المنتدى العالمي المعني بالأمن الغذائي والتغذية

Hello,

Greetings from India.

Kindly bear with this rather long communication. 

1.Speaking for the Indian situation to put the matter into perspective,  specifically in the field of education: Education here is largely a decentralized  provincial responsibility which means the 20 odd states and union territories have their own curriculum. The curriculum itself carries a strong urban bias, fails to effectively address the critical issues faced by rural communities and is mostly top down chalk and talk. There is hardly any content that attunes the young learner to ecological sensibilities. The content in text books on agriculture still talks of factory style chemical farming,use of pesticides, big dams, large scale irrigation, wheat, rice and sugar cane. Given this, the urban learner has lost out on the farming reality and the rural learner from a farming family is learning the wrong things about farming. The result, we have urban migrations, unskilled, unemployable youth who look for short cuts in livelihood/career opportunities hardly any youth who want to farm by choice.

So to answer the first question, we will have to begin young, groom children to being attuned to ecological sensibilities, understanding where and how food is grown etc. In this direction there are many efforts in India, but nowhere enough. For any effective outcome it will require to be mainstreamed into the educational system. 

A recent unpublished article gives a pan India overview of some of these initiatives. attached.

Tending a Schoolyard Garden, a book that is addressed to the educator, teacher is a readily available resource for anyone who wishes to explore introducing children to the fine art of growing an edible garden in a school/community/group situation. flyer attached. 

The real solution may lie in offering a separate holistic curriculum for children and youth that is specific to farming/rural communities, their life and livelihoods. This too is available, for anyone who wants to see it implemented. flyer attached.

Both the above documents are very relevant to Inida and its neighbouring nations as also to parts of Africa and South American developing nations. 

2. Women farmers need ownership or at-least co-ownership rights to their land; seed sovereignty; access and direct contact with the consumer (small cooperatives and farmer markets); knowledge of on-farm input production practices, post- harvest processing, preservation and storage knowledge and facility. Sense of self-worth and dignity. The work of DDS in India is worth studying: www.ddsindia.com

3. Provide infrastructure, sanitation, health cover, education, recreation facility - all that goes into making living comfortable in rural areas. Nobody wishes to leave their home unless forced to by circumstance.

4. There are scores of initiatives in India and the rest of the world. Will share with this group through subsequent posts. A good site to look at is www.ofai.org

with regards,

Nyla Coelho

Thank you for the invitation to contribute to this forum.

There are many postharvest needs that are typically neglected by development projects, value chain upgrades and agri-business ventures.  The resources needed by women and youths who are involved in the food system include rapid assessments (to determine local causes and sources of postharvest problems), cost/benefit analyses, training for extension workers, training for growers, traders, food processors and marketers, access to tools, equipment for quality control, cooling of perishables, storage of staple crops, supplies such as improved containers for perishables, jars or bottles for processing, proper packaging for dried foods, and services such as transport to markets.   A pilot project undertaken in Tanzania with funding from USAID provides an example of this integrated approach: the PTSC in Arusha (housed at AVRDC and Njiro) includes training for women's groups, demos of appropriate technologies, postharvest tools and equipment, a retail shop and services.   LK

1. The Role which schools and Universities can play in promoting agricultural careers for youths; Our Organization has been involved in early childhood and youth education in schools and colleges accross the national territory through social clubs, meetings and conferences. Empowering  young people and students in school and colleges goes a long a way in meeting the challenges in agricultural innovation and in the gender divide. When the young people and students go back home after school, they impact the female parents more as they are more closer to their mothers than their fathers. Best lessons among schools and colleges are facilitated as these students come from verious communities within the national territoy with different experiences and innovative approaches to agriculture and food security challenges and adaptation, climate change challenges and adaptation, alternative therapies and food sources. These experiences could be of valuable contribution to the entire national territory should these opportunities be developed thereby giving enormous opportunities for youths careers.

2. Approaches in promoting successful female equality in farming are mostly suited among family household. Empowering family faming, increasing capacities to human rights enhancement and food security.

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Here is a really interesting magazine (in french) about women and their actions in agriculture: http://www.sosfaim.org/be/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2014/06/sosfaim-dajaloo-40-light.pdf

The publication was prepared by SOS Faim, a Belgian NGO working with farmers in Africa and South America.

