To combat the challenges currently being faced by women farmers in Africa, a plethora of initiatives are being undertaken, with hopes of empowering these farmers and ensuring the transformation of the region's agricultural landscape

While women remain the backbone of small-scale agriculture, they continue to struggle with issues such as food insecurity, sexual harassment and low wages. According to the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), women receive less than 10% of available agricultural credit, limiting their ability to purchase high-quality seeds, fertilisers, pesticides, and irrigation equipment. The lack of collateral, restrictive banking policies, and financial illiteracy further hinder their ability to secure funding, leading to lower yields and poor crop quality.

Moreover, land ownership is another major hurdle. Studies show that only 15% of women in sub-Saharan Africa own land, reducing their ability to secure loans for expansion. This lack of ownership discourages long-term investments in soil improvement and productivity-enhancing innovations, keeping women in subsistence farming. Unstable markets further compound these issues. 

To tackle these challenges, African Union Special Envoy for Food Systems, Dr Ibrahim Assane Mayaki advises women farmers to form or join cooperatives, which can help them collectively bargain for better prices, access bulk purchasing discounts on inputs, and eliminate exploitative middlemen. Cooperatives should also develop digital marketplaces and mobile trading platforms where women can connect directly with buyers, ensuring fairer pricing. Governments, NGOs, and financial institutions must design gender-responsive credit facilities, including collateral-free loans and microfinance programs tailored for women farmers. Expanding mobile banking and digital wallets to rural areas can facilitate transactions and savings. Additionally, financial literacy training should be introduced to help women understand budgeting, credit management, and investment strategies.

Advocacy efforts should focus on ensuring that inheritance laws are equitable and that women farmers have secure land tenure, enabling them to make long-term investments in their farms. Governments and private sector players should invest in structured market systems, including farmer markets, digital trading platforms, and cold storage facilities. Participation in regional agricultural exhibitions and trade fairs should also be promoted to connect rural women with larger markets.

To enhance cross-border trade opportunities, trade regulations should be simplified, and training on trade policies and export procedures provided. Setting up cross-border trade facilitation desks can offer guidance and protection against exploitation at borders. Preferential trade agreements for small-scale women traders should also be introduced to enhance their competitiveness in foreign markets. Governments should also expand women-focused agricultural extension programmes, leveraging mobile apps and radio-based training to reach remote areas. Peer-to-peer learning and mentorship programmes can also provide knowledge on best practices, innovative farming techniques, and climate-smart agriculture to improve productivity and resilience against climate change.

This year's Agritechnica 2025 will take place from 9-15 November in Hanover, Germany and will feature advanced, networked agricultural systems in line with the theme 'Touch Smart Efficiency'

Organised by the DLG (German Agricultural Society), the international trade fair will provide farming professionals with direct access to technologies that drive efficiency, sustainability, and productivity in modern agriculture. Conventional agriculture is set to increasingly focus on integrated crop production and crop protection in the future.

Thanks to modern sensor and control technology, the combination of mechanical and chemical crop protection has potential in integrated crop production, as do purely mechanical methods in which the hoeing tools are precisely controlled by cameras - both   between and within the rows. In the former case, this enables high working speeds and, in both cases, significant savings in crop protection input. There are also already interesting approaches for optimized control of hoeing units using artificial intelligence (AI).

Mineral fertilisation is also becoming increasingly precise. An important goal here is to minimise nutrient inputs into bodies of water, particularly in the case of nitrogen fertilisation. Other goals are to save on mineral fertilisers through greater precision and increased efficiency. The agricultural machinery manufacturers' answers to these requirements are sensor-supported rate control, further developments in border, automatic part-width section control and variable rate adjustment or systems for adjusting the spreading pattern when cornering. Pneumatic fertiliser spreaders ensure high precision fertiliser application at the field boundary.

Visitors at Agritechnica 2025, will have the opportunity to explore the current technical possibilities and learn how to optimise their application at the booths of numerous exhibitors and through expert forum contributions.

Alfa Laval has broadened its range and reaffirmed its commitment to providing reliable, high-performing solutions that ensure safe processing, protect product integrity, and safeguard consumers while addressing the evolving needs of the hygienic industries

The company has introduced the Unique SSV Pressure Relief Valve and the Leakage Detection Butterfly Valve, alongside new smaller sizes of the Unique Mixproof CIP and Unique Mixproof Process valves. 

Unique SSV Pressure Relief Valve

When peak performance under pressure is critical, the Unique SSV Pressure Relief Valve protects hygienic processing lines, particularly those with positive displacement pumps, from overpressure. Paired with and powered by Alfa Laval ThinkTop technology for valve monitoring and control, it safeguards process efficiency, productivity and safety. Pressure relief setpoints are easy to adjust onsite to accommodate changing conditions. Built on the proven SSV platform, this modular valve shares spare parts with other Unique SSV valves, simplifying maintenance and reducing service costs. Fully CIP-able regardless of the pressure setting, the valve ensures reliable hygiene and performance while minimising downtime.

Leakage Detection Butterfly Valve

Product safety and efficiency are the hallmarks of this straightforward Leakage Detection Butterfly Valve. When powered by an Alfa Laval ThinkTop for valve monitoring and control, it enhances reliability due to real-time valve monitoring and control. Integrated leakage detection enables rapid response to potential issues, maintaining performance. A single seal, disc and actuator make the valve compact and lightweight while reducing installation, operating, and maintenance costs. Fully CIP-able, the valve guarantees more uptime, continuous operations, long-lasting performance, and energy, water and cleaning media savings.

Alfa Laval is also extending its Unique Mixproof range with two new sizes of the Unique Mixproof CIP and Mixproof Process valves. These smaller double-seat mixproof valves offer high cleanability, pressure resistance, and adaptability to meet diverse hygienic processing needs. With these new sizes, manufacturers can easily integrate more compact CIP skids, valve matrices and dosing lines into hygienic processing lines while maintaining the safety that mixproof valves deliver.

The latest additions to Alfa Laval’s valve portfolio demonstrate their commitment to meeting the evolving needs of industries where safety, efficiency and reliability are paramount. With the Unique SSV Pressure Relief Valve, Leakage Detection Butterfly Valve, and smaller Unique Mixproof CIP and Process Valves, Alfa Laval continues to provide practical, high-quality valves that enhance operational performance across a broad spectrum of applications.