The Critical roles and contributions of women farmers  in agroecology

There is growing global recognition of the critical roles and contributions of women farmers agroecology.  Women farmers are at the forefront of efforts to preserve indigenous/traditional seeds and the management of community-based seed systems (Mpofu, 2018; Tan, 2024).  They are active in farmer researches and experimentation to find natural ways to enhance to soil fertility, and  alternative and natural strategies for pest management  They are active promoters of organic, diversified and integrated farming systems which allow them to provide diverse and therefore healthier meals for their families as well as to diversify their sources of income.  As stewards of indigenous farming knowledge and practices, and of the environment, they are active in lobbying and advocacy for programs and policies that protect their environment and culture. (Khadse, 2017; Mpofu, 2018).  And stories from rural women’s organizations in various countries especially in the global south show how women have become the most active defenders of their land against corporate control (Mpofu, 2018)

Persisting gender issues in agriculture

At the same time, there are many agroecology movements the most active practitioners are women, but they remain ‘invisible’ or marginalized -  they hidden as wives of  (male) farmers,  they are not present in decision-making and leadership positions (Khadse, 2017).  And even as  they become the more active practitioners of agroecology, even as they become more active members of their organizations where they learn about agroecology, women farmers continue to bear the intensifying multiple burdens of productive work (farming), managing their organizations, serving their communities, while still being primarily in charge of caring for the family and the home.

Historically, social reproduction has been relegated to women in the confines of their homes and communities and are part of what is called ‘unpaid family labor’.  Caring for the well-being of a people should be part of social development and the state’s responsibility.  But within the global neoliberal economic regime, with states   reducing national budgets for basic social services, for social protection and programs to care for the  welfare, health, and well being of the people,  this privatization of social reproduction has intensified.    

Prasad and Yeros (2024) further explain that the chronic crisis resulting from neoliberalism is resulting in the increasing number of unemployed and underemployed and much of the production for the survival needs of this growing ‘global surplus population’ is being shifted to the home, primarily to the women.  These include petty commodity production in the household, and subsistence farming for the survival of families (Ossome and Naidu, 2021).  As intense climate changes destroy natural food, medicine and water sources, women’s reproductive work has become even more difficult.  Women’s subsistence farming has become even more challenging given the conversion of agricultural for commercial purposes.  Quoting from Luxemburg (1951, as cited in Ossome and Naidu, 2021, p. 68), ‘the household and family labor shoulder a large proportion of the burden of meeting minimum consumption levels essential for daily and generational reproduction and continue to subsidize capital accumulation’ (of multinational corporations and neoliberal economies – my notes).  

AMIHAN, the national federation of women farmers’ organizations in the Philippines explains that the pervasiveness of the ‘feudal’ character of Philippine culture is the reason why Filipino women are socialized into accepting that their primary role as caregivers of their family and that their reproductive work is inferior to the productive ‘paid work’ of men.  Women’s farming work is also seen as only supplementary to the work of their husbands even if women are as active in farm work as their husbands and even engage in odd jobs to augment their family income.  (CWR, 1998, AMIHAN, 2024, as cited in Tan, 2024). According to AMIHAN, the strongest expression of the feudal culture – of women being treated as inferior to and subservient to men - is experienced in rural areas, especially by women farmers.

Given the pervasiveness and enduring gender issues in the agriculture sector, organizations of women farmers and women’s rights advocates have called on practitioners of agroecology to strategically address these persisting gender issues in agriculture. And because women farmers bear these gender issues the most, they must be engaged in studies to understand and appreciate their critical roles in agroecology as well as the intensifying class and gender issues they continue to experience as farmers and as women.

MASIPAG’s Participatory Action Research on Women and Agroecology

MASIPAG is a national network of almost seven hundred small scale farmers’ organizations and rural women organizations, NGOs, and scientists promoting farmer-led agroecology and farmers’ rights. (Global Alliance for the Future of Food, 2021) MASIPAG believes that agroecology must be farmer-led agroecology – the transformation of agriculture and food systems must be led by the food producers themselves with the aim of transforming power relations within the global agricultural systems in order to achieve food sovereignty and social justice (CIDSE 2018, Khadse, 2017, People’s Coalition for Food Sovereignty, n.d.)

An important aspect of MASIPAG’s organizational development program are efforts towards strengthening the organizing work and leadership development among women farmers. In 2022, MASIPAG undertook a Participatory Action Research to engage women farmers in better understanding and appreciating the critical roles and contributions of women in agroecology, as well surface and analyze the additional challenges they face as women farmers.

