Women managing change
The majority of the world’s agricultural producers are women. They produce over 50% of the food that is grown worldwide – more in most developing countries. But despite these recognised facts and a considerable amount of development rhetoric about gender issues, women are still restricted in their role as farmers by unequal rights and unequal access to land and control over resources.
In addition, women still carry out their work without much help from agricultural support mechanisms such as extension agencies.
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4 - 5written by ILEIA editorial teamThe majority of the world's agricultural producers are women. They produce over 50% of the food that is grown worldwide - more in most developing countries. But despite these recognised facts and a considerable amount of development rhetoric about gender issues, women are still restricted in their role as farmers by unequal rights and unequal access to land and control over resources. In addition, women still carry out their work without much help from agricultural support mechanisms such as extension agencies.
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6 - 8written by Janice Jiggins , Yiching SongResearch carried out in the mid 1990s highlighted the rapid socio-economic changes taking place in Chinese agriculture. The most profound changes were found to be in the structure of rural households and farming systems, and related changes in the role of women in the farm. These changes could be characterised as the "feminisation" of agriculture, which in China has multiple causes and effects.
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9 - 9written by Angelica Ross , Julian RossNearly half of the Romanian population dwell in rural areas. The majority are involved in small scale agriculture. Women participate in Romanian peasant agriculture to a substantial degree. Work is carried out by hand, without effective implements; planting, weeding and harvesting of the most common crops is undertaken using only hoes. We have found that small intermediate technology implements make many tasks quicker and easier to perform.
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10 - 13written by Edith van WalsumThe Deccan plateau is a drought prone region in South India. The Green Revolution has largely bypassed this area and there is a serious over-exploitation of the natural resource base.
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14 - 15written by Linley Chiwona-Karltun , Chrissie Katundu , James Ngoma , Felistus Chipungu , Jonathan Mkumbira , Janice JigginsMany farmers not only prefer, but also grow a higher proportion of bitter cassava cultivars than sweet cultivars - despite higher levels of toxins and more work required to process the bitter cassava. Women in particular prefer the bitter cassava cultivars, despite the additional processing work, because they have superior end-product qualities and because the toxin protects the crop from intruders of all kinds, man and beast alike. This article looks at the difficulties faced by farmers in Malawi, where the dominant maize crop does not provide food security. The farmers were having problems in obtaining cassava stem cuttings with desirable characteristics, and genderbalanced exchange visits between farmers in different areas were successful in helping to address this problem. The needs of women farmers that were single, de jure or de facto, became clear in these visits - they were keen to select as many bitter cassava varieties as possible, in order to minimise the risk of crop failure.
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16 - 17written by Sagari Ramdas , Nitya S. GhotgeIn India almost 70% of the farming community are involved in livestock rearing, especially thos eliving in more ecologicaly and economically fragile areas of the country. In most communities, women are responsible for the day to day care and management of animals.
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18 - 19written by Emma Zapata , Verónica Vázquez , Beatriz Martínez , Maria de las Mercedes Rocha , Teresa Munguía"Gender maintreaming" means that all activities conducted by an NGO muct have a gender dimension. In other words, every programme and project should have be aware of different gender needs and target them explicitly.
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20 - 21written by Laura LemunyeteMembers of Salato Women´s Groups have been successful in developing several important food security items that group members are now producing for household level use. While the PTD methods have already resulted in several good products, the Salato Group members have learned that technology development is an ongoing process and they continue to seek new and better ways of preserving their meat and milk products. Positive outcomes of their work have included increased income and other benefits - from a camel drug fund to greater food security.
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22 - 23written by Carine Pionetti"Small change" crops are suited to dryland conditions, grow without any extravagant need of inputs, and meet the food and fodder requirements of the household. As a woman farmer from Pipri said "If we only grow cotton, where is the fodder for our cattle going to come from?". Yet, a majority of agricultural extension officers, agricultural scientists, breeders, rural bank managers and even policy-makers pay no attention to the queries and concerns of women, especially when they are `merely` poor farmers. In domains that are typically under women´s responsibility, like seed saving, weeding, and cooking, it is quite vital that women´s concerns be allowed to emerge and to inform policies. This article looks at the difference in women´s and men´s perceptions, and the need for a sustained effort on the part of agricultural extension workers, scientists and policy-makers to understand women´s practices and perceptions in agriculture, including cultural, social and symbolic dimensions.
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24 - 25written by Denise LapoutreIn the Pearl Lagoon Basin in the Southern Autonomous Region of Nicaragua, thirteen small farmer fishing communities are in a state of economic flux and social despair. In 1995, the University of the Autonomous Regions of the Caribbean Coast of Nicaragua, URACCAN, started an integral development project for the basin. The project contains different components that address integrated community development as a process of dynamic interaction between cultural, social, economic and productive dimensions.
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26 - 27written by Rebecca Eisses , Jutamart ChaikamThe introduction of high external input agriculture into Thailand has, for some crops, increased yields and reduced labour requirements and allowed the production of certain non-indigenous crops that otherwise might be too difficult to grow. But it has, however, generally improved quality of life for small farmers. Furthermore, under the new economy, there are two main ways in which women's roles have been marginalised. According to the Chian Mai Organic Producers Association, COPA, organic production is an alternative.
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28 - 30written by Renate SchüsslerLand issues are issues of power. This is apparent not only in the unequal distribution of land between large commercial plantations and small farmers, but also in the inequities between men and women in terms of access to land. In this article, Schüssler looks at gender balance in the context of agrarian reform, including examples from around the world. To achieve greater gender democracy, it is important to pay special attention to gender perspectives in all forms of land redistribution, entitlement programs and accompanying measures. Under conditions of structural injustice, justice cannot be introduced by mere equal treatment - compensatory measures are necessary.
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36 - 36written by Wirsiy Eric FondzenyuyI have had the opportunity to work as extension officer in my country, Cameroon, for the Ministry of Agriuclture and also for an NGO, the Mount Cameroon Project. During my years of service I witnessed a lot of things that kept agricultural knowledge out of reach of women, despite their role in agriculture.
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