Food & Business Knowledge PlatformCross-cutting challenges to food security - Food & Business Knowledge Platform

Digital cash transfers in the time of COVID-19: Opportunities and considerations for women’s inclusion and empowerment

F&BKP Office — Wed, 23 Sep 2020 09:54:39 +0000

This paper (PDF) by CGAP, The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the World Bank Group and Women’s World Banking, on gender intentional digital cash transfers in the time of COVID-19, offers guidance and considerations for policymakers to support women’s inclusion and empowerment. If the risks faced by women are not actively addressed, the COVID-19 crisis is likely to widen already existing gender inequalities. The digitization of cash transfers has emerged as an attractive policy solution for countries seeking to expand social assistance to alleviate the economic hardships created by COVID-19 and to advance financial inclusion. However, there are a number of barriers for women, including gaps in financial access, official IDs, mobile phones, failing program design and insufficient gender data and analysis. Deliberate programmatic and policy decisions can proactively empower women and support their inclusion during, and well beyond, the COVID-19 crisis. The D3 framework outlines pathways to address gender inequalities via three basic prolongs: 1) Digitize: to reach remote people at low cost. Recommendations include the distribution of mobile phones, private sector partnerships, reduced transaction costs, and broader agent networks. 2) Direct: provide cash transfer into an account registered in a woman’s name and to which she has direct access. Recommendations to make it work include to make women the default recipient of cash transfer schemes, ease know-your-customer requirements, leverage official identification systems and seek to enable women’s onboarding. 3) Design: programs should aim to enhance prospects for women’s economic empowerment. To do so, recommendations include to relax conditions, expand and adapt social registries and management information systems, work with local offices, and use diverse methods of communication. More broadly, women should have space and a voice at the table. It is critical that women are heard in positions of leadership in order to influence and inform the design, implementation and adjustments of programs.

Left out and left behind: COVID19, hunger, and gender inequality

F&BKP Office — Fri, 28 Aug 2020 09:50:01 +0000

This report (PDF) by CARE demonstrates how women and girls are disproportionately affected—as producers, providers, and consumers of food—and systemically excluded from response reports and plans related to food and nutrition security during the COVID-19 pandemic. CARE interviewed more than 4,500 women from 64 countries about how the pandemic is affecting their livelihoods, and ability to feed their families. The most immediate priority was food and income, and the biggest challenge is the increasing burden on women. Food insecurity is already hitting women in severe ways. Women eat less and last. CARE is already seeing this tendency in the COVID19 pandemic. In Bangladesh, for example, 33 percent of women cut down on their own food intake in an attempt to hold on to their savings. These inequalities are no less true on the global level. Whether intentionally or by omission, global responses to COVID-19 and related hunger crises are either ignoring women and girls or treating them as victims who have no role in addressing the problems they face. To curb the hunger pandemic and address its disproportionate effects on women and girls, CARE recommends: 1) Governments immediately scale up gender-responsive social safety nets; 2) All donors commit that all funding supports gender equality ; 3) Governments include at least one gender expert on all of their COVID-19 response teams; 4) All COVID-19 coordination, planning, and priority-setting platforms be gender-balanced; 5) All donors recognize women and girls as leaders in food systems; 6) The UN Secretary General’s Policy Brief on the Impact of COVID-19 on Food Security and Nutrition be updated to include gender inequality.

Climate adaptation and job prospects for young people in agriculture

F&BKP Office — Tue, 25 Aug 2020 09:44:43 +0000

This brief (PDF) by IFPRI aims for a better understanding of the intersection between climate resilience and youth employment, and where it may be stronger geographically, which is necessary to generate better policy and adaptation options for the future of agriculture and of young people. The world’s population is increasing, creating a pressing need for jobs in places where the youth cohort is growing rapidly. Sub-sahara African economies remain highly reliant on agriculture and structural transformation is slow, but have the most rapid expansion of the youth population. African youth will look to the agriculture sector for both food security and job security. In the coming years, the difference between poverty and a course toward prosperity will depend on successful agricultural adaptation to climate change. Low-income, agriculture-dependent countries with rapidly growing cohorts of young people needing jobs must make significant investments in agricultural science and technology, rural infrastructure, and human capital to generate employment and adapt to climate change. Only if agricultural productivity and output grow rapidly can agriculture-dependent countries outpace the downward pressure that climate change and a growing labor force will exert on wages and earnings. Depending on the magnitude of local climate impacts, higher prices may offer economic opportunities for farmers who have access to resources, information, and technology. A workforce abounding in young people may offer potential in terms of technology and innovation, without adequate support for those young workers, it may still be one that is disadvantaged in terms of adaptive capacity. Success is therefore not a given. It hinges on the realization of the role that agriculture will have to play and a willingness of policymakers to commit to investments and reforms. The number of young job seekers is already high and continues to grow. Considering the time lag in reaping the benefits of agricultural research, the time to act is now.

Gender in urban food systems

F&BKP Office — Wed, 29 Jul 2020 15:23:08 +0000

This Urban Agriculture magazine edition (PDF) of RUAF identifies the ways in which gender and inclusivity have been neglected in urban food policy, practice and research. The food system has an endemic gender problem. There are significant barriers to participation in food value chains due to socially determined identities, roles, rights and obligations of women and men, and structural inequalities embedded in the system. Most work on gender inequalities has focused on rural areas, but there are vast gendered disparities in urban food systems too, which have been largely neglected by city officials, economic planners and development practitioners. For instance, women more often work in informal stalls and perform double work (earning income and responsible for the household). Women and girls are more likely to face hunger and malnourishment and climate related shocks can exacerbate pre-existing city region food system vulnerabilities. However, men and boys face inequality in areas lik educational attainment, dropout rates, criminal activities, violence and employment. Thus, there is no universal urban food experience. An intersectional gender lens shows where certain inequities are present within a city, and considers how to improve the situation for all urban residents. Bold ambitions must be pursued through policies and programmes throughout urban food systems. Moreover, the state of the art on how to achieve equality and empowerment has evolved in the last decade. Firstly, concepts such as gender awareness and mainstreaming do not go far enough. Secondly, there is greater recognition that gender discrimination in urban spaces and food systems is not homogeneous. There is an urgent need for many more cities and city regions to work on issues surrounding all genders in urban food systems. It is crucial that responses do not just involve application of technocratic frameworks and that they move beyond gender awareness and mainstreaming to enablethe reversal of pervasive and systemic intersectional inequalities.

Hard work and hazard: Young people and agricultural commercialisation in Africa

F&BKP Office — Wed, 29 Jul 2020 13:36:36 +0000

This article (full article available) in Journal of Rural Studies reports findings on the steps and pathways thorugh with young people construct livelihoods in hotspots of agricultural commercialisation. Overall what emergers from a diversity of backgrounds, experiences and pathways is that the commercialised rural economy within which the operate offer them a variety of income earning opportunities. Family and broader social relations are key in enabling young people to access the needed resources (land, capital and inputs). Between family and rental markets, there is little evidence that young people’s engagement with crop production is limited by their inability to access land. There is also evidence of asset accumulation by young people in the form of housing, furniture and savings, which reflects the combination of relatively dynamic rural economies, enabling social relations and hard work. However, for many it is a struggle to stay afloat, requiring effort, persistence, and an ability to navigate setbacks and hazards. There is little evidence that young people are not interested in agriculture or the rural economy, but seek to build livelihoods in the rural areas. This calls into question the most common proposals for youth-specific interventions in rural areas. However, the findings draw attention to a new potential area for intervention: the use of social protection measures to help minimise downside risks associated with hazards, so that the young people’s hard-earned assets are less vulnerable to loss. A new focus on preventative social protection could help align public and policy.

Youth employment challenge and rural transformation in Africa

F&BKP Office — Mon, 27 Jul 2020 13:35:04 +0000

This study (PDF) of Springer investigated youth employment challenge and rural transformation in Sub-Saharan Africa for 54 independent African countries from 2010 to 2017. The results suggest that youth employment (rural and urban) to population ratio has a great positive influence on rural transformation in African countries. However, an increase in unemployed rural population has an inverse effect on rural transformation. Youth literacy rate has an inverse relationship with youth unemployment rate. The results also suggest that an increase in employment in the agricultural sector would lead to a decline in youth unemployment rate in Africa, on the other hand, an increase in rural population would aggravate the youth unemployment rate in Africa. The new interest in young people as economic agents within Africa’s agrifood systems is to be welcomed. However, discourses, policy, and programs that construct and focus on youth-specific constraints and opportunities, and privilege entrepreneurship and imaginaries of millions of rural youth “pulling themselves up by the bootstraps” are likely to fail. They ignore structural constraints and processes and the importance of social structures as enablers and constrainers. International agricultural research should rather root its engagement with young people in an analysis of rural transformation and its dynamic interplay with rural social structures within Sub-Saharan Africa and national contexts. Empowering the youth (through actions to facilitate youth skills development and matching rural youth to jobs; facilitate rural youth access to land; improve access to affordable finance by rural youth; promote MSME development; support social protection and safety net programs; and access to social services) is developing Africa through rural transformation. This may come quickly if youth employment becomes the litmus test of Africa’s development policies.

This study is part of the book ‘The Palgrave Handbook of Agricultural and Rural Development in Africa‘.

Proudly Agripreneurs! Learning from 24 young African business leaders

F&BKP Office — Wed, 10 Jun 2020 15:25:02 +0000

This booklet (PDF) by CTA and Agribusiness TV introduces 24 young entrepreneurs and explains how they are addressing the key youth agripreneurship challenges they are facing. The stories published in this book show that it has helped to promote young entrepreneurs and enable them to reach new clients and establish themselves in markets that were still unexplored, while at the same time reaching other young Africans. Key challenges of young agripreneurs are: 1) Negative image of agriculture: farming has a very poor image and education systems do not encourge young people to take risks. 2) A lack of understanding: family and friends do not understand the potential of agriculture and convince youth to give up on farming. 3) Gender barriers: women agripreneurs face an additional problem in crossing very significant cultural barriers. 4) Lack of profitability: profitability can be affected by various factors, including the need for investment to expand or scale, poor management, targeted category of consumers and more. 5) Financing for scaling up: the agripreneurs found that it is not so much the initial capital that is important, but the investment needed once the company has proved its technical ability,market demand is well established and the time has come to scale up. 6) Shortage of well-trained motivated human resources: Finding available, skilled and motivated human resources is a major challenge. 7) Technical and technological challanges: there is a lack of technical expertise in the sector. 8) Poor uptake of products and market access problems: convincing consumers to ‘eat local’ is challenging. Imported goods are cheaper, better presented, and often perceived to be better quality. 9) Climate change: For a sector that relies so heavily on the weather, the impacts of climate change are a real risk for agripreneurs. 10) Poor public policies on entrepreneurship and agriculture: business policy environments, notably administrative and fiscal frameworks, present a number of challenges for entrepreneurs.

Dairy livestock interventions for food security in Uganda: What are the implications for women’s empowerment?

F&BKP Office — Thu, 04 Jun 2020 08:53:40 +0000

This study in the Rural Sociology journal examines how development interventions that target women affect household well‐being, especially food insecurity, empower women, and transform gendered power relations. Women are increasingly the target of agricultural development programs aimed at reducing poverty and food insecurity, especially in sub‐Saharan Africa. Some feminist scholars argue that such efforts are driven more by concerns about the efficient use of resources than the rights of women and do little to transform gendered power relations. The methods include the Women’s Empowerment in Agriculture Index survey and in‐depth interviews of women farmers and key informants, within the EADD program. The authors argue that the livestock sector provides critical insights into women’s empowerment because livestock are not “socially neutral” in their gendered effects. The study found that: (1) ownership of dairy cows enhanced important dimensions of women’s empowerment and gender equity that benefited women and households; (2) women’s labor responsibilities for dairy cows disempowered some women by increasing their time poverty and; (3) ownership of dairy cows provided a means for women to disrupt entrenched social norms related to gender roles within the household and agriculture.

How to integrate gender equity strategies into horticulture value chains

F&BKP Office — Mon, 25 May 2020 13:25:50 +0000

This webinar by the Feed the Future Innovation Lab for Horticulture introduces key definitions of gender equity and strategies for implementing gender equity approaches into projects. Topics include integrating gender into research, sensitizing staff, developing an actionable gender strategy and designing activities that address women’s needs. The workshops discusses key definitions of vocabulary to effectively integrate gender equity into projects, including sex, gender and gender integration. A key distinction among definitions is that gender roles, norms and constraints can be changed. Women’s empowerment is a critical aspect of gender integration in horticulture as women make up a large percentage of farmers and are a key linkage to household nutrition. One framework that is used in agriculture is the Women’s Empowerment in Agriculture Index, incorporating five domains that help projects promote women’s empowerment. These are: Decision-making power over agricultural production; Access to and ownership over resources; Sole or joint control over income and expenditures; Leadership; Time allocation. Integrating gender into research is a critical step to ensuring that research has been appropriately designed for the communities it is being conducted in. Conducting a gender analysis can be one strategy for better understanding roles and constraints. It is important to consider staff members’ knowledge and understanding of gender dynamics. Sensitizing thems can be a positive step towards including gender into projects. Considering diversity during hiring can also help establish teams with multiple perspectives and help to promote gender integration. Developing a gender strategy is another approach to sharing a vision throughout the implementing team and taking steps to promote gender integration. Other strategies for gender integration in horticulture include developing a deeper understanding of gender roles and more profitable opportunities for women. Additional resources may be needed to help women move into these roles which organizations can partner in to support their development.

