Gender as a Cross-Cutting Issue in Food Security: The NuME Project and Quality Protein Maize in Ethiopia

Abstract

Gender research and gender empowerment, particularly through the increased participation of women in extension services and activities, are recommended components in development initiatives toward achieving gender equality, food security, and improved health in rural populations. Gender dynamics have been under-researched in the agricultural technology literature on Sub-Saharan Africa. This article contributes a gender-based analysis of the Nutritious Maize for Ethiopia (NuME) project, an initiative implemented through a partnership among national and international institutes for agriculture and public health. NuME promotes production of quality protein maize (QPM), a group of nutritionally improved or biofortified maize varieties, to improve food and nutritional security. Combining baseline data and case studies of project sites, our analysis illuminates opportunities and obstacles to the adoption and impact of QPM. We find that women in the project face barriers toward the adoption and effective utilization of such technologies. These include less contact with agricultural extension, lower awareness of QPM, and less input into decisions on and key aspects of adoption, production, and marketing. Our findings confirm a link between gender inequalities and food insecurity. We conclude with specific policy recommendations and gender empowerment strategies for governments and implementing partners to improve women's access to agricultural technologies and services.

How does gendered vulnerability shape the adoption and impact of sustainable livelihood interventions in an era of global climate change?

“…As such, these interventions can inadvertently propagate vulnerability and inequity in adaptive capacity rather than reduce it. For example, in the case of agricultural interventions, men or maleheaded households are much more likely to adopt improved seeds, which are largely promoted to both increase household crop productivity as well as to help households cultivate climate-resilient crops (Uduji and Okolo-Obasi 2018, Fisher and Kandiwa 2014, O'Brien et al 2016, Theriault et al 2017, Lambrecht et al 2018. Women and men also often engage in different forest harvesting activities, and when men are often the main voices in forest management programs like REDD+ this can impact women's vulnerability by reducing their capacity to benefit from forest resources (Devkota and Mustalahti 2018).…”

“…Research from Malawi suggests that access to an input subsidy may reduce these barriers for women, if they are able to access the subsidy (Fisher and Kandiwa 2014). Likewise, research from Africa and South Asia has demonstrated that women are typically less likely than men to participate in initiatives promoting the use of improved seeds as a result of physical and cultural barriers to access as well as a lack of targeted extension services (Uduji and Okolo-Obasi 2018, Fisher and Kandiwa 2014, O'Brien et al 2016, Theriault et al 2017, Lambrecht et al 2018. One study from the Demographic Republic of the Congo did find, however, that women were much more likely to engage in the use of improved seeds when they were promoted by an extension service, as their cultivation was laborintensive but not as capital-intensive as fertilizer (Lambrecht et al 2018).…”

Women Farmers’ (Dis)Empowerment Compared to Men Farmers in Ethiopia

“…Smallholder agriculture is the economic mainstay of the 85 percent rural population of Ethiopia, where the average landholding size is less than 1 hectare. Gender relations and the gendered power dynamics between men and women affect participation and decision‐making processes across the agricultural continuum (O'Brien et al, ). This is especially evident in a patriarchal social hierarchy where ownership of resources and decision‐making power are disproportionately biased against women and in favor of men (O'Brien et al, ).…”

“…Gender relations and the gendered power dynamics between men and women affect participation and decision‐making processes across the agricultural continuum (O'Brien et al, ). This is especially evident in a patriarchal social hierarchy where ownership of resources and decision‐making power are disproportionately biased against women and in favor of men (O'Brien et al, ). Women's empowerment, such as greater participation and voice over household/community decision making, would improve household food security and smallholder farm productivity (O'Brien et al, ).…”

“…This is especially evident in a patriarchal social hierarchy where ownership of resources and decision‐making power are disproportionately biased against women and in favor of men (O'Brien et al, ). Women's empowerment, such as greater participation and voice over household/community decision making, would improve household food security and smallholder farm productivity (O'Brien et al, ). Therefore, the gendered landscapes that determine access to and control over empowerment opportunities should constitute an integral element of agricultural growth programs.…”