26/05/2026
🔎 Women farmers in focus: how women farmers in Guinea-Bissau are sowing the seeds of change
Isabela Anbali is a farmer in the Oio region of Guinea-Bissau. She took up farming to provide her five children with an education. She is not alone in this: many women in Guinea-Bissau – and across sub-Saharan Africa – rely on agriculture to support their families.
Yet the land is usually owned by men. Women are allowed to lease a plot of land, but not to own it.
Isabela therefore joined forces with other women farmers to form a group. Their aim: to jointly own land and farm it independently. With the support of and after many discussions with the men in the village, the once impossible was achieved: a plot of land was transferred into the women’s group’s name.
This success has brought about lasting change in the community. The women have gained security, self-confidence and the support of the men. What began with just a plot of land became the catalyst for change.
Read Isabela Anbali’s full story: https://www.swissaid.ch/en/articles/a-land-which-also-belongs-to-women/?utm_medium=social&utm_source=facebook&utm_campaign=2026.05.jdb.testimonial4