Webinar explores gender and land equality in global agriculture

The United States Agency for International Development’s Feed the Future Soybean Innovation Lab is hosting a free webinar on Thursday, May 2, from 10-11 a.m.

Mississippi State scientists work with farmers in Ghana and Mozambique to understand gender inequalities in the agriculture sector to help transition rural women, their families and communities toward improved food security, health and economic development. (Photo submitted)

Mississippi State scientists Kathleen Ragsdale, Mary Read-Wahidi, and Gina Rico Méndez will join Mawuli Asigbee, agriculture program manager at Catholic Relief Services in Ghana and an implementing partner in the USAID program, for the panel discussion.

The webinar titled “Why Gender and Land Matter in Rural Ghana and the World: The Importance of Closing the Gender Gap in Agricultural Development” will cover issues related to land tenure, access, rights and agricultural productivity. The panel also will explore how to frame research questions to examine land rights issues central to gender responsive agricultural development.

The USAID Feed the Future Soybean Innovation Lab addresses food security by improving soybean production among smallholder farmers in sub-Saharan Africa.

Ragsdale, Read-Wahidi, and Méndez are scientists in MSU’s Social Science Research Center and the Mississippi Agricultural and Forestry Experiment Station. Their work in Ghana seeks to understand gender and economic barriers in soybean farmers’ access to land, credit lines, and markets for their soybean crops. Their goal is to develop tools and trainings to increase gender responsive agricultural development and productivity in the region and beyond.

To register for the free webinar, visit https://register.gotowebinar.com/register/8134416118300376333.