How Nuru Advances Leadership, Ownership, and Equity Across Agribusinesses
Key Takeaways
- Women farmers power global food systems — but face persistent barriers. Women make up roughly 40% of the global agricultural workforce and up to 70% in Sub-Saharan Africa, yet continue to face unequal access to land, inputs, financing, and decision-making in agrifood systems.
- Cooperative membership closes the gender yield gap. Nuru’s women-first agribusiness model gives female farmers formal ownership stakes, climate-smart agriculture training, access to improved inputs, and connections to markets — translating directly into higher yields and greater financial autonomy.
- Value-addition transforms subsistence farming into income-generating enterprise. Through soybean-to-tofu processing training in Ghana, women cooperative members like Community Field Agent Martina A-obiliya achieved a 248% return on investment — demonstrating how skills training in value-addition drives women-led agribusiness growth and improves household nutrition.
Nuru is pleased to see 2026 designated as the International Year of the Woman Farmer by The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the UN. This global campaign marks an effort to recognize women’s contributions to agrifood systems and to take action to close the gender yield gap.
Nuru Ghana Extension Supervisor Emelia stands with a farmer whose crops are thriving
Women contribute substantially to agri-food systems, representing approximately 40% of the global agricultural workforce and up to 70% of the agricultural labor force in Sub-Saharan Africa (Global Food Security), yet they continue to face structural barriers to access inputs, land tenure, financial services, and equitable opportunities to participate in markets and decision-making.
Turning Production into Profit: How Does Nuru Champion Women in Rural Economies?
Participation in agribusiness cooperatives provides women with formal ownership shares and a defined economic stake in their farming business. Nuru’s focus on women’s inclusion prioritizes their membership, where they access business and agriculture training, loans and inputs (like improved seeds, inoculant, phosphate), and stronger market connections. In combination, these resources support higher yields and increased income opportunities. By promoting inclusive leadership structures, Nuru also creates space for women to participate in decision-making, helping close gender gaps in agriculture. Cooperative membership provides women access to training designed to strengthen both production and business skills.
What does this look like? An Example from Nuru Ghana
Since 2024, Nuru Ghana has supported 20 agribusiness cooperatives with climate-smart agriculture demonstration plots and training in soybean production. Farming is a business, and greater financial autonomy, stronger decision-making power over profits, and opportunities for reinvestment are made possible through income-generating, value-added activities.
Value addition is the process of increasing the economic value of a product by changing its form, improving its quality, packaging it, or preparing it for a specific market. As an example, transforming soy into tofu is a value addition that can enable farmers to earn more money per kilogram of soybean, creating additional income opportunities specifically for women cooperative members. Access to value-addition training strengthens women’s participation in markets by helping them generate demand for their products while also contributing nutritious, protein-rich foods to their households and communities.
Nuru Ghana Cooperative Impact Manager Rukaya with farmers
Tofu Value Addition as a Practical Pathway
In September 2025, five female Community Field Agents (elected facilitators from their respective cooperatives in Ghana) participated in a regional soybean transformation training. Led by a Burkinabè woman trainer, the session focused on value-addition techniques, specifically processing soybean into tofu for sale. Following the training, the five Community Field Agents conducted community training sessions to train an additional 14 Community Field Agents. In total, all 19 agents are now prepared to not only utilize their new skills, but to pass this knowledge on to their respective cooperative members, ensuring these new skills are shared broadly across the membership. Notably, this same Burkinabè trainer previously trained Nuru Burkina Faso staff in 2024, supporting tofu value-addition activities that reached 89 women agribusiness cooperative members.
Martina A-obiliya, a Ghanaian Community Field Agent based in Gumongo, participated in the regional tofu transformation training and received an improved soybean crop package (proper inputs, including high-quality seeds to plant soybeans) for the 2025 planting season. Inspired by the training, Martina began transforming soybean into tofu and selling it at the local grammar school. She was consistently selling all of the tofu she was making, and from this activity Martina earned a 248% return on her investment! Tofu value addition strengthens women’s business and income-generating activities. By increasing income through this initiative, women support a local market demand for plant-based protein, improve household nutrition, and expand opportunities for women-led agribusinesses, like Martina’s.
Martina and Nuru Ghana Cooperative Impact Manager Rukaya
“When you empower a female farmer, you empower a whole community. Having worked with women farmers as a former agricultural extension agent and now with Nuru as a Cooperative Impact Manager, I have seen women drive agricultural growth and improve household nutrition, despite challenges such as limited access to fertile lands. Women often use their yields to support their families and innovate. By including women in agribusinesses, we tap into their dedication, creativity, and responsible use of resources, driving growth and nutrition for all.” –Rukaya, Cooperative Impact Manager, Nuru Ghana
Looking Ahead at Women’s Inclusion
In 2026, Nuru Ghana will expand its reach to 10 additional cooperative agribusinesses, supporting improved climate-smart soybean production through demonstration plots, cooperative formalization training, ignitia weather services, and tofu value-addition training.
The International Year of the Woman Farmer is a call to accelerate progress and a reminder of the importance of expanding women’s access to inputs, training, financial services, and leadership opportunities within agrifood systems. Nuru will continue to prioritize a women-first and women-led approach to agribusiness, ensuring that women’s inclusion is part of strengthening rural economies, while championing women leaders. As Nuru scales into new communities, women remain central to this ambition, as their inclusion supports resilience for them, their families, and their communities amid climate variability, market volatility, and broader instability. In the International Year of the Woman Farmer and beyond 2026, Nuru will continue scaling value-addition and leadership opportunities for women, translating into lasting community resilience and prosperity.