The 3rd Annual African Rural Development Conference: How to help the development of women farmers.

The Women in Agribusiness Summit which is underway in Durban, South Africa, has been deliberating on efforts to support for the preferential entry and participation for women in gainful and attractive agribusiness opportunities. This conference is designed to build on the outcome of previous conferences in order to facilitate organised entrepreneurship for women in the sector. The New Partnership for Africa's Development - NEPAD - has committed itself to supporting and uplifting women in agribusiness, to sustain food security on the continent and to create about 400 000 million jobs by 2030. The three-day NEPAD Conference for Women in Agribusiness is being held in Durban. The conference aims to create a platform for women in agribusiness to share experiences and to build their capacity on issues around value chains and access to finance and markets. It is also geared to contributing capacity and building supportive systems to support women agro-entrepreneurs. To assist us on this we are joined on the line by: • Edna Kalima, the programme officer, Gender, Climate Change Agriculture Support at NEPAD. • Yolisa Gumede, marketing executive at Cappeny Estates. • Professor Peter Ewang – Consultant.