro-processing operations and 86% for food supply. Women made up 43.8% of the economically active population in sub-Saharan Africa as a whole in 2010, and 65% of those women worked in agriculture, with women delivering 70% of farm labour in Kenya [9, 42]. The importance of female agricultural workers in the world is unparalleled, even though life for rural women is not easy. Women do not have the same rights as men and must often balance domestic duties with agricultural work, such as sowing, weeding, harvesting and collecting firewood and water. Additionally, it can be more difficult for women to produce as much as men do in the farm setting, due to poor access to land, agricultural extension services and technologies.

#### **8.2 Women and livestock farming in SSA**

In less developing countries such as SSA, women generally can rear small animal husbandry (poultry, sheep, etc.), but men take care of the big head. As relayed by [43, 44], women are seen as key stakeholders in backyard poultry farming systems, and successful engagement in this sector requires gender-appropriate methods. Research has proven that women's poultry farming initiatives are more likely to lead to successful nutritional outcomes [33, 45–50]. In fact, the Food and Agriculture Organization enhances that increasing the productive resources available to women would reduce the number of hungry people in the world by about 12–17% [51]. Furthermore, it is undeniable that women play a fundamental role in food and nutrition protection at all food chain stages [52].

#### **8.3 Women and food transformation in SSA**

African women's involvement in every stage of the food system is crucial [53]. In SSA, most of the food processing infrastructures are traditional and women once

again are the key point of such a system of food processing. They are present from production, to distribution and nutrition. In fact, based on traditional knowledge, rural women process food and pass this knowledge to the next generation through their daughters. It is rare to have a modern infrastructure for food processing in urban or rural areas. Most modern processed foods are imported. And for the rare locally modern processed food, the price is high for the local market; as result, a large number of citizens cannot afford it. Therefore, it opts for foreign markets. In such decor, the only possibility which remains for these regions is to empower local actors like women with knowledge to create healthy and wholesome foods. So, then they could supply the market with the appropriate dishes fitting their social reality [52, 53].

As noticed, previously and with the current food insecurity situation in the underdeveloped world and peculiarly in SSA, empowering women is still the most suitable way for a rapid effective sustainable food security promotion.
