Empowering African Rural Women Through Indigenous Technologies and Knowledge-Based Farming Systems for Sustainable Food Production

This study analyses how Ugandan rural women use indigenous knowledge (IK) to sustain agrobiodiversity and food security. Qualitative data from 42 semi-structured interviews, six focus-group discussions (FGDs), and participant observation in Zombo, Gulu, and Arua districts show that women select 27 traditional crop varieties, prepare botanical pesticides from tephrosia and neem, and operate informal seed banks, reducing purchased-seed expenditure by 34%. These practices raise maize yields by 0.9 t ha⁻¹ and cut post-harvest losses from 28 % to 11 %. Yet only 17% of respondents have documented land titles, and 8% receive extension visits, both of which limit investment. The paper recommends legal recognition of women’s seed sovereignty, genderresponsive land certification and co-produced extension curricula that blend IK and scientific agronomy.