Following the story of Milla Nemoudji, a young woman from a village in southern Chad who divorced her husband due to abuse, this article outlines the struggles women face in sustaining their livelihoods in communities where access to land is controlled by men. With customary law often applied over statutory law, many women are excluded from inheritance and land ownership. These processes are regulated by village chiefs and depend on annual payments and the mediation of male relatives. For Nemoudji, this situation changed when she joined N-Bio Solutions, an initiative founded in 2018 by Adèle Noudjilembaye. Noudjilembaye, an agriculturalist and activist from a neighboring village, has since established five village collectives aimed at supporting women by negotiating with village chiefs and facilitating the leasing of land from other residents. While these collectives are constrained by limited financial resources and the potential risks women may face for participating, they have already begun to transform agricultural practices in Binmar, where women have adopted more sustainable methods such as crop rotation and organic farming.