Impact of Covid-19 on women workers in the horticulture sector in Kenya

F&BKP Office — Fri, 15 May 2020 14:11:42 +0000

This report (PDF) of Hivos aimed to establish the impact of Covid-19 on women workers in the horticulture sector, with special focus on employment status, living conditions, shifts in household expenses and outlook for the future. The horticulture sector in Kenya is probably one of the worst hit by Covid-19, with less than 10 percent of its normal operations. A rapid assessment indicates that food security is a major concern mainly due to job losses and increasing food prices. Other findings included the massive layoffs of temporary and seasonal workers and permanent workers sent on unpaid leave, sabotaging women workers’ livelihoods and well-being. Women workers who have lost their jobs have intensified unpaid care work, further compounded by homeschooling. Prices of essential commodities have gone up against diminishing wages. Women workers are struggling with soaring food and house rent bills. Directives on containment of movement pose a starvation risk, forcing women to compromise their safety in search for food. The waning job security agonizes women workers and results in anxiety and mental anguish. Recommendations towards government are: 1) Transparency and accountability on utilization of money freed through salary cuts. 2) Protect labour force and economy through inclusive and sustained interventions. 3) Mass testing in flower companies, provision of free quarantine services, treatment and psychosocial support. 4) Expansion of the government’s cash transfer to workers in precarious employments. 5) Economic rescue and stimulus packages to boost Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises. 6) Control of food prices and essential commodities to ease consumption burden. 7) Mass production and free distribution of personal protective equipment to workers. Recommendations towards civil society organisations are: 1) Dialogue within sector for harmonized, inclusive and comprehensive responses. 2) Establish fund basket for food packages, cash transfers, etc. to support strained workers. 3) Bridge information deficits of workers. 4) Lobbying and advocacy on reforms to ensure governments remain accountable in safeguarding human and labour rights. 5) Support youth and women in rural economic livelihoods.

Women’s access to rural finance: challenges and opportunities

F&BKP Office — Wed, 15 Apr 2020 08:38:47 +0000

This paper (PDF) by FAO aims to give an overview of the variety of challenges and opportunities linked to the promotion of women’s access to finance in rural contexts, while also presenting a number of good practices which can be adopted to foster inclusion. Improving rural women’s access to financial services is a proven strategy for contributing to rural women’s social and economic empowerment, as well as improving overall the livelihoods of rural households and communities. However, the availability of financial services is limited in rural areas, and the existing financial services intended for rural communities rarely benefit rural women. Rural women face several constraints that limit their access to financial services, such as sociocultural, economic/legal and in some cases educational barriers. On the other hand, financial institutions also face constraints extending services to rural women. Various good practices can be adopted in order to overcome both the demand- and supply-side challenges in order to improve the provision of financial services for rural communities and underserved groups, such as rural women. Some of these practices include the design of inclusive packages of financial products and services intended for women, as well as the promotion of alternative collateral and the use of ICT. The promotion of access to information and the improvement of financial literacy for women are also key practices. Aside from these strategies, there must be changes in the policy environment and at the institutional level to ensure the sustainability of these initiatives. These changes consist of building capacity and raising awareness for the sustainable adoption of gender-sensitive practices as well as the collection of sex-disaggregated data. All in all, these efforts should aim to ensure that by increasing rural women’s access to finance, their empowerment and wellbeing are likewise strengthened.

Inclusive finance and rural youth

F&BKP Office — Fri, 10 Apr 2020 10:20:10 +0000

This study (PDF) by IFAD analyses inclusive finance and rural youth through cutting-age research with new insights and approaches that have emerged over the years in the field. The overall narrative clearly documents the ways in which rural youth engage with the economy, policy and institutions and identifies the rapid changes occurring across the globe as well as the opportunities and challenges that young people living in rural areas encounter in their different livelihoods. Within this context, financial inclusion has gained attention as a key contributing factor to unlock the potential of rural youth in driving sustainable and inclusive rural transformation. Although evidence is still limited, a market system approach appears to be a viable solution to advance financial inclusion for rural youth and to ensure systemic change in the long term. The proposed approach is intended to provide guidance, best practices and investment opportunities. At the micro level, funders and practitioners can support innovative service providers to develop products adapted for segments (e.g. rural youth) that otherwise would not be served. Donors, investors and development agencies can play the critical role of facilitator in the effort to build a financial system and sound market infrastructure through subsidized funding aimed at promoting innovation, competition and evidence-based research. The opportunity to strengthen the market system at the macro level is evident and imperative. Although it requires a long-term perspective, funders and the development community must engage with policymakers and regulators to craft regulation and supervision that spur innovation and inclusion by balancing youth financial inclusion, stability, integrity and consumer protection. These interventions are likely to benefit the entire population. This premise is particularly relevant to interventions that address rural barriers, such as insufficient infrastructure and dispersed population. Finally, it is important to note that a market system approach may be difficult to implement by any stakeholder alone, as it requires coordination of multiple actors across the entire ecosystem.

Financial services for women: The maize and bean value chains in Rwanda

F&BKP Office — Thu, 27 Feb 2020 12:05:13 +0000

This report (PDF) by NpM, Platform for Inclusive Finance, analyses the position of women in the maize and bean value chains in Rwanda, as well as the current and potential role of financial service providers (FSPs) in strengthening the positioning of women in these chains. Though government policies support inclusion of women, women still experience challenges and constraints. Overall, the study showed opportunities for women in both value chains and women’s empowerment in both chains was noted at household level. However, women may not have the incentive to grow a business when they do not have control over additional income earned. On some occasions, women’s increased earning caused conflict and stress at household level. While women play an important role in bean production, it appears that their role and influence in the maize value chain, especially through cooperatives, is growing faster. This could be because beans are mostly procuded outside cooperative and for home consumption. Overall, financial inclusion in Rwanda is high, even in rural areas. However, fomal lending for agricultural value chains still lags behind. For female producers, financial services are primarily obtained through informal finance. The maize value chain offers women better access to a variety of financial services than the bean chain. A number of recommendations for stakeholders in the value chain to support women participation include the need for a better collection of sex-disaggregated data, an agreement by stakeholders on equal participation, development of approaches for gender participation and strategies to support women. For FSP specifically, the services should be tailored to the needs of women and products that take into account their disadvantages. Moreover, financial products should support the function of women in the value chain. Financing activities should be managed and handled by financial intermediaries or saving groups within cooperatives. New initiatives for reaching out to women with digital financial services should be carefully followed for learning and improvement. Promotion of such systems could be taken up by FSPs, including those that use savings groups and savings and credit cooperatives as agencies in rural areas.

Youth opportunity spaces in low-emission dairy development in Kenya

F&BKP Office — Tue, 25 Feb 2020 10:51:13 +0000

This note (PDF) by CCAFS-CGIAR aimed to understand how intensification in the dairy sector, in combination with changing urban-rural dynamics, influences young women and men’s employment opportunities in Kenya. Total national production of dairy fails to meet demand in Kenya, thereby is Kenya developing a Green Climate Fund (GCF) to promote low-emission development in the dairy challenge. The findings of the research are : 1) Youth participation in dairy value chains is heavily contingent upon a variety of geographic factors. 2) The work opportunities and possibilities are heavily gendered. 3) Current norms and social relations in the community and household mediate youth’s acquisition of capitcal, assets and knowledge. 4) Intergenerational tensions limit youth empowerment and voice in dairy cooperatives. 5) There are four common youth pathways in dairy: youth who enter as laboreres to earn money during a phase of uncertainty – youth with intention to explore whether dairy can be stapping stone into more remunerative positions in the value chain – youth with a vision of dairy as a core livelihood strategy – youth in later stages. 6) Youth are agents of change who alter social norms through their personal practices and relations. The research resulted in a number of policy recommendations. Firstly, there should be invested in both formal and informal dairy value chains to support more inclusive youth employment opportunities. Entry in the informal sector can be a gateway to more formalized work opportunities. Secondly, diverse youth interests and multiple ways that youth engage in the dairy sector should be supported. Thirdly, investments should be in youth-specific collective action initiatives through inclusive financial mechanisms. Lastly, strategic attention should be given to social and rural development outcomes in the design of low emission development interventions and specific focus on how to increase the potential of intensification to support youth employment and youth equitable outcomes.

Implementing gender transformative approaches in agriculture

F&BKP Office — Wed, 22 Jan 2020 13:52:44 +0000

This discussion paper (PDF) by the CGIAR Collaborative Platform for Gender Research provides an understanding of the Gender Transformative Approaches (GTAs) and highlight implications for their implementations by the United Nations Rome-Based Agencies (RBAs). GTAs are a response to a call for an alternative to the “business as usual” approach to gender integration, which is needed to address structural change, move beyond instrumentalist interventions and to address the underling causes of gender inequality. Key conceptual distinctions of GTAs include understanding gender as a social relation as opposed to focusing solely on gender roles. A main difference between women’s empowerment and GTAs is that GTAs insit on working with both women and men to transform social relations. Three tenets lie behind GTAs as supporters of change: 1) Changes are fostered in three domains: individual capacities, gendered expectations and institutional rules and practices; 2) The changes lead to more and better livelihood choices; 3) The changes lead to an expansion in their potential. The implementation of GTAs has entailed a number of specific methodologies. The first are participatory strategies for implementing GTAs, which are characterized by their potential to encourage critical self‐reflection and selfawareness via social learning. The second concerns capacity-stregthening and organizational learning, drawing on principles of transformative learning. The potential of GTAs lies in the radical proposition of attempting to address the foundations of gender inequity. The paper concludes with a number of implications for development agencies to consider when thinking about adopting GTAs. These include the need for conceptual clarity and integrity; the role of external agents in normative change; approaches to learning about, and capacity‐strengthening for, implementing GTAs; problematizing the scaling of GTAs; and the need for organizational introspection and preparedness.

Investing in rural youth in the Near East, North Africa, Europe and Central Asia

F&BKP Office — Tue, 07 Jan 2020 10:12:37 +0000

This study (PDF) by IFAD reviews the opportunities and challenges facing rural youth in the Near East, North Africa, Europe and Central Asia (NEN) region and suggests a number of programmes and policy priorities that governments can take into consideration. Countries of the NEN region face a myriad of social, economic and political challenges that have stalled their structural and rural transformation processes. The region has the highest youth unemployment rates in the world. Weak education systems are failing to provide youth, especially in rural areas, with the skills they need to compete in a global economy. Rural youth face dwindling opportunities in both the farm and non-farm sectors. The resulting high rates of joblessness, unemployment and informal work have encouraged rural youth to migrate to urban areas and abroad in search of better opportunities. Arguably, the most important issue facing rural youth in the NEN region today is weak job creation. In the context of healthy structural and rural transformation processes, new jobs must be created in order to absorb labour released from agricultural activities. The agricultural business climate remains uncompetitive. This is a problem given that the NEN region is among the most water-scarce in the world and will be adversely affected by global warming. Many countries of the NEN region have introduced national youth policies or strategies that provide an integrated framework for addressing youth issues. Most of these cover agriculture and rural areas.

Gender toolkit

F&BKP Office — Wed, 04 Dec 2019 12:44:40 +0000

This toolkit (PDF) by IDH showcases ways to integrate gender aspects into supply chain approaches, through nine practical cases. Women are key to drive growth and sustainability. However, the
possibilities for women to engage in supply chains is currently limited. This toolkit aims to raise awareness, encourage, and inspire to integrate gender aspects into supply chain approaches. The first section describes practical case examples for ways in which gender has been addressed in sustainability projects. They focus on changing business practicess, improving sector governance, and increasing field level sustainability. The second section, the gender guide, explores opportunties to integrate gender aspect in different programming steps of projects and inventions. The guide and follows 6 steps in programming, during which opportunities arise to integrate gender aspects that may positively influence and leverage greater impact of a program or interventions. When planning to integrate gender in your intervention, it is recommended to carry out a gender analysis or scoping before following the 6 programming steps. The 6 steps are: 1) Strategy development; 2) Stakeholder engagement; 3) Governance structure; 4) Proposal development; 5) Implementation; 6) Learning & innovation. The publication defines two different gender approaches. Gender sensitive approaches, which ca be easily integrated into existing training structures on other topics since they do not require underlying gendered behavioral patterns to be addressed, however, they can fall short of alleviating systematic inequalities. Gender transformative approaches, which are characterized by explicityly centering gender norms and are thus common for interventions that have the primary goal of addressing gender issues and transforming gender relations to promote equality.

Youth and jobs in rural Africa: Beyond stylized facts

F&BKP Office — Tue, 03 Dec 2019 13:47:46 +0000

This book (PDF) by Oxford University Press uses survey data to build a nuanced understanding of the constraints and opportunities facing rural youth in Africa. The prospect of widespread youth unemployment in Sub-Saharan Africa (henceforth ‘Africa’) is a serious concern for governments today. Africa’s ‘youth bulge’ is an unprecedented global challenge, and African economies will struggle to absorb enough young job seekers in the coming decades. This book finds that a balance between alarm and optimism is warranted. Addressing youth employment in Africa is a global challenge, but it is one that was overcome by other developing regions when they underwent similar demographic transitions three decades ago. The pressure to create jobs in rural areas is acute, given that Africa’s rural population is growing, and its rural economy is underdeveloped. Yet evidence also suggests that agriculture is transforming in many countries, albeit slowly, and that youth are often participating in this process. Unfortunately, the idea that youth are better positioned than adults to adopt new farm technologies or run successful nonfarm businesses is not borne out in most of the book’s case study countries. Even where there is evidence that youth are leading agricultural transformation, the differences between adults and youth are small or the transformation process itself is modest. More needs to be done by governments to help youth in rural Africa. However, while youth employment is a major policy goal today, policies themselves often fall short of addressing the constraints facing young job seekers. This partly reflects a lack of understanding about country-specific constraints and opportunities. Fortunately, while the policy reforms and actions needed to address Africa’s youth bulge are daunting, there is increasing alignment between African governments, who have made youth employment a policy priority, and African youth, who are demanding policies to improve their job prospects.

PDF documents of each chapter seperately can be found here.

A blog related to the book can be found here.

