Transforming gender relations in agriculture through women’s empowerment: benefits, challenges and trade-offs for improving nutrition outcomes
South Asia has had extraordinary economic growth over the last two decades, yet has the highest rate of child malnutrition in the world, with 4 in 10 children chronically malnourished. While agriculture is the main livelihood for majority of rural families in the region, clearly its potential to address undernutrition is not being realised. This we can see from the macro-level neglect of rural areas in targeting investments (agriculture / infrastructure) to adverse prices for agricultural commodities, and the neglect of the agricultural workforce (increasingly feminised) in terms of both skills and returns. Most nutritional interventions do target women though, given their central role in child-care, yet the problem persists. So, what is really missing in our research and analysis, and our policies?
A socially differentiated analysis of women’s position, roles and work burdens appears to be absent. Men too are missing from policy discourses on nutrition, though food production and provisioning are central to masculinities in South Asia. These gaps in our understanding must be filled in order to inform policies and programmes in the region and LANSA research programme seeks to do this.
The gender-nutrition-childcare connection in South Asia
Recent research has indicated that the regularity of feeding and care has significant implications for the nutrition and health of children below two years of age (Kadiyala et al. 2012) seen primarily as a woman’s job.
In South Asia, women are responsible for ‘reproductive’ activities (childcare; domestic work; health care), in addition to both paid and subsistence ‘productive’ work. Yet these social norms and expectations are not fixed, they shift through an individual’s life-course, but also in response to broader social and structural changes. New production regimes, processes of commodification, migration, price fluctuations, market competition, educational expansion, health provision, and contexts of conflict – can all change the dynamics of gender relations, and consequently, nutritional outcomes (Mitra and Rao, 2016*). These changes all contribute to shaping gender hierarchies and hence deserve due consideration.
In Afghanistan, The Ministry of Agriculture, Irrigation and Livestock (MAIL), supported by FAO, has formulated a strategy for 2015-2020 on women in agriculture. It argues that the role of women in the Afghan agricultural sector is a paradox: 1) on the one hand, women are major actors in agriculture contributing more than 40% of the labour force; 2) at the same time, Afghan women are marginalised in relation to control and decisions over productive resources.
The situation of child nutrition is alarming in Bangladesh with 36% stunting, 14% wasting and 33% underweight. As an agrarian country it there is a huge potential to improve the nutritional status of women and their children through agriculture. However, there is only limited evidence on how one may influence women in agriculture to address their own health, and the nutrition of their children.
Similar is the case for India – a majority of rural women are engaged in agricultural work, and are faced with a harsh trade-off – to work or care for their children. While there are policies for women’s empowerment, for supporting women in agriculture and for improving nutrition, there is little synergy between them. LANSA research in India demonstrates that without attention to the reduction of drudgery and the redistribution of women’s work and attention to their personal socio-economic wellbeing, outcomes are unlikely to improve substantially.
Emerging findings from LANSA research in Pakistan show that women's agricultural work can have positive impacts (through higher incomes) as well as negative impacts (through less time and physical energy available for their own and their children's care) on nutrition. Agricultural workforce is becoming increasingly feminised and evidence shows that children of female agricultural workers suffer from higher levels of malnutrition. However, women’s agricultural work remains almost universally underpaid. In addition, certain agricultural activities (cotton picking / livestock rearing) are deemed exclusively ‘women’s work’ and men fail to compensate for increases in women's agricultural labour by providing more care in the household. Although progress has happened with the formulation of the Inter-sectoral Nutrition Strategy, women's work needs greater recognition in agricultural policy, programming and investments.
Opening up discussions online
Leveraging Agriculture for Nutrition in South Asia programme is engaged in cooperation with FAO’s FSN Forum in running this online discussion. We invite opinions and encourage discussion on processes, as well as examples of good practice with regard to policy changes empowering women in agriculture, and how these changes altered the woman’s nutrition status for the better, and subsequently child nutrition.
From this e-discussion we would like to explore:
- How far can policy recognition of women’s roles and contributions to agriculture lead to strengthening women’s agency, empowerment and in turn nutritional outcomes?
- Are there experiences / strategies that can help address the issue of women’s time?
- examples demonstrating the impact of the reduction or redistribution of unpaid care work on nutritional outcomes in agricultural households
- Do men, community / state institutions take responsibility for the care of young children, especially during peak cultivation seasons when women’s labour is much needed?
- How rigid or flexible are social norms when it comes to issues of survival?
