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city TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 27, 2012
AGRICULTURE
Hands that feed man don’t get their due Though women farmers produce around 60-80 per cent of the food in developing countries, they own less than two per cent of the land, shows a new study. POSTNOON NEWS feedback@postnoon.com
F
ood is essentially a woman’s portfolio, really. Since ages, it’s the woman who takes care of feeding the man and child. And yet, when it comes to agriculture, man dominates. In spite of women farmers’ essential roles in global and local food security, there is a persistent gender gap in agriculture. Cultural norms and restrictive property or inheritance rights limit the types and amount of financial resources, land, or technology available to women. Studies in South Asia and throughout the Middle East also show that women receive lower wages and are more likely to work part-time than men in comparable jobs, regardless of levels of education and experience. It’s a global phenomenon, not of India’s or Andhra Pradesh’s alone. Women farmers produce more than half of all food worldwide and currently account for 43 per cent of the global agricultural
Highlights n Women represent 70 per cent of the 1.3 billion people living in poverty around the world. n Increased individual smallholder yields as a result of closing gender gaps in land ownership can raise domestic agricultural output by 2.5-4 per cent. n Although they produce as much as 50 per cent of the agricultural output, only 10-20 per cent of landholders are women in most developing countries.
labour force, yet few extension or research services are directed at women farmers, according to new research conducted by the Worldwatch Institute. Women produce as much as 50 per cent of the agricultural output in South Asia and 80 per cent in subSaharan Africa, write report authors Danielle Nierenberg and Seyyada Burney. “Recognising the factors restricting women from receiving full compensation for their role in global agriculture is key to alleviating the gender gap in agricultural employment, resources, and development,” said Nierenberg, co-author of the report and director of Worldwatch’s Nourishing the Planet project. “Women produce 60-80 per cent of the food in developing countries but own less than two per cent of the land. They typically farm non-commercial staple crops, such as rice, wheat, and maize, which account for 90 per cent of the food consumed by the rural poor.”
GENDER-SENSITIVE POLICIES NEEDED Fewer extension services are directed at women farmers
Recognising the factors restricting women from receiving full compensation for their role in global agriculture is key to alleviating the gender gap. Danielle Nierenberg Co-author of the report because of perceptions of the limited viability of their labour or products — and only 15 per cent of extension officers are women. Yet the Economist Intelligence Unit’s newly developed Global Food Security Index has a 0.93 correlation with its index of Women’s Economic Opportunity, showing that countries with more gender-sensitive business environments — based on labour policies, access to finance, and comparative levels of education and training — have more abundant, nutritious, and affordable food. This rela-
tionship provides evidence that when women have equal resources and opportunity, they can produce higher — and higher-quality — agricultural yields. Farmers in countries with greater gender equality, based on an Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development Index of Gender Inequality and Social Institutions, tend to achieve higher average cereal yields than those in countries with more inequality. The countries are also more food secure, based on food affordability, availability, quality, and safety. Improved agricultural productivity reinforces gains in gender equality, in addition to creating a positive feedback mechanism throughout local communities. Community-level efforts to improve women farmers’ status and livelihoods can become more effective if there are similar initiatives at the national scale. Policies governing assets, employment, and mobility can be altered to protect women’s diverse needs and interests, including retention of joint property upon widowhood and freedom for sole caregivers to work in non-domestic employment or travel without male
supervision in order to support their families. Improved property or inheritance rights must go hand in hand with supporting measures to ensure and develop women’s capacities to use their land or agricultural assets.
STILL MARGINALISED According to the World Economic Forum’s Global Gender Gap Report, 2011, 85 per cent of countries made progress toward gender equity over the past seven years, yet women farmers are still largely marginalised by development policies that are inattentive to their needs. Current data are limited in scope and slow research efforts by not reflecting the wealth of knowledge and expertise that women are already using to, for example, mitigate global climate change. Food insecurity and climate change, along with associated trends such as land grabbing, large-scale biofuel production, and gendered migration and employment patterns, are also putting increasing pressure on women farmers to produce more with fewer resources. (Compiled by PK Surendran)