Reach, benefit and empower women with financial services

F&BKP Office — Wed, 13 Nov 2019 11:11:04 +0000

This paper (PDF) by NpM analyzed three cases on women’s access to financial services in agriculture, in three different countries. Women always played a key role in agricultural production, however currently women do not have the same access to financial services, as well as agricultural extension and business development services, as men. Appropriate access to finance will allow the women to accelerate agricultural growth. Examples of ways to increase the number of female clients are to provide financial services close to home, to use a network of (female) fieldworkers, to link saving and lending groups, and to create women groups. For women to benefit from the loans, these must be large enough to cover all costs of the agricultural season. Women also benefit more if additional services are provided to develop their businesses, alongside with the loan. The cases showed that women are empowered by access to financial services. The paper finishes with a number of recommendations for the inclusive finance sector, which include: 1) Develop a focus on female clients, starting by a proper market analysis. 2) Adjust product design to ovecome barriers for women to reach more female clients. 3) Use communication channels that women are familiar with. 4) Develop strategies not only on the supply side but also on the capacities of female customers to use the financial service. 5) Involving men at different levels is very important in order to contribute to women’s economic empowerment. 6) Collect and analyse gender-segregated data. 7) Monitor how women are reached by, benefit from and are empowered by the financial service

Transaction costs, land rental markets, and their impact on youth access to agriculture in Tanzania

F&BKP Office — Mon, 14 Oct 2019 14:48:06 +0000

This study (PDF) in the Land Economics journal estimates the extent to which land rental markets provide a pathway for youth to enter into agriculture, and how transaction costs may impede youth access to renting land in Tanzania. The article provides evidence that, while rental markets are important avenues for the acquisition of farmland by young farmers, the transaction costs faced by younger farmers attempting to access land rental markets appear to be higher than those faced by older farmers. One reason for this may be that weak contract enforcement could make rental arrangements contingent upon reputation, which may take many years to develop. Results also showed that younger farmers pay higher prices for rented land and are somewhat less likely to belong to village savings groups than are their older counterparts. In order to address the looming rural “youth bulge” and overcome the challenges associated with increased land pressure, it is important for policy makers to recognize the importance that land rental markets can play in facilitating land transfer and land access by new generations of farmers. This is particularly the case in countries like Tanzania, where the nonfarm and urban sectors are still too underdeveloped to absorb surplus labor that might wish to leave rural areas. In order to better understand and redress transaction costs and transaction cost asymmetries that may disproportionately affect younger farmers who are in greatest need of access to farmland, this study makes the following policy recommendations: 1) Consider setting up a willing tenant/willing landlord program that matches younger potential tenants with older potential landlords; 2) Second, governments should consider means of collecting and disseminating representative land rental rates for different areas, in order to provide a reference for rental negotiations.

Make hay while the sun shines

F&BKP Office — Wed, 14 Aug 2019 14:22:20 +0000

This working paper (PDF) from KIT discusses the interface between gender and agricultural innovation systems. More specifically, it investigates how gender norms and roles influence social relations between actors in forage innovation systems in rural Afghanistan. Findings presented draw on a study analysing gendered barriers and opportunities for innovation in the forage system in the three Afghan provinces of Baghlan, Bamyan and Nangarhar. In particular, the working paper is embedded in solicited diaries written by five women that are all active players in their respective forage innovation systems. From the study, four key lessons can be learned: 1) It is critical to understand how gender relations shape how and why actors in a given innovation space value and promote certain kinds of innovative activity and “innovators”, while devaluing and even actively discouraging others; 2) Understanding gender roles involves looking beyond male-female dichotomy, since that can wrongly portray women as a homogenous group in which all women face the same challenges and opportunities. Over-generalization of the positions and conditions of women in agricultural innovation systems could grossly undermine policy relevance and planning; 3) Researchers and practitioners take into consideration both women and men’s lived experiences when designing their research and/or programmes and projects aiming at supporting agricultural development and innovation; 4) The paper calls for exploration of the ways gender roles, norms and relations influence socio-technical structures “beyond” innovation spaces in agricultural innovation systems, namely regimes and landscapes. Thus, this paper highlights that gender relations, norms and roles are dynamic and change over time due to factors external to a given innovation space, such as armed conflict. Therefore, it is important to consider how and why the wider social, political and economic environments are influencing, positively and negatively, actors in innovation spaces.

2019 Rural Development Report: Creating opportunities for rural youth

F&BKP Office — Tue, 06 Aug 2019 09:59:09 +0000

This report (PDF) by IFAD attempts to inform policies, programmes, and investments to promote a rural transformation that is inclusive of rural youth. Rural youth development is powered by improvements in three mutually-reinforcing factors: 1) Productivity of rural young people is needs to be ensured by social structures and attitutes to help rural youth progress, especially for young rural women. 2) Connectivity – to people, markets, services, ideas and information – to create opportunities for rural youth to become more fully integrated with their transforming economies. 3) Agency: to become more productive and connected, youth must have the power to make decisions in their own best interest. Understanding the national, local and family settings in which young people live entails understanding the concept of rural transformation. There are a number of issues that can hinder the transition from dependence to independence. First, youth need certain capacities, skills, financial resources and key assets. Further, social norms and local circumstances also determine how rural youth “read” opportunities. This is double true for women, who often face additional constraint that hinder them from gaining the agency and thus the extent of productive engagement they need to prosper in the new economy. Many of the changes accompanying structural and rural transformations are unfolding at a faster pace or in different ways than in the past. These demographic, economic, environmental and technological changes are simultaneously opening up some opportunities for rural youth and closing off others. Investments, policies and programmes centred on rural youth need to take these differences into account. Two mistakes that could be made in rural youth investments are to invest in old solutions that are no longer effective and focussing solely on youth while the proble is broad-ranging lack of economic opportunity. In the end, to improve opportunities for rural youth policies and investments have to be integrated into national and local strategies, policies and programmes.

Gender in climate change, agriculture, and natural resource policies: Insights from East Africa

F&BKP Office — Thu, 25 Jul 2019 09:36:12 +0000

This article (PDF) in the Climatic Change journal analyzes the extent of gender integration in agricultural and natural resource policies in Uganda and Tanzania, and how gender is budgeted for in implementation plans at district and lower governance level. Effective gender mainstreaming requires that gender is sufficiently integrated in policies, development plans, and implementation strategies, supported by budgetary allocations. The results show that whereas there is increasing gender responsiveness in both countries: 1) Gender issues are still interpreted as “women issues”, with very little attention to men’s vulnerability to climate change; 2) There is disharmony on how gender is prioritized in policy planning, integrated in policy documents and implemented at local level; 3) Budgeting for gender is not yet fully embraced by governments 4) Allocations to gender at sub-national level remain inconsistently low with sharp differences between estimated and actual budgets; and 5) Gender activities do not address any structural inequalities. So, although there are variations in the extent to which gender is integrated, there is a shift towards integrating gender in policies. However, work remains to be done to move towards more effective execution of gender mainstreaming in policy and practice. To do so, there is an apparent need to improve the understanding of gender (mainstreaming) as well as to build the capacity of policy makers and development practitioners across governance levels. Further, capacity building of government officials and practitioners requires that researchers work with governments and non-state actors to collectively develop tools and guidelines for capacity building and supporting practitioners to apply the acquired knowledge. Lastly, regulatory frameworks need to be supported with gender-responsive planning and coordination tools at local government level so that the secured funds are used appropriately.

Empowering youth to engage in responsible investment in agricultural and food systems: Challenges, opportunities and lessons learned from six African countries

F&BKP Office — Wed, 17 Jul 2019 13:29:41 +0000

This report (PDF) by FAO aims to enhance understanding on the main challenges and opportunities to empower youth to carry out and benefit from responible agricultural investment by giving voice to those most concerned (young farmers, agri-entrepreneurs and workers) an those who support them in Ivory Coast, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa and Uganda. Engaing young women and men in an agricultural sector characterized by an ageing labour force is crucial to ensure sustainable food security, reduce youth unemployment and combat unplanned migration. By harnessing their innvative potential, utilizing new technologies and techniques and taking advantage of new opportunities in emerging value chains, young agri-entrepreneurs could create thriving business and tackle the challenge of feeding a growing population. However, youth are often unable to carry out the investments needed to ensure that their own farming or processig activities can be successfully launced or expanded. Conversely, neither may they be able to benefit from opportunities in agricultural supply chains provided by larger-scale investors. Promoting investment in the agricultural sector by and with youth in these countries could have positive socio-economic impacts because of several inter-related factors. Enhancing the inclusiveness and efficiency of policy processes was one of the main priorities. In particular the need to encourage and strengthen the participation of youth in coordination mechanisms. Further, the policy, legal and regularoty frameworks need to be enhance to empower the youth. At another level, more needs to be done to strengthen acces to some of the servicess and products, such as financial products. Lastely, there are a number of challenges concerning the access to education programmes and opportunities that strengthen agribusiness skills of youth.

Role of land access in youth migration and youth employment decisions: Empirical evidence from rural Nigeria

F&BKP Office — Tue, 28 May 2019 10:20:36 +0000

The paper (PDF) by IFPRI examines the role of land access in youth migration and employment decisions in Nigeria. Overall, the findings show that the size of expected land inheritance is significantly and negatively associated with long distance migration and migration to urban areas, while a similar impact is negligible when a broader definition of migration is adopted and when migration is deemed as temporary. A more disaggregated analysis by considering individual characteristics of the youth shows that results are more elastic for older youth and those that are less educated, while we find no difference when comparisons are made by gender. Similar analysis on the influence of land access on youth employment choices shows strong evidence that the larger the size of the expected land inheritance the lower the likelihood of the youth being involved in non-agricultural activities and a higher chance of staying in agriculture or the dual sector. The results further reveal that youth in areas with a high level of agricultural commercialization and modernization seem to be more responsive to land access considerations in making migration and employment decisions than are youth residing in less commercialized areas. Finally, the results from the differential analysis suggest that rural-to-urban migration and the likelihood of youth involvement in the dual economy is more responsive to the size of the expected land inheritance for less educated youth as compared to more educated ones. From a policy perspective, this result may also suggest that providing land access to youth, for example, by establishing youth land banks, will guarantee more success in avoiding unrewarding spatial and occupational mobility decisions of less educated youth, while having a minimal impact on those with relatively higher education.

Gender and agricultural mechanization: A mixed-methods exploration of the impacts of multi-crop reaper-harvester service provision in Bangladesh

F&BKP Office — Wed, 15 May 2019 11:35:14 +0000

This study (PDF) by IFPRI examined the gendered differences in women’s and men’s involvement in emerging markets for rice and wheat reaper-harvester machinery services in Bangladesh. Farmer hiring of agricultural machinery services is common in South Asia. Informal fee-for-service arrangements have positioned farmers so they can access use of machinery to conduct critical, time-sensitive agricultural tasks. However, both the provision and rental of machinery services are currently dominated by men, and it appears that women have comparatively limited roles in this market and may receive fewer benefits. Despite the prevailing perception in rural Bangladesh that women do not participate in agricultural entrepreneurship, women do not necessarily lack a desire to be involved. The study shows that women benefit from managing and sometimes owning machinery services, as well as from the direct and indirect consequences of hiring such services to harvest their crops. However, a number of technical, economic, and cultural barriers appear to constrain female participation in both reaper service business ownership and in hiring services as a client. In addition, women provided suggestions for how to overcome barriers constraining their entry into rural machinery services as an entrepreneur. Men also reflected on the conditions they would consider supporting women to become business owners. There are important opportunities for development initiatives to build on the women’s roles that are currently socially acceptable, as initial entry points to expand respect for women’s competence, strengthen their asset ownership, and widen the bounds of socially acceptable behavior and engagement in agriculture and remunerative activities. Distinguishing between ownership and the opportunities provided women’s roles is an important place to start, and should be recognized in the design of appropriate public policy and rural development initiatives.

Discursive translations of gender mainstreaming norms: The case of agricultural and climate change policies in Uganda

F&BKP Office — Wed, 01 May 2019 09:10:06 +0000

This paper (PDF) in the Women’s Studies International Forum takes a discourse analytical perspective on gender policy and budgeting and examines what happens to gender issues in agriculture and climate change adapation when they are mainstramed and domesticated in different governance levels (national, district and sub-county). The study finds that while the international norm of gender mainstreaming has been formally adopted in Uganda, its transformational potential was reduced through five distinct processes during norm translation. During the process of drafting policies; 1) certain gender discourses were overlooked or completely ignored (neglecting gender and climate change discourse); 2) gender discourses at sub-national level remained static (gender inertia); 3) prescriptions remained at a very generic level (shrinking gender norms); 4) gender mainstreaming exercises co-existed with certain contradictory normative cultural understandings (embracing discursive hybridity) and; 5) the lack of relevant budgets indicated that gender mainstreaming largely stopped at the discursive level and did not extend to meaningful policy instruments (minimizing budgets). The transformational potential of international norms on gender mainstreaming should however not be taken as given, nor should be stipulated as the only or most obvious source of transformational change in gender relations. The findings suggest that the formulation of a global strategy will likely not suffice in dealing with highly localized and context specific gender dynamics, and in dealing with structurally embedded gender inequalities. The assumption that international gender norms could significantly affect local patriarchal contexts needs to be reassessed. While the institutionalization of gender mainstreaming might be helpful for gaining legitimacy and public awareness on the matter, other strategies will likely need to be in place for its success. Willingsness for gender transformative change and strong gender analysis capabilities from policy makers is still largely deficient in Uganda. Future research should focus on international norm translation, assess what locally-crafted strategies help gender mainstreaming strategies thrive and examine the interactions of non-government organizations with governments for a complete picture of gender norm translation on the ground.

A research highlight of CGIAR has been published here.

Facilitating next-generation African, Caribbean and Pacific agriculture through youth entrepreneurship, job creation and digitalisation

F&BKP Office — Tue, 02 Apr 2019 13:47:14 +0000

The workshop ‘Facilitating next-generation African, Caribbean and Pacific agriculture through youth entrepreneurship, job creation and digitalisation’ was organised by CTA. It identified seven critical success factors for rural entrepreneurship and job creation: 1) access by youth to investment and finance; 2) scalable approaches and models that can be taken up; 3) enabling policy environments for youth; 4) agriculture that is attractive to youth; 5) access by youth to markets; 6) business models that work; and 7) access to appropriate skills, capacities and knowledge.

Based on this workshop, two briefs were written. The first one (PDF) argues that youth-inclusive investments to modernise the agricultural sector will unleash its huge potential, offer attractive employment opportunities and create a level playing field for rural youth. It sets out different youth-inclusive approaches that will help agricultural value chain development programmes meet the needs of young people. Continued growth in demand for value added food and agricultural products a strong case to invest in the development of agri-food value chains. This requires focused attention on what young people want, and better provision of infrastructure and services and skills provision, through integrated development frameworks. Agricultural value chain development programmes need to apply a youth-employment lens and youth-sensitive approaches and purposefully set rural youth inclusion and decent employment as objectives.

