Sustainable agriculture requires sustainable care: Insights from roundtables with Ecuadorian agribusinesses
Kore Global and IDB - March 23, 2026
Women are essential to agribusinesses, but unpaid care work constrains them.
Kore Global and IDB Invest recently convened agribusiness leaders in Ecuador to explore how unpaid care work impacts both sector productivity and development outcomes for women as primary caregivers. The findings are clear: care is a material business risk and investing in care helps to achieve both business KPIs and improved well-being for female agricultural workers. Unaddressed care responsibilities drive 70% of female absenteeism, yet simple interventions—like flexible "coupon books" for time—have dramatically reduced turnover.
This post explores why companies struggle with care integration and how impact investors can use "Care Seals" and technical assistance to build the commercial case for care-inclusive investment.