| Sumario: | The Building Equitable Climate-Resilient African Bean and Insect Sectors (BRAINS) project is driving sustainable
change across 15 Sub-Saharan African (SSA) countries, including Cameroon. The project aims at transforming
the bean, fruit tree, and insect farming sectors by fostering low-carbon, climate-resilient systems and economies.
In addition, the BRAINS project is committed to enhancing climate-resilient agricultural systems, promoting the
adoption of climate-smart agriculture (CSA) technologies, and building a pipeline of enterprises actively investing
in carbon-neutral, climate-resilient, and gender-responsive business development in line with emerging goals of
the climate finance sector. The project also aims to ensure that vulnerable and marginalised groups, particularly
women and youth farmers, are equitably involved and benefit from this transformation.
Cameroon, like most countries in SSA, faces growing challenges from climate change and variability, as well as
widespread gender disparities. The country has recorded erratic rainfall, more frequent floods and prolonged
dry seasons, which have disrupted agricultural productivity and deepened vulnerabilities among rural farmers
who heavily depend on rain-fed agriculture (World Bank, 2022). Although women constitute a large proportion
of the agricultural workforce, they have limited access to land, climate-smart technologies, and training. This
is a common trend across several Sub-Saharan countries as traditional gender roles limit youth and women’s
participation in high-value market activities and decision-making processes. A large body of literature reveals that
a mix of cultural, economic, and institutional factors shapes gender disparities in agriculture in Cameroon. Women
play a crucial role in farming, making up nearly 70% of the agricultural labour force, yet they face significant
barriers compared to men (Ousmanou et al., 2021; Siri et al., 2021; Ngaiwi et al., 2023). Some key disparities
include: limited land ownership and control; unequal access to resources and inputs; financial exclusion and
limited credit access; labour burden and unpaid work; gender gaps in decision-making; climate change and
increased vulnerability; and market and value chain barriers (Ousmanou et al., 2021).
The BRAINS’ qualitative study in Cameroon also revealed that women predominantly handle labour-intensive
activities such as planting, weeding, and harvesting beans, yet have less control over financial decisions and
market sales. The insect and Honeybee value chain is primarily male-dominated, with women restricted to honey
processing and sales. Across the three agricultural value chains, intrahousehold power relations and deeply
rooted cultural norms constrain women’s agency. These gendered constraints limit women farmers’ productivity
and capacity to adapt to climate change (Ayanlade et al., 2023) and potentially restrict youths’ transition into
agriculture (Nchanji et al., 2024). Therefore, addressing these disparities requires land reforms, financial inclusion,
gender-responsive policies, and better access to agricultural training and technology. Strengthening women’s
leadership in farming cooperatives and climate-smart agriculture can also help bridge the gap.
The gender strategy highlights how the BRAINS project will address these challenges to ensure equitable
participation and benefits and encourage youth to transition into agriculture. This gender strategy provides a
comprehensive framework to ensure gender equality is mainstreamed across the three agricultural value chains
targeted by the BRAINS project, from design through implementation to sustainability. The strategy builds on
the Reach-Benefit-Empower-Transform framework, the socio-technical innovation bundles approach and the
youth and women quality centre (YWQC) model to ensure greater inclusion of men, women, youth, and other
marginalised groups in bean, fruit trees, and insect farming value chains.
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