Program Aims to Increase Representation of Female Farmers in Middle East
Young Arab women studying agriculture will be offered a development programme that will hopefully enable them to improve the region’s food security.
Tamkeen, also known as the Young Arab Women Scientists Leadership programme, will focus on mentoring women who are studying agriculture at university to deal with challenges faced by female farmers.
It was developed by Dubai’s International Centre for Biosaline Agriculture.
"Women are under-represented in our field," said Dr Henda Al Mahmoudi, 41, a Tunisian PhD graduate in plant biology.
"They have a lot of challenges and there is no encouragement, so programmes like these are good initiatives to put women from different regions in touch because networking in science is so important."
The female labour force in Middle East agriculture grew from 34 per cent in 1995 to almost 45 per cent in 2011.
UNDP Syria