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Agriculture tasks have been failed to be partly or wholly gender specific. The gender role of men and women at household level in agriculture in different country varies from location to location due to socio-economic circumstance, cultural practice and type of farming etc. However, inspire of their substantial contribution to the development of the economy in general and agriculture sector in particular, there are many factors that influence them at household level in agriculture. Therefore, to be able to promote the gender equality, household food security, alleviate rural poverty and increase the productivity in the agriculture sector, a concerted effort is needed to gain accurate understanding of their circumstance in agriculture and factors that influencing them at household level in a given community.

Given the extensive participation of women in all aspect of agriculture production in the household, mainstreaming agriculture into gender perspective is a key strategy not only to promote the equality between men and women, but also for ensuring household food security, sustainable agricultural and rural development.

The sub-Saharan African average of 15 percent masks wide variations, from fewer than 5 percent in Mali to over 30 percent in countries such as Botswana, Cap Verde and Malawi. Latin America has the highest regional average share of female agricultural holders, which exceeds 25 percent in Chile, Ecuador and Panama. In addition to being more likely to hold land, men also typically control larger land holdings than women.

Involvement of Women and youth in Agriculture is a kind innovative approach in order to utilise the careful human capital resource efficiently and effectively. The men who managed agriculture farm is conventional but the real time spending worker is women have to come to involve in agriculture will be one of the drastic change in the primary sector.

Regards

Senapathy

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To address the four facets of food security, you have to develop women led interventions because women are the chief custodians of all most everything in the food chain, from the creation of seed banks, tilling the land, selection of best indigenous cultivars of crops to the design of pre and post harvesting technologies.

There is this conduit between the youth that addresses food security in that most of the women farmers prefer mostly working whether their mothers, any program with a women and youth project element will always succeed because women and youth are always early adopters of proven methodologies of farming once its successful its replicable to a larger audience. Almost 75% of work done in the farming circles is always performed by women.

The success of most livelihood programs should hinge on women farmers.

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Increased provision of monitored agricultural funding by governments will certainly make agriculture more rewarding for Women and Youths showing keen interests in farming.

In Nigeria; many Women and Youths are really tired of urban lifestyles which provide limited options for their future prospects. In Osun State, Nigeria, the government is providing micro-credit facilities to assist this particular category of citizens to come into the rural areas and embrace profitable farming. Moreover; the World Bank has provided fund for the State Government in executing what we call "O-RAMP" (Osun Rural Access Mobility Programme) which makes rural roads motor-able for all-seasons of the year.

These sustainable funding approach will certainly encourage more Women and Youths to come into farming.

Prof Dr Hilal Elver, succeeding Dr Olivier de Schutter, in her maiden speech focussing on Agroecology, and FAO's conference on the same subject, Sept 18 - 19, 2014, does provide a number of answers to your Qs for the e consultation, most important the letter from scientists, as attached:

'Governments must shift subsidies and research funding from agro-industrial monoculture to small farmers using 'agro ecological methods', according to Prof Hilal Elver, the new UN's Special

Rapporteur on the Right to Food. Nafeez Ahmed notes, her call coincides with a new agro ecology initiative within the UN's Food and Agriculture Organisation. This change is critical for future

agricultural policies as most Government subsidies must go to support smallholder producers not to large agribusiness, as is now the case

Convential green revolution high cost industrial agricultural methods can no longer feed the world, due to the impacts of overlapping environmental and ecological crises linked to land, water and resource

availability. The warning comes from the new United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food, Prof Hilal Elver, in her first public speech since being appointed in June. Elver speaks not just with the authority of her UN role, but as a respected academic. She is research professor and co-director at the Project on Global Climate Change,

 

Human Security and Democracy at the Orfalea Center for Global and International Studies, University of California, Santa Barbara. She is also an experienced lawyer and diplomat. A former founding legal

advisor at the Turkish Ministry of Environment, she was previously appointed to the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) Chair in Environmental Diplomacy at the Mediterranean Academy of Diplomatic Studies, University of Malta.

"Food policies which do not address the root causes of world hunger would be bound to fail, One billion people globally are hungry, she declared, before calling on governments to support a transition to "agricultural democracy" which would empower rural smallholder producers. Agriculture needs a new direction: agro ecology. The 2009 global food crisis signalled the need for a turning point in the

global food system. Modern agriculture, which began in the 1950s, is more resource intensive, very fossil fuel dependent, using fertilisers, and based on massive production. This policy has to

change. We are already facing a range of challenges. Resource scarcity, increased population, decreasing land availability and accessibility, emerging water scarcity, and soil degradation require

us to re-think how best to use our resources for future generations.

