*Women in Agriculture (2)*
As the global community works toward achieving the
Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) -- among them, SDG2, which aims to end
hunger and malnutrition by 2030 -- women can be the key agents of change in
agriculture, nutrition and rural development.
With better access to information, training, and technology, women can
alter food production and consumption so that land and resources are used
sustainably.
The industrialization of agriculture falls mainly within
typically male areas of decision-making, including the economic risks involved.
These areas include the competitive use of machinery, agrochemicals and
high-breeding plant varieties; the cultivation of cash crops and the breeding
of large livestock for supra-regional markets. Men’s involvement in these often
risky activities have in the past decades brought about ruin for many farmers,
forcing them to migrate to the slums of the cities and causing many to commit
suicide out of desperation. Women in contrast tend to be more cooperative and
cautious, and try to minimize risks in food production, processing and supply,
and they opt for social self-help and preventive health care. Men’s forms of
farming practice geared toward national and international markets therefore
often undermine female domains and competences. Women frequently provide their
families with food, from diversified cultivation of vegetables, fruits, tubers
and herbs in their gardens, as well as from the rearing of small livestock.
Women’s Contribution to Agriculture
Women as livestock keepers
Within pastoralist and mixed farming systems, livestock play
an important role in supporting women and in improving their financial
situation and women are heavily engaged in the sector. An estimated two-thirds
of poor livestock keepers, totalling approximately 400 million people, are
women. They share responsibility with men and children for the care of animals,
and particular species and types of activity are more associated with women
than men. For example, women often have a prominent role in managing poultry
and dairy animals and in caring for other animals that are housed and fed
within the homestead.
Female-headed households are as successful as male-headed
households in generating income from their animals, although they tend to own
smaller numbers of animals, probably because of labour constraints. Ownership
of livestock is particularly attractive to women in societies where access to
land is restricted to men.
Women in fisheries and aquaculture
In 2008, nearly 45 million people world-wide were directly
engaged, full-time or part-time, in the fishery primary sector (FAO fishery
database). In addition, about 135 million people are estimated to be employed
in the secondary sector, including post-harvest activities. While comprehensive
data are not available on a sex-disaggregated basis, case studies suggest that
women may comprise up to 30 percent of the total employment in fisheries,
including primary and secondary activities. Information provided to FAO from 86
countries indicates that in 2008, 5.4 million women worked as fishers and fish
farmers in the primary sector. This represents 12 percent of the total. In two
major producing countries, China and India, women represented a share of 21
percent and 24 percent, respectively, of all fishers and fish farmers.
Women have rarely engaged in commercial offshore and long
distance capture fisheries because of the vigorous work involved but also
because of women’s domestic responsibilities and/or social norms. Women are
more commonly occupied in subsistence and commercial fishing from small boats
and canoes in coastal or inland waters. Women also contribute as entrepreneurs
and provide labour before, during and after the catch in both artisanal and
commercial fisheries. For example, in West Africa, the so called “Fish Mamas”
play a major role. They usually own capital and are directly and vigorously
involved in the coordination of the fisheries chain, from production to sale of
fish.
Having discussed all these, what then are the major
challenges they face in this sector? I’ll pick it up from there next week.
Thanks much for following till this point. Join me again, same time next week.
Article by:
Okediji Oluwadurotimi
Food, Nutrients and Health
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References
1. https://www.worldbank.org/en/news/feature/2017/03/07/women-in-agriculture-the-agents-of-change-for-the-food-system
2. https://www.globalagriculture.org/report-topics/women-in-agriculture/women-in-agriculture.html
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