The second brief (PDF) explores the challenges and opportunities facing young people trying to enter the agricultural and agribusiness sector. It focuses on actions that governments and other development actors can take to make the sector more attractive to young people, with an emphasis on those that can increase productivity, strengthen the value chain and increase the participation of young people in policy dialgue. Agricultural transformation is contingent on approaches that address youth and the youth ecosystem (the policy environment and support systems). This is predicated on the fact that rural youth face challenges that are either related to their age or are generated by the policies and systems in the environments in which they live.

Gender and agricultural innovation in Oromia region, Ethiopia: From innovator to tempered radical

F&BKP Office — Thu, 21 Mar 2019 10:37:23 +0000

This article (PDF) in the Gender, Technology and Development journal examined whether the concept of tempered radicals, developed originally to interrogate change processes in organizations, has validity in rural agricultural settings. Tempered radicals are change agents who experience the dominant culture as a violation of the integrity and authenticity of their personal values and beliefs. They seek to move forward whilst challenging the status quo. Findings demonstrate that women and men innovators actively interrogate and contest gender norms and extension narratives. Whilst both women and men innovators face considerable challenges, women, in particular, are precariously located ‘outsiders within,’ negotiating carefully between norm and sanction. So empered radicals interpretative lens indeed allows us to recognize and interpret the strategies used by innovators in a novel way. New insights have emerged that are unique to the literature on agricultural innovators. However, whilst the strategies deployed by the eight innovators discussed here conform to the tempered radicals framework, translating our insights into the development of strategies to identify and support grassroots innovators may be challenging. One implication of our study is that strategies to support innovators, and women innovators, in particular, must be strongly context-specific and they must also be gender-sensitive. Findings further show that single women, existing on the margins of their society, are more likely to be innovators because they have more decision-making power in relation to their own resources than women within male-headed households. There are two implications. First, there is clear scope for developing strategies to support womenheaded households. Second, methodologies aiming to strengthen intra-household bargaining processes could be very useful.

We’re ready, the system’s not: Youth perspectives on agricultural careers in South Africa

F&BKP Office — Thu, 07 Mar 2019 13:27:30 +0000

This research (PDF) in Agrekon was undertaken to better understand the paradox of young people turning away from agricultural employment in spite of such high levels of unemployment in the country. The research brings to light new evidence of youth perspectives on contemporary attitudes, experiences and expectations of work in the agricultural sector in South Africa. Findings show that attitudes towards careers in agriculture vary greatly. While a set of negative perceptions emerged from the narratives as anticipated, approximately one third of the respondents expressed a clear interest in and passion for agriculture. This interest persisted in spite of a range of pervasive social norms and stigmas. This raises the need to begin questioning the commonly accepted truth that youth are not interested in agriculture. From a youth perspective, the results suggest that the interests and expectations of youth are more than sufficient to warrant substantial investment into engaging them as active co-creators in the re-design of the food system based on the principles of accumulation from below. However, these positive aspirations tended to be at odds with the kinds of jobs created by an increasingly corporatised food regime, since currently 90% of jobs within the “advanced’ commercial agriculture sector comprise low-skilled minimum wage positions. Accordingly, if the agricultural sector remains a source of disappointment, uncertainty and humiliation for bright-eyed youth who attempt to engage in the sector, the turn away from the sector in the face of high unemployment is likely to continue. Given the scale of the youth crisis in South Africa and the need for a structural transition within the food system, failing to engage the passion and energy of today’s youth in this challenge would be a great loss and one which society can ill afford.

Contract farming in Mozambique: Implications on gender inequalities within across rural households

F&BKP Office — Wed, 06 Mar 2019 14:56:21 +0000

This paper (PDF) by UNU-WIDER analyses the implication of contract farming on gender inequalities, both within and across households, in rural Mozambique. Contract farming is often considered one of the major tools of agribusiness development: it broadly includes those arrangements under which producers commit to provide a pre-defined quantity of crop to a buyer firm. When looking at the participation of female-headed households in contracts, results reveal that a selection out of contracts in rural households where a woman is the household’s head. Further, when analysing intra-household women empowerment, a positive correlation of contract farming with women control over land and production, and a negative one with access to services (extension and associations). After controlling for selection bias, the positive effect on control over resources disappears, as well as the negative effect on the participation in producers’ associations. Contracts, at the same time, have a negative impact on the probability that women receive extension services when their household does. This can have an inequality-increasing effect since extension services can be a source of empowerment and relative bargaining power within the household. In terms of policy this work does not aim at reaching a conclusion on the ‘pros’ and ‘cons’ of contract farming. It simply underlines that emerging market opportunities per se do not mean that women will be necessarily included and empowered, or that gender inequalities will be reduced. Deliberate actions are likely to be needed in this direction. The analysis of possible actions is an important line of research for future works.

Women’s empowerment in agriculture: Lessons from qualitative research

F&BKP Office — Thu, 28 Feb 2019 09:43:01 +0000

This paper (PDF) in SSRN synthesizes qualitative research conducted conjointly with quantitative surveys, to develop a project-level Women’s Empowerment in Agriculture Index (pro-WEAI). There is growing recognition of the importance of women’s empowerment in its own right and for a range of development outcomes, but less understanding of what empowerment means to rural women and men. The challenge of measuring empowerment, particularly across cultures and contexts, is also garnering attention. Despite challenges in translating the concept of “empowerment” across different cultures, the study revealed similarities among perceptions of women’s empowerment across contexts. Economic status was an important component, meaning that empowered women can take care of themselves, their families, and their communities. Women’s empowerment was seen more positively when it was not just an individual attribute, but used to “lift the burden” of others. Both men and women reacted negatively to the notion of women having power over others, especially over men. Results also showed interconnections between different quantitative indicators of empowerment. Women’s workloads and domestic responsibilities often limit their mobility and ability to earn income, two common measures of empowerment. Group membership can be empowering, but time and mobility mediate women’s ability to participate in groups. This study gave three critical insights: 1) It reveals where conceptions of empowerment among researchers may diverge from those of rural women and men in different contexts, enabling future development programming and research to be more sensitive to the norms and beliefs shaping rural livelihoods to improve outcomes; 2) Provide projects with guidance on strategies that can contribute to women’s empowerment, and allow them to interpret quantitative results of pro-WEAI; 3) The importance of qualitative research to provide rich contextual data for assessing empowerment, and a methodology that can be used in this pursuit.

Opportunities for strengthening gender and social equity in Ethiopia’s wheat sector

F&BKP Office — Wed, 27 Feb 2019 16:29:45 +0000

This report (PDF) by CIMMYT and the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development outlines how an insufficient focus on the barriers women face continues to have a significant impact on the agricultural productivity, economic growth and food security in Ethiopia. Technologies change fast, innovation is constant, and markets are volatile. Keeping up requires the eﬀort of whole families, which is why the gendered division of labour is more porous. Women’s roles in agricultural development need to be recognized and enhanced in a global economy where migration and sickness means the head of the household cannot always be a man. Evidence collected throughout this project suggests that many government and project partners do not know how to assist with the social and gender norm changes necessary to ensure women can benefit from development equitably. Stakeholder interviews revealed confusion about gender main-streaming. More internal reﬂection on gender and learning throughout organizations is required. Additionally, more funds need to allocate toward gender research. The report comes with a list of recommendation. A recommendation for the government is to oﬀer more gender-sensitive support tailored to female farmers to address their unique barriers. Research centres should develop minimum standards for agriculture research that specify the need for inclusive survey designs that purposively sample excluded population groups. These standards should be audited and linked to incentive funds for good performers. Donors ought to give women opportunities to engage in off-farm and higher-value work and increase their business acumen.

Digital pathways for youth in agriculture: AFA Case Study

F&BKP Office — Tue, 26 Feb 2019 16:14:38 +0000

This case study (PDF) by Mercy Corps and the Mastercard Foundation aimed to identify successful pathways for youth livelihoods in agriculture. By 2030, youth will be 34% of Africa’s total population. Thus there is a strategic opportunity to engage those currently involved in agriculture. Rising education levels of young farmers seems to be tied to shifting preferences toward high-value commodities on minimal land. Moreover, digital trends suggest key entry points to engage young farmers who are seeking more meaningful livelihoods in agriculture. Mobile money offers a key delivery channel for digital financial solutions for smallholders, in addition to the existing youth usage of digital services for agronomic and market information. For this study, 23 young farmers across 10 villages in two Kenyan counties were interviewed, to more fully understand their financial and agricultural portfolios, needs, and outlooks. The study defines 4 youth personas that vary along key demographic, behavioural and attitudinal criteria, which reveals unique pathways to success in agriculture. The Determined Builders have achieved success by progressively and intentionally growing their agricultural business activities. Opportunistic Movers take big risks and have a strong belief in their own ability. Static Planners put family first and see agriculture as a means of achieving stability for their dependents. Rootless Climbers are ambitious for success in agribusiness but struggle to make their aspirations real. The study comes with recommendations for private sector and development actors to serve and support youth: 1) Design for the full range of youth personas and pathways; 2) Customize value chain approaches to address key youth constraints; 3) Use digital solutions to reach youth affordability and at scale, with high potential for impact; 4) Capture opportunities beyond production as enablers.

Generation Africa – A landscape study: Youth enterprise in Africa’s agri-food sector

F&BKP Office — Thu, 14 Feb 2019 11:04:25 +0000

This landscape study (PDF) by YARA International and Econet seeks to answer the question: “What can we do today to inspire and propel the “agri-food stars” of tomorrow?” The study reveals a window of opportunity to strengthen the ecosystem of support around young entrepreneurs, helping them to build successful enterprises, including high-growth businesses, spurring job creation and a vibrant agri-food economy. The study recommends a joint action agenda with five priorities: 1) Create a new narrative that inspires African youth to pursue entrepreneurship in the agri-food sector. Over time, efforts of creating new narratives will crowd new talent and ideas, bolstering creativity and opportunity. 2) Curate the entrepreneur’s journey to help youth access the education, technology, support and capital needed to move from idea to scale. By clustering resources to support the entrepreneur’s journey, organisations, governments and investors can provide a more coherent path for young businesses. 3) Highlight opportunities for innovation and disruption to address unmet needs through commercial activity in the agri-food sector. By expanding focus from “agriculture” to “agri-business innovation” and bridging market research with business incubation, entrepreneurs can position to create new types of value in the sector. 4) Facilitate Small and Growing Businesses (SGB’s) access to finance. A dual effort can be put on improving the business model, value proposition and team capacities of the enterprise team, while simultaneously encouraging investors’ attention and development of financing vehicles that can reach smaller, high-potential SGBs. 5) Champion a new agenda that connects leadership, learning and resources. Strengthening the ecosystem for entrepreneurship across Africa’s agri-food sector will require a sustained, multi-year effort from diverse actors. A “Champions Group” is needed, inclusive of youth, to inspire and encourage the contribution of a new generation of young African entrepreneurs in driving innovation and growth in the agri-food sector.

A video of the launch of the report can be found here.

Gendered ownership of aquaculture resources: Insights from two villages in Bangladesh

F&BKP Office — Thu, 17 Jan 2019 11:23:16 +0000

This brief (PDF) by CGIAR-Fish uses a gender lens to understand the nuanced gaps, perceptions and practices of ownership in aquaculture in Bangladesh. Ownership rights are crucial for increasing women’s decision-making power and empowerment outcomes, which in turn will impact household efficiency in agricultural productivity. In Bangladesh, however, there remains a large gendered gap in asset ownership. Ownership is perceived and experienced differently by men and women: women more often experience psychological ownership while men more frequently claim legal ownership. Factors ranging from property laws to age, experience and wealth also determine to what extent men and women are able to influence decisions. Finally, the study revealed gendered implications for women, whether they attain legal ownership or continue to experience psychological ownership. Recommendations in the design and implementation of gender-sensitive aquaculture projects are: 1) Projects should recognize joint ownership as a significant barrier to women’s capacity to innovate; 2) Ownership is important to combat women’s future insecurities. Projects need to ensure powerful owners are involved and consulted in the extension process so that women are better able to access and use the resource; 3) Ownership is linked to decision-making: women who contribute financially in acquiring resources or own a resource have better abilities to negotiate and to decide on usage and benefits derived from a resource; 4) Women’s knowledge of aquaculture influences their ownership, so transferring knowledge and building skills can have positive impacts on women’s control; 5) Since young women are especially vulnerable to ownership gaps, targeting them is necessary, and assertiveness, self-confidence and negotiating skills should be built into the extension process; 6) Social norms around what roles are deemed appropriate for women can hinder their capacity to use and benefit from a resource. Therefore, aquaculture projects should take steps to build family and community acceptance around new roles for women.

Stimulating agribusiness entrepreneurship to solve youth unemployment in Kenya

F&BKP Office — Tue, 15 Jan 2019 09:37:05 +0000

This policy brief (PDF) by IDS analyses the potential of agribusiness to address youth unemployment in Kenya and calls for increased collaboration between agribusiness owners, government and educationalists through entrepreneurship development. Currently, 65 per cent of Kenyan youth are unemployed. With a growing number of youth looking for jobs, the agricultural sector is likely to continue to be the dominant source of employment in Kenya. There has been minimal collaboration between the public and private sectors in reinforcing agricultural development in these initiatives, even though the private sector is the major employer. This is problematic because the agricultural sector has the capacity to provide entry-level jobs for the growing number of lower skilled and basically educated young people. In addition, Kenya is already seeing increased domestic demand for agricultural produce due to rural–urban migration. While agriculture obviously presents a great employment opportunity for young people, the majority of Kenya’s youth remain disinterested in traditional farming and lack the necessary skills to venture into innovative technological agro-entrepreneurial activities and the social capital to enter into agro-processing value chains. The theoretically driven basic education curriculum in Kenya, which does not focus on practical skills, leaves the majority of youth without the entrepreneurial skills to transition from traditional farming into agribusiness. Therefore, entrepreneurship education and training is vital in preparing young people for the job opportunities that could be available to them and for the evolving nature of the agricultural sector. Policy recommendations are: 1) Reinforce business-led collaborations among key government institutions; 2) Promote partnerships secondary schools and medium-sized agricultural enterprises; 3) Involve the private sector in the Kenya Institute of Curriculum Development’s (KICD) curricula reforms.

