October 15 – World Rural Women’s Day

To support rural women in order to ensure food production

Paris, October 15, 2007 – The right to food is a universal right and rural women are aware that one has to produce healthy and quality food in an amount sufficient to feed more than 6 billion people. « All measures must thus be taken to give women farmers and farmers the opportunity to produce enough food for all. Furthermore, it is necessary to support women farmers in their work by giving them the means to produce and sell food », this is the message of all women farmers members of the International Federation of Agricultural Producers (IFAP). Today, as we celebrate World Rural Women’s Day 2007 throughout the world, women farmers wish to highlight the importance of helping and supporting men and women who produce food.

This is the reason why Mrs. Karen Serres, chair of IFAP Committee of Women Farmers, is encouraging governments to take all the appropriate measures. « This is a challenge we are ready to meet but it is absolutely necessary to give women farmers a profitable selling price if we want them to continue feeding others », she said.

Rural women strongly recommend that practical actions be taken to promote food production:

Rural women should have control and financial independence over the fruit of their labour to guarantee continuous supply of high-quality products that will provide a steady income for the women and their families.

A woman farmer must be able to own and run a farm with complete financial independence if she wishes to do so.

Improved marketing of their agricultural products thanks to appropriate transport and sales infrastructure to provide outlets for their produce at good prices.

Fair rural development so that farmers can continue to live and support their families in rural areas (roads, schools, rural services, small businesses, and public services)

Sufficient earnings for agricultural products so that women farmers can remain in business year to year and make the investments necessary to increase production.

In addition, one must be able to adapt production tools in order to increase the volume and improve the quality of food produced, to make farming easier, to open up production in harsh environments and to mitigate the damage to farmer’s health.

Under the theme: “The right to food: rural women produce and provide”, this World Day 2007 aims at reminding the populations and their governments the true living conditions of women farmers around the world as well as the imperative need to give them practical support in their work.

Some figures: According to the FAO, women produce more than 50% of the food cultivated on the planet. In Africa, more than 80% of food is produced by women. It is 60% in Asia and 30 to 40% in South America. The majority of the poor of our planet live in rural areas. 70% of the poor in rural areas are women and their principal resource is agriculture.

Note: The message of the chair of IFAP Committee of Women Farmers on the occasion of the WRWD 2007 and the recommendations of the women farmers are available at: http://www.rural-womens-day.org/

Neil SORENSEN

Communications Coordinator

Email:

neil.sorensen@ifap.org

Jessica GOODFELLOW

Communications Officer

E-mail:

jessica.goodfellow@ifap.org

Phone:+33 1 45 26 05 53 Fax: +33 1 48 74 72 12

IFAP is the world farmers’ organisation representing over 600 million farm families grouped in 115 national organisations in 80 countries.

It is a global network in which farmers from industrialised and developing countries exchange concerns and set common priorities.

IFAP advocates farmers’ interests at the international level since 1946 and has General Consultative Status with the Economic and Social Council of the United Nations.