New scientific research increasingly shows how low cost 'agro ecology' offers far more environmentally sustainable methods that can still meet the rapidly growing demand for nutrition and food: Agro ecology is a traditional way of using low cost farming methods that are less resource oriented, and which work in harmony with soil, agro climatic conditions and producer communities. New research in agro ecology allows us to explore more effectively how we can use traditional

knowledge of each area to produce own requirements of nutritious food, protect people and their environment at the same time. Smallholder producers are the key to feeding the world’s increasing population. There is a geographical and distributional imbalance in who is consuming and producing. Global agricultural policy needs to adjust. In the crowded and hot world of tomorrow, the challenge of how to protect the vulnerable is heightened. That entails recognising women's role in food production - from farmer, to housewife, to working mother, women are the world's major food providers. It also means recognising the rural poor smallholder producers (about 50% of the population), who are the most vulnerable, hungry and malnourished.

 

Across Europe, the US and the developing world, smallholder farms face shrinking numbers. So if we meet the needs of the smallholder producer communities, focus on the producing for their own needs, we solve hunger, malnutrition, poverty, suicides and the effects of climate change whilst we also deal with food production for the growing population. Industrial agriculture grabs 80% of subsidies and 90% of research funds

Hinting at the future direction of her research and policy recommendations, she criticised the vast subsidies going to large monocultural agribusiness companies. Currently, in the European Union

about 80% of subsidies and 90% of research funding  supports the high cost green revolution conventional industrial agriculture technologies.

"Empirical and scientific evidence shows that smallholder producers feed themselves and the world. According to the UN Food & Agricultural Organisation (FAO), 70% of food we consume globally comes from smallholder producers, This is critical for future agricultural policies. Currently, most subsidies go to large agribusiness. This must change. Governments must support small producers. As rural people are migrating increasingly to cities, this is generating huge problems. If these trends continue, by 2050, 75% of the entire human population will live in urban areas. We must reverse these trends by providing new possibilities and incentives to small farmers, especially for young people in rural areas, said Prof Elver." Her debut speech coincided with a landmark two-day International Symposium on Agro ecology for Food and Nutrition Security in Rome, hosted by the FAO. Over 50 experts participated in the symposium, including scientists, the private sector, government officials, and civil society leaders. A high-level roundtable at the close of the symposium included the agricultural ministers of France, Algeria, Costa Rica, Japan, Brazil and the European Union agricultural commissioner. FAO Director-General José Graziano da Silva said:

"Agro ecology continues to grow, both in science and in policies. It is an approach that will help to address the challenge of ending hunger and malnutrition in all its forms, in the context of the

climate change adaptation needed."

A letter to the FAO signed by nearly 70 international food scientists, as attached, congratulated the UN agency for convening the agro ecology symposium and called for

" A UN system-wide initiative on agro ecology as the central strategy for addressing climate change and building resilience in the face of water crises."

The scientists described agro ecology as "a well-grounded science, a set of time-tested agronomic practices and when embedded in sound socio-political institutions, the most promising pathway for achieving low cost sustainable food production."

A signatory to the letter, Mindi Schneider, assistant professor of Agrarian, Food and Environmental Studies at the Institute of Social Studies (ISS) in The Hague, said: "Agro ecology is more than just a

science, it's also a social movement for justice that recognises and respects the right of communities of farmers to decide what they grow and how they grow it."

Several other food experts at the Transnational Institute offered criticisms of prevailing industrial practices. Dr David Fig, who serves on the board of Bio watch South Africa, an NGO concerned with

food sovereignty and sustainable agriculture, said:

"We are being far too kind to industrialised agriculture. The private sector has endorsed it, but it has failed to feed the world, it has contributed to major environmental contamination and misuse of natural

resources. It's time we switched more attention, public funds and policy measures to agro ecology, replacing the high cost conventional model as soon as possible."

