Women in Lesotho have always played a major role in food production albeit at a subsistence level.
In this patriarchal and gendered society, it is inculcated into every female- from toddlers as young as five years to great grandmothers- that theirs is to till the land and put food on the table for their families.
Despite their prowess in farming, most women hardly venture into commercial farming, thanks to the patriarchal system and its attendant customary law precepts which deny women ownership of the land.
While the battle continues for the enactment of laws to fully empower women and give them equal access to land as their male counterparts, a new breed of female commercial farmers is gradually emerging.