Equity, empowerment and gender relations: A literature review of special relevance for climate-smart agriculture programming

F&BKP Office — Thu, 20 Dec 2018 15:49:08 +0000

This brief (PDF), by CCAFS, summarizes the results of a literature review on equity, empowerment and gender relations for climate-smart agriculture (CSA) programming. The impacts of climate change are hitting all walks of life. These impacts, however, vary between women and men. Women make up most of the world’s poor sector. They rely more on natural resources, earn less and are more likely to become economically dependent than men. As a results, they suffer more from the undue impacts of natural disasters, severe weather events and climate change. The review found out that a wider and more equitable gender sensitivity is now seen amongst policy makers and local government, with a corresponding enhanced and out-scaled uptake on CSA. The issue of how climate-smart agriculture can advance equity and empowerment of women and their inclusion in disaster and climate adaptation programs could be addressed via community-level research studies (i.e., the engagement of farm women in the design, management, and implementation of enterprises in homesteads and family farms). The increased control of production assets by women and a responsibility (value chain-oriented) for establishing and managing links with markets is by itself empowering. Improved access to resources, information, markets and decision-making opportunities of women will bring them on par with men as equal partners in climate change and disaster risk reduction efforts. Applying social learning improved the adaptive capacities of women. The research impacts/influences on the institutional infrastructure (at community and local government level) will contribute to improved equity, economic empowerment and social inclusion of farm women and a future generation of young girls/women in rural communities.

Youth employment and the private sector in Africa

F&BKP Office — Wed, 12 Dec 2018 15:42:01 +0000

This issue of the IDS Bulletin focuses on youth employment and the role of the private sector. Around the world, policy actors worry about youth unemployment and underemployment. A dominant policy approach to youth unemployment and underemployment has been the funding of skills-building programmes that seek to enhance the employability of young jobseekers. This approach implies that Africa’s youth employment challenge is primarily a problem stemming from the unemployability of young people, rather than a problem of too few jobs. Economic growth to date has, however, not contributed significantly to the creation of formal jobs in the private sector. In the low- and lower-middle-income countries of sub-Saharan Africa, 50 per cent of formal wage jobs are still in the public sector. Therefore, the private sector has an important role to play in economic transformation and in addressing youth unemployment. Policy actors are becoming more aware of the shortcomings of skills-building interventions, and attention is shifting to focus on how to promote productivity, boost the private sector, and generate the kind of growth that could create jobs. While policymakers have endorsed the role of the private sector as a job generator, it remains unclear whether, and under what conditions, the formal private sector generates enough and decent jobs. Empirical research on youth employment in the private sector is sparse. This IDS Bulletin begins to fill that gap. The articles here have been authored by young African scholars from the Matasa Fellows Network, convened by the Institute of Development Studies (IDS) in collaboration with Mastercard Foundation. These early-career academics from Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria, Uganda, and Zimbabwe were selected to consider the role that could be played by the formal private sector in job creation in Africa. Case studies come from their respective countries. While some aspects of the youth employment challenge are common to all six countries, the local contexts and situations are unique and sectoral. This IDS Bulletin explores the scope of research and policy challenges in three specific areas: agribusiness and youth employment; skills gaps and youth employability; and youth employment in fragile and conflict-affected settings. The articles demonstrate the importance of effective policy measures to ensure that private sector growth creates sufficient numbers of decent, secure jobs to provide employment to African youth. Overall, the articles in this IDS Bulletin underline the complexities of each country, reminding us that claims about the private sector’s role in job creation are never straightforward, and that discussions need to be based on specific and contextualised understandings of what the private sector is, the nature of the jobs it creates, and its potential contribution to the economy and the livelihood opportunities of young people.

Three of the articles deal with agribusinesses and agricultural value chains:

Ethiopia’s agricultural transformation: agribusiness’ contribution to reducing youth unemployment. The article tracks the movement of labour from subsistence or small-scale family farming into agribusiness enterprises, as well as into the manufacturing and service sectors.

Labour casualisation and youth employment in Ghana’s formal private sector. This article uses a case study of the Blue Skies company, a processor and exporter of fruit products, to consider
the connections between private sector growth, youth employment, and labour casualisation in Ghana.

Uganda’s national youth policy and job creation for youth. The article scrutinises Uganda’s Youth Livelihood Programme and Youth Livelihood Fund, which are intended to support youth enterprise and job creation by extending grants to small groups of young entrepreneurs, to start small businesses that are expected to grow and provide employment, particularly focused on the maize value chain in Uganda.

Getting ahead and getting by: Exploring outcomes of youth livelihoods programs

F&BKP Office — Wed, 05 Dec 2018 14:05:40 +0000

This report (PDF) by the Mastercard Foundation examines factors that influence young people’s earning opportunities and well-being. The research is based on the experiences of 130 young people participating in two programs supported by Learn, Earn and Save (LES), a Mastercard Foundation initiative that was established to test models for market-level training and opportunities. With few demographic factors, and no apparent programmatic or employment experiences that differentiated youth, two main pathways were identified: One group of youth — those categorized as ‘getting ahead’ — made steady progress in their employment or self-employment and in attaining other goals. A second group of youth — those categorized as ‘getting by’ — struggled to leverage work or learning opportunities to improve their (or their families’) well-being or achieve other goals or aspirations. These two distinct pathways suggest key mediating factors are at play in the lives of youth, including employment sector, certification, livelihood strategies, financial inclusion and social networks. Gender was the most consistent and striking factor that influenced youth’s trajectories. Male youth were more likely to ‘get ahead’, while female youth were more likely to ‘get by’. Another key finding: Family, community, and program-based networks played a complicated role in youth’s livelihoods. Social networks not only offered supports, financial and otherwise, but in turn became an avenue for youth to demonstrate their changing status within their family or community as they attempted to support others within their networks. A significantly higher proportion of youth who were ‘getting ahead’ also reported having agricultural enterprises over five years, reinforcing the observation that pursuing multiple livelihoods was necessary for most youth to meet their present needs and future economic goals. The report indicates that a consistent and effective approach to evaluating youth livelihoods programs is lacking, and much of the research focuses on the gaps and weaknesses in existing studies. Results highlight the merits of an integrated approach to planning and implementation that will support youth in their transition to work. An important recommendation of the report is when implementing and evaluating holistic youth livelihoods programs, development practitioners and evaluators should be attuned not only to varied youth livelihoods trajectories, but also to the factors that influence youth’s earning, opportunities and well-being.

Intra-household dynamics and dietary diversity

F&BKP Office — Tue, 04 Dec 2018 12:34:53 +0000

This technical paper (PDF) by SNV, the Wageningen Centre for Development Innovation, part of WUR (CDI), Royal Tropical Institute (KIT), and the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC), summarises key findings and lessons learnt from applying an intra-household dynamics lens to nutrition. The paper focuses on unpacking how intra-household dynamics shape the links between production and consumption and how these dynamics affect the nutritional status of household members. Even though women play a key role in care practices and also as mothers, women do not always have the resources and decision making influence to perform these roles effectively. The results highlight the importance of longer-time frame and value of targeting different household members to change deeply entrenched norms which impact women’s decision making around what food is prepared. Furthermore, it is evident that access to and control over resources, and decisions made by certain members influence the distribution of food for the whole family. The paper comes with six recommendations for policy makers and governments: 1) Ensure that gender analysis informs the scope of nutrition programming within a given context. 2) Invest in testing and piloting of what Social and Behaviour Change Communication (SBCC) messages and implementation modalities work best with different household members to motivate positive change. Priority could be given to to approaches with schools to engage both boys and girls. 3) Invest in strategies to reach and motivate men. Engaging support from local political leaders could serve as male role models. 4) Invest in more research and learning in nutrition programmes to better understand the gender dynamics around the agriculture nutrition pathways. 5) Ensure routine M&E includes a component promoting regular learning and reflection on changing intra-household dynamics, and 6) Support capacity building of front-line staff and addressing intra-household dynamics.

A summary version with the policy recommendations can be found here.

Women’s empowerment in agriculture and dietary quality across the life course: Evidence from Bangladesh

F&BKP Office — Thu, 29 Nov 2018 14:51:42 +0000

This article (PDF) by the Food Policy journal examines the relationship between women’s empowerment in agriculture and indicators of individual dietary quality, in Bangladesh. The findings suggest that women’s empowerment is associated with better dietary quality of individuals within the household, but the strength of this association varies across the life course. Women’s empowerment is correlated with more diverse diets of children under five, but empowerment measures are not consistently associated with increases in nutrient intake for this age group. Rather, maternal schooling and household socio-economic status play a more important role for younger children. Women’s empowerment is positively and significantly associated with adult men’s and women’s dietary diversity and nutrient intakes. Empowerment does not benefit all individuals within the household equally, with gender bias emerging in adolescence. Results suggest the emergence of strong preferences for adolescent boys. These variations have implications for the design and targeting of interventions to improve dietary quality, particularly of women, children, and adolescent girls. Future research could focus on the pathways through which empowerment may influence diet quality. Policies designed to empower women and improve nutritional status need to be based on an understanding of which specific domains of women’s empowerment matter at different stages of the life course. A multi-pronged approach consisting of appropriate women’s empowerment interventions bundled with agricultural interventions and nutrition behavior change communication may be useful in improving diet quality of all household members. Social norms, particularly those related to son preference and old age support, affect the extent to which women are willing to use their bargaining power for different members of the household. government and civil society interventions should not only attempt to empower women as individuals, but also address structural and societal factors to make women less economically and socially dependent on sons, husbands or brothers.

Youth in Food: Opportunities for education and employment

F&BKP Office — Thu, 22 Nov 2018 15:54:11 +0000

This issue (PDF) of the Urban Agriculture Magazine of the RUAF Foundation explores challenges and solutions raised by migration pressures with a focus on youth employment in city region food systems. One blog by the Food and Business Knowledge Platform, highlights the eclectic relation between jobs, skills and youth migration (PDF) and was based on this Community of Practice Youth meet-up in September. Discussions often focus on developing rural agriculture or rural food value chains to keep youth from moving. This is not only a limited vision of the nature of migration and the potential of rural agriculture; it also leaves out city region food system opportunities in larger cities, and especially in smaller ones. Urban, periurban and rural agriculture, as part of broader food systems, offer place-based, practice-centred solutions to common problems in the face of globalisation. This article (PDF) highlights the role of agricultural cooperatives to efficiently commercialise the agricultural sector in order to enhance food security and create employment for youth . Engaging youth in agribusiness could provide a win-win solution, and agricultural cooperatives could play an important role. Youths would benefit from cooperative membership by accessing opportunities not available to them as individuals; access to knowledge and training, and access to land and financial services. This article was based on the explorative study by KIT, WCDI and YPARD on agricultural cooperatives. Another article (PDF) focuses on dynamics of Sub-Saharan Africa’s agriculture sector, challenges faced by entrepreneurs and outlines promising approaches for spurring job creation for youth in agriculture. Making use of more context-sensitive and high-potential business concepts facilitates support of better, more profitable businesses in agriculture; over the long term this changes the mindset of youth regarding agriculture as a business and career. The articles in this issue underscore the importance of valuing youth input into multi-stakeholder processes, to make space for youth to be leaders and active participants and to foster informed risk-taking. The collection of articles in the magazine explore opportunities for and barriers to youth employment along the entire food system. The complete magazine and each of the chapters can be found here.

Overcoming gender gaps in rural mechanization: Lessons from reaper-harvester service provision in Bangladesh

F&BKP Office — Wed, 14 Nov 2018 11:25:43 +0000

This policy brief (PDF) by Feed the Future explores gender dynamics in emerging markets for agricultural machinery service provision in Bangladesh. Custom hiring of labor- and cost-saving agricultural machinery services is increasingly common in South Asia. Results show that women benefit form managing and sometimes owning machinery services, as well as from the direct and indirect consequences of hiring such services to harvest their crops. However, a number of technical, economic and cultural barriers constrain women’s full participation in these benefits. For example, the lack of access to finance to invest in a machine, restrictions to be in public places to learn about new technologies and publicize the availability of reaper services, male operators refusing to work for women and a lack of family and community support. The policy briefs comes with a few suggestions to close the gender gap in machinery service provision: 1) Joint ownership and training to strengthen women’s business skills and self-confidence; 2) Leveraging women’s networks to expand the client base; 3) Well-targeted, smart subsidies to encourage women; 4) Leveraging credit, providing loans coupled with business support; 5) Group ownership of machines; 6) Mobile payments reducing travel time and risk collecting payments and; 7) Encourage men’s support for women in agricultural trainings and advertisements of machinery services. For reaper services, similar gender-based challenges are present: unequal opportunities to learn about services, gender restrictions in contacting service providers, and women are not prioritized by service providers. Joint learning, women’s groups, collective hiring and lower service provision costs are key. Others working on gender, agricultural technology, and rural entrepreneurship should all strengthen the inclusion of women, of example by considering joint ownership and training for husbands and wives, or by tapping into women’s networks to boost technology adoption.

What is the role of men in connecting women to cash crop markets? Evidence from Uganda

F&BKP Office — Fri, 26 Oct 2018 09:36:44 +0000

This paper (PDF), by IFPRI, aims to to shed light on whether an intervention targeted at men can achieve increases in women’s market participation in agriculture. It analyzes a project that sought to increase women’s involvement in sugarcane marketing and sales by encouraging the registration of a sugarcane block contract in the wife’s name. Programs that seek to increase women’s participation in marketing activities related to the principal household economic activity must involve men if they are to be successful. Overall acceptance of the intervention was quite high. Results show that men who are more educated and live in households with higher wealth and expenditures are more likely to agree to the registration of a contract to a wife’s name. Households with more cane blocks and in which the wife is already more involved in cane activities are also more likely to participate. Overall, take-up is high at 70%, and remains high even in those groups that are less likely to take-up. Additionally, blocks transferred to women are not of lower quality or value than those kept by men, though they are smaller and closer to the home. These results suggest that simple encouragement can be an effective tool to nudge men to include their wives in household commercial activities. It will be interesting to see whether a shift in block management also shifts the balance of responsibilities at home.

