International Plant Genetic Resources Institute (IPGRI) and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO)

In 1996, representatives of 150 countries, members of the FAO Conference, gathered in Leipzig, Germany and adopted the Global Plan of Action for the Conservation and Sustainable Utilization of Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture. Member countries agreed that agrobiodiversity conservation policy should consider the needs and rights of rural communities to develop, access and use biological resources.

The global Plan of Action provides a clear call to include gender factors in all areas dealing with participatory approaches to the conservation and use of genetic resources. The full participation of rural women and men in management of genetic resources is an effective way to link biodiversity conservation to sustainable development and the reduction of rural poverty.

A joint IPGRI/FAO Working Group Meeting held in Rome in October of 1996, was one of the first attempts to link the agreements approved at Leipzig to practical action. The meeting drew on staff from IPGRI, the CGIAR Gender Programme, FAO and experts in the fields of gender analysis, plant genetic resources and rural development to develop a strategy for implementing the gender aspects of the Global Plan of Action. One of the tasks in that strategy is to build the fund of practical knowledge and experience regarding gender and genetic resources management.

This Series is a key means to generate and disseminate knowledge to bring gender perspectives into the mainstream of agrobiodiversity conservation and use.

• De la Torre Ana and Tapia Mario, (1997), "Peasant Women and Andean Seeds" (Spanish and English incoming)

In 1993, FAO supported a first publication on the topic of rural women and the Andean seeds and this is the second up to date edition. The text prepared by Ana De la Torre, anthropologist from Cajamarca, for the first edition has been taken without modifications.

The value of genetic resources in the Andes is made evident and also the role played by rural women in conservation and the use of the Andean seeds as a part of the Andean ecosystem. In fact, women of peasant communities in Peruvian highlands perform almost 70% of the family farm work, including planting, cultivating and harvesting, they also do the selection, storage, food processing and even raise the livestock. Although they have less access to education and formal training than men, they have the major share of responsibility in assuring the survival, welfare and health of their family.

• Gender and Management of Maize in Guatemala
• Gender Impacts on Crop Diversity in Mali
• Gender and Management of Andean Crops