Prof Sergio Sauer, formerly Brazil's National Rapporteur for Human Rights in Land, Territory and Food, added:

"Agro ecology is related to the way you relate to land, to nature to each other - it is more than

just organic production, it is a sustainable livelihood in the long term. In Brazil we have the National Association of Agro ecology which brings together 7,000 people from all over the country pooling

together their concrete empirical experiences of agro ecological practices. They try to base all their knowledge on practice, not just on concepts. Generally, nobody talks about agro ecology, because it's

too political. The simple fact that the FAO is calling a major international gathering to discuss agro ecology is therefore a very significant milestone."

 We must consider ourselves very fortunate that FAO and Olivier de Scutter's successor, Prof Dr Hilal Elver, are also committed to the cause of meeting the needs of the rural poor smallholder communities'.

 

Warm regards

>>ENGLISH VERSION BELOW<<

L’avenir de l’agriculture familiale: Assurer des ressources aux femmes et aux jeunes qui travaillent dans l'agriculture

1. Quel rôle les écoles et les universités peuvent-elles jouer dans la promotion de filières agricoles destinées aux jeunes ? Si vous connaissez des programmes dans ce domaine, veuillez nous en faire part.

Réponse 1 : Quand on parle d’écoles et d’universités, on parle déjà d’institutions de formation qui au bout du rouleau délivrent des diplômes et ou certificats. Cette compréhension restreinte du concept ne nous permettra pas de cerner la question et de l’analyser dans ses contours. Ainsi, les écoles et les universités sont non seulement les structures de formation conduisant à des diplômes, mais aussi les institutions qui ont une vocation de transmettre aux jeunes et aux femmes, des savoirs faire qui influencent positivement leurs pratiques culturales, améliorent leurs rendements grâce à l’utilisation des moyens à leur portée. Cette clarification  faite, il conviendrait de montrer que l’approche filière exige avant tout que les structures de formation fassent les études nécessaires relatives à la chaîne des valeurs par filière. Une fois ce travail fait en amont, les jeunes n’auront plus de difficulté à choisir leur filière agricole de prédilection. Prenons un exemple. Si la filière de production du soja a subi les études dont nous avons parlées, le jeune qui s’y engage, sait que sur la chaîne, les usines pour lui racheter ses produits existent. Les usines sachant que la matière première est assurée peuvent se lancer dans la recherche de marchés avec l’appui des banques. Les banques n’attendent que d’être convaincues par la rentabilité de la filière. Le rôle des structures de formation n’est plus aujourd’hui de donner la connaissance et de livrer les jeunes sur le terrain de l’emploi. Elles doivent les outiller au point où ceux-ci, une fois sortis de l’école doivent avoir un seul souci : se mettre à leur propre compte. Mais l’autre travail des structures de formation, c’est de suivre l’effectivité de l’installation de leurs anciens étudiants en vue de leur apporter de l’accompagnement sur le terrain de la profession. Cela va beaucoup influencer leurs activités et drainer plus de jeunes à embrasser ces filières.

Mais toujours parlant de structures de formation, on parle de jeunes gens et de femmes qui sont lettrés. Un nombre important de jeunes et de femmes (acteurs ruraux et candidats aux activités agropastorales) sont mis en quarantaine du fait de l’analphabétisme. Dieu sait que ceux-ci sont très nombreux au Bénin.  Quels rôles les structures de formation peuvent jouer en leur faveur ? Adapter les formations à leurs besoins et transmettre les connaissances en langues du milieu. C’est un gros travail qui demande de sacrifices de la part des maisons de formation. Si l’ambition est de mettre ces analphabètes dans la danse de la production qui nourrit son homme.

1. Quelles sont les approches les plus efficaces pour promouvoir l'égalité des agricultrices ?

Réponse 2 : Quand on parle de l’égalité des agricultrices, cela fait croire qu’il y a une inégalité entre elles. Cela est d’autant vrai quand on parle d’agricultrice lettrées et d’agricultrice analphabète, d’agricultrice sans moyens de production et d’agricultrice disposant de moyen de production, d’agricultrice disposant de financement et celle qui n’en dispose pas. Pour assurer l’égalité, il faut offrir les mêmes chances à toutes. Il s’agit donc de préparer un outil d’évaluation des éléments d’inégalité entre elles qu’il faut renseigner. Cela permettra de retrouver les inégalités à combler.

Il faudra que désormais, l’analphabétisme ne soit plus une barrière pour l’accès des agricultrices aux politiques et programmes, les moyens de production et de financement n’empêchent plus les agricultrices de se valoriser, de produire en abondance et en tirer profit.