- Are you aware of changes in gender divisions of work, roles / responsibilities in contexts of change (eg: shifts in cropping patterns, technical innovations, the loss of ecosystem services, social and political conflict)? How is the contribution of men to household nutrition changing?
- What is the link between dietary diversity, women’s engagement with agriculture, and access to ecosystem services?
- For Afghanistan, we want to capture experiences about women’s roles in agriculture and agribusiness value chains in order to shape policies and interventions to recognise and support women’s contribution to livelihood security.
We need to know more about policies and programmes that enable women in South Asia to manage the competing pressures of agriculture, childcare and household responsibilities, and to identify approaches that improve household wellbeing and nutrition, particularly of young children, and very much look forward to reading your responses.
Thanking you in advance!
Lead Facilitator: Nitya Rao, India research & overall Gender crosscut lead, LANSA
Co-facilitators: Nigel Poole, Afghanistan research, LANSA; Barnali Chakraborthy, Bangladesh research, LANSA; Haris Gazdar, Pakistan research, LANSA
*Mitra, A and N. Rao (2016) Families, farms and changing gender relations in Asia. In FAO and MSSRF (eds.) Family farming: Meeting the zero hunger challenge. Academic Foundation, New Delhi
- Read 94 contributions
We have been working on bio-fortified crops especially provitamin A rich orange flesh sweet potato (OFSP), iron rich beans (IRB) in Uganda and yellow cassava in Liberia successfully where the beneficiaries are mostly women, under five children (girls & boys), pregnant women, lactating mothers and youth (adolescent girls). We have established a tissue culture lab (TCL) in Nakaseke seed farm in Uganda for production of disease free vines of HYV of OFSP (Naspot10 O, Naspot12 O, Naspot13 O) successfully and supplied to 40 vine producers and reached >16000 HH beneficiaries of 4 western districts targeting women led agriculture farming for food & nutrition security of small holders in Uganda. We have developed & trained community promoters such as Community Agriculture Promoter (CAP), Community health promoter (CHP) and adolescent health promoter (AHP) where 100 % are youth girls. We have developed new extension model and ensured technical guidance & effective extension services to HH beneficiaries (mostly women) through CAP. These were integrated with health & WASH practices through CHP partnership with Govt. local health and Agriculture services and peer to peer learning through AHP in Uganda. This model can be replicated to Asia particularly in Bangladesh, Myanmar, Nepal, Afghanistan, Pakistan etc. and others African counties.
There are huge potential for large scale promotion of high zinc rice & wheat to reduce stunting problems, iron rich lentil (IRL) & IRB for reducing anaemia (iron deficiency), provitamin A rice maize OFSP, yellow cassava and red maize for reducing vitamin A deficiency (VAD) in Bangladesh and others in Asia especially in Myanmar, Nepal, Pakistan, Afghanistan etc. and also in Africa too. We need to work very closely for production, consumption, value addition with multiple uses and marketing link of bio fortified nutrient rich crops to small holders particularly women, youth in agriculture.
Our keen interest to introduce and scale up of such crops with supply of quality seeds/vines, ensure effective extension services through local service producers (for example CAP, CHP, AHP etc.), integration with health services & WASH practices, ensuring consumption of nutrient rich crops by U2-5 Childs, pregnant women, lactating mothers, adolescent youth (both girl & boys) and women. So it require awareness build-up of Agriculture nutrition based bio-fortified crops, advocacy to Govt. policy for production, consumption, e-marketing and income of small holders especially women in agriculture in Asia and Africa. We need to develop quality training modules, skill training using pictorial flipchart and manuals with both local & English language, ensure quality seeds/vines to youth especially 'Empowering women in agriculture for better nutrition'
New funding opportunity, resource mobilization and partnership with Govt. –INGO- local NGO & private sectors with LSP could be the priority for 'Empowering women in agriculture for better nutrition'.
Md. Abdul Mazid, PhD
Advisor, Agriculture | BRAC International, Bangladesh
I am glad to share with you a transformative gender approach implemented by FAO in several sub-Saharan African countries. Dimitra, a gender sensitive participatory communication approach promotes individual and collective socio-economic empowerment of rural populations, women and youth in particular. These clubs are informal spaces for dialogue and action at community level. The members are women, men, mixed or not, who meet regularly to discuss their development priorities and challenges, exchange experiences with other clubs, make informed choices, and take collective action to solve their problems – mainly related to agriculture and nutrition, as the clubs decide on which issues to tackle, all kinds of topics are discussed as well.
