010-2012-12-Woman_farmer_of_year.doc

December 5, 2012 - In Kosovo, 42% of all farmers are women, representing a significant proportion of a sector important to the overall economy. Yet despite their numbers, women farmers in Kosovo remain largely invisible.

So while Kosovo’s 200,000 women farmers may toil in plain view, they do so largely unseen by those forces in society best positioned to help them advance.

“It's almost like that all the time,” said Vlora Xhemajli, who tends a flock of 215 sheep outside the city of Gjakova/Djakovica.

The low profile of rural women has invited action by the government of Kosovo, with the support of USAID, the United Nations, World Bank and others.

“This lack of access to technical knowledge, information, financing and marketing undermines the role of women in the agriculture sector, and hinders the impact that their contributions can make. As a result, the sector as a whole also does not reach its full production potential,” said Christopher Edwards, USAID’s deputy mission director in Kosovo, at a Dec. 5 event marking Kosovo’s first “Day of Rural Women.”

Kosovo’s Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Rural Development declared the special day to highlight the contributions rural women make to the country’s economy. Proper recognition of the number of women active in Kosovo agriculture—they account for 11% of the overall population—should lead to increased support, Agriculture Minister Blerand Stavileci said.

“This is data that on one hand makes you realize their sheer force and, on the other hand, helps you do more to institutionalize help for women,” Stavileci said. The agriculture ministry in recent years has stepped up its outreach to women farmers and increased their proportion of the grants and subsidies it provides.

USAID, for its part, has worked through its New Opportunities for Agriculture (NOA) project, to identify a number of leading women farmers who have been successful in adopting new technologies, resulting in more profitable businesses. By further supporting these women and others, USAID hopes to raise the profile of women in Kosovo’s agricultural sector so that their voices are heard when important public dialogue occurs, Edwards said.

Along those same lines, the Ministry of Agriculture, with UNDP support, recently awarded Xhemajli and Selvete Fetahu with separate 5,000 Euro awards in recognition of their achievements in production and processing, respectively.

“Now, after receiving the award, people tell me how successful I am and how they didn't know that I even had a business,” Xhemajli said days following the ceremony.