Global Forum on Food Security and Nutrition (FSN Forum)

Re: Selection and Prioritization of CFS Activities for the Biennium 2016-2017

  1. What issues should be addressed by the Committee in the biennium 2016-2017?

Marginalization of women from policy making processes is an important area that needs to be addressed by investing on women farmers' leadership building. At the same time, in developing countries like Nepal, the public agencies yet not being satisfactorily accountable to respond to the gender gaps in food security and nutritional issues. Supply of good seeds, fertilizer, and related agricultural inputs by the service providers/duty bearers has been irregular and untimely. However where there is regular irrigation services, women oriented extension services and genuine locally managed private companies such as, agro vets , women feel less loaded and more motivated towards commercialized agriculture through crop diversification and market networking. Appropriate technology such as, integrated pest management, farmers field school, etc. have been rewarding to help women make better benefits encouraging their maximum contribution. In the coming years, more attention needed to be given towards

  • leadership building of women farmers
  • innovate time saving and labor saving technology for farmers,
  • linking to private sector services, such as, mobile banking to encourage direct linkage between women and marketing
  • strengthening locally established private agro vets
  • strengthening women's cooperatives from where they can mobilize easy money for support agricultural production
  • Promote regional network of women farmers to enhance "informal learning banks" from successful cases of improved production and marketing practices
  • Promote "local women agriculturists" through informal training, extension education and certification based on proven cases rather than counting on formal education only
  1. Explain the issue and describe why you are proposing it;

Due to increasing male out migration, women farmers do suffer from increased workload and food insecurity due to leaving land fallow under the pressure of shortage of labor for agricultural work, increasing price of staple food items that they cannot afford, absence of appropriate market linkages and facilities for enabling the local farmers to market their production, women specifically suffer because most of them are inadequately informed about the available services and facilities and policies for extension services. In this context, building women's leadership in claiming services, inputs, technologies and benefits from agricultural duty bearers, they can manage food production and utilization effectively for nutrition and income.

  1. What kind of activity do you propose to address this issue? Which kind of CFS workstream should be put in place to address it?

Already answered under Q.1. Morever until and unless service provider organizations are made gender sensitive, efforts remain gender neutral or gender blind. Gender responsive budgeting and gender audit systems must be mainstreamed and carefully monitored by gender networks at country level along with mainstreaming status reports into overall CEDAW reporting and MDG reporting, which compel service providers to perform towards equitable service provisions. CFS workstream can be effective if they are more oriented towards ground level work, having good agricultural and nutritional qualification.

  1. A major workstream: gender balanced and field oriented , well qualified and more from local level extension workers
  2. Another type of workstream: Sociologists that can provide complementary assistance to the achievement of equitable impact
  3. An HLPE report