Empowering women in integrated crop-livestock farming through innovation platforms: Experience in semi-arid Zimbabwe

F&BKP Office — Wed, 17 Oct 2018 15:33:09 +0000

This brief (PDF) by ICRISAT proposes that engaging women through innovation platforms (IPs) in the inclusive processes of technology and market development can accelerate transitions
towards greater sustainability, food security, nutrition, education and health. In rural Zimbabwe, women farmers face multiple challenges such as degraded soil, lack of labor, inaccessible/far-off markets to sell their produce/livestock, inadequate supplies of resources (seeds/fertilizers), as also climate change-related issues such as frequent droughts and dry spells. Innovation platforms that support integrated crop-and-livestock systems and particularly increase women farmers’ ability to grow and monetize high-value crops and livestock, empower women in agriculture significantly. They can amplify their voice in exploring opportunities, find solutions to their challenges and ultimately improve their competence, confidence, and standing in their community and family. Market development can reduce gender inequalities. When women have better access to markets, inputs, machinery and knowledge, their position is reinforced. Their contribution to total incomes increases, as does their decision-making power and confidence. Sustainable development comes with greater gender parity in farm and household management. Gender-sensitive innovation platforms support sustainable rural development as they not only build more productive and resilient farms, more profitable and inclusive value chains, but also stronger families and communities. Farming communities, local government, development and research are beginning to realize the potential for economic growth and women empowerment. It is proposed to promote the cascading effects in a market-oriented context. Market incentives must stimulate farmers working together and minimizing transaction costs. Better organized farmers will become more attractive partners for the private sector. Governments should be convinced to reduce cost of compliance, and support and generate significant revenue from value chains. Innovation platforms are important to keep the dialog open among women and men farmers, traders, extension personnel, government and research, providing feedback for planning and adaptation processes in the longer term.

Gendered aspirations and occupations among rural youth, in agriculture and beyond: A cross-regional perspective

F&BKP Office — Thu, 11 Oct 2018 08:43:25 +0000

This paper (PDF) in the Journal of Gender, Agriculture and Food Security, explores rural young women’s and men’s occupational aspirations and trajectories in India, Mali, Malawi, Morocco, Mexico, Nigeria, and the Philippines. Across the study’s regional contexts, young rural women and men predominantly aspire for formal blue and white-collar jobs. Yet, they experience an aspiration-achievement gap, as the promise of their education for securing the formal employment they seek is unfulfilled. Various gender norms that discriminate against women in agriculture limit women’s ability to learn about and try out new practices, restrict their agricultural opportunities, and orient their aspirations away from agriculture. Youth and gender issues are inextricably intertwined and cannot be understood in isolation one from the other. These findings have important implications for agricultural policy and research for development. Opening up pathways for young women in agriculture will require addressing the intersecting inequalities they face on the basis of age and gender. This will require working not only with women, but also with men and masculinities, and publicly valorizing agriculture, women and supportive men. Laying the structural foundations for a knowledge-intensive and ‘modern’ agriculture is also needed to enable bright young women and men to shine in the sector. The authors propose a shift towards supporting young people to achieve their aspirations. These aspirations can be pursued while catalyzing innovation in agriculture and natural resource management. Young people’s power to catalyze agricultural innovation should be re-conceptualized to better reflect their aspirations, knowledge, resources, and the enthusiasm they bring. To include youth in agriculture, a productive approach seeks to expand the range of options and space for this diverse generational group to gain a sense of agency, security, and fulfillment in the rural and urban areas where they experience life and make a living.

Drivers and patterns of rural youth migration and its impact on food security and rural livelihoods in Tunisia

F&BKP Office — Wed, 12 Sep 2018 11:25:06 +0000

This report (PDF) by the FAO and the European University Institute addresses the determinants of migration and mobility, the patterns and types of rural youth outmigration and the impact of rural youth migration on rural livelihoods, food security, agriculture and development in rural areas in Tunisia. The majority of migrants are men, especially among international migrants. International migrants often have higher educational levels than non-migrants. At the same time, migration can be driven by an increase in study-related reasons. Recent migrants are likely to perform agricultural production and livestock farming as main activities. A possible explanation is the reduction in income from agricultural activities. Key reasons for internal migration in general are connected to the search for better job opportunities and the improvement of living conditions. A significant process of feminization of migration is seen from rural areas moving to other regions, which is associated with an increase in highly educated women. Women’s migration can have critical impact on household’s food security since rural women are largely responsible for the secondary farming activities. Migration seems to be rewarding for both internal and international migrants in terms of occupation. The main effect is on female labour market participation and access to employment. Only one out of four migrants sends remittance, which is more likely for international migrants. There is little evidence about the determinants of youth migration from rural areas and its potential impact on food security and rural poverty. Given the key role of agriculture as preferred sector or transnational engagement of migrant and as targeted domain of activity and investment upon future return, policies focusing on migration and rural development could address both these forms of diaspora mobilisation. Measures to favour the return of migrants could include the offer of tailored training opportunities, access to targeted financial products start-up grants and equipment at subsidized prices.

Key findings of the report can be found here.

Women’s empowerment in agriculture and agricultural productivity: Evidence from rural maize farmer households in western Kenya

F&BKP Office — Fri, 07 Sep 2018 10:09:10 +0000

This study (PDF) in PLOS ONE examines the effects of women’s empowerment in agriculture on maize productivity at farm- and plot-level, where women’s empowerment may have differential effects on such productivity depending on whether a plot is managed jointly by a man and a woman, or individually by either a man or a woman. This paper documents a positive relationship between maize productivity in western Kenya and women’s empowerment in agriculture, measured using indicators derived from the abbreviated version of the Women’s Empowerment in Agriculture Index. Women’s empowerment in agriculture significantly increases maize productivity. Although all indicators of women’s empowerment significantly increase productivity, there is no significant association between the women’s workload (amount of time spent working) and maize productivity. Furthermore, the results show heterogenous effects with respect to women’s empowerment on maize productivity for farm plots managed jointly by a male and female and plots managed individually by only a male or female. More specifically, the results suggest that female- and male-managed plots experience significant improvements in productivity when the women who tend them are empowered. These findings provide evidence that women’s empowerment contributes not only to reducing the gender gap in agricultural productivity, but also to improving, specifically, productivity from farms managed by women. Thus, rural development interventions in Kenya that aim to increase agricultural productivity—and, by extension, improve food security and reduce poverty—could achieve greater impact by integrating women’s empowerment into existing and future projects. More research, using nationally representative and repeated data from Kenya and elsewhere in SSA, is needed to fully understand the relationship between women’s empowerment and maize yield.

Identifying pathways for more gender-sensitive communication channels in climate services

F&BKP Office — Tue, 28 Aug 2018 10:28:18 +0000

This brief (PDF) by USAID and CGIAR-CCAFS, highlights some key challenges to achieving socially inclusive access to climate information ad present promising pathways for developing gender-sensitive communication channels. Access to accurate and useful climate-related information is a prerequisite for smallholders farmers to use and benefit from climate services with respect to both agricultural and livelihood decision-making. Gender-based factors can influence differing access to communication channels for women and men. Restrictions in group participation, limited access to ICT and media, and limited levels of schooling and literacy can impede access of rural women to climate services. Four different pathways forward to develop gender-sensitive communication channels are highlighted. First, identify context-specific communication channels for socially inclusive delivery. An assortment of communication challenges that suit the varied needs of local women and men farmers should be identified. By identifying gender-specific needs and barriers to access, practitioners can ensure more inclusive and effective climate information delivery. Second, utilize women’s groups to boost information-sharing. The use of womens’ groups as a communication channel can address institutional biases and gender-based differences in access to group processes that limit womens’ access to technical information, training and support. Furthermore, women communications and gender-sensitive techniques can facilitate womens’ access to climate information. Third, develop media and ICT-based channels tailored to womens’ needs. Acknowledge the methods and circumstances by which women access information using such technology. Services must align with women’s livelihood objectives and include time-saving mechanisms. Fourth, partner with gender-sensitive local organization, to engage with existing sociocultural norms around gender roles and behaviour. Increasing womens’ access to male-dominated groups and environments may depend upon significant changes in social processes and shifts in power dynamics at different levels.

Gender norms and agency in the Ethiopian agriculture sector: Policy brief

F&BKP Office — Thu, 23 Aug 2018 13:46:41 +0000

This policy brief (PDF) by CIMMYT examines gender norms relating to behaviour, innovation, technology, and agency in four Ethiopian wheat growing villages. Addressing gender in agriculture is of importance since female household heads face greater barriers than their male counterparts. When people are held back by unequal behavior norms, their incentives to work harder are reduced because – regardless of the effort they put in – they will not succeed on par with those who are fully included by society. Over time, their opportunities and motivation reduce, and fatalism ensues. A key message of this brief is that investment in robust studies are needed to strengthen the body of evidence and facilitate gender mainstreaming in agricultural development. Further, restrictive gender norms remain one of the most significant obstacles for women’s agricultural innovation. Moreover, inequitable intra-household resource allocation affects food security at the households and national level. When women try to innovate they are watched more keenly and judged more harshly than men, and are less likely to be reached by extension workers due to social norms. Another key message is that transformative methodologies create more egalitarian gender relations and social harmony and should be used in the agricultural extension system. Lastly, strengthening women’s ability to make effective choices and transform those choices into desired outcomes will bring positive changes to household food security and agricultural productivity. So gender inequality negatively impacts the national economy, food and nutrition security, women’s wellbeing, and child welfare, but can be reduced by building on existing good practices and creating equitable learning and sharing platforms. As part of this, extension workers, policymakers, and researchers need to more comprehensively address gender inequities in their work.

How digital apps and services are boosting rural youth employment

F&BKP Office — Tue, 21 Aug 2018 09:57:22 +0000

In this blog by FAO, several digitial innovations examples are mentioned that are stimulating youth back to agriculture. There are already new ways of working in agriculture that harnesses digital and technological innovations, rendering it more efficient and, not as a small byproduct, providing new opportunities and services for young entrepreneurs. The first innovation discussed is working with drones. See also this recent podcast on this subject: Drones, data, food security: How UAVs offer new perspectives on agriculture. Furthermore, several mobile apps are developed by FAO to assist farmers in their practices, such as the FAMEWS app and the Nuru app to monitor effects of the Fall Armyworm (a devastating pest destroying maize and other important crops across parts of the Americas, Africa and Asia). New ideas from youth and from organizations, universities and companies all over the world are helping to unlock the potential of food and agriculture for reducing poverty, to bridge the rural divide, to employ and empower youth and to give equal access to information, technology and markets. FAO is creating and promoting these innovative solutions to address the ever-dire challenges facing our future of food and agriculture. In the recent FAO regional conference on youth, FAO and its partners are engaging young people from different countries in Africa to find innovative solutions that address challenges in food and agriculture through Hackathons.

Woman in agriculture, and climate risks: Hotspots for development

F&BKP Office — Wed, 15 Aug 2018 10:03:09 +0000

This study (PDF), in the Climatic Change journal, presents a methodology to identify hotspots where climate change adaptation and gender based interventions could be prioritized. There is rising interest among research and development practitioners to arrive at impact driven solutions in the field of gender and climate change adaptation. Climate change adaptation interventions can be better targeted by being linked with a type of climatic risks experienced by women farmers, their social profile and their needs based on the role they play in agriculture. First, female participation in agriculture is defined as the absolute number of females whose major economic activity is working in agriculture, which was derived by compiling rural level data. Second, three types of climatic risks (drought, extreme rainfall and heat waves) were mapped using gridded data. Lastly, female participation was overlayed with climate risks using a geographic information system (GIS). 36 hotspots were identified, including 14.4% of the women farmers. Socio-economic characterization of the hotspot population highlights barriers, such as labor, credit and market access, and lower wage rate for female farmers. The potential of climate-smart agriculture (CSA) technologies and practices to assist female farmers to adapt to climate change, while trying to address constrained they face, are emphasized. Furthermore, there is potential to learn from current efforts for efficient scalability of gender and climate change adaptation interventions. These results can be used as an input for planning gender-based policies to enable streamlining priorities. This may be done by including special provisions as part of the women specific state, or national level policies for the hotspot regions, or allocating resources for activities especially targeted at these hotspots. The hotspot identification needs t be followed by further examination of gender issues in each hotspot to formulate suitable adaptation options. Assessment of the socioeconomic characteristics of the hotspot population can help in further reforming interventions.

Realising the potential of agribusiness to reduce youth unemployment in Ethiopia

F&BKP Office — Mon, 13 Aug 2018 12:03:17 +0000

This policy brief (PDF) by the Institute of Development Studies (IDS) highlights the potential of agribusiness for youth in Ethiopia and highlights the gaps that need to be addressed for further success. Agribusiness in Ethiopia has grown significantly in the last 20 years, and this growth is set to continue. This transition presents opportunities to address the country’s high youth unemployment and for agribusinesses to participate in global, regional, and local markets. In Ethiopia, youth (15–29 years old) are four times more likely to be unemployed compared to adults. While there are many jobs being created in the agribusiness sector, there are significant skill and pay gaps. Potential jobs are also being lost because of poor infrastructure and lack of access to suitable land. As Ethiopia moves towards further privatisation, the government needs to launch a strategy to create an efficient and competitive agribusiness sector to fuel ‘decent’ job creation for youth. This brief concerns several policy recommendations regarding investment in infrastructure, improvement of productivity of existing and new agribusiness, addressing the wage and skills gaps and improvement of youth’s access to land through policy reforms, to support them to be drivers of agribusiness.

The future of rural youth in developing countries

F&BKP Office — Wed, 01 Aug 2018 13:04:45 +0000

This study (online version) of OECD aims to shed light on the potential of local value chains to create more, better and sustainable jobs for rural youth in developing countries. Rural youth are turning their backs on small-scale agriculture, yet a growing local and regional demand for food represents a unique untapped opportunity. The question for policy makers is therefore how to make rural youth the drivers of more productive and environmentally sustainable agri-food activities that respond to changing consumption needs and provide them with decent jobs aligned with their expectations. Rural youth constitute a socially and spatially diverse group that often faces the double challenge of age-specific vulnerabilities and underdevelopment of rural areas. Agriculture and food processing represent an untapped reservoir of opportunities for rural youth. Local and regional food demand is rising, but integrating rural youth into local value chains remains largely unexploited. Most youth in agriculture are in production, not downstream activities of the value chain. Investing in local agri-food value chain development could become an engine for job creation and food security. Local food processing is compatible with relatively low level of skills possessed by rural youth and is more likely to remain located in rural areas. Additionally, it can create strong linkages with other (non)food system activities. There are a number of policy priorities to create and enabling environment to harness the potential of rural youth through food systems anchored in local value chains: 1) Promoting local value chains as engine for job creation and food security; 2) Linking rural and urban development using a territorial approach; 3) Adopting comprehensive approach to rural development; 4) Exploiting opportunities in markets; 5) Investing in agriculture and rural infrastructure; 6) Greening and diversifying rural economies; 7) Applying social and environmental safeguards; 8) Raising voices of rural youth in policy dialogue; 9) Providing skills development for rural youth.

