JAKARTA, 22 July 2021 – The Policy Dialogue on Strengthening Women’s Entrepreneurship in Agriculture in ASEAN Countries took place today.

Representatives of the ASEAN Coordinating Committee on Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (ACCMSME), ASEAN Committee on Women (ACW), Senior Official Meeting of the ASEAN Ministers on Agriculture and Forestry (SOM-AMAF) and ASEAN Women Entrepreneurs Network gathered to discuss a holistic, cross-sectoral, national and regional strategy framework to empower ASEAN women farmers and unlock their entrepreneurship potential in the agriculture sector.

Building on the findings of the report titled Strengthening Women’s Entrepreneurship in ASEAN Countries produced by the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) in 2017, ACCMSME launched the background report on Strengthening Women’s Entrepreneurship in Agriculture in ASEAN Countries, with technical assistance from OECD and inputs from ACW and SOM-AMAF.

The recently-launched background report discusses factors hampering the economic prospects of women in the sector, which are magnified by the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, and proposes a multi-façade policy framework to address them.

The report highlights agriculture as an important source of employment for ASEAN women. On average, 26.7% of all working women in ASEAN are employed within the sector.

In addition, ASEAN women living in rural areas are more likely to be self-employed than those in urban areas, as there are relatively fewer opportunities for formal employment in rural areas. In addition to the lack of opportunities, there is an expectation for women to fulfil unpaid care work, hindering their participation in the economy.

In her opening remarks, Dato’ Suriani Dato’ Ahmad, the Chair of ACCMSME and Secretary-General of the Ministry of Entrepreneur Development and Cooperatives, Malaysia, shared that empowering women entrepreneurs has always been a component of the MSME development agenda in ASEAN. She also stressed that close cross-sectoral collaboration is needed to achieve this objective.

Meanwhile, Abdullah Mojadeddi, First Secretary (Development), Mission of Canada to ASEAN, stressed that understanding the economic and social potentials of women in agriculture helps contribute to ASEAN recovery.

On his part, Alexander Bohmer, Head of the OECD South and Southeast Asia Division, affirmed the importance of the agriculture sector in ASEAN and shared the outcomes of several OECD reports highlighting the need to increase the productivity and value-added of the sector.

The outcomes of the Policy Dialogue are expected to be integrated into a set of high-level policy guidelines for governments and policymakers, so as to strengthen women farmers and entrepreneurs in the agriculture sector.

The Policy Dialogue on Strengthening Women’s Entrepreneurship in Agriculture in ASEAN Countries is an initiative under the ASEAN Strategic Action Plan for SME Development 2016 – 2025, organised in collaboration with the OECD and supported by the Canadian government through the Canada-OECD Project for ASEAN SMEs.

The background report on Strengthening Women’s Entrepreneurship in Agriculture Sector in ASEAN Countries is available on the ASEAN website here.