Commercial, industrialised agriculture has made women farmers invisible in much of the Global South. India is no exception. This is changing with India’s Zero Budget Natural Farming practices (now more often referred to as Community Managed Natural Farming), which are being used by nearly a million smallholder farmers. Women, with little...

El Sistema de Agricultura Tradicional de Sierra do Espinhaço, también conocido como "recolectoras de flores siempre-vivas’" localizado en Minas Gerais, en la porción meridional de Sierra do Espinhaço, recibió este miércoles el reconocimiento internacional concedido por la Organización de las Naciones Unidas para la Alimentación y la Agricultura (FAO), denominado...

We can recognize a rural woman from a distance. Her clothing is usually different from the urban woman’s; it is loose-fitting, mismatched, and often, this woman carries a baby with a few toddlers and grown offspring surrounding her. Most people would praise her by calling her “strong.” Indeed, she is...

Women represent upwards of 40% of the agricultural labor force globally and grow much of the food for their families and communities. Moreover, men’s migration from rural areas to cities has only increased women’s responsibilities on the farm and driven the “feminization” of agriculture in many countries. Yet, many women...

It’s International Women’s Day and we speak to IFAD’s lead on gender and social inclusion Ndaya Beltchika. Also we have news from partner projects working on the frontline for women’s rights in Uganda and India. After that we’ll be putting the Glam back in to the Green movement and what sustainable...

Não é segredo que o sistema alimentar tem um problema de gênero endêmico. Existem barreiras significativas à participação nas cadeias de valor alimentares devidas a identidades socialmente determinadas, papéis, direitos e obrigações das mulheres e homens, e muitas iniquidades estruturais embutidas no sistema. Inúmeros trabalhos para avaliar as iniquidades de gênero...

María Lorenza Domínguez is a key member of the Association of Agricultural Producers Fe y Esperanza (Faith and Hope) in the community of Azacualpita, Honduras. The area is known for cultivating quality potatoes and other vegetables, which she also uses to feed her family. Cultivating these crops is not easy, as the...

Rural women play a fundamental role in the conservation of nature and the socio-economic development of communities and nations. However, the challenges are broad and deep-seated. Women throughout the world have to face major violations of their rights daily: Poverty, violence, wage gaps, limits to their participation in decision-making processes,...

Rural women play a fundamental role in the conservation of nature and the socio-economic development of communities and nations. However, their challenges are broad and deep-seated. Women throughout the world have to face major violations of their rights daily. Poverty, violence, wage gaps, limits to their participation in decision-making processes,...

Samira lives in a very remote village in Kyrgyzstan with her husband and four children. They grow vegetables in a small greenhouse to feed the family. In addition, Samira works at the bakery with 10 other women – they bake bread for the local school. This might sound like “a...

La revolución tecnológica ha hecho posible que la conectividad digital también llegue a zonas rurales. Sin embargo, todavía existe un enorme trabajo pendiente para reducir las desventajas del campo frente a las ciudades y que las posibilidades que esa revolución ofrece estén al alcance de los pequeños productores. Entre los...

Currently, vegetable farmers in Laos are not able to sell their produce because of the COVID-19 pandemic. While markets remail open, many vendors chose to close their shops and many people are also afraid to go out. Laos farmers appeal to their Laos government to help them by purchasing their vegetables...

Hoy les acercamos la reseña de un grupo de mujeres que aportan al proyecto Mujeres y ruralidad (desde sus historias, desde sus ideas y visualización de diferentes tiempos sociales), que se propone consolidar un espacio institucional en la facultad en común con las comisiones creadas. Ya hemos publicado en el...

A study conducted in Uganda explored how young women and men view their future in farming. It revealed that while most don't aspire to farm, many remain connected to agriculture, often using it as part of a broader livelihood strategy. Gender, wealth, and family background shape their attitudes, with women...

Many development countries are currently undergoing major demographic shifts as the percentage of young people of the total population rapidly increases. This shift is associated with high rates of migration, unemployment and instability. In policy discourses, engaging youth in commercial agricultural is often presented as a measure to control or...

In agroecology, women’s activities, from seed saving to activism, are well documented. Less well described are the factors that support and/or hinder women’s participation in agroecology; we addressed this gap through a feminist analysis of women’s motivations and barriers to participation in agroecological production in Costa Rica. We found that...

Gender equality is both Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) No. 5 and a theme underpinning various other goals of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development (United Nations, 2019). The agenda highlights the need for gender-equal access to education, ownership of resources, and engagement with information and communication technologies (ICTs). While African...

Despite women making up about half of the global fisheries workforce, it is believed that women are much less involved in community-based fisheries management than men. There is, however, limited evidence available on the extent and nature of their involvement. This paper responds to the gap by asking how representation...

Capitalist reforms usually drive outmigration of peasants to cities, while elders, children, and women responsible for their care are “left behind” in the countryside. The plight of these “left behind” populations is a major focus of recent agrarian studies in China. However, rural women are not merely passive victims of...

This annual report highlights the struggles and activities we had and the progress we made in 2019. These happened in the context of a world faced with many complex and interconnected challenges that heightened political crises and triggered mass mobilizations and protests broke out in all corners of the earth. What is...