Female Farmers Voiced Their Contribution to Household’s Food Security: A Case of Kazgail Village, North Kordofan

Abstract

The study aims to explore the contribution of female farmers to household food security. The qualitative method was used, to gather in-depth reactions and responses that focused on the information needed to analyze the attitudes, perceptions, and experience of female farmers towards their contribution to household food security. <i>A</i><i> </i><i>sample</i><i> </i><i>of</i><i> </i>18<i> </i><i>female</i><i> </i><i>farmers</i><i> </i><i>w</i><i>as</i><i> </i><i>purposively</i><i> </i><i>s</i><i>e</i><i>lected</i>.<i> </i><i>Group</i><i> </i><i>discussion</i><i> </i><i>with</i><i> </i><i>female</i><i> </i><i>farmers</i><i> </i><i>was</i><i> </i><i>used</i><i> </i><i>as</i><i> </i><i>method</i><i> </i><i>of</i><i> </i><i>data</i><i> </i><i>collection</i>. A total of three group discussions were held over two weeks. During group discussions, female farmers voiced clearly their experiences to decide the types of food items to achieve household food security, and sort out the status of food security of their households. The narrated stories explained clearly and deeply systematically the experiences of female farmers as food producers. They voiced the challenges limited their contribution to household food security and with the limited opportunities available to them. The study concluded that female farmers in the study areas played major roles in their households&#8217; food security from production to consumption. It is worth mentioning that they are the backbone of small-scale agriculture, farm labor, and day-to-day family subsistence. So, yet their contribution is uncountable, because of the subsistence nature of their work, which is considered as invisible family production. In order to enhance women smallholder farmers&#8217; efforts to achieve food security and sustainability, governments, farmers&#8217; organizations, financial services providers, civil society organizations and other relevant bodies should work in collaboration to ensure the empowerment of female farmers.