27 November 2015 Last updated at 09:08 GMT
But they comprise less than a fifth of landholders.
Access to secure tenure and ownership of land is harder for women than men, and there is an imbalance in yields produced by male and female farmers because they lack equal access to resources such as seeds.
Produced by Charlie Newland.
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More than a third of the world's workforce works in agriculture and in developing countries, and women make up 43% of the workforce.