Rural women play an important role of producing food not only for their households but also for the urban population through formal and informal trade. Therefoe, agriculture is very vital to rural women because it acts as a stimulant for non-farm activities like trade, education, improved housing; improved water sources for human consumption and energy sources and use are all associated with poverty alleviation.
Rural women are mainly responsible for household food production. Men tend to focus on growing cash crops or migrate to towns to find paid work. The worsening of poverty and increase in the number of ssingle parent families mainly due to HIV/AIDS epedemic is still a major handicap to women mainstreaming in development activities. This implies that women must turn to income generating activities because their contribution to the national economy is enormous.
Women farmer institutions need to be formed because such outreach activities can increase the productivity of women in home based production, including agriculture and provision and use of household resources. Generally extension or outreach programs for women can correct factor market distortions, provide women with more equal agricultural and household technologies, and expand the effective supply of credit where they produce for market. Market opportunities can bring service providers and women farmer's together.
However, much as women are described as agents of change, they still find a lot oc challenges that do not enable them chieve their development goals. They mostly have small-scale farms, use traditional techniques and technologies, depend on family labour, and have little or no capital to invest towards commercialization and most of their inputs(family land, labour and saved are monetized. For example in Uganda, there is no policy to ensure that small holder rural women farmer's use good quality seeds, planting, and stocking materials. Often times, the seeds supplied by the government programme of National Agricultural Advisory Services (NAADS) to women are fake with low germination percentages, the agrochemical and livestock such as dairy, cows, piglets, and chicken are very low grade making loses for small holde women farmers. In addition, most rural women do not keep farm records which would provide information as a basis for planning and balancing their production and sales against their household food requirements.
Corruption is one of the greatest evils that have undermined rural women in accelerating development in Uganda. A desire for more power is responsible for the destruction of so many individual's moral fibres. That is why more Afican economies are poor because of high levels of corruption, where records indicate that men are corruptible than women. They (men) dominate African governments, and the solution therefore, is to encourage and campaign for more representation of women in African governments.
According to the World Bank Report on Women Development 2012, it observes that for very poor countries female labour for participation is high, reflecting a large labour-intensive agricultural sector and significant numbers of poor households. It is therefore necessary for governments to encourage rural women farmer's to Farmers Enterprise Groups which follow a clear and streamlined process that should enable integration of both "poor" and "rich" farmers. This could be coupled with arrangement of agricultural study visits, exhibition, workshops and seminars to facilitate informed farming practice and decision making in order to realize sustainable livelihood among women.
First and foremost, I must salute FSN for coming up with this forum.
I wish to contribute on this topic that a woman is the cornerstone, the foundation, the custodian of social, cultural economic, spiritual and even political development. To achieve the development goals for rural women need favourable government policies that allows and supports their programmes.
Many scholars of women activism and development observe that women are viewed not only as development "ends" but also a means of reaching project goals. Therefore, investing in women women should be regarded as an effective use of scarce development resources. These actions should be guided by the basic principles of seeing women for what they are as economic and social agents, and not mere passive recipients of welfare.
For the development goals to be realized, this will require effective involvement of both women and men. For that case women are a vital force in national development . They support economic growth through agricultural and food production and play a vital role in the education and management of the community, as well as management of the environment.
We are all equal before God and have been gifted with the brains, intellect and wit such as; if women are given the opportunity, would enable them transform societies and make it a better place for all of us. Women have proved that they are lead managers within the households for providing food, nutrition, water, health, education among others.
From that arguement, governments should give support to rural women in terms of service as well as economic support because no nation can develop when a part of it is either marginalized or suffers from discrimination. And there is no greater injustice than that wholesomely inflicted on those that bring forth humanity. He who seeks to endanger, exploit, discriminate and oppress womanhood seeks to endanger all that dwell the earth, and there can be no valuable respect for a nation that does not treasure her mothers.
