As the threat of famine looms not just over Serere, greater Teso sub-region and Karamoja due to prolonged drought that has led to poor first-season harvest, and possible delayed second-season planting, one lesson stands out clearly: empowering rural women with ownership, control and access over land and production resources is not only a matter of equality but also a matter of survival for all of us.
The prolonged dry spell has severely affected crop production across the region on such an unprecedented scale that many fear famine is indeed imminent. Yet amidst these challenges, our women’s groups under our Economic Empowerment of Rural Women Through Agriculture Project have demonstrated remarkable resilience — achieving successful harvests despite the difficulties faced by many in their communities.
Their success, however, was not accidental. It was the direct result of women having the authority to control and access land freely, make decisions about land use, land preparation, planting schedules, and production activities, combined with the support needed to implement those decisions and actions.
Rural Women Feed and Sustain Communities but Have No Ownership, Control and Access to Production Resources
For generations, rural women have been the backbone of agriculture, not just in Serere but Uganda as a whole, contributing 85% of labour on land. By customary norms, women are charged with the responsibility of feeding their families, and in a community like Serere — where 90% of women are not educated and live below the poverty line — there is no alternative means of survival other than agriculture. However, despite this great contribution to society’s survival, women have no influence over critical farming decisions and face restricted access to land and resources necessary for successful agricultural production.
Customary norms dictate that men own land, with only boy children and men entitled to inherit family land. As a result, men are typically the primary decision-makers on all matters relating to land, including how it is used.
Men determine whether the land will be cultivated or rented out in a given year. While Teso women are primarily concerned with producing food for their children and the elderly, men prefer to rent off the land and spend the rental income on personal consumption — mainly alcohol and mistresses — rather than household welfare.
Women are left to cultivate the small plots surrounding the homestead, like the area around a grass hut house. These plots have typically lost their fertility due to continuous cultivation without soil restoration, resulting in poor or complete crop failure.
This imbalance in decision-making contributes not just to food insecurity but also to broader social challenges affecting many rural families and communities in Teso, such as domestic violence, which usually arises when women try to object to renting off land.
Why Women’s Decision-Making Matters
At Wagrau, we believe that securing rural women’s rights to access land is essential — but access alone is not enough. Rural women must also have the authority to make decisions about how land is used. As the primary providers of labour on land, women bear the primary responsibility for food production, yet they lack the power to decide whether land should be cultivated, rented out, or prepared in time for the forthcoming planting season. This imbalance delays land preparation and planting, thereby increasing household vulnerability to food insecurity.
Rural women possess generations of practical agricultural knowledge gained through daily experience. They have spent generations cultivating the land and possess invaluable experience in understanding local soil, weather patterns, seed selection, water conservation, and sustainable farming practices. Their knowledge has enabled communities to survive changing climate conditions and maintain food productivity for decades.
It is this overlooked expert knowledge of rural women that partly informed our Economic Empowerment of Rural Women Through Agriculture Project. We sought to recognise and build upon the agricultural knowledge and experience of rural women and introduce them to modern scientific farming practices, helping them integrate their traditional knowledge with scientific knowledge to promote sustainable and climate-resilient agriculture in rural communities. This we knew had to start with giving rural women not just free access and control over land, but also trusting and fully supporting their decisions. The results have spoken for themselves.
Since starting our project in August 2023 (second farming season of 2023), women — including those aged 60 — have accumulated assets they have never had since they started farming at the age of 12 or 14 years old, with many wondering what could have become of them or their children’s education, or a sick family member’s health, had they been in control of the land and produce they cultivate.
Evidence from WAGRAU’s Women Farming Groups
As early as November 2025, our women’s farming groups had already decided when to clear the shrub on their land, when to plough the land, what crop to plant, and at what point in the season to plant — immediately at the onset of rain. WAGRAU then provided the necessary support to ensure these decisions were implemented according to the timeline set by the women themselves. We had the land rented and fully paid for by December, identified the people to plough the land in the various villages where the groups are located, and were strict about clearing our land first before allowing ploughers to move on to others. We bought seeds for all the crops the women wanted to plant, helped the women draw up schedules and timelines, and provided the necessary fertilizers and pesticides needed at different stages of crop growth.
Investing in Rural Women Is Investing in Food Security
Climate change is increasing the frequency of drought and unpredictable weather. Building resilience therefore means investing in the people who contribute the greatest share of agricultural labour. Supporting women’s ownership, control and access to land, farming equipment, affordable credit, quality seeds, agricultural extension services, and equal participation in farming decisions is not simply a gender issue — it is one of the most effective investments a country can make to strengthen food security.
The experience from our 17 women’s groups provides compelling evidence for this argument. At a time when many across Serere and the whole Teso Region are facing food insecurity, these women have demonstrated that women’s control over production resources, combined with the power to make and timely implement their farming decisions, can mean the difference between crop failure and a successful harvest.
As the region prepares for increasingly frequent climate shocks, empowering rural women is no longer optional — it is a practical strategy for protecting livelihoods, improving agricultural productivity, and safeguarding present and future generations from hunger.
