India: Supporting Women’s Leadership in Agrifood Systems in India

Mar 5, 2026 | Miranda Morgan and Meghajit Sharma Shijagurumayum
The Alliance of Bioversity International and CIAT
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Women are key actors in agrifood systems, playing leadership roles in agricultural cooperatives and producers’ organizations, large agribusinesses, and agrifood-related governmental and non-governmental institutions and decision-making fora. 

Yet, women’s contributions are often underrecognized and undervalued, and deep-seated structural barriers, such as discriminatory legal and policy frameworks, social and cultural norms, negative perceptions of women’s leadership, and unequal access to resources and capital, constrain women’s leadership. Furthermore, the evidence base on women’s leadership in agrifood systems is fragmented, and existing methods struggle to capture the complexity of leadership processes.

At the Alliance, we work with partners to co-design research approaches and methodologies to inform their efforts and improve evidence on what works to support women’s leadership in agrifood systems.