Can sustainable agriculture mitigate massive youth migration in Africa?

F&BKP Office — Thu, 26 Jul 2018 09:37:17 +0000

This article by the Impakter is on sustainable agriculture lever to mitigate youth migration in Africa. Youth migration has always been an important component of rural or structural transformation. Globally, rural-urban migration has accelerated in the last decades. Both the destination as the migration origin can benefit from migration. In general, people migrate due to political economy, demographic shift, environmental reasons and socioeconomic considerations. There is a strong historical link between migration and agriculture. Many youth, the landless and marginalized tend to migrate from rural areas. However, rural-urban migration is not the solution to reducing poverty. The article describes eight different food- and agriculture related levers to exert on migration. Sustainable agricultural transformation in an approach that offers one of the most robust and immediate opportunities for addressing several of the drivers of migration in Africa. This can be achieved through improved efficiency of resource use, natural resources restoration and management, value chain development, transforming urban agriculture and food systems, and building resilience against climate change and market fluctuations. All this can help create job opportunities for young people. There is a need for conducive and responsive policy that incentivizes diaspora remittances in as win-win manner. African cities can become engine of sustainable development that puts sustainable agriculture transformation as part of the solution to migration, urbanization and youth unemployment. However, there is no ‘one-size fits all’ solution, it requires a holistic approach. This includes long-term investment in inclusive capacity development, building infrastructure, developing the value chain and creating market opportunities.

Socio-economic, marketing and gender aspects of village chicken production in the tropics: A review of literature

F&BKP Office — Tue, 24 Jul 2018 09:01:04 +0000

This literature review (PDF) by ILRI focusses on the socio-economic, gender and marketing aspects of chicken production in the tropics. Chicken production is the main stay of livelihoods of most rural households in developing countries, especially for the disadvantaged groups and less favoured areas of rural Africa and elsewhere in the world. Chicken production contributes significantly to food security, poverty alleviation, promotion of gender equality and assists in the mitigation of adverse economic impacts. Chickens are also key in a number of social and cultural functions, hence have the potential to increase social well-being. Large number of women in the household often with assistance of children, are actively engaged in chicken production, which helps them to generate revenue and/or complement the nutrition requirements of the family. Most of them used their own indigenous chicken breeds, and local knowledge of chicken management. Ownership of rural chicken, decision-making regarding selling and consumption was not consistent; sometimes its plural, sometimes male or women dominated. Project intervention that identifies and supports women’s roles in the chicken value chain by strengthening their decision-making power will help rural women to break the poverty cycle. Chicken marketing, especially in sub-Saharan Africa, is not booming well, and inefficient. Biological aspects of chicken production (feeding and breeding) are efficient if accompanied by efficient marketing system, since it is rewarding to all agents in production, marketing and consumption of chicken. Therefore, an efficient marketing system has paramount importance in the chicken production. There are also some other constrains to the development of smallholder poultry production. Some of the main challenges include disease control, genetic improvement, access to production inputs. Policies and actions need to focus on reducing the constraints related to chicken production.

Empowering women in agribusiness through social and behaviour change

F&BKP Office — Thu, 05 Jul 2018 12:18:05 +0000

A publication series by SNV on the EOWE programme shares the experiences and initial impact of the first round of gender-transformative Household Dialogues conducted in Kenya and Vietnam in 2017. Gendered-specific behaviour and roles influences women’s decision-making power and control of resources and business assets. Tackling the inequalities between men and women in rural agricultural societies therefore requires a change in the gender norms that are at the root of these inequalities. To reflect on and transform restrictive gender norms and power relations, EOWE developed a contextualised Social and Behaviour Change Communication (SBCC) strategy in order to create more equal income and business opportunities and a socially enabling environment for women entrepreneurship in agricultural value chains. The SBCC strategy consists of interventions at household and community level. At household level, the programme organised facilitated Household Dialogues among targeted family and/or community members to critically reflect and discuss on norms that prevent women from fully participating in and benefitting from economic activities. The multi-country publication (PDF) reveals that the gender-transformative household dialogue sessions impacted on rural women and men in both Kenya and Vietnam that they are now open to reflecting on and rethinking gender norms. The household dialogue sessions also facilitated positive shifts towards gender equitable attitudes, relations and behaviour in the households that participated in the sessions. The couples indicated that the changes in behaviour led to substantial benefits on a social and economic level for both men and women, which offers motivations to keep implementing gender equitable behaviour. However, there is a risk that the women and men who participated in the household dialogues fall back in old behaviours if the gender norms in their communities, which affect the way people act, feel, and think, remain unchanged.

Agricultural policy, employment opportunities and social mobility in rural Malawi

F&BKP Office — Mon, 02 Jul 2018 08:53:28 +0000

This article in the Agrarian South: Journal of Political Economy investigates the question of how the youth and policy-makers view agricultural development as a means of social mobility for youth in Malawi. The paper argues that even though agricultural production is the main occupation in Malawi, young people do not value agriculture as a means of upward social mobility. Furthermore, youth and agriculture policy frameworks provide little support to youth in terms of access to affordable farm inputs, land, extension services, value addition initiatives, and markets. It is argued that Malawi is missing the strategic policy direction by not implementing non-traditional agriculture interventions that would engage the youth in a bid to reduce massive youth unemployment.

Rural migration in Tunisia: Drivers and patterns of rural youth migration and its impact on food security and rural livelihoods in Tunisia

F&BKP Office — Wed, 27 Jun 2018 12:40:56 +0000

This report (PDF) by The Migration Policy Centre and FAO, addresses the determinants of migration and mobility, the patterns and types of rural youth outmigration and the impact of rural youth migration on food security and rural livelihoods and societies in origin regions in Tunisia. The research used a mixed-methods approach combining quantitative and qualitative methods, providing comparative insights into: international and internal migrants and non-migrants; pre- and post-2011 migrants; households with and without migrants. Main results show that migrants from rural areas are increasingly highly educated and leaving to pursue their studies abroad. This particularly applies to women, who also register a decrease in marriage-related migration. Migration proves to be rewarding for both internal and international migrants, in terms of occupational and social security outcomes. While incomes from remittances tend not to be invested in productive activities, evidence shows that one internal migrant out of four and one international migrant out of three has an economic activity in the areas of origin, which in most of the cases is connected with agricultural or animal production. Given the key role of agriculture both as a preferred sector for transnational engagement of migrants and as a targeted domain of activity and investment upon future return, policies focusing on migration and rural development could address both these forms of diaspora mobilisation. In particular, measures fostering the return migration of potential agro-entrepreneurs and the reintegration of returnees into local labour markets should take full account of the scope (retirement or productive return, intention to enter the labour market as an employee or as an entrepreneur, area of return, etc.) and nature of return migration (demographic and socio-economic characteristics, educational level, skills acquired abroad, availability of capital to be invested, etc. of returnees). The Rural Migration in Tunisia (RuMiT) research project was undertaken in the framework of the FAO project “Youth mobility, food security and rural poverty reduction: Fostering rural diversification through enhanced youth employment and better mobility” (GCP/INT/240/ITA) – in brief, the Rural Youth Migration (RYM) project – implemented in Tunisia and Ethiopia between 2015 and 2017, and funded by the Italian Development Cooperation. Please find also this earlier report of the project here.

Development for youths in agribusiness in Uganda

F&BKP Office — Tue, 26 Jun 2018 14:42:35 +0000

These two working papers from IITA focus on youth in agribusiness in Uganda. The first paper (PDF) by Turolla, M. et al., studies the most efficient strategy to tackle constraints and provide opportunities for Ugandan youth in agribusiness. Results revealed that the main concepts of youth, agribusiness and agripreneurship are defined in very different ways by development organisations and youths. Development organisations adopt either a public- or private- drive approach, which have very different social impacts on beneficiaries. Furthermore, youth is not a homogenous group and there are numerous barriers for youth to access productive resources. The development programmes revealed limited efficiency. Therefore, programmes should account for variability and understanding is needed on youth’s needs, capacities and constraints. The second paper (PDF) by Turolla, M. et al. aims to explore the different ways in which development agencies design and implement their programmes, and how these are perceived by the youth. Main lessons learned are that youth is a heterogeneous group with different potential for agribusiness. Furthermore, Uganda is a diverse country which influences the agribusiness traditions and women are discriminated on accessibility to assets and household relations that do not allow them to earn and retain an income. Advise for development organisations is to set feasible and consequent objectives, place youth in context by designing a tailor-made programme, scaling results, create and enabling environment and have a household approach whereby the whole household in engaged.

What happens after technology adoption? Gendered aspects of small-scale irrigation technologies in Ethiopia, Ghana, and Tanzania

F&BKP Office — Tue, 12 Jun 2018 13:10:09 +0000

This paper (PDF) in the Agriculture and Human Values journal complements the literature on gender and technology adoption, which largely focuses on reasons for low rates of female technology adoption, by shifting attention to what happens within a household after it adopts a technology. Diverse agricultural technologies are promoted to increase yields and incomes, save time, improve food and nutritional security, and even empower women. Yet a gender gap in technology adoption remains for many agricultural technologies, even for those that are promoted for women. Understanding the expected benefits and costs of adoption, from the perspective of women users in households with adult males, can help explain observed technology adoption rates and why technology adoption is often not sustained in the longer term. The paper develops a framework for examining the intrahousehold distribution of benefits from technology adoption, focusing on small-scale irrigation technologies. The framework contributes to the conceptual and empirical exploration of joint control over technology by men and women in the same household. The framework defines a bundle of rights: 1) Use rights; the right to use; 2) Management rights: The right to make decisions how, when and where to apply the technology; 3) Fructus rights: the right to the products, increase or profits of the resource; 4) Alienation rights: the right to encumber or dispose op property through donation, sale, destruction. In this study women hold management and fructus rights. Use rights seem to strengthen fructus and alienation rights. None of the women cited example of successfully negotiating for fructus rights. Efforts to promote technology adoption for agricultural development and women’s empowerment would benefit from an understanding of intrahousehold control over technology to avoid interpreting technology adoption as an end in and of itself.

A related blog can be found here.

Promoting youth employment and reducing child labour in agriculture

F&BKP Office — Tue, 12 Jun 2018 09:43:37 +0000

This online course by FAO presents strategies to strengthen the impact of child labour reduction and youth employment policies and programmes by considering the two issues together. First, it builds an understanding of the differences as well as linkages between child labour and youth employment. Then, it highlights concrete measures to improve policy and programme coherence and support for young people to access decent opportunities in agriculture. The course is intended for: agricultural producers and their organizations; small and large-scale agribusinesses; agricultural policy makers and advisors; those working in NGOs, and public or private sector working on agricultural value chains or with rural youth. This course was created by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) in collaboration with the International Labour Organization (ILO). It was co-funded by the Kingdom of the Netherlands. Please find more information in this factsheet.

Youth mobility, food security and rural poverty reduction

F&BKP Office — Mon, 21 May 2018 15:13:08 +0000

The FAO project Youth mobility, food security and rural poverty reduction(abbreviated as “RYM” – Rural Youth Mobility) was successfully completed in February 2018. With funding from the Italian Development Cooperation, RYM was launched in 2015 to address the main drivers of rural migration of youth in Tunisia and Ethiopia, while at the same time harnessing the development potential of migratory movements. The Project aimed at improving the understanding of rural migration by filling evidence gaps on the determinants and impacts of migration in rural areas and at promoting better policy integration between migration, agriculture and rural development. At grassroots level, RYM provided unemployed rural youth from migration-prone areas of Tunisia and Ethiopia with the necessary training and equipment to launch their small agri-enterprises and economic activities, which are expected to benefit the entire community by generating additional direct and indirect job opportunities. Although Tunisia and Ethiopia present structural differences in terms of agricultural employment, poverty rates and food insecurity, in both countries rural outmigration, especially of youth, is a reality challenging rural development and transformation. More can be found in this report “Promoting alternatives to migration for rural youth in Tunisia and Ethiopia or this video. Furthermore, the RYM Project contributed to conceptualise and raise awareness on the nexus between migration and rural development. As such, it supported the development of the FAO corporate conceptual framework on migration: Addressing rural youth migration at its root causes: A conceptual framework.

The effect of land access on youth employment and migration decisions: Evidence from rural Ethiopia

F&BKP Office — Wed, 16 May 2018 09:41:17 +0000

This article (PDF) by the American Journal of Agricultural Economics explores how the amount of land that youth expects to inherit affect their migration and employment decisions using cross-sectional data of rural Ethiopia. It finds that larger expected land inheritances significantly lower the likelihood of long-distance permanent migration and of permanent migration to urban areas. Inheriting more land also leads to a significantly higher likelihood of employment in agriculture and a lower likelihood of employment in the non-agricultural sector. Conversely, the decision to attend school is unaffected. These results appear to be most heavily-driven by males and by the older half of the youth sample. Furthermore, there is suggestive evidence that several mediating factors matter. Land inheritance is a much stronger predictor of rural-to-urban permanent migration and non-agricultural-sector employment in areas with less vibrant land markets, in relatively remote areas (those far from major urban centers), and in areas with lower soil quality. Overall, these results affirm the importance of push factors in dictating occupation and migration decisions in Ethiopia.

