Agriculture: access to technology limited

From country to country and even regionally, the roles of women in agriculture vary, but most of their labor is in unpaid subsistence production and their contributions tend to be underestimated, according to the results of the [UN] Secretary-General's report. Depending on circumstances, they have complementary roles with men, sharing or dividing tasks in the production of crops, care of animals, and forestry management. In sub-Saharan Africa, for example, women contribute 60-80% of labor in food production for both household consumption and sale, while in Malaysia the women account for only 35% of the agricultural labor force, and in Ireland the participation rate is only 10.4%. Although women make this important amount of labor contributions to agricultural production, "development policies tend to favor export crops to earn foreign exchange and the agricultural research tends to address the improvement of production and technologies for commercial production". This results in limited access for women to technical knowledge and innovations, including irrigation, machinery, farming techniques and extension services. This is strengthened by the fact that most of the extension services target farmers who own land and can obtain credit to invest in input and technology.