By Julie Mollins, CIMMYT
Farmer education programs
that fail to address traditional gender roles may sideline women, limiting
their use of conservation agriculture techniques, which can boost their ability
to adapt to climate change, a new research shows.
Conservation agriculture
involves minimal soil disturbance, permanent soil cover, and the use of crop
rotation to simultaneously maintain and boost yields, increase profits and
protect the environment. It contributes to improved soil function and quality,
which can improve resilience to climate variability.
Although some scientists
believe that, such techniques have the potential to reduce greenhouse gas
emissions and increase carbon sequestration, which can help mitigate the impact
of global warming.
It is important to note that the
potential benefits of certain aspects of conservation agriculture --
particularly not tilling the soil -- have been overstated, write the authors of
the study from the International
Center for Maize and Wheat Improvement (CIMMYT) and the Research Program on Climate Change Agriculture and Food
Security (CCAFS).
Titled “Gender and conservation agriculture in east and southern Africa: towards a research agenda,” the paper discusses the lack of research conducted into interactions between conservation agriculture use and gender.
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| Smallholder farmer prepares maize plot for planting in Embu.CIMMYT.file |
Titled “Gender and conservation agriculture in east and southern Africa: towards a research agenda,” the paper discusses the lack of research conducted into interactions between conservation agriculture use and gender.
It proposes a research agenda that will better understand how
African farming systems remain strongly stratified by gender.
Despite an increase of women smallholder farmers throughout sub-Saharan Africa – one of the most vulnerable regions to climate change worldwide – agricultural service suppliers and policymakers remain “locked into the conceptual norm of the primary farmer as male,” said co-author Clare Stirling, a senior scientist in the Sustainable Intensification Program at CIMMYT.
“The ability of women-led households, or male-headed households with women as primary farmers, to adopt conservation agriculture may be compromised if government policies, extension systems and other actors continue to design interventions and target information and training around the conceptual norm of the male-headed household,” Stirling said, adding that a gender-sensitive approach should become part of mainstream research.
Despite an increase of women smallholder farmers throughout sub-Saharan Africa – one of the most vulnerable regions to climate change worldwide – agricultural service suppliers and policymakers remain “locked into the conceptual norm of the primary farmer as male,” said co-author Clare Stirling, a senior scientist in the Sustainable Intensification Program at CIMMYT.
“The ability of women-led households, or male-headed households with women as primary farmers, to adopt conservation agriculture may be compromised if government policies, extension systems and other actors continue to design interventions and target information and training around the conceptual norm of the male-headed household,” Stirling said, adding that a gender-sensitive approach should become part of mainstream research.
“Overall, normative
conceptualizations of ‘farmers’ can result in inappropriate targeting and
ineffective messaging,” she said.
There is almost no
understanding of how gender relations in smallholder agriculture – particularly
with regard to decision-making over technology adoption, roles, and
responsibilities for specific farm tasks – may influence the likelihood of
adopting conservation agriculture techniques, the paper states.
Read the full story at Building Resilience and Adaptation to
Climate Extremes and Disasters (BRACED).
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