Women and Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture

In Sub-Saharan Africa and the Caribbean, women produce 60-80 per cent of basic foodstuffs. In Asia, it is said that women perform over 50 per cent of the labour in rice cultivation. In Southeast Asia, the Pacific and Latin America, women's home gardens represent some of the most complex agricultural systems. Women are clearly "farmers" in their own right - and women farmers make substantial contributions to the overall conservation and management of plant genetic resources for food and agriculture.

But women are, too often, the "invisible" farmers and their contribution in terms of conservation and development of plant genetic resources goes unnoticed. That's because women tend to underreport their own activities (as do their male family members when asked what the women do) and because research and extension services are overwhelmingly directed at male farmers. Men may be more likely to listen to agricultural "advisors" or extensionists who bring the latest variety developed by external researchers - varieties that too often push out indigenous plant species. But women are more likely to value the variety of landraces grown traditionally and which they have preserved, and will continue to innovate and develop without external assistance.

Men and women farmers often have different knowledge of different things; they also might have different knowledge of similar things, and they may have different ways of organising and transmitting their knowledge. In areas related to the development and conservation of plant genetic resources, they may develop, generate and transmit different - and often specialised - knowledge on diverse species, different varieties and different ecosystems.

Over generations women have been collecting and developing seed for different properties such as the plant's resistance to disease and pest attacks; storage properties, and dietary preferences -- taste, colour texture, palatability and cooking properties.

Women and men may have knowledge of different micro-climates and ecosystems that vary according to site, slope and soil characteristics. They will chose and develop seed and other planting material for different fields and parts of fields. For example they might choose drought-resistant material for sandy and exposed sites.

In many households, women often manage those components of the farming system that contain high levels of diversity, such as home gardens which have been termed "informal experimental stations". They may also make extensive use of wild patches and marginal areas of community lands where they collect wild plants for food and medicine and seed generation. In fact, women are often the main users of common property resources to satisfy their household requirements. Through their production of staple food crops, they provide the yearly food supply for their family as well as for festive and religious occasions. In these activities, women are responsible for numerous innovations.

Women's innovations and knowledge in plant genetic resources can be seen by looking at the production cycle ranging from seed and plant selection and even garden site selection, to the storage and use of plant genetic material including plant breeding and experimentation, and to their overall management of crops, home gardens and community lands. The mixture of plant species, the distribution and layout in the field and the timing of activities such as weeding are rigorously and systematically planned by a woman farmer using her wealth of experience and knowledge.

Home gardens

Women's home gardens are often "informal experimental stations" in which they transfer, encourage and tend indigenous species, trying them out and adopting them for their specific, and possibly varied products.

A recent study in Asia showed that 60 home gardens in one village contained about 230 different plant species. Individual garden diversity ranged from 15-60 species. Some of these had been deliberately spared when the forest was cleared for house-building. These diverse home gardens often represent an important refuge where less common species and varieties are preserved.

Another example, from the Andes, shows the extent of women's knowledge of seed diversity and their innovation with regard to plant genetic resources. Whereas potatoes are normally propagated via asexual reproduction by planting whole sections or tubers, many of the old Cuzco women in Peru use "true potato seed". Before harvesting, the women collect and purposefully rot the potato fruits until they are ready to plant. Just before the rain, the women plant the seeds that have been activated by the chemical processes during rotting. In time, the tiny seed potatoes are harvested and saved until the following year when they are planted out and produce first-generation tubers. These "tuber-seeds" are sorted by women for shape, taste, colour, frost resistance, storage qualities, pest and disease resistance and other qualities.

For more information, see Women and Plant Genetic Resources (from the Sustainable Development Department web pages)

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