- Women in Chad face significant challenges accessing land due to cultural norms, limiting their autonomy and ability to adapt to climate change.
- Initiatives like the AgriJob Booster Chad project (AJB-C) are helping women secure land and improve their livelihoods through access to resources such as seeds and agricultural equipment.
- Climate change exacerbates difficulties for women farmers, with unpredictable weather and conflicts over land use threatening agricultural productivity and economic empowerment.
KARKAYE, Krim Krim, Chad — In the vibrant fields of Karkaye, a village in southern Chad, Eunice Mbernodji, a mother of nine, is turning once-barren, dry land into a lush garden. As she tends her crops, she reflects on the transformation: “This land was just a distant hope. Now, it’s the foundation of our future.”
Access to land for women in Chad is a significant challenge due to deep-seated sociocultural constraints. In a country where agriculture is vital, ensuring equitable land access is crucial for fostering fairness in rural development, according to the Food and Agriculture Organization. Women, who constitute more than 60% of Chad’s agricultural workforce and more than half of the nation’s population, require reliable land access to maintain control and autonomy over their farming activities.
The AgriJob Booster Chad project (AJB-C) is one initiative aimed at addressing women’s access to land. Led by the Dutch NGO, Woord en Daad, in collaboration with local partners, the project is making a meaningful impact in Karkaye, located in the Guéni department. By providing land to groups led by local leaders, the project allocates 5-hectare (12.3-acre) sites divided into 2000-square-meter (21,500-square-foot) plots for each participant, enabling year-round vegetable production, which was previously limited to the rainy season. Forty percent of its participants are women.
“Programs like this project designed to provide women with access to seeds, fertilizers and agricultural equipment are crucial in mitigating the effects of climate change,” Georgine Néloumta, an activist with CELIAF, a network of more than 450 Chadian women’s rights organizations, told Mongabay. “This is why initiatives like this are very important for women in Chad.”
In Chad’s humid Sudanian zone, which includes Sahel and southern prefectures, severe climate challenges such as unpredictable weather, prolonged droughts and deteriorating soil quality threaten agricultural livelihoods. Despite these harsh conditions, women in this region are emerging as crucial contributors to their communities’ resilience and prosperity amid climate change.
With the region experiencing severe climate impacts, including rising temperatures that lead to crop failures and increased insect infestations, providing land and support is crucial. Access to land helps women like Mbernodji secure their livelihoods and strengthen their communities’ resilience against the climate crisis.
“Thanks to the income from this project, I was able to buy chickens, feed my children and provide for them in ways I couldn’t before,” Mbernodji says. “The education I received from this project helps me teach my children the values and skills they need.”
Chad is one of the poorest countries globally with a population of around 13 million and faces immense economic and environmental hurdles, exacerbated by its heavy reliance on agriculture. Currently, agriculture employs about 80% of the labor force, but the sector remains underdeveloped, with low agricultural productivity due to a highly variable climate, frequent severe droughts and limited irrigated farmland, according to the USAID Land and Resource Governance Division.
Barriers to adapting to climate change
In Chad, traditional cultural gender roles deeply impact women’s ability to adapt to changing conditions. Their responsibilities for managing household resources and caring for children are entrenched in societal norms, significantly restricting their capacity to adopt new agricultural practices or seek alternative sources of income.
For Melinan Larkingam, a 25-year-old mother of five, the AJB-C project helped to strengthen her role in the marriage. “Access to regular revenues has given me the power to make decisions for my family that directly improve our living conditions. It has brought a new sense of financial stability and independence,” she told Mongabay. “My husband has been incredibly supportive of my involvement in the project. His encouragement has made a big difference in how we make household decisions together.”
Even as efforts to improve women’s land rights in Chad for women like Larkingam have made some progress, many continue to face significant challenges.
Women often struggle with limited access to land due to village chiefs controlling land allocation and demanding annual payments, which complicates their efforts to secure a stable livelihood. Women are also frequently excluded from land ownership and inheritance, leaving them dependent on male relatives and reinforcing their secondary status in society.