1. Quelles sont les mesures que peuvent adopter les organisations de développement et les gouvernements pour rendre  les zones rurales plus intéressantes aux yeux des futurs agriculteurs ?

Réponse 3 : Devenir agriculteur, c’est choisir la profession d’agriculteur, d’éleveur, de pisciculteur ou même de transformateur de produit d’agriculture, de pêche et d’élevage. Jusqu’à présent, les jeunes qui ont fait les écoles et universités spécialisées dans ces domaines sont à la recherche de l’emploi. C’est dire que ceux-ci n’ont pas comme premier reflexe d’aller s’installer. Cela est dû forcément aux programmes de formation. Mais l’environnement agit également sur ces jeunes gens et femmes. En réalité, comment comprendre qu’un autre jeune avec qui vous êtes sorti de l’université et qui a fait une étude en impôt par exemple soit recasé par l’administration publique ou privé et travaille sous climatiseur pendant que vous serez au soleil ?

Pour changer cette façon d’analyser les choses, il valoriser l’activité de production agricole et ses acteurs.

L’Etat en premier va offrir un Kit d’installation et d’accompagnement à tout jeune candidat véritable à la production agricole. Il s’agira de lui donner une formation en entrepreneuriat agricole tournée vers la filière qu’il souhaite embrasser, de lui offrir les premiers intrants, de lui assurer la possibilité de crédit bancaire à travers la mise en place de fonds de garantie (dans lequel les banques doivent être elles-mêmes actionnaires), de lui faciliter l’assurance de sa production, de lui offrir un habitat décent, de l’eau potable, de l’électricité (par panneaux solaires), le téléphone mobile avec une connexion corporate à coût très insignifiant,  l’accès à internet,  l’accès aux médias (télévision et radio), l’accès à l’école pour leurs enfants (si la zone est très éloigné, un programme d’enseignement par la télévision aux enfants), un moyen de déplacement, de routes pour accéder aux marchés.

Les organisations internationales doivent travailler sur ces programmes et accompagner les Etats à leur mise en œuvre. Mais il va falloir créer des télévisions et radios spécialisées pour diffuser les expériences porteuses des jeunes et des femmes  en vue d’offrir des exemples aux nouveaux candidats à ce métier.

1. Si vous disposez d'études de cas sur l'autonomisation des femmes et des jeunes dans le secteur agricole pour assurer une meilleure sécurité alimentaire, veuillez nous en faire part.

Réponse 4 : Je vous donne le cas de deux jeunes au Bénin (un homme et une femme). Le jeune homme, Roland, après sa formation agropastorale s’est acheté un ha de terre et s’est installé avec sa famille. Partant d’un champ de maïs, il est à plus de 20 ha de palmeraie, d’un cheptel cunicole et avicole important. Dans sa ferme il dispose d’électricité alimenté par le soleil, d’internet et d’une usine artisanale d’extraction d’huile de palme. Il m’a confié qui n’envie rien chez un fonctionnaire. Roland a créé l’association nationale des jeunes agriculteurs modernes qu’il préside au Bénin.

La dame, Nadine, elle aussi s’est installée à son propre compte et produit les œufs, les poissons avec sa famille. Elle dirige l’Association nationale des jeunes ruraux au Bénin.

Tékpon GBLOTCHAOU

Président de l’Alliance contre la faim et la malnutrition au Bénin

Président de la Plateforme des Alliances contre la faim et la malnutrition de l’Afrique de l’Ouest

1. What role can schools and universities play in promoting agricultural careers to youth?  Please share any relevant programs you are aware of.

Answer 1: When one speaks of schools and universities, one is already talking about educational institutions which at the end of the day deliver diplomas and certificates. This narrow understanding of the concept does not allow us to grasp the question and to analyze its various aspects. Accordingly, schools and universities are not only training institutions leading to diplomas, but also institutions which have the aim of transmitting to the young and to women that knowledge which will positively influence their cultural behavior and enhance their productivity by using the means at their disposal. Following this clarification, it will be useful to show that the sectorial approach requires above all that training institutions should carry out the necessary studies related to the value chain by sector. Once this preliminary work has been done, young people will no longer have difficulty choosing their preferred agricultural sector. Let us take an example. If the production in the soya sector has undergone the studies mentioned, a young person committing to this sector will know that, in the chain, there are processing plants that will purchase these products. The plants, knowing that the supply of raw material is secure, can, with the support of the banks, start looking for markets. The banks will only wait to be convinced of the profitability of the sector. The role of training institutions today is no longer to impart knowledge and deliver the young to the work place. They should equip them to the point where the young, once out of school should have just one desire: to go into business for themselves. But the other work of training institutions is to monitor the success of the initial entry into business of its former students with the objective of providing support in the professional arena. That will greatly influence their activities and attract more young people to engage in these sectors

