
The steep increase in global food prices—83 percent over the past three years—has added nearly 100 million people to the numbers who  are chronically hungry, pushing the world total to nearly 1 billion people.2 Amid a global financial crisis and further market instability, the number  of poor people also is climbing, undoing significant gains made against hunger and poverty in the  past decade. 
These concerns have prompted renewed  interest and discussion on the role of agricultural growth and development as a means to address both hunger and poverty. After two decades of decline in agriculture and international development assistance, governments and donors are recommitting attention and resources to agriculture. The New Economic Program for African Development (NEPAD), for example,  urged African governments to increase spending on agriculture to 10 percent of national budgets.3
Missing from these discussions and decision  points, however, is a commitment to women  farmers and resources to strengthen their roles  in the agricultural economy.i  Four decades of research demonstrate the varied and crucial  responsibilities that women hold in agriculture  and the value of their contributions, both economic and social. Rural women produce half of the world’s food and, in developing countries,  between 60 percent and 80 percent of food crops.4 Women also are more likely than men  to spend their income on the well-being of their families, including more nutritious foods, school 
fees for children and health care.5 Yet agricultural investments do not reflect these facts. Women  in forestry, fishing and agriculture received just  7 percent of total aid for all sectors.