African governments have been called on to devise new strategies and mechanisms to support women in the agricultural sector to contend with the effects of climate change.The call was made by Rudo Makunike, a Senior Officer in charge of Sustainable Land and Water Management at the New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD), during the opening in Kigali, yesterday, of a two-day workshop on Gender and Climate Change."Women contribute 80 percent of the food produced in Africa and given the pertinent role that they play in the agricultural sector in this continent, there is a need for all governments and other stakeholders in Africa to put in place mechanisms which can help them to cope with the effects of climate change because of their reproductive roles,” Makunike said.She said most women farmers lack modern technologies thus lower output.According to the official, lack of access to input and output markets is one of the major challenges many women farmers face in Africa.In an interview with The New Times shortly after opening the workshop, Makunike said: "NEPAD, as a technical implementing agency of the African Union, would like to respond to the needs of the women farmers so that they are better able to cope with the effects of climate change. It is in this regard that we organised this workshop to get views and experiences from women farming groups on ways to alleviate the effects of climate change”.Makunike said the workshop is in line with NEPAD’S role of responding to the needs of women and other vulnerable groups of society such as the youth and children.The official noted that NEPAD has completed crafting a framework on how to effectively tackle the effects of climate change.She disclosed that the NEPAD Planning and Coordination Agency (NPCA), with support from the Norwegian Government, is a five-year programme on Gender and Climate-Smart Agriculture Support Programme in Africa, saying this is in recognition of the critical role women play in African agriculture and the challenges they face due to climate change and climate variability."It’s important to develop a clear understanding of the specific issues impacting rural women farmers’ ability to engage in the agricultural sector in a more productive and profitable manner,” Makunike said.She added that NEPAD has enlisted GeoSAS, an Ethiopian-based consulting firm to facilitate national consultations on gender, climate change and agriculture in five selected countries that include Ethiopia, Rwanda, Malawi, Niger and Cameroon.The Director of Planning in the Ministry of Agriculture (MINAGRI), Raphael Rurangwa, said the effects of climate change like drought mostly affect farmers in the Eastern and Southern provinces.He said his ministry has already devised various strategies to assist farmers to cope with the effects of climate change citing the use of irrigation farming systems and fertilisers.The Executive Secretary of Muhanga Women Farmers Association, Dativa Kantarama, commended the organisers of the workshop terming it as a crucial platform to share views and experiences on how to address the challenges women face in the agricultural sector. She said her association has so far trained various women in Muhanga District on various agricultural skills as a means of fighting against the effects of climate change.