Because of pervasive inequalities, women are vulnerable to the lasting economic impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic. This article highlights some of the ways we can strengthen the resilience of women farmers and entrepreneurs during the crisis and aid their post-pandemic recovery.
The COVID-19 pandemic is affecting farmers, entrepreneurs, and workers across the globe, but its economic impact on women is particularly severe. How can the private sector, governments, and civil society ensure that women can continue to do business amid the pandemic?
When Virginie Adounon first opened her beauty salon in Bohicon, Benin, she was not keeping track of her sales or giving herself a salary, and she could not save up enough money to make necessary upgrades to her shop. After joining a TechnoServe program called BeniBiz, she gained the skills she needed to run a profitable business, even during a pandemic.
In Benin, the cashew industry has the potential to help hundreds of thousands of small-scale farmers lift themselves out of poverty. However, poor agricultural practices often limit their productivity and incomes. TechnoServe is using remote sensing and machine learning to map cashew production and target agricultural training to farmers who need it most.
Cashew has the potential to transform Benin’s economy – and the lives of the smallholder farmers who grow it. However, many farmers lack the technical knowledge they need to get the best harvest from their cashew orchards. TechnoServe is developing a digital chatbot to help farmer trainers quickly access the information they need, allowing them to effectively support more farmers.
For women and girls in the developing world, COVID-19 is exacerbating existing inequities and creating new challenges. In Benin, women cashew farmers like Elisabeth Atchade must juggle many responsibilities, including earning money for the household while also taking on the majority of child care responsibilities. Learn how a TechnoServe program is helping women address these challenges and emerge from the crisis even stronger.
In Benin, cashew farmers are facing many challenges as they try to adapt to rapidly changing conditions due to COVID-19. We talked to Nicholas Mancus, TechnoServe’s chief of party for the BeninCajù program, to learn about the challenges these farmers are facing, how the pandemic is impacting women and men differently, and what TechnoServe is doing to help.
The BeninCajù program is working to make Benin’s cashew sector more productive, competitive, sustainable, and inclusive. Today, we’re sharing a behind-the-scenes look at the daily activities of a TechnoServe gender and access to finance specialist who works on this program.
In Benin, TechnoServe is working to provide young entrepreneurs with the skills they need to build prosperous and food-secure communities.
The BeninCajù program, a partnership between TechnoServe and the U.S. Department of Agriculture, is working with 48,000 smallholder cashew farmers to increase yields, boost revenue, and encourage domestic processing.
