what-works-for-women-proven-approaches-for-empowering-women-smallholders-and-achieving-food-security

Women farmers comprise, on average, 43% of the agricultural labour force in developing countries. However, despite their role in agricultural production, their work remains largely unrecognized and they have been virtually ignored by agricultural intervention programs. Thus the aim of this study is to analyze the gender division of labour in agricultural production and identify the real causes of women farmers' absence in agricultural extension services using a case study conducted in three rural villages of North West Ethiopia. Despite women's significant role in crop and livestock production in the study area, only 15.8% of women heads are users of the extension service whereas men heads account for the lion share (70.7%). The quota system imposed on extension workers that led them to target resource-rich farmers combined with women's poor access to resources are the most important factors for the denial of women's client-ship in extension services. Capturing the differences between men and women in terms of productive assets should be boldly underlined to design gender responsive services. Moreover, minimizing the effect of quantitative targeting of clients and developing policies and programs that strengthen women's physical access to resources remain important.

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Empowering Smallholder Women Farmers through Participatory Seed Potato Management: Lessons from Welmera District, Ethiopia

Oumer¹,

Tiruneh²,

Tizale³

2014

JSD

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Women are often ignored from research and development agenda although they play key roles in agriculture in developing countries. They are excluded from decision making and as a result, they frequently do not have access to resources, technologies and extension services, credits, inputs and markets. This paper aims to document, using qualitative methods, how participatory approach through Farmers Research Group (FRG) can address gender inequalities and subsequently empower women smallholder farmers using a case study from Ethiopia. Through the participatory intervention, women farmers have enhanced their skills and knowledge of improved agricultural technologies as well as their collective capacity (social capital) in accessing input and output markets. As a result, the number of FRG members increased from 25 women farmers organized in one FRG in 2006 to 253 women farmers organized in 11 village-level Farmers Research Extension Groups (FREGs) in 2013. The participatory intervention in the study area has improved women's productivity of seed potatoes and marketing; enabled them to earn cash an average of Ethiopian Birr (ETB) 11 000 per year only from the sale of seed potatoes; and this has created more options to improve the livelihoods of women farmers and their households by diversifying into higher-value farm and off-farm work. Consequently, women decision making in the household as well as in the community has been enhanced. Women farmers are now heard at national level for their innovative experiences and have become one of the national seed potato and knowledge sources. There is a need to replicate this model approach to enhance the productivity of smallholder women farmers and subsequently empower them to facilitate exit pathways out of poverty and ensure sustainable development.

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what-works-for-women-proven-approaches-for-empowering-women-smallholders-and-achieving-food-security

Cited by 4 publications

References 1 publication

The Gender Box

The Gender Box

Does Gender Division of Labour Matters for the Differences in Access to Agricultural Extension Services? A Case Study in North West Ethiopia

Empowering Smallholder Women Farmers through Participatory Seed Potato Management: Lessons from Welmera District, Ethiopia

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