Today, about 1.500 Dimitra Clubs exist in five countries of Sub-Saharan Africa (DR Congo, Senegal, Niger, Burundi, and Ghana) with more than 300.000 direct beneficiaries and at least 1 million indirect beneficiaries, two thirds of which being women.
The Niger experience is of particular interest. In the framework of the UN joint program “Accelerating Progress towards the Economic Empowerment of Rural Women” (RWEE), the Dimitra Clubs have been chosen by the four agencies of the Programme (UN Women, IFAD, WFP and FAO), as the entry point for all the activities. The approach was selected because the clubs ensure, at field level, efficient coordination among all agencies, participation of rural communities and feedback to the programme coordination, in general, transparency of all activities.
In the framework of the RWEE, specific training sessions on nutrition have been organized in five villages in the region of Dosso, where the programme is implemented. Participation was at the heart of these sessions in which the clubs identified themselves local nutritious ingredients and were trained to classify these ingredients into three main groups: energetic, constructive, and protective. The clubs were trained on the seasonal crop calendar, an activity that helped them brainstorm and find solutions when nutritious crops are not available around the year. They came up with some new conservation and processing methods, such as conserving cowpeas in vegetable oil and transforming it into Beroua. Participatory culinary demonstrations (millet couscous, cowpeas and squash with peanut sauce) also highlighted the importance of combining the three groups in one dish, in order to have a diversified nutrition and healthy lifestyle.
In order to assess the role and impact of the Dimitra Clubs approach on nutritional education, the Dimitra project conducted a survey after three months, focusing on participation levels, nutritional knowledge, knowledge transfer and community mobilization and actions. 125 members of the clubs (1 group of men, 1 group of young men, 1 group of young girls and 2 groups of women) were interviewed.
The survey results showed high participation in discussions among all club groups (women, men, and youth) and an improved knowledge base related to nutrition, malnutrition and its consequences. As a result, collective actions within the clubs have been mainly focused on sensitizing the communities to the benefits of a diversified diet and good hygiene. It was also evident that several households began to diversify their diet for all family members. Results also showed a high level of networking among people, indicating that the information had circulated among friends, relatives and even reached other villages. Once again, Dimitra Clubs proved to be an innovative and efficient gender sensitive transformative approach for changing behaviours, here for improving nutrition.
A video showing another successful experience regarding the key role of FAO- Dimitra clubs in the Province of Tshopo (DR Congo) for improving food security and nutrition and promoting gender equality for men, women and youth is available on the following link: https://youtu.be/jHG07gQ2H8Q
Nutrition awareness and education for women is definitely important. It should not however be limited to women and adolescent girls. Men too need to be sensitized and made to realise the burden of work on farm and at home being shouldered by the women and its consequences. Better understanding and sharing or responsibilities at work and at home can help a great deal in addressing undernutrition in women. Easier said than done though!
Apart from technological intervention, education of women for behavioural change is extremely important. In that context, I would like to share the paper on 'Impact of Enriching the Diet of Women and Children through Health and Nutrition Education, Introduction of Homestead Gardens and Backyard Poultry in Rural India' published in Agriculture Research. Here we have targeted pregnant women and mothers with 6-24 months old children registered at Anganwadis in India.
Dr Ms Mahtab S. Bamji
INSA Emeritus Scientist, Dangoria Charitable Trust, Hyderabad & Director Grade Scientist, Retd.National Institute of Nutrition, Hyderabad, India.
Women work for long hours in the farms and in their household chores thus taking up most of their time. Investment in technologies that would save on their time is likely to be valuable and enable re allocation and prioritisation of the freed time to important aspects of child care and nutrition. For example, research in some regions shows that investment in water infrastructure saves on the time spent by women fetching water from long distances. Additionally giving water rights to women is part of empowerment and goes a long way to foster healthcare and nutrition.
Bangladesh has achieved considerable progress in agriculture and food security. The country has achieved self-sufficiency in its staple food, rice. There is also surplus production of table potato and many vegetables in the peak growing season. Bangladesh also stood fourth in the world in producing inland fish through pond aquaculture. In spite these achievements, the country is well behind in achieving the major nutritional indicator especially for the children. The food safety and hygiene is also contribute in human nutrition. In order to ensure contaminant free and food safety for the people, the Government has started implementing the ‘Food Safety Act, 2013’ from the 1st of February, 2015. Eventually, ‘Bangladesh Food Safety Authority’ was activated on the 2nd February, 2015. Along with the inception of the implementation of the ‘Food Safety Act, 2013’, the Government has also taken steps to raise people’s awareness of food safety and about the fundamental concepts of the law. The awareness of the women in the household is the key since the overall food preparation is done by them in Bangladesh.
