Empowering Pakistani Women Farmers with Zinc Enriched Wheat Varieties

Pakistan ranks 145^th out of 146 countries in the Global Gender Gap Index 2024. This concerning performance reflects significant gender disparities, prompting calls for renewed efforts to enhance gender equality in all key sectors. Women play a vital role in agri-food systems, but their working conditions and economic opportunities are impacted by gender inequalities. They receive less opportunities to access knowledge, capacity building trainings, and the latest agricultural practices.

To address the issues of gender inequalities and malnutrition, HarvestPlus conducted several capacity building training sessions to empower smallholder women farmers to cultivate biofortified zinc-enriched wheat varieties in Pakistan. The sessions provided essential nutrition education and highlighted the benefits of cultivating biofortified crops to combat malnutrition and improve family health. The hands-on trainings also featured the latest agricultural practices, input use, weed control, postharvest storage techniques, product development, and marketing of nutritious crops. Additionally, HarvestPlus provided a 30 percent subsidy on zinc-enriched seed to vulnerable women farmers, helping to increase their access to zinc-enriched crops varieties.