The invisible backbone: Feeding the nation without land or financial power

This story has significance for readers across Kenya and beyond.

What you need to know:

- Despite producing much of Kenya's food, women farmers continue to face barriers in land ownership, financing, markets and decision-making, limiting their economic empowerment and agricultural productivity.

- Across Kenya, women shoulder the bulk of agricultural labour but remain disadvantaged by unequal access to land, credit, technology, climate resilience and control over farm income.

In Kamenya village, Homa Bay County, the rhythm of Kenya’s food system beats to women’s hands. At dawn, Josephine Auma Abuor is already balancing household chores with the demands of her rice paddies.

By 7am she is in the fields, catapult in hand, hurling clay pellets to chase away quelea birds. For weeks before harvest, she spends entire days guarding the crop, sustained by sweet potatoes and rice carried from home.

“My day begins at 6am when I wake up and do household chores. I ensure that I get to the rice farm by 7am before the birds arrive,” she says.

Rice takes three to four months to mature. But in the final four weeks, the sun rises and sets with Josephine still in the field. Why? Because she must guard her rice against the relentless birds that threaten to destroy her crop. Even as she works tirelessly to feed the nation, her own nutrition is compromised.

The labour drains her energy, and she replenishes it mostly with starch: sweet potatoes and rice. Occasionally, she carries bananas or watermelon to add vitamins.

This is the invisible backbone of agriculture: women’s labour. Josephine tills, transplants, weeds and guards her crop entirely by hand, her body fuelling the nation while her own diet remains limited.

Just three per cent own land independently

While women like Josephine are helping feed the nation, their contribution to agriculture often masks a troubling reality: many have little control over the land they farm, the resources they need or the income generated from their labour.

Agriculture remains the mainstay of Kenya’s economy, contributing more than 45 per cent of government revenue and accounting for about 60 per cent of total employment, according to the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations.

Women form a significant share of this workforce, with approximately 80 per cent of rural women employed in agriculture. Yet their prominence in the sector is not reflected in ownership and control of productive resources.

Data from the 2022 Kenya Demographic and Health Survey shows that only 25 per cent of women own agricultural land. Of these, a mere three per cent own land independently, while 20 per cent own it jointly with a spouse or partner.

Josephine's rice field sits on land whose title deed still bears her late father‑in‑law’s name. Though the community recognises her as the owner, widows elsewhere are often denied inheritance rights, leaving them vulnerable to eviction.

Before her husband’s death five years ago, she had little say in planting decisions. “My role was only to help him during land preparation and planting,” she recalls.

From no land control to market exploitation

When the rice matures, women again take centre stage, this time in marketing. Josephine sells at Nyangweso market, where farmers target schools and households on Thursdays. Yet middlemen intercept bulk supplies, buying unmilled rice cheaply and squeezing farmers’ margins.

A local miller charges Sh5 a tin for milling, further cutting into profits. Despite producing up to four bags per season, her earnings are vulnerable to these market dynamics. What she earns goes straight into school fees, household needs, and reinvestment in the farm, stretching her labour to sustain both family and field.

The flavour of milk protein

When rice settles in the stomach, a sip of milk can soften its weight, adding flavour and protein. And, most importantly, a feeling of the labour of women in the milk value chain.

Take Florence Matayen in Kitengela, Kajiado County. At 6am, her hands move with practised speed as she squeezes milk from a cow, competing with calves for their share. For 32 years, she has milked twice daily, before sunrise and again in the evening, balancing her teaching career with livestock farming.

In Maa culture, women are central to milk production. They are responsible for milking, storage and household consumption. Yet while women provide the labour, men often retain control over land and major livestock decisions.

Florence’s farm, with about 200 cattle, goats and sheep, sits on ancestral land owned by her husband. The livestock too belong to the husband. She manages the daily routine; milking, supervising herders, selling milk to neighbours and hoteliers. Her milk brings in at least 70 litres a day, translating to Sh200,000 a month. She also earns from manure sales and agribusiness.

But when it comes to selling animals, restocking or breed selection, her husband takes charge. “My husband consults me on restocking and breeds, but he decides when to sell and bargains for prices,” she says.

She dreams of owning her own land to establish a modern dairy farm after retirement. “I envisage a day I will have full control and room to dream big, not to control my husband but to supplement family income,” she says.

Agri-finance steep climb

But Florence knows her dream of expanding the dairy enterprise hinges not only on her own labour but also on her husband’s support. She hopes he will provide collateral so she can access affordable financing through banks. For women farmers in Kenya, agribusiness financing remains a steep uphill climb.

