Farming as a business: An examination of the gender perspective

In recent years development practitioners working in the area of rural agriculture recognise that profit making enterprise is a concept that must be promoted and appreciated by the people they target with their non profit making interventions for sustainability. This conundrum of undertaking non profit interventions to achieve pro profit outcomes has led to many development aid agencies to develop and adopt models that engage their target groups in profit making initiatives and seeking out private sector partners. Self Help Africa has in the last decade been promoting a farming as a business model based on the principle that smallholder farming families not only increase their productivity but also make it profitable. This means growing surplus crop for markets and selling above the cost of production. With a strong focus on women, Self Help Africa's work seeks to provide gender sensitive approaches that specifically addresses women-specific challenges so that they are able to equally participate and establish successful agri-based enterprises. This research examined the extent to which the Self Help Africa model was engendered in promoting farming as a business for rural women.