Empowering Women Farmers in Tanzania Through Communication for Development

Abstract

African women play a major role in the development and industrialization of the continent. They account for up to80% of household food production by smallholder farmers. In spite of their large numbers, African women generallydo not have access to agricultural production resources, such as land and credit. Their access to land is often throughtheir husbands and fathers and usually loses their property rights as a consequence of widowhood, divorce, ordesertion. This study of women farmers in Tanzania argues that farming is the main source of livelihood for womenand the key to their empowerment. The study, therefore, examines how communication or access to information, canserve as the vehicle for women farmers’ empowerment in Tanzania.