An analysis by the Kenya Institute for Public Policy Research and Analysis shows that access to agricultural credit varies sharply by gender, age and location. Women in rural areas are more likely to rely on formal non-prudential sources of credit, while urban women tend to access formal prudential sources. Men, by contrast, dominate formal prudential credit channels in both rural and urban settings.

When rural women do secure loans, they often turn to informal sources such as chamas and table‑banking groups. Savings are another critical pillar: nationally, 92.4 per cent of the agricultural population saves through formal institutions, according to FinAccess 2019 data.

Men primarily save through formal prudential institutions, especially urban men aged 35–64, while women combine prudential and non-prudential channels and are more likely than men to use informal savings.

Collateral remains a major barrier. Women are far less likely to use land or title deeds as security. Instead, guarantors are the most common form of collateral for women seeking bank loans. The analysis shows 65 per cent of women aged 16-34 and 32 per cent of those aged 35-64 relied on guarantors.

Men, however, predominantly use salary or income as collateral, with significant proportions across all age groups. Land titles are also more commonly used by men aged 35-64, with 26 per cent relying on them.

Exploitative brokers

But even when women circumvent the barrier of land ownership by leasing plots not just to feed the nation but to earn a living, they hit another bottleneck: exploitative brokers. Take the case of Sarah Kimani in Elburgon, Nakuru County. For three years she ran a stall selling animal feeds imported from Uganda. When rising customs duties eroded her profits, she switched to vegetable farming in 2022.

“From an initial investment of about Sh15,000, I leased and prepared a quarter acre, bought certified cabbage seedlings, fertiliser and other inputs. After 35 days I top‑dressed with CAN fertiliser, weeded my purple cabbages and sprayed pesticides to fight insects,” she explains.

She started with one plot before expanding to a second. Depending on the variety, the vegetables are ready for harvest after three to four months. Her day begins at 6am as she prepares breakfast for her family before tending to the chickens at her home in Turi. She then heads to her leased vegetable plots in Elburgon and Kuresoi.

But when it comes to selling, brokers take control. Sarah explains that they buy a whole cabbage for as little as Sh50, only to resell it by the kilogramme, earning far more than the women who laboured to grow it.

Her earnings pay for farm inputs and medication for her ailing husband. Climate change adds pressure as dry seasons reduce yields as vegetables demand water. She buys water from a community borehole. Despite the challenges, she has sharpened her skills by visiting experienced farmers, attending field days and forums.

Closing the gap

While women’s contribution to Kenya’s food system is widely recognised, experts say their labour is still not matched by equal access to land, finance, markets, technology or control over the income generated from farming.

Leonida Odongo, founder of Haki Nawiri Africa, says this unequal control over land limits women’s ability to invest in farming and benefit from their work.

She argues that agroecology can help women reduce production costs, improve household food security and create additional income. This can happen if they rely on locally available resources, save indigenous seeds and diversify farm production, he says.

“You can give all the knowledge and all the practices, but the challenge of land ownership remains,” Leonida says. “If the land is not yours, you cannot invest in it.”

She says women’s economic empowerment in agriculture requires access to finance, secure land rights, greater participation in decision-making, support for mechanisation and labour-sharing systems that reduce their workload.

She also calls for campaigns promoting joint land ownership, simplified land registration processes, more women on land boards, legal awareness and stronger engagement with traditional leaders.

“When you talk about food, you cannot separate it from land. You cannot separate it from culture. You cannot separate it from climate change or trade,” Leonida says. “Women need to have control over the resources they use and the benefits that come from their labour.”

Judy Matu, national chairperson of the Association of Women in Agriculture Kenya, says women remain central to food production, but their contribution does not always translate into control over land, income or decisions about how agricultural earnings are used.

“Living in a patriarchal society, most of the property, including land, is in the husband’s name,” Judy says. “That means the landowner and the land user could be different people, and the people who make decisions around land use are mainly the men.”

Power of agricultural empowerment

She says women have agricultural knowledge but need greater support to improve yields, adopt climate-resilient farming methods, access markets and add value to their produce.

“For example, in Makueni, Kitui and Taita Taveta, which are arid and semi-arid areas, we have supported 300 women in each county to grow drought-tolerant crops, including sorghum, millet and green grams.”

“We provided training on planting, soil management, water use, post‑harvest handling and value addition. Today, some of these women have become seed producers, creating an additional source of income while sustaining access to improved seed varieties.”

However, increased production does not automatically mean women control the proceeds. Judy recalls cases in Taita Taveta where women did most of the farm work and took produce to the market, but were required to hand over the earnings to their husbands and wait for them to decide how much money would be returned to the farm.

To respond to these challenges, she says they have found engaging spouses and other male gatekeepers as a way forward. “We recognise that women’s empowerment is more likely to succeed when women operate within supportive environments,” she says.

