Matching Inclusion and Growth: The Strategic Case for Investing in Young Women in Agriculture
Many young women across sub-Saharan Africa view farming as something for older men—hard, dirty work with little reward. However, when deciding to start their own farming business, they realise that the biggest challenge isn't the labour— but instead is about being young, woman, and constantly underestimated.
This reflection captures the paradox at the heart of the region’s agricultural sector. While agriculture remains the economic backbone of the region—employing over 60% of the population and contributing significantly to national GDPs—young women are among the most excluded and overlooked participants in the sector. Their marginalisation is shaped by a compounded disadvantage: gender-based barriers and societal norms, such as age-related exclusion, and high illiteracy rates leading to lower skills and education.
In many African patriarchal societies, land is passed down through patrilineal descent, leaving women—especially young women—without ownership or control over the very land they cultivate. In our portfolio, we have observed how this plays out daily for women farmers across countries like Ethiopia and Nigeria, where customary inheritance systems favour male offspring. By not having any formal land rights or security, young women usually turn invisible in the eyes of financial institutions and agribusinesses, severely limiting their ability to invest, plan long-term, or access credit. This lack of ownership is just one of many other challenges. Even in progressive countries like Rwanda, where land reforms support women’s ownership, high illiteracy and poor access to information still limit young women’s competitiveness in commercial farming. Besides land ownership issues, young women also face restricted access to inputs, training, markets, and decision-making spaces, which are critical for success in modern agriculture. These structural barriers turn into a widespread perception that agriculture is not a viable or attractive career pathway for young women. Many see it as outdated, labour-intensive, and low-status. As a result, the critical challenge is not only to shift mindsets to reframe agriculture as a space of entrepreneurship and innovation but also to promote systems change: to remove barriers to young women’s participation in agriculture.
At the same time, this set of challenges presents a powerful opportunity for agribusinesses and investors. Young women in agriculture are not just a demographic to support—they represent an untapped strategic asset. With a median age of 19, and a farming population averaging between 32 and 39 years, sub-Saharan Africa’s large youth cohort is to become a cornerstone of the region’s agricultural future. Moreover, field evidence and agribusiness experience show that women farmers often outperform better than their men counterparts in several key areas. They exhibit stronger loyalty to buyers and aggregators, significantly reducing the risk of side-selling. Their loan repayment rates tend to be higher than men (for instance, a microcredit programme in Kenya[3] found that women had a 91% repayment rate—slightly outperforming men’s 89% rate), resulting in lower credit losses to agribusinesses and financial institutions. Women also tend to be more consistent in applying agronomic practices learned through agronomic extension services, leading to more predictable and stable outputs. In some cases, when given with equal access to credit, inputs and training, women have even achieved higher yields than men. For example, a study on Ethiopian maize farmers found women’ yields of up to 3.7 MT/ha versus men’s 3.5 MT/ha. While engaging young women farmers may involve higher initial investments compared to their men counterparts, their long-term performance and reliability often deliver superior returns.
The power of Innovations
Younger generations—in this case, young women—are typically more open to innovation. They are quicker to adopt regenerative agriculture techniques, climate-smart practices, and digital tools, transforming farming into a more productive, profitable, and sustainable enterprise. This adaptability makes them ideal partners for agribusinesses seeking to modernise operations and build future-ready supply chains. To fully realise this potential, however, agribusinesses must move beyond traditional models and adopt innovations that are both gender-inclusive and commercially viable. Our recent innovation guide on Gender Transformative Business Models features companies that adopted key innovations that led them to successfully integrate women in the value chains while enhancing profitability. Some of these innovations with strong potential in engaging young women farmers are:
Block farms. Block farms consolidate land into larger, contiguous plots operated by groups of farmers. These can be owned by families, communities, or businesses. Agribusinesses are well positioned to support these farms with inputs, mechanisation, credit, and other pool of services, creating economies of scale and improving quality control. This model reduces transaction costs, ensures consistent supply, and builds long-term loyalty among producers. For young women, block farms can offer a pathway to land access, income generation, and leadership within their communities.
Seed Multiplication. High-quality seeds are the foundation of agricultural productivity. By training and certifying young women as seed producers, agribusinesses can strengthen local seed systems while creating new revenue streams. These processes not only enhance access to improved varieties for surrounding farmers but also position women as key players in upstream value chains. The reliability and commitment to adopt good agricultural practices, often demonstrated by (young) women farmers, make them ideal candidates for this high-value activity.
Parboiling Centres. In rice-producing regions, parboiling centres operated by women groups add significant value to raw, low-moisture paddy. These centres improve the nutritional content, shelf life, and marketability of rice, enabling women to capture more value from their labour. Agribusinesses can engage with these centres to ensure a steady supply of high-quality, semi-processed rice for formal markets. This model enhances product quality, reduces post-harvest losses, and creates dignified employment for young women.
These innovations are not just socially impactful—they are smart business. We believe that integrating young women into business models can offer improved supply chain reliability, better product quality, and stronger community relationships. However, choosing the right innovation for specific business maturity and capacities, ambition levels, and challenges to resolve, can seem too daunting for agribusinesses. Many African small and medium-sized enterprises in the agrifood sector cannot risk investing on a trial-and-error basis. That is why IDH recently launched the Innovation Library, a tool that supports companies to identify the right innovations for their own specific purposes. By guiding the user through farmer- and business-related objectives, next to filters like ambition levels and lead actors, the Innovation Library helps companies explore promising innovations swiftly and with confidence. Moreover, the Innovation Library also serves as a platform for companies to access other in-depth resources like innovation guides and case studies, offering further support to companies in their business innovation.
The future of food systems change in sub-Saharan Africa depends on its ability to innovate and include. Young women are not a marginal group—they are central to the sector’s transformation. By investing in inclusive models with innovations like block farms, seed multiplication, and parboiling centres, agribusinesses can unlock new growth opportunities while building more resilient and equitable food systems. The proposition is clear: when young women farmers thrive, agribusinesses succeed.
Juan Carlo Intriago Zambrano
Innovation Manager
