According to the World Bank, women make up 80 percent of Kenya’s farmers. Despite their majority, they still have many challenges to overcome, like gaining ownership of the land they work.

Flanked by a poultry yard and several cows grazing just a few meters from her home, Linda Okal is busy in her vegetable garden in Kenya’s central Mbeere province – famous for its agricultural products.

Okal grows maize and cultivates fruit trees, rears dairy cows and numerous chickens. She also takes care of her two children. “I started farming when my husband moved to town to look for a white collar job,” Linda says. She was left behind to take care of the farm and the children – an increasingly common tale in Kenya, where more and more women take over farms.

Women traditionally used to stay at home to take care of the family and cook for the men on the farm, Okal told DW. “But there were no female farmers.”

Linda Okal

Now, more than 80 percent of Kenya’s farms are run by women. Only half of these women actually own their farms; the others work the land that belongs to their husbands. But not having ownership creates a lot of problems. Since the women don’t own the land, they cannot join farming cooperatives that would help them interact with other people who could help them improve production or sales.

via Women take over Kenya’s farming sector | Environment | DW.DE | 09.04.2013.