FAO, UN Women y REAF/MERCOSUR promote the exchange of experiences to strengthen the economic autonomy of rural women

Women represent 36% of the workforce in agrifood systems of Latin America and the Caribbean. However, 48% of women working in agriculture are contributing family workers - meaning they work without receiving remuneration - compared with 9% of men, according to the report “The status of women in agrifood systems. A regional approach for Latin America and the Caribbean”.

Adapting financial services to the realities of rural women, guaranteeing conditions for their equitable access to natural resources, and strengthening strategies that promote women’s productive organizations and increase their negotiation power and participation in decision-making are among the topics to be addressed throughout the semester in the IV Cycle of Technical Exchange for Family Farming, held within the framework of the Regional Technical Platform for Family Farming.

This cycle of technical exchange, jointly organized with the Specialized Meeting on Family Farming of Mercosur (REAF/MERCOSUR) and UN Women, contributes to the actions dedicated to the International Year of the Women Farmer 2026 and the United Nations Decade of Family Farming, by fostering dialogue on the structural challenges faced by women who live and work in rural areas.

Rene Orellana Halkyer, Assistant Director-General and FAO Regional Representative for Latin America and the Caribbean, emphasized the importance of intersectoral collaboration in designing and implementing solutions to improve access and use of financial tools, particularly in the context of the International Year of the Women Farmer 2026.

“Moving forward means shifting from diagnosis to implementation: designing gender-responsive policies, mobilizing appropriate financing, and building inclusive territorial financial ecosystems. This requires a continuum of financing that enables larger-scale investments and brings together governments, development banks, the private sector, cooperatives, academia, civil society, and international cooperation.”

Along the same lines, Matías Carámbula, Undersecretary of the Ministry of Livestock, Agriculture and Fisheries of Uruguay and representative of the Mercosur pro tempore presidency, highlighted Uruguay’s experience with policies for rural women, adding that “it is important to think in terms of State policies, with dedicated budgets that enable progress on gender policies, and to scale up end deepen these policies so that they begin to generate and promote structural changes regarding the role of woman in rural areas”.

For her part, Sarah Douglas, Deputy Regional Representative of UN Women, highlighted that “when rural women have the resources, time, services and opportunities to fully develop their potential, they, their families, the communities and agrifood systems win”.

First session: Access to finance for rural women

The first session, “Access to finance for rural women: instruments, barriers and innovative experiences in financial inclusion”, provided an opportunity to analyze the regional landscape and identify the main barriers faced by rural women, including access requirements and conditions for credit assessments, financial products that are not adapted to agricultural cycles, and limitations in the supply of gender-responsive services.

This debate is particularly relevant considering the economic inequalities that persist in the sector.

The dialogue also addressed the role of governments in developing public policies, regulatory frameworks and funds aimed at the economic empowerment of rural women, as well as the role of microfinance institutions with gender-responsive approach and associative guarantee schemes.

Specific cases from Brazil focusing on rural development and credit programs, and from the Trifinio Women's Network (HOSAGUA), which covers the cross-border territory of Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador, demonstrated how innovative solutions have improved access to financing for rural women and their communities by combining financial services, technical assistance, organizational strengthening, and regulatory changes that address barriers for their economic empowerment.