Still talking about training institutions, one is talking about the literate young people and women.  An important number of young people and women (rural workers and candidates for agro-pastoral activities) are excluded due to their illiteracy. God knows that there are many such in Benin!  What role can the training institutions play to help them?  Adapt training to their needs and use the local languages to transfer knowledge. It is a great task that demands sacrifices on the part of the training institutions, if it is really the ambition to put these illiterate women in the production line that feeds their men.

1. What approaches are most successful in promoting the equality of female farmers?

Answer 2: When one is talking about equality of female farmers, it makes you think that there is inequality among them. That is equally true whether one is talking about literate female farmers or illiterate female farmers, of female farmers without means of production or of female farmers who have means of production, of female farmers that have means of financing or of those that do not. To ensure equality, it is necessary to offer the same posibilities to all. Therefore, it is a question of preparing a method for assessing the components of the inequality which has to be investigatedamong them. This will make it possible to identify the inequalities that need to be ironed out.

Hereafter, illiteracy should not bar female farmers from accessto the policies and programs,the means of production and funding which will no longer prevent female farmers fromimproving their worth, having abundant production and deriving the benefits.

1. What measures can development organizations and governments take to make rural areas more appealing for future farmers?

Answer 3: To become a farmer, is to choose the profession of farmer, livestock producer, fish farmer or even a processor of agricultural, fishing or livestock products.  Up until now, the young who have studied at specialized schools and universities in these areas are seeking employment. That is to say that their first aim is not to set up as farmers. This is due inevitably to the training programs. But the environment also has an effect on these young people and women. In reality, how to understand that another person who was with you at university and, for example, has studied Tax, is employed by a public or private administration and works in an air-conditioned room while you are working in the sun?

In order to change this way of analyzing things, it is important to properly value agricultural production and its participants.

In the first place, the State will offer a Start-up and Support kit to any authentic young candidate for agricultural production. This will consist of giving the young person training in agricultural entrepreneurship specifically in the sector they desire, to offer the first inputs, and to ensure them the possibility of bank credit by arranging guarantee funds (in which the banks must themselves be stakeholders), to facilitate the insurance of his agricultural production,to offera decent living place, clean drinking water, electricity (through solar panels),a mobile telephone with a very low cost corporate connection, internet access, media access (television and radio), access to a school for their children (if the area is very distant a TV based teaching program), means of transport, roads for access to markets.

The international organizations should work on these programs and support the States in their implementation. But it will be necessary to create specialized television and radio programs to broadcast the relevant experiences of these young people and women with the objective of offering examples to new candidates to this trade.

1. Please share any relevant case studies about empowering women and youth in agriculture to achieve better food security.

Answer 4: I can present you with the case of two people in Benin (a man and a woman). After his agro-pastoral training, the young man, Roland, bought a hectare of land and installed himself and his family. Starting with one field of maize, now he has more than 20 hectares of palm groves, and an important chicken and rabbit stock. In his farm he has solar electricity, internet and an artisanal plant to extract palm oil. He told me that he lacks nothing compared with a civil servant. Roland has created the national association for modern young farmers of which he is president in Benin.

The lady, Nadine, also started by herself and produces eggs and fish with her family. She directs the Association National de Jeunes Ruraux [National Association of Rural Young People] in Benin.

Tékpon GBLOTCHAOU

Président de l’Alliance contre la faim et la malnutrition [President of the Alliance against Hunger and Malnutrition] in Benin

Président de la Plateforme des Alliances contre la faim et la malnutrition de l’Afrique de l’Ouest [President of the Platform of Alliances against Hunger and Malnutrition in West Africa].

In my country now all most women participate in agriculture.  Women stay at home so they have time to get involved with agriculture activities especially in vegetable production and to learn how to raise more income for supporting their farmily. When we provide training or meeting most of women are participants.