Support Women Farmers in Sudan
You can support women farmers in eastern Sudan by helping provide the seeds, tools, and training they need to feed their families and generate income for their communities. Supporting the newly-formed Women Farmers' Union ensures that women can continue to work collectively to sustain their families for the long haul.
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The Need
In Sudan, where more than 40% of children under age five suffer from malnutrition, smallholder farmers are working to increase productivity without turning to destructive agricultural practices. However, the global food crisis has caused the price of sorghum, a staple crop, to rise significantly since February 2008. As ongoing warfare in Darfur causes millions of people to flee and settle elsewhere, and climate change causes intermittent droughts and floods make farmers' traditional knowledge obsolete, these farmers face a triple crisis of armed conflict, environmental degradation, and poverty.
Many of these farmers are women, who grow and harvest up to 80% of the food crops in Sudan. Yet, the country's farm aid programs traditionally exclude women, denying them land rights, credit, or agricultural inputs. As United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki Moon stated in January 2009, "Most of the farm work is done by women. Their efforts contribute to the major share of the domestic product of poor countries. These smallholder farmers can produce more but will be unable to do so without help of credit, seeds, fertilizers and land tenure."
About MADRE
Partner since January, 2009
MADRE is an international women's human rights organization that works in partnership with community-based women's organizations worldwide to address issues of economic and environmental justice, women’s health and violence against women, and peace building. MADRE provides resources, training, and support to enable our sister organizations to meet concrete needs in their communities and develop long-term solutions to the crises they face. MADRE addresses the negative impacts of US actions abroad and empowers people in the US to challenge and change destructive government policies. Since its inception in 1983, MADRE has delivered 25 million dollars worth of support to community-based women's organizations in Latin America, the Caribbean, the Middle East, Africa, Asia, the Balkans, and the United States.