Effects of malnutrition in pregnant women
Hassam Ishtiaq*, Hira Iftikhar, Akhtar Ali, Tahir Ahmad and Umar Ali Amjad
*National Institute of Food Science and Technology, University of Agriculture, Faisalabad.
Malnutrition is a major issue in developing and developed countries around the world due to under nutrition and overweight problems respectively. 39% of world population is facing the overweight problem and being obese during pregnancy can have a major impact on female and baby health. Being obese during pregnancy increases the risk of various complications for female including: Gestational diabetes, preeclampsia, overdue pregnancy, labour problems, pregnancy loss, etc. Complications may arise in newborns due to obese mother including: Macrosomia, chronic conditions and birth defects. Most of the world's population live in countries where overweight and obesity kills more people than underweight. Supportive environments and communities are fundamental in shaping people’s choices, thus forcing people to make the healthier choice of foods and regular physical exercise to control overweight problems. In Pakistan, especially in Thar, large numbers of deaths are reported every year due to malnutrition. Thar communities, particularly women, lack awareness of their health concerns. An underweight woman has a high risk of having a low birth weight infant, especially if she is not taking adequate diet during child bearing age as pregnancy requirement of micro and macro nutrients is higher. Malnutrition prior to conception prevents the placenta from developing completely. A poorly developed placenta cannot deliver optimum nourishment to the foetus, and the born infant will be small and with possible physical and cognitive abnormalities. Malnutrition, coupled with low birth weight, is a major factor in more than half of all deaths of children under four years of age worldwide. An underweight woman improves her chances of having a healthy baby by gaining sufficient weight prior to conception or by gaining extra pounds during pregnancy. To gain weight and ensure nutrient adequacy, an underweight woman can follow the dietary recommendations for pregnant women.
Contribution posted on FAO Facebook
Many complicated analyses have been done and can be done, and the results would be what we see today. It all boils down to three things:
1) there should be adequate amount of food available for the family: it is mostly not the case in the poor families
2) there should be diversity in diet using local crops and vegetables, and milk products, of course: there has been dangerous shifts to narrow diet base, and away from traditional nutritious food crops (which also applies to well-to-families), and
3) unhygienic living conditions, including poor water and air quality. To make significant and acceptable level of progress all three have to be addressed simultaneously through various technological interventions, including education, all on campaign basis
Fortification Bread is important for Georgian Family!
Association Agreement (DCFTA) between Georgia and EU fully comes into force since 1 July 2016. Implementation of this document will help Georgia to create an environment that will increase competitiveness, promote a stable growth of the economy. Ensuring a sufficient level of safe security and nutrition is identified as the one of the key strategic directions of this AA/ /(DCFTA) document. There are many factors which make barriers to empower national strategy on food security. Initiatives and activities have been provided from Government and civil society sides to increase health care access for low income women and children, who are at risk of developing nutrition related health problems.
One of the challenges under AA//(DCFTA) are the increasing reforms in food security and providing essential nutrition program for all citizens of the country. It is important to support agrarian organizations, farmers (including women farmers) and women NGOS in this field. Due to insufficient incomes Georgian family has a high poverty level. The survey provided by UNICEF in 2015 outlined the problems of malnutrition amongst of children, IDP`s and older population. According the report of the Georgian National nutrition Survey in 2009 (NNS) about half of a million population in Georgia are suffering from malnutrition.
It is known that the bread is the main food for Georgian citizens. Global food crisis and the growth of wheat prices have negative influenced on Georgia, because Georgia belongs to wheat importer (90%) countries. Georgian populations usually consume many bread, but gaining little nutrition benefits to return. Most of the population (women, children) do not aware the significant of flour fortification. Fortification bread increase price and all the cost be passed on to consumers? This question is very popular in the period of the upcoming election campaign, this issue is related as political populism. The issue of bread fortification is not free from controversy.
In 2006 the strategy of flour fortification began in Georgia. This program was financed by the Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition (GAIN). The problems arose in the society regarding bread fortification was issue of bread price increasing. The food experts highlighted that fortification gives big benefits to population and does not create risk to bread increasing price of bread. According the UNICEF investigation in 2013 the cost of flour fortification is estimated to be around 1-2 USD per ton.