Mr. Henry Kizito
Rural women play an important role of producing food not only for their households but also for the urban population through formal and informal trade. Therefoe, agriculture is very vital to rural women because it acts as a stimulant for non-farm activities like trade, education, improved housing; improved water sources for human consumption and energy sources and use are all associated with poverty alleviation.
Rural women are mainly responsible for household food production. Men tend to focus on growing cash crops or migrate to towns to find paid work. The worsening of poverty and increase in the number of ssingle parent families mainly due to HIV/AIDS epedemic is still a major handicap to women mainstreaming in development activities. This implies that women must turn to income generating activities because their contribution to the national economy is enormous.
Women farmer institutions need to be formed because such outreach activities can increase the productivity of women in home based production, including agriculture and provision and use of household resources. Generally extension or outreach programs for women can correct factor market distortions, provide women with more equal agricultural and household technologies, and expand the effective supply of credit where they produce for market. Market opportunities can bring service providers and women farmer's together.
However, much as women are described as agents of change, they still find a lot oc challenges that do not enable them chieve their development goals. They mostly have small-scale farms, use traditional techniques and technologies, depend on family labour, and have little or no capital to invest towards commercialization and most of their inputs(family land, labour and saved are monetized. For example in Uganda, there is no policy to ensure that small holder rural women farmer's use good quality seeds, planting, and stocking materials. Often times, the seeds supplied by the government programme of National Agricultural Advisory Services (NAADS) to women are fake with low germination percentages, the agrochemical and livestock such as dairy, cows, piglets, and chicken are very low grade making loses for small holde women farmers. In addition, most rural women do not keep farm records which would provide information as a basis for planning and balancing their production and sales against their household food requirements.
Corruption is one of the greatest evils that have undermined rural women in accelerating development in Uganda. A desire for more power is responsible for the destruction of so many individual's moral fibres. That is why more Afican economies are poor because of high levels of corruption, where records indicate that men are corruptible than women. They (men) dominate African governments, and the solution therefore, is to encourage and campaign for more representation of women in African governments.
According to the World Bank Report on Women Development 2012, it observes that for very poor countries female labour for participation is high, reflecting a large labour-intensive agricultural sector and significant numbers of poor households. It is therefore necessary for governments to encourage rural women farmer's to Farmers Enterprise Groups which follow a clear and streamlined process that should enable integration of both "poor" and "rich" farmers. This could be coupled with arrangement of agricultural study visits, exhibition, workshops and seminars to facilitate informed farming practice and decision making in order to realize sustainable livelihood among women.
Mr. Henry Kizito
First and foremost, I must salute FSN for coming up with this forum.
I wish to contribute on this topic that a woman is the cornerstone, the foundation, the custodian of social, cultural economic, spiritual and even political development. To achieve the development goals for rural women need favourable government policies that allows and supports their programmes.
Many scholars of women activism and development observe that women are viewed not only as development "ends" but also a means of reaching project goals. Therefore, investing in women women should be regarded as an effective use of scarce development resources. These actions should be guided by the basic principles of seeing women for what they are as economic and social agents, and not mere passive recipients of welfare.
For the development goals to be realized, this will require effective involvement of both women and men. For that case women are a vital force in national development . They support economic growth through agricultural and food production and play a vital role in the education and management of the community, as well as management of the environment.
We are all equal before God and have been gifted with the brains, intellect and wit such as; if women are given the opportunity, would enable them transform societies and make it a better place for all of us. Women have proved that they are lead managers within the households for providing food, nutrition, water, health, education among others.
From that arguement, governments should give support to rural women in terms of service as well as economic support because no nation can develop when a part of it is either marginalized or suffers from discrimination. And there is no greater injustice than that wholesomely inflicted on those that bring forth humanity. He who seeks to endanger, exploit, discriminate and oppress womanhood seeks to endanger all that dwell the earth, and there can be no valuable respect for a nation that does not treasure her mothers.