[Received through LinkedIn]
In many places on this planet, women and youth have always been encouraged to work in agriculture and given important roles.
It is important though that we take into account what kind of agriculture we are talking about and how people are being encouraged. For example, SRI/SCI (system of crop or rice intensification) has been working extremely well in some places in India especially where there are farmer field schools and farmers and farming households are teaching newer farmers how it is done.
It is extremely important that farming households be flexible and taught by one another how to do this, in the present world of changing climate. For example, farmers can learn from one another how to conserve water, ways of modifying drip irrigation, conserving every drip of rain waer that falls, even if it is all at once in a very short period of time. Building ponds to conserve water also helps. In addition, being able to switch what is grown in any season, if there is more or less rainfall, is another way of increasing production. But, commercial, industrialized agriculture does not fit this model.
Joan Mencher