Key Facts
In sub-Saharan Africa women grow up to 90% of all food. 1
When African women obtain the same farm inputs as male farmers, they increase their yields for maize, beans and cowpeas by over 20% 2
Only around 1/3 of researchers in the world today are women. 3
Photos: 1- David Brazier / IWMI, 2- David Brazier / IWMI , 3- Apollo Habtamu / IWMI
Sources:
1. FAO
2. Caldes, Natalia and Ahmed, Akhter U. “Food for Education: A Review of Program Impacts (draft).” Prepared for Millennium Task Force on Hunger. Washington: IFPRI, June 2004
3. UNESCO 2012, Women in science
For more information and IWMI’s work related to this issue please visit our Governance, Gender and Poverty theme page.
Enhancing capacity for system transformation
Strengthening and sustaining the enabling environment
Enabling gender and youth inclusion
Brokering knowledge for sustainability
Cultivating scaling preparedness
Fostering scaling partnerships
Co-developing innovation bundles
Scaling farmer-led irrigation requires strengthening human capacity and knowledge exchange among all actors and stakeholders involved. IWMI takes an action research approach, working with national and international research institutions, governments, extension agents and public and private organizations to co-develop the scaling ecosystem and strengthen capacity to drive scaling networks and collective action. We support the 
A lack of affordable credit, particularly for women and resource-poor farmers, is one of the main barriers to expanding farmer-led irrigation in low- and middle-income countries. But 
The ability of farmers to engage in or expand irrigation depends on the prevailing socioeconomic, ecological and political contexts, which are often complex, non-linear and changeable. Overcoming systemic barriers to farmer-led irrigation development while taking advantage of existing opportunities 
Population pressure and increasing water competition in a changing climate require us to take stock of the availability and use of water across scales. Water availability not only influences farmers’ commercial prospects but also irrigation-related enterprises and agri-businesses. Greater water scarcity could jeopardize irrigation and agricultural markets while excessive water use can lead to declining ecosystems, water quality and soil health. IWMI advises development partners and the public and private sectors on all aspects of water resource availability and use through a variety of advanced modeling and remote-sensing products and tools, including 
