Global trade and climate change challenges: a brief overview of impacts on food security and gender issues

Due to changing climatic circumstances there is increasing uncertainty about the amount of agricultural produce any country can expect to achieve in particular seasons. As a result, there is a growing trend especially in developing countries to adopt and benefit from international trade as a coping strategy to overcome food shortages. Given the fact that much of the agricultural workforce is made up of women, the purpose of this paper is to highlight the need to develop an understanding of how agribusiness models of food security are affecting their livelihood opportunities, questions the validity of existing approaches to tackling the challenges of climate change and food security and describes a new approach to agricultural extension provision to overcome these challenges.