Training for rural development: Agricultural and enterprise skills for women smallholders

By Sharon Walker
sharon.walker@skillsdevelopment.org

Research carried out by CSD shows that women smallholders need training that will develop their entrepreneurial and business knowledge to complement training in agricultural skills. This can support them in diversifying income streams, raising production, and becoming competent sellers in the market.

The research project, Training for Rural Development: Agricultural and Enterprise Skills for Women Smallholders, investigates the experiences of four case study projects in India and Ghana that are working with women to improve their lives and those of their families and communities. The lessons learnt take forward findings from other projects around the world.

"Because of learning about value chains, we are able to understand where the market is. We now communicate with potential buyers before we take their goods to go and sell them. This prevents the situation where we have to sell our goods at a very low price, or even abandon them, because there are no buyers, and transport back is expensive."

Ekon women's group, MoFA, Central Region, Ghana

Prior to forming a women’s group and receiving training in enterprise skills, the women from the Ekon village did not know the best way to sell their fish on the market, get a fair price and improve the quality of their product. Through training and mutual support in the group, they have been able to obtain financial support, learn business skills and build storage facilities for their fish. As a result, they feel better prepared to face seasonal fluctuations and unforeseen circumstances. They have grown in confidence and have gained the respect of others in the market place. They have also seen their incomes and production grow as they are now able to get a good price for their fish.

The positive experience of these Ghanaian women clearly demonstrates the benefits of targeted training to support women farmers in achieving sustainable sources of income. As women constitute a large percentage of smallholder farmers in the developing world, where agriculture forms the basis of rural economies, it is important for them to gain relevant skills and knowledge in order to lift rural communities out of poverty.

Research carried out by CSD shows that alongside training in agricultural techniques, women smallholders need training that will develop their entrepreneurial and business knowledge. This supports them in diversifying income streams, raising production and becoming competent sellers in the market. The research considers how issues such as gender expectations, access to resources, rural isolation and illiteracy can act as barriers to women accessing and using training, and seeks to learn lessons from past projects on how these barriers can be overcome.

One of the key findings is the need for policy makers and project developers to ensure that training successfully combines enterprise and technical skills to empower women to really make a difference in their lives. The report also emphasises the need for certain supporting factors – such as access to credit, capital and land – to be in place for training to be effective, and for project developers to understand the local environment in order to ensure that training is relevant.

The research showed that women benefit from market training. The women from the case studies really valued this aspect of enterprise training. Gaining information on market prices and developing confidence to negotiate prices for themselves made them less vulnerable to making a loss. They also found that training in storing, processing and packaging their products helped them to preserve the quality of their products until it was a good time to go to market to sell.

The women also enjoyed the opportunity to learn how to manage their finances. The training, which was really useful if it was applied to the women’s production activities, helped them to plan ahead and to establish a clear line between money for the home and money for the business. They also used their skills to begin to save for and buy machinery to help with future production.

Overall, the research helps to highlight successful strategies that should be considered in the design of agricultural training that combines enterprise skills for women smallholders. CSD hopes that the lessons that the research has to share will help future projects to use funding effectively to meet the needs of this important group.

CSD’s report on training for rural development: agricultural and enterprise skills for women smallholders will be available by the end of November.

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