“That is why the programmes follow an 80-20 approach, with women making up 80 per cent of participants, while men and young people account for the remaining 20 per cent.”

Urban woman farmer

For women in urban informal settlements, where land is scarce, vertical, conical and container gardens, as well as hydroponic farming, have offered alternatives. Judy says these approaches allow women to grow food for their households, cut spending on vegetables and earn small incomes by selling surplus produce to neighbours.

She points to a farmer who began with a rooftop garden in Kawangware in Nairobi County and later rented land in Dagoretti, where she now grows vegetables and sweet potatoes. And uses a biodigester to convert farm waste into manure.

In Kilifi, another group that started with kitchen gardens secured land in Mazeras and set up a processing plant. “These examples show that even when women do not have much space, they can still achieve something significant,” Judy says.

Season-based repayment

Access to finance, however, remains a major barrier. Judy notes that many women are wary of loans, while others struggle with collateral requirements, unfavourable credit histories, high interest rates and repayment schedules that do not match agricultural cycles. “If I get a loan to plant, I should not be asked to repay immediately when the crop is still under the soil,” she says. “I can only start paying when I get to the market and sell.”

She calls for season‑based repayment periods, more suitable collateral requirements and financing that considers the wider benefits of supporting women farmers. “Banks need to get out of their air‑conditioned rooms and come to the grassroots, interact with these farmers and see what happens,” she says. “Ask them what can work and how we can work together.”

Digital access also requires solutions tailored to women’s circumstances, she says. Judy notes that even women with basic mobile phones can access information if services are affordable and user‑friendly.

“It does not matter whether they have smartphones or kabambe; there is always a way information can reach them,” she says. “But you have to be willing to go the extra mile for the women to get this information, including providing USSD.”

Public participation forums

Beyond farming and finance, Judy highlights how unpaid care work limits women’s time for farming, training and income-generating opportunities.

In Kitui, she says, women advocated for water points closer to homes, reducing the burden of long treks to fetch water. In Mombasa, women pushed for childcare centres in markets, where many traders spend long hours selling produce while caring for children.

“It may sound non-agricultural, but it is, because this is where all food produce comes from,” Judy says. “We also have to make women’s work easier, and if you are talking about women’s empowerment, that comes in as part of it.”

For Judy, ensuring that women benefit fairly from their labour requires more than boosting production. It means, she says, tackling land ownership, decision-making, control of farm income, financial services and the burden of unpaid care.

“We tell women to attend public participation forums to speak for themselves,” she says. “For example, in Kitui, they were heard because they spoke in unity. But don’t go alone; mobilise others. If you go alone, your voice can be lost. But when you are many, you amplify it.”

Adapting to climate extremes

Meanwhile, the government says it is making targeted efforts to empower women farmers with the information and tools they need to adapt to climate extremes. Anne Wang’ombe, Principal Secretary for the State Department for Gender and Affirmative Action, says they have collaborated with the State Department for Agriculture and other partners to strengthen the capacity of women farmers through training on climate-smart agriculture.

“These initiatives equip women with practical skills and knowledge to adopt sustainable farming practices, improve productivity, build resilience to the impacts of climate change, and enhance household food security and incomes,” he says.

She adds that the ministry has expanded interventions to address the dual challenges of climate vulnerability and food insecurity. “‘Climate-smart agriculture sensitisation programmes have already reached women in Tharaka Nithi, Garissa, Baringo and Siaya counties,” she says. “Delivered in partnership with county agricultural and livestock officers, the training covers drought-tolerant crops, climate-resilient livestock production, water conservation techniques and basic value addition.”

Local extension referral pathways

She says they continue to strengthen local extension referral pathways, empowering women-led households to adopt climate-adaptive practices, improve household income stability, and build long‑term economic resilience.

She notes that the National Policy on Women’s Economic Empowerment (2024) identifies agricultural value chains, food security and nutrition as key thematic areas, recognising the sector’s potential to transform women’s lives.

“Through this policy, women will be supported to access skills development, modern technologies, productive resources, financial services, markets, and value-addition opportunities,” she says. “This will enable them to move beyond subsistence farming and participate more competitively across agricultural value chains.”

However, she says the success of the plan will depend on different government agencies working together. It will also require collaboration with other stakeholders involved in agriculture and women’s empowerment, she says.

This approach, she says, should ensure that programmes reach women in all counties, including smallholder farmers in rural areas. “Through these coordinated efforts, the Government seeks to empower women as agricultural producers, entrepreneurs, and leaders in agricultural value chains,” she says.

“This will not only improve women's incomes and livelihoods but also contribute to increased agricultural productivity, enhanced food and nutrition security, poverty reduction, climate resilience, and inclusive national economic growth.”

Reporting originally appeared via Nation Africa. Read the full source for additional context.