Opportunity includes the power to decide.
Women and young people contribute across farms, processing, services and markets. Inclusive rural opportunity means resources, decent work and a meaningful voice in the decisions that shape a livelihood.
Recognize the work across the food system.
Agrifood livelihoods extend beyond cultivation. They include sorting, processing, transport, retail and services, alongside paid and unpaid contributions within households. FAO’s 2023 gender report examines these roles across the wider system, rather than treating all agricultural work as one uniform activity.
Its employment evidence shows that in 2019, agrifood systems employed 36% of working women globally and 38% of working men. These are shares of each group’s total employment, with considerable differences between regions. Understanding the type of work, its conditions and the person’s control over income is more useful than assuming that participation alone represents equal opportunity.
Agrifood work in the wider economy.
Share of each group’s total employment in agrifood systems · global
The figures describe how much of women’s and men’s total employment is in agrifood systems. They do not show the gender composition of the agricultural workforce. Reference year 2019, reported by FAO in 2023.
Read the FAO sourceAccess and agency need to move together.
Land, finance, equipment, education and market contacts influence what an enterprise can do. Social norms and household responsibilities can influence who may use those resources. IFAD’s rural-women work highlights restrictions on autonomy and decision-making alongside unequal access to productive assets.
An inclusive approach asks who chooses the investment, signs the agreement and decides how proceeds are used. Meetings, training and services also need to accommodate practical constraints such as travel, language and care responsibilities. Addressing these conditions helps people use an opportunity on their own terms. It also makes visible whose time and unpaid work are supporting the enterprise.
Offer several routes into the rural economy.
Young people have different interests, skills and circumstances. Some seek a farming enterprise; others may build livelihoods in machinery repair, veterinary services, food processing, logistics or digital support. FAO’s 2025 youth report connects decent work with education, resources and participation in decisions.
A viable opportunity needs a customer, skills, workable costs and a route to progress. Access to land can be essential for a grower, while reliable power or equipment may be decisive for a service business. Young people should help define which pathways matter locally. Listening to their aspirations gives a more useful starting point than assigning everyone the same agricultural role.
Connect learning with a practical next step.
Technical training becomes more useful when people can apply it in a job or enterprise. Business records, food safety, negotiation and digital skills can complement cultivation and production knowledge. IFAD’s rural-youth approach connects employment, entrepreneurship and empowerment as distinct needs.
Mentoring and experience within an existing enterprise can help reveal the everyday requirements of a business. Financial services need understandable costs and obligations; digital access needs suitable devices, connectivity and support. Women and young people are not single, identical groups. Location, disability, household circumstances and other barriers can change which combination of services makes an opportunity usable.
Ask whether participation changes the experience.
Representation is more meaningful when people can help set priorities, question decisions and receive a response. Producer organizations can examine meeting times, selection rules and access to leadership responsibilities. Local institutions can also listen to people whose work or views are less visible in formal settings.
Evaluation should go beyond attendance. Useful questions concern skills applied, income controlled, working conditions, decision-making and time burdens. Compare experiences across different groups and allow participants to describe unintended effects. A higher number of people trained does not by itself explain whether their work became safer, better paid or more secure.
Hainan: inclusion within the sustainability discussion.
The Hainan Global Summit on Sustainable Agriculture on 5 December 2025 included smallholders and women farmers in its discussion of a fairer, more resilient food system. Technical innovation appeared alongside food security and climate-smart farming.
The meeting record provides a specific example of inclusion entering WFA’s international dialogue. Explore the programme and photographs in the Hainan archive, and follow the wider livelihood and farmer-organization pages for the practical issues that shape access, voice and rural opportunity.
