By Hilde Nelissen
I grew up on a farm, and as a child I was given my own small piece of land. I turned it into a flower garden. My goal was simple: as much colour as possible. I collected seeds in old candy boxes and became fascinated by how plants could produce such an extraordinary variety of shapes.
Years later, a science teacher, who happened to be a woman, explained that changes in a plant’s DNA were what produced the differences I’d been drawn to as a child, the same principle behind Mendel’s pea experiments generations earlier. That was the moment a whole field of science, one built around questions I’d been asking without knowing their name, came into focus. I was determined to go into plant biotechnology from that point.
That is one reason the International Year of the Woman Farmer feels meaningful to me. I like that we are being asked to pause on this for a year, not merely a day. There is a lot to say about the role women play in producing our food, and also about how disconnected many of us have become from everything that happens before food reaches our plate.
The scale of women’s contribution is easy to underestimate. FAO’s latest data show that 76 per cent of working women in sub-Saharan Africa are employed in agrifood systems.¹ Yet women still face persistent gaps in access to land, finance, technology, education and services. The organisation estimates that closing productivity and wage gaps in the region could add around $53 billion to GDP and reduce food insecurity.¹
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