The Participatory Action Research involved almost 250 farmers, mostly women, from MASIPAG affiliated farmers’ organizations in various regions of the Philippines.  Some of the highlights of the research findings are as follows:

1. Women farmers engaged in farmer-led agroecology gain some level of control over resources for agriculture, food production and marketing. They learn to maintain their own trial farms where they collect and test various rice varieties to see which is more locally adaptive and productive. They learn to breed climate resilient rice varieties and preserve indigenous rice and vegetable varieties which are also repositories of their indigenous culture. Women farmers have learned to produce their own natural, organic agricultural inputs – organic compost, herbal concoctions for pest control and soil fertility – with the resources all coming from their own farm and local environment.  These practices have helped in reducing their costs of production.
2. Through farmer-led agroecology, women farmers have attained some degree of food security and better health for their families.  Some of the women farmers claimed that a few years after shifting to agroecology, their families have enough supply of organic rice, vegetables and fruits from their own farms. Their organic and diversified farms are also more resilient to disasters, epidemics and climate change.
3. Through their diversified and integrated farming, the women now have diverse sources of income. They gain more income from selling diverse agricultural products, not just rice, additional income from selling processed food, herbal medicines, eggs and chickens, and fruits. They have developed their local markets where their agricultural products are collectively sold so that they can also demand a fair price for their produce.  And they also now practice participatory guarantee systems with farmers’ organizations and other stakeholders of the local food system
4. By practicing farmer-led agroecology and by being active in their organizations, they have imbibed the principles of collective work, collective leadership and governance of their organizations and communities.  They have learned about the principle of the ‘commons’ – common or collective stewardship of their community seed systems, communal farms, of equitably sharing the benefits or fruits of their labor among the organizational members.  With the practice of ‘committee system’ within their organizations wherein all members are engaged in the implementation of the various programs and activities, they have learned the principle and practice of participatory and democratic decision making. The ‘bayanihan’ spirit (sense of community) has been revived through farmer-led agroecology and their organizations.
5. The women farmers now see recognize their capacities as leaders, as trainers/educators, as policy advocates for farmer-led agroecology and people-centered development, as farmer-scientists. 
6. They recognize the critical link between the promoting farmer-led agroecology and their struggle to claim their rights to land. As one of the MASIPAG woman farmer leader said: 

‘How can we implement agroecology without our own farmlands.  And what is the use of having our own farmlands if do not practice agroecology to produce safe, healthy and nutritious food for all.’

The women farmers also attested to the persistence and prevalence of gender issues in agriculture which farmer-led agroecology need to address. These include:

1. Intensifying multiple burden. Women are now as engaged in farming and in their organizations as the men. Because of the intensifying economic crisis, the men have to leave their farmers and communities in search for additional income as construction workers, cab drivers, and the like. The women are left to tend the individual and communal farms and sustain their local organizations. Over and above these tasks, they are still in charge of reproductive work – caring for the children and/or grandchildren, for the sick and elderly members of the family, for family members with special needs, and for managing the household. 
2.  Prevailing unequal gender division of labor continues to be a burden on women. Climate change has added impact on women because of socially determined roles and prevailing gender division of labor. For instance, as the traditional water managers, homemakers, backyard gardeners, caretakers of farm animals, when extreme drought causes wells and rivers to dry up, women have to walk long distances to fetch water.
3.  Violence against women and children continue to persist. This too is a social justice issue that intensely impact on women and their children. State perpetuated violence against women has become part of the harassment and intimidation of politically active farmers’ organizations asserting their right to land. This has great impact on women farmer leaders and women human rights defenders as women are more and more becoming the leaders and frontliners of their farmers’ organizations

Conclusion

Agroecology as a movement for food sovereignty, farmers rights and social justice must also work towards the creation of policies, programs and strategies that systematically address gender inequality and promote the empowerment of women farmers. Toward this end, the participants of the MASIPAG participatory action research called on farmer-led agroecology advocates and practitioners to help in the following:   

1. Assert women farmers’ access and control over agricultural resources such as land, seeds, water systems, farming facilities, appropriate farming science and technology;  
2. Assert fair valuation of women’s contribution in agricultural production as well as women’s reproductive work actually sustains the productive work of everyone.
3. Assert state responsibility for social reproduction. The nurturance of a country’s labor force must be an important component of social development. Advocate for better facilities and programs for social services such as community day care, community health services which are all aspects of reproductive work that is now being taken on by women.
4. Challenge and transform prevailing unequal gender division of labor, and promote shared work, responsibility, and decision making in the home, community and organization
5.  Continue building the capacity of women farmers for organizing and organizational development, leadership, advocacy and networking, as well as for farmer-led agroecology.