Gender and inorganic nitrogen: what are the implications of moving towards a more balanced use of nitrogen fertilizer in the tropics?

Abstract

For agriculture to play a role in climate change mitigation strategies to reduce emissions from inorganic nitrogen (N) fertilizer through a more balanced and efficient use are necessary. Such strategies should align with the overarching principle of sustainable intensification and will need to consider the economic, environmental and social trade-offs of reduced fertilizer-related emissions. However, the gender equity dimensions of such strategies are rarely considered. The case studies cited in this paper, from India, Lake Victoria in East Africa and more broadly from sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), show that the negative externalities of imbalanced inorganic N use in high-and low-use scenarios impact more strongly on women and children. We examine, through a literature review of recent work in SSA, the relative jointness of intra-household bargaining processes in low N use scenarios to assess the degree to which they impact upon N use. We suggest that genderequitable strategies for achieving more balanced use of N will increase the likelihood of attaining macro-level reductions in GHG emissions provided that they secure equity in intra-household decision-making and address food security. Gender-equitable N use efficiency strategies will help to integrate and assure gender and social equity co-benefits at local scales.

Gendered opportunities for improving soil health: A conceptual framework to help set the research agenda

“…In their work on gender and inorganic nitrogen, Farnworth et al (2017) indicate that systemic research is needed on the rates of inorganic nitrogen use on women-managed, men-managed and jointly managed plots, and any other management configurations relevant in the local context. They point out that more evidence is needed on the degree to which nitrogen application differs by management type, the rationale (from the plot holder's point of view) for these differences and how differential application affects plot productivity by manager and by crop; at the same time, the distribution of benefits from differently managed plots needs to be examined carefully.…”

“…Systemic research depends on systemic data collection. The Farnworth et al (2017) example given above on gender and inorganic nitrogen highlights the need for a diverse set of data, such as soil biophysical data, gender-and plot-disaggregated data on soil fertility management and other related management, as well as socioeconomic and perception data allowing for assessment of decision-making and benefit distribution.…”

Re-assessing nitrous oxide emissions from croplands across Mainland China

“…Fertilized N in cropping systems could find its way to the atmosphere and aquatic systems via ammonia (NH3) volatilization, leaching of nitrate/nitrite and emission of nitrous oxide (Wrage et al, 2001;Ju et al, 2009). These end-products of lost N are known to cause secondary inorganic aerosol formation and thus haze pollution (Liu et al, 2017), and destruction of the stratospheric ozone layer (Ravishankara et al, 2009), and again impact on human health (Galloway et al, 2008;Farnworth et al, 2017).…”

“…Between 2002 and 2014, China had achieved a crop yield increase of 21% with an increase by 23.4% of N fertilizer application. The increase in N fertilizer application resulted in decreased N use efficiency (NUE) in China's croplands, resulting in negative environmental impacts such as soil acidification (Guo et al, 2010), water eutrophication (Le et al, 2010), air pollution (Sapkota et al 2014;Liu et al, 2017), and severe human health risks (Farnworth et al, 2017;Gu et al, 2012;Galloway et al, 2008). Better knowledge of the impacts of crop nitrogen use can be used to identify more efficient and lower emitting N management practices in China's agriculture which would in turn not only help the state to cut its GHG emissions as part of its commitments to the Paris Agreement (UNFCCC, 2015), but also to reduce other N losses while sustaining food production.…”

Weathering the storm or storming the norms? Moving gender equality forward in climate-resilient agriculture

“…In some regions, barriers such as lack of access to finance, transport, or energy to support production activities need to be addressed for women before they can start to consider adopting CSA practices. Some researchers have noted a tendency for women to adopt laborintensive CSA technologies for their own work (probably due for cost reasons) which may mitigate against other equality benefits by increasing their workloads (Mutenje et al 2019;Farnworth et al 2017;Arora et al 2017;Murray et al 2016). Inadequate infrastructure for water or transportation will increase women's unpaid care work and time expended in fetching water or taking produce to market, while social norms restrict women's public interactions, participation in decision-making, and control over resources.…”