Despite the availability of vast tracts of land in Africa, about 60 per cent of land in Africa is under-utilized. Women, despite their very important role in the production process on the continent, do not have access to land.

This situation – denying women the right to own land in most African countries has been described as un-democratic.

“Women are a very important part of development and denying them the right to own land is anti-economic because they are a very important part of the factors of production,” Hubert Ouedraogo, Lead Land Expert at the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA).

At a media workshop for journalists covering the first Conference on Land Policy in Africa to be held in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia from November 11 to 14, Mr. Ouedraogo said the factors that deny women the rights to land ownership are complex and they include traditional, religious as well as political reasons.

He said, Africa cannot afford to continue to exclude women from having access to land. That, he said is undemocratic.

He urged African countries to do more in increasing women’s representations in development, because land is an important basis for development in agriculture and other economic factors.

According to the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) 1995 estimates, women produce more than 50 percent of the food grown worldwide.

The FAO asserts that women are active in both the cash and subsistence agricultural sectors and much of their work in producing food for the household and community consumption, is as important as it is for food security.

In sub-Saharan Africa, women contribute 60 to 80 percent of the labour in both food production for household consumption and for sale, the FAO reports.

The Conference on Land Policy in Africa is being organized by the Land Policy Initiative (LPI), a joint partnership of the African Union Commission, the Economic Commission for Africa and the African Development Bank – it was set up to support African governments in addressing contemporary land policy problems.

The Conference will dwell extensively on securing land rights, inclusive agricultural growth in the context of large scale investments and emerging best practices in developing and implementing land policies, and it would be held every two years.