P4P Stories from the field


Farmers’ organizations driving change for rural women in Burkina Faso

While women in Burkina Faso are active in the agricultural sector, few own land, instead working on family farms owned and managed by their husbands or male relatives. Because of this, women reap few of the financial benefits of their labour. Plus, the additional burden of household chores—placed solely on women in most homes—limits the time they can work on whatever small amounts of land they may be responsible for.

Five rural women share their stories

By seizing the opportunities presented to them through P4P, these five women farmers have made great strides, leading to improvements in their own lives and those of their families. Read on to learn more about their successes, as well as the challenges which they still have to face.

“I am now free from being a daily labourer and have started to work on my own farm rather than working for others.

Smallholders benefit from conservation farming in Nicaragua

In the municipality of Jalapa, Nueva Segovia, flat land in this generally mountainous area, and high agricultural potential has led to the extensive use of mechanized farming, particularly since the introduction of tobacco cultivation. Many years of utilizing traditional mechanization has led to soil compaction and erosion, which can deplete the soil of vital nutrients and reduce yields. To promote improvements in agricultural production, P4P and partners are supporting small-scale farmers with a variety of sustainable techniques and technologies.

Empowering women farmers through literacy training

In 2010, two-thirds of all illiterate adults in the world were women. In 2011, P4P’s global gender strategy projected that literacy training was one of the necessary steps towards empowering women farmers, particularly due to their lower literacy levels than men. This was confirmed by emerging lessons learned, which show that functional literacy is crucial for women to learn other skills, allowing them to manage farmers’ organizations and keep records of financial transactions.

Improving links between smallholder farmers and school feeding programmes

By linking local agricultural production to school meals, Home Grown School Feeding (HGSF) programmes multiply benefits for rural communities. They can increase enrolment, improve nutrition, boost local economies, improve smallholders’ livelihoods and develop government capacity. Due to varied country contexts, each HGSF programme is unique, but are generally characterized by the incorporation of local food purchases into government-run school feeding programmes.

P4P Liberia: Building relationships and growing businesses


WFP demand helps catalyse effects of FAO and IFAD smallholder support




P4P DRC: Rebuilding infrastructure to link smallholders to markets


Soya production in Afghanistan supports P4P efforts to improve nutrition


P4P triggers further investments in food quality and safety

Some basics on aflatoxin: Aflatoxin usually develop on food such as maize and groundnuts, in regions or countries with climates of high temperature and humidity. Aflatoxin is a type of mycotoxin, which result from fungal growth.  This is normally caused by the improper drying or re-wetting of crops. Once aflatoxin occurs, it cannot be eliminated without making food unsafe for human consumption. High aflatoxin levels can be prevented by improving farming, storage and transportation practices.