While recent legal reforms in Chad, such as the Land Rights Act, aim to enhance women’s access to land, their effectiveness is frequently undermined by local resistance, inadequate enforcement and entrenched traditional norms that limit women’s autonomy and decision-making power.
For example, Néloumta with CELIAF appealed in 2021 to the National Assembly to designate land for women in every village. Her proposal faced significant opposition from village leaders, who claimed that no land was available for women, highlighting the persistent obstacles to implementing effective land rights policies.
Limited resources and gender barriers
Even with help, climate change is making life much more difficult for Chad’s women. Women farmers, who traditionally cultivate staple crops, have seen their yields decline as a result of deteriorating soil quality and changing weather patterns.
“Climate change has made agriculture increasingly difficult. Our crops suffer from erratic rainfall and soil degradation, complicating agricultural planning,” Edithe Nudjihomel, a 23-year-old mother of four, told Mongabay.
Already grappling with limited financial resources, women are often unable to recover from climate-induced losses.
Socially, traditional gender roles confine women, making climate impacts even harder to adapt to — women are already shouldering caregiving and water collection.
Catherine Nembada, a 28-year-old mother of three, complained about the undersupply of water. She used to grow tomatoes in a large area but struggled with watering them. She told Mongabay that “the [solar-powered] water pump system provided by the AJB-C project is insufficient, leading to difficulties in irrigation.”
The market also poses difficulties, according to Nembada. “Finding buyers for produce is challenging, forcing us to sell in small quantities rather than bulk.”
The project is also impacted by another climate change-induced challenge that undermines its effective management and maintenance. A conflict over land trespassing between pastoralists and farmers forces some participants to hire guard services for a fee to protect their land, as herders from Chad and the Central African Republic migrate in search of pasture and water, especially during droughts. According to project participants, the local authorities have offered no help in solving the issue to date.
Can economic empowerment help?
Experts from the UNDP say that to address the challenges of Chad’s women requires a focus on economic empowerment. The USAID Land and Resource Governance Division says that providing women with financial support and access to credit is also essential.
Bongiwe Njobe, an adviser with The African Development Bank, wrote in a paper that this financial support would enable women to invest in their farms, recover from losses and bridge the resource gap. Training programs on modern agricultural techniques, climate adaptation and access to quality seeds, fertilizers and improved irrigation systems will further enhance women’s farming capabilities and resilience.
Additionally, transforming traditional gender roles is crucial, according to the FAO. Engaging men and community leaders in discussions about gender equality can shift societal attitudes, supporting women’s roles in agriculture and decision-making. Community awareness programs and expanded educational opportunities are vital for challenging restrictive norms and empowering women and girls with the skills needed for greater autonomy.
Néloumta, an activist with CELIAF, told Mongabay that “the path forward will require overcoming entrenched norms and securing better policy enforcement to ensure women can fully contribute to and benefit from agricultural development.”
Finally, addressing climate change and conflict requires focused action. The UNDP recommends developing robust climate adaptation strategies and investing in sustainable practices in order to help mitigate environmental impacts in countries like Chad. Other expert bodies, such as the International Fund for Agriculture Development, adds that resolving conflicts over land use and enhancing dialogue between farmers and herders, along with securing better protection for agricultural lands, will be critical.
Banner image: Women farmers in Chad face challenges from climate change and land conflicts. Image by Robert Bociaga.
Citations:
Mabali, Aristide & MALLAYE, DOUZOUNET & Kinda, Somlanare. (2022). Women’s Empowerment and Social Household Spending in Fragile States: Evidence from Chad 1. 10.21203/rs.3.rs-2036743/v1.
Le Masson, V., Benoudji, C., Sotelo Reyes, S., & Bernard, G. (2019). How violence against women and girls undermines resilience to climate risks in Chad. Disasters, 43(4), 800-819. https://doi.org/10.1111/disa.12343.
Koultchoumi, Babette. The customary land tenure system and women’s access to land in Bipare and Kafinarou : border area between northern Cameroon and the south west of Chad.
Leonard L. Women who change into men: a gendered history of precarity in ‘useful’ Chad. Africa. 2019; 89(3): 521-540. doi:10.1017/S0001972019000500.
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