ASIATODAY.ID, LABUAN BAJO – The empowerment of women farmers contributes towards improving food security, enhancing agricultural and rural development, building climate resilience, and achieving gender equality.
To kick off the International Year of the Woman Farmer campaign, Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and UN Women today hosted a training and policy dialogue to amplify women farmers’ voices and foster women’s leadership in driving climate-resilient agriculture. Beginning in West Manggarai, East Nusa Tenggara, the initiative will broaden to other regions in Indonesia throughout the year.
The United Nations (UN) has declared 2026 as the International Year of the Woman Farmer to spotlight the gender gaps facing women farmers and drive policy reforms and investment to advance gender equality and empower women in the agrifood systems.
Women make up 41% of the global agrifood workforce according to FAO data. Despite their contributions, rural women disproportionately face precarious jobs, poor working conditions, and limited rights. Women farmers typically work on smaller plots of land than men, with the gender gap in land productivity reaching 24 percent, while earning only 82 cents for every 1 dollar that men earn.
Similarly in Indonesia, Statistics Indonesia (BPS) data shows that 38 per cent of Indonesia’s total agricultural workforce, reaching 14.81 million. However, persistent gender gaps, such as unequal access to land, training, and financial services, make it difficult for women to mitigate and adapt to climate change impacts, threatening their livelihoods and food security.
“Empowering women farmers means empowering communities. Their knowledge, experience, and community-led action are indispensable in addressing climate change and food insecurity that posed the greatest development challenges of our time,” said Ulziisuren Jamsran, UN Women Indonesia Representative and Liaison to ASEAN.
“Year of Women Farmers is a timely opportunity to make women farmer’s contribution visible, their leadership recognized, and the persistent barriers to their progress dismantled, so we may secure a sustainable future for all.”
To continue promoting women’s leadership in agrifood systems and for climate resilient societies, FAO and UN Women will be developing women farmers’ capacity in various practical skills as part of the Year of Woman Farmer campaign in Indonesia. The topics range from sustainable agriculture, value-added processing and marketing, financial literacy, to women leadership to help them prevent and cushion climate impacts.
Women farmers’ voices will also be amplified in a series of policy dialogues with local and national governments, in a push toward gender-responsive climate policies that reflect needs on the ground.
“Climate impacts are not gender neutral. FAO’s reports show that women suffer from greater financial losses due to climatic shocks such as heat stress or flooding, even reaching billions of dollars annually, and they must work more hours compared to men,” said FAO Representative in Indonesia and Timor Leste Rajendra Aryal.
“When we close the gender gaps and invest in women, everyone benefits,” he added.
Empowering West Manggarai Women
In West Manggarai, the training and policy dialogue were held in collaboration with Yayasan Komodo Indonesia Lestari (Yakines) where 25 women farmers are gaining skills in sustainable farming while strengthening their capacity as economic actors.
The policy dialogue also highlighted women farmers’ agency, leadership, and contributions to climate resilience in the community, while facilitating dialogue with local governments to align priorities that support climate-smart agriculture and promote gender equality, particularly ensuring women have a voice in decision-making processes.
During the policy dialogue, women farmers highlighted the need to advance climate-smart agriculture, which requires strong collaboration across stakeholders and meaningful participation from women and youth. Local solutions such as local foods, traditional food storage They also underscored that sustained impact depends on supportive local regulations that advance sustainable and locally rooted food systems in West Manggarai Regency.
“As women, we urgently need practical information and knowledge on concrete actions we can take to mitigate and adapt to climate change,” said Mama Siti Sadyatun, Chair of the Indonesian Independent Women’s Alliance (APIR) in West Manggarai Regency, one of the women farmers.
These activities followed a series of initiatives to strengthen East Nusa Tenggara women’s climate resilience and leadership under the EmPower programme, implemented by UN Women Indonesia jointly with UN Environment Programme (UNEP) with the support from the Governments of Sweden, Germany, Switzerland, and New Zealand.
EmPower’s interventions focused on supporting skills development for women and marginalized groups and promoting their leadership to drive the just energy transition, spark commitments to accelerate gender-responsive climate policies and action, and the development of climate-resilient livelihoods.
“Vulnerable groups, especially women, youth, older persons, and persons with disabilities, are among the most affected by climate change. YAKINES works at the grassroots level to empower women and young people with practical, climate-adaptive solutions. Its initiatives include building capacity in climate-smart agriculture, promoting sustainable food systems from production to consumption, supporting environmentally friendly livelihoods, and strengthening local regulations on food sovereignty. YAKINES also fosters women’s and youth leadership as key drivers of local resilience,” Ferdinandus Mau Manu, Program Coordinator of Yakines said.
Closing Gender Gaps Benefits Everyone
FAO’s report The Unjust Climate reveals that female-headed households lose 8 percent more of their income than male-headed households due to heat stress, reaching $37 billion a year annually in low- and middle-income countries. Flooding, too, has an impact on decreasing female-headed household income by 3 percent, which is $16 billion a year compared to male-headed households.
A one-degree Celsius increase can lead to female-headed households losing 34 percent of their income compared to male-headed households, the same report says. Meanwhile, closing the gender gaps is expected to raise global GDP by USD 1 trillion and reduce food insecurity for 45 million people according to FAO’s estimates.
At a time when effective climate action is more important than ever, the International Year of the Woman Farmer serves as an opportunity to call for action at the national level, including ensuring women farmers are recognized as key actors in food and nutrition security, and rural livelihood resilience, and advancing efforts to close gender gaps and improve women’s livelihoods. (Midwan)
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