That could mean around 1-2 tetri (currency Georgia) increase price per kilogram of flour. The law about fortification is under discussion in the Parliament. Georgia Parliament has not approved yet the law of flour fortification. Flour fortification is not mandatory yet in Georgia. But it should be noted that flour fortification has not facilitate price increasing, but it probably reduces infant death, less problem for pregnant and lower rates of birth defects in the country.
There is a lack of awareness of the population on food security and nutrition. This fact impedes implementation of strategy food safety standards that meet EU requirements. Nevertheless, experts agree that a key feature of fortification involves calculating the optimum amount of nutrient to be used. Local agriculture production takes a third and last place in Georgian food security. Nutrition is less considered within in food security policy. Food security must be ensured equally by all the stakeholders: producers, consumers, government and civil society.
Charita Jashi
Professor
Tbilisi State Univerity
Economic and Business Faculty
Head of Association Caucasus Development Group
Address: 19 kekelidze, Tbilisi, Georgia
Promoting Women Leadership for Income and Nutrition Security
Swayam Shikshan Prayog’s strategy for sustainable agriculture targets women farmers in landless, marginal and small farmer households across drought-prone regions of Vidharba and Marathwada in Maharashtra. With the third year of drought in these regions, families are caught in a poverty trap due to climate change induced water scarcity and environmental degradation which disrupts agriculture and livelihoods. This in turn, has led to high levels of malnutrition and farmer distress.
SSP’s experience shows that women are most interested in making agriculture viable. They are keen on using basic agriculture equipment, adopting water efficient, low input farming methods and are ready to make a shift in the cultivation pattern - such as use of mixed farming, intercropping and increasing cycles of cultivation.
The programme combines three important objectives— nutritional awareness leading to better food security, and increased food self sufficiency through sustainable agriculture by empowering women as informed farmers and decision makers women’s leadership in their communities.
Strategy
· SSP’s has created a unique strategy by focussing on the inter linkages between agriculture, food security and nutrition in its initiatives. Primarily, aiming to bring together the key stakeholders – women farmers, local government and other institutions- during different aspects of the program.
· The program focuses on equipping community women to take charge of building sustainable livelihoods. The project, aims at empowering women farmers with sustainable agriculture information, enhanced skills and solutions. This in turn supports women to be recognized as farmers and leaders of the communities. At a household level, women will be more aware of the importance of nutrition, health status and adopt better practices for improved health and well being.
· The progressive agriculture leaders play key role as community advocates and catalyze collaborations between women farmers and local government institutions to transfer basic agriculture tools prototyped in their labs in the fields through women farmers, livelihoods increase, there have never been easy bridges to bring the two together.
This three-pronged approach together makes the model innovative and pragmatic.
Approach: Sustainable Agriculture
SSP enables women to become farming experts by linking them to updated information, and use of low input farming techniques and tools. Capacity building of women farmers, formation of groups and recognition of women as farmers, in turn empowers women as decision makers to drive the shift towards sustainable nutrition-sensitive agriculture.
SSP’s addresses the key drivers of nutrition sensitive and sustainable farming in following ways:
- AWARENESS: Increase knowledge of sustainable agriculture - farming techniques and methods to women farmers through Farmer Field Schools (FFSs) in- low cost input farming methods - bio-composting, seed processing and use of water efficient techniques. At the same time, SSP teams and leaders increases their awareness around safe drinking water, sanitation and hygiene practices which reduce the risk of illnesses and nutrient absorption.
- ACCESS: Train women farmers to adopt nutrition sensitive farming and increase food security. Shift to one acre model of farming- cultivate nutrition dense crops in part of their household farms and move towards self-sufficiency. Women farmers are made more aware of locally available nutritious crops through the leaders and group meetings.
- ACTION: Increase recognition for women’s contribution in agriculture together with increase in decision making with enhanced individual and household income. Also, develop capacities of progressive women farmers by providing leadership training to continue sustainable agriculture intervention.
- LIASONING & ADVOCACY: Women leaders actively participate in linking women farmers groups for technical support with Government Research Institutions such as Krishi Vigyan Kendras (KVK), Farmer Field Schools, Agriculture University etc. They support in community advocacy and linking the communities to access various government schemes and programs.
This activity is now closed. Please contact [email protected] for any further information.