Making gender work: Cultivating diversity

F&BKP Office — Wed, 16 May 2018 09:38:25 +0000

This magazine by AgriProFocus on gender in the agrifood sector focuses on the practical implementation of the available tools and knowledge. What are the obstacles in implementing gender strategies and how can we overcome these? What are the success stories and what can we learn from them? The magazine shares views of experts from all four sides of the Dutch Diamond. The magazine includes an interview with a member of the Task Force for Women’s Rights and Gender Equality of the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs on the policy on gender in development cooperation by the ministry. Furthermore, it describes a round table by three gender specialists that discuss the many ways to persevere and enjoy success in implementing a gender perspective in programs. Moreover, six tips are provided on how to seriously address gender in projects and programs. The magazine also describes cases studies that illustrate what different approaches to gender, can mean for women and the value chain. Finally, it reveals how business benefits from including women.

Migration, youth and decent work

F&BKP Office — Thu, 03 May 2018 09:59:38 +0000

Youth account for a large percentage of the rural population, and they are often particularly disadvantaged. About one-third of all international migrants are aged 15-34. The majority of young poor working people are employed in the rural economy, where they face many hurdles trying to earn a livelihood, such as poor access to land, credit and information. Agriculture is often not perceived as a remunerative or prestigious employment. In addition, lack of decent work conditions make youth living in rural areas particularly prone to migration. This online course by FAO focuses on migration, youth and decent work. Migration is an intrinsic part of rural development. Yet, there are major knowledge gaps regarding its drivers, dynamics and effects on rural areas. This e-learning will help professionals to understand the linkages between migration and rural development with a particular focus on youth. It will also provide policy recommendations on how to maximize the positive impacts of rural migration and minimize the negative ones. The target audience for this course includes: UN Country teams and FAO staff; planners, policy formulators and advisors on migration, agriculture and rural development; managers and technical staff in the ministries responsible for agriculture, rural development, migration, employment and others, as well as general public. Duration of the online course is 45 minutes. Please find more information in this factsheet.

Gender and food loss in sustainable food value chains

F&BKP Office — Thu, 26 Apr 2018 09:37:27 +0000

This guiding note (PDF) by FAO aims to conceptualize and raise awareness on the nexus between gender equality and food loss while offering practical guidance on and tools for integrating gender concerns into the carrying out of food loss case studies and the planning and implementation of reduction strategies and interventions. By overlooking the importance of gender dynamics and operating gender-blind, food loss reduction may be less effective and even exacerbate gender inequalities along the food value chain. Linking key concepts from gender-sensitive value chain development and the issue of food loss, it emerges that gender inequalities affect the overall efficiency of the food value chain, from production to consumption, and generate a poor performance that may cause produce to be removed from the chain. In order to be effective and have a long-lasting impact, food loss reduction strategies and interventions must from the onset take into consideration the underlying socio-cultural factors and systematically integrate gender equality concerns. This guiding note suggests a four-step approach for gender-responsive food loss reduction including practical tools for its implementation: (1) Gender-sensitive value chain mapping and the locating of critical loss points; (2) Identification of gender-based constraints linked to food losses; (3) Identification of entry points and solutions for gender-responsive food loss reduction; and (4) Verification and social risk assessment of the proposed solutions to food loss.

Building inclusive agricultural technologies for young people

F&BKP Office — Wed, 25 Apr 2018 10:24:10 +0000

The report (PDF) by the Mastercard Foundation Youth Think Tank, investigates how well technological innovation is supported and how well technologies have reached agricultural communities in Africa. Policymakers and development practitioners have become increasingly enthusiastic about the ability of emerging technologies to unlock the potential for agriculture in Africa. While these technologies are both creative and compelling, few sector experts have explored both sides of this promise. This research captures the experience of young people in the agrifood system — both those who innovate and those they design solutions for. Instead of looking separately at these groups, the research sees innovators and adopters as part of a larger interconnected landscape, supported by those who contribute to building the enabling environments that help get technologies to communities. The research finds areas where the community of practice could do better to help improve collaboration: 1) Agricultural technologies should be tailored to optimize opportunities for young people — particularly rural young people — to maximize their on-farm activities and facilitate their entry into off-farm activities; 2) To ideate, young people need a resourced space where they can share ideas and access mentorship; 3) The dissemination of information through inappropriate channels, such as social media, is a barrier to the uptake of technologies at scale; 4) Young people have unaddressed gaps in the skills required to operate agricultural technologies; and 5) Both adopters and innovators are constrained by inadequate accessible financial products to invest specifically in agricultural technologies — with respect to both ideation and uptake.

Want to make agriculture attractive for Africa’s youth? More bitumen please

F&BKP Office — Mon, 16 Apr 2018 09:40:28 +0000

This blog by the The Chicago Council on Global Affairs explores unconventional solutions to make agriculture “sexy” for Africa’s young people. Currently, making agriculture sexy for youth is focused on increasing the profitabiltity of the sector. However, for youth it’s not just about money. Youth now has to make a choice between farmers or giving up the joys of youth. Sex, money and fun are inseparable throughout any and all youth activities. A positive deviant story in agriculture cannot simply be about a wealthy young farmer. It needs to be about young people having fun and being able to live the good life. Rather than trying to make rural areas more exciting, focus should be on making it possible for young people in rural areas to have access to urban pleasures. Investment in infrastructure is needed, like in roads and railways that connect rural and urban spaces. Young people in rural areas must not be faced with an untenable choice between giving up their youth or being farmers. Furthermore, African youth is engaged differently in agriculture, using social networks to buid vibrant communities. Unfortunately, because most agricultural support services were built on assumptions of an older demographic of farmers, they have not adjusted to adequately meet the needs and priorities of Africa’s growing crop of young digital farmers. African governments hold the true but untapped potential to take digital farmer support services to scale. So making agriculture sexy to youth should be part of a larger conversation about an inclusive agricultural sector in Africa.

Youth migration and labour constraints in African agrarian households

F&BKP Office — Thu, 05 Apr 2018 15:07:35 +0000

This article in The Journal of Development Studies studies how youth migration affects household labour, hired labour demand, and income, and whether these effects vary by migrant sex and destination. Panel data is used from Ethiopia and Malawi. Labour shortages arise from the migration of a head’s child. However, the migration of the head’s sons produces a greater burden, particularly on female heads/spouses (in Ethiopia) and brothers (in Malawi). Gains from migration in the form of increased total net income justify the increased labour efforts in Ethiopia. Weaker evidence suggests households in Malawi substitute hired for migrant family labour at the expense of total household net income.

How to do note: Design of gender transformative smallholder agriculture adaptation programmes

F&BKP Office — Wed, 04 Apr 2018 09:32:09 +0000

This How To Do Note (PDF) by IFAD is intended to provide guidance on how to design smallholder agriculture adaptation programmes that consider the differential impacts of climate change on women, men and youth smallholder farmers. This includes recognizing that programme interventions – from design to staffing to capacity development of beneficiaries and local organizations – need to consider how gender will affect sustainability and impact. The experiences, social positions and differing access to resources of marginalized populations are fundamental considerations in the design, implementation, and monitoring and evaluation of gender transformative smallholder agriculture adaptation programmes.While programmes designed with a deliberate focus on gender equality are better able to adapt to the needs of women, men and youth, a sound gender analysis conducted at the start of a programme can ensure that the programme’s theory of change addresses changing and contextspecific social structures, policies and social norms that perpetuate gender inequalities. A key concept is that a gender transformative programme is one that actively seeks to build equitable social norms and structures in addition to individual gender-equitable behavior, giving sufficient attention to the specific needs of men, women and youth, and their limited access to resources, including capital, land, time or even the right to make decisions. Furthermore, it is recommended to include a gender focal point with responsibilities to support gender-mainstreaming. Without a focal point, commitments to gender equality in the programme design may be seen as the responsibility of everyone and may, therefore, not be prioritized for action within the programme, especially in the early days of implementation in complex programmes.

Youth for growth: Transforming economies through agriculture

F&BKP Office — Fri, 30 Mar 2018 14:23:13 +0000

This report (PDF) by the Chicago Council on Global Affairs provides a framework for the joint objective of global youth engagement and global food security. The rise in youth populations in low- and middle-income countries in the next 30 years will have a fundamental impact on the economic, political, and social stability. The degree to which young people are equipped for participation in the workforce in their home countries will also have profound impacts on every region of the world. A prosperous, employed workforce will generate economic growth and continue to build a growing middle class, which creates demand for more and higher-quality food. Youth are also poised to generate innovations for the benefit of an increasingly connected world. If young people can be integrated into the fast-growing agrifood system, they will also play a vital role in helping to end poverty and hunger. For this to happen, policymakers must adopt a youth-inclusive agricultural development agenda aimed at transforming the agrifood system. This includes investments in the fundamentals of such a food system. If agricultural transformation is blind to the unique features of a young workforce, it will be challenged to reach its full potential. This failure may mean a lack of opportunity for all young people entering the workforce in rural areas and beyond. The focus of governments on a youth-inclusive agenda and leadership is urgent. Governments will need robust partnerships with the private sector and civil society to achieve the twin goals of securing rural youth livelihoods and achieving global food security through agricultural transformation. Through sound policymaking and dedicated leadership, along with the engagement of young people in nurturing their own potential, threats can be transformed into opportunities, allowing the largest generation of young people in history to become the problem-solving producers, creators, entrepreneurs, change agents, and leaders of the coming decades.

Gender-equitable pathways to achieving sustainable agricultural intensification

F&BKP Office — Fri, 16 Mar 2018 09:30:23 +0000

This brief (PDF) by CGIAR-WLE has identified promising strategies for transforming inequitable social structures, norms and practices by increasing women’s access to resources, services and technologies as well as to decision making. The objective has been to enhance the ability of women to productively invest in sustainable technologies and practices and reap the benefits from these investments for themselves and their children. Increased gender equity in agriculture is both a practical and a social justice issue: practical because women are responsible for much of the production by smallholders; and social justice because in many cases they currently do not have rights over land and water resources, nor full access to markets, and often they do not even control the crops they produce. The authors have set up a number of recommendations to promote gender equity in policy or interventions. One of these recommendations is to invest in studying the social, economic and agroecological context to understand gender roles, the extent and depth of gender inequality, the main barriers to women’s participation, and the opportunities for promoting equality. These findings can be used during the implementation process. Another recommendation is to use systematic participatory methodologies to effectively support diagnosis of gender roles and thus enable decision makers to achieve greater gender equity. A final example of the recommendations is to ‘think out of the box’ and identify potential livelihood opportunities both off as well as on farm, for both women and men.

Predicting youth participation in urban agriculture in Malaysia: insights from the theory of planned behavior and the functional approach to volunteer motivation

F&BKP Office — Mon, 12 Mar 2018 15:02:09 +0000

This study in the Agriculture and Human Values Journal examines factors associated with the decision of Malaysian youth to participate in a voluntary urban agriculture program. Urban agriculture has generated significant interest in developing countries to address concerns over food security, growing urbanization and employment. While an abundance of data shows attracting the participation of young people in traditional agriculture has become a challenge for many countries, few empirical studies have been conducted on youth motivation to participate in urban agriculture programs, particularly in non-Western settings. Drawing on the theories of planned behavior and the functional approach to volunteer motivation, the authors surveyed 890 students from a public university in Malaysia about their intention to join a new urban agriculture program. Hierarchical regression findings indicated that the strongest predictor of participation was students’ attitude toward urban agriculture, followed by subjective norms, career motives and perceived barriers to participation.

Performance of emerging dairy services agri-enterprises: A case study of youth-led service provider enterprises

F&BKP Office — Mon, 05 Mar 2018 14:03:00 +0000

This study (PDF) by Wageningen Livestock Research and 3R Kenya assessed the performance of Service Provider Enterprise (SPE) to establish the extent to which the model offers business options for youth in agriculture. SPE is an innovative youth-led business model in which young men and women form groups to offer commercial support services to entrepreneurial smallholders and medium-scale farmers in the vibrant Kenyan dairy value chain. SPEs services are provided to members of dairy farmer cooperative societies (DFCSs). The main services provided by the SPEs are silage making and fodder establishment. Results reveal that general SPE services have contributed positively to the dairy supply chain by increasing silage and thereby production. Thereby, higher daily income from milk and reduced milk volume fluctuations were reported. Main challenges included equipment problems, poor quality of silage-making material and fodder seeds. Furthermore, SPEs have reached farmers, though most of the interactions seemed to be for promotional and demonstration purpose. SPEs have not yet reached their market potential, of which the reason could be that most SPE members offered services individually. A few of the SPEs have made various investments to enhance their business, the high costs of machinery prevented the others from investing. The main business challenge for SPEs are the limited financial capacity of farmers to pay for services and the payment delays after service. Recommendations for policy makers and NGOs include the support of broader training, to publicly invest in SPE and to consider needs of women and men to promote inclusiveness. Recommendations for DFCSs are to facilitate SPE creation and strengthen business partnerships, increase sustainability of the SPE model and coaching of SPEs. SPEs are recommended to broaden the service offer to become a more viable business. Moreover, SPEs need to improve their skills and seek business support in developing their businesses.

Gender Toolkit

F&BKP Office — Mon, 26 Feb 2018 13:57:42 +0000

This Gender Toolkit (PDF) of IDH was developed to address concerns of the limited possibilities for women to engage in supply chains. The toolkit aims to raise awareness, encourage, and inspire to integrate gender aspects into supply chain approaches. The toolkit illuminates the problem of gender inequality through case studies in different commodities. The first commodity is changing business practices to address unequal working conditions disadvantaging women, resulting in increased market share and reduced costs. The second is to improve sector governance. By accounting for gender in standards, policies, and public commitments, new markets, increased resilience of value chains, improved livelihoods and working conditions are achieved. The last commodity is increasing field level sustainability. By addressing women’s unequal access to knowledge, resources and decision-making through targeted activities and services, farmers and workers achieve increased incomes and better working and living conditions. Case studies are presented for each commodity to outline how improving gender equality has a positive impact on business outcomes. The Gender Guide (PDF) goes into more practical detail by outlining key steps to critically reflect on the role of gender in existing interventions or interventions under development. This process can be initiated by considering key questions throughout program implementation (Who does what in the value chain? Female/male farmers, workers, managers). Furthermore, there are 6 programming stages that have opportunities to address gender and the guidance provided: strategy development, stakeholder engagement, governance structure, proposal development, implementation and learning and innovation. The Gender Guide outlines these stages and sheds light on how and why gender should be factored into developing programs and interventions in all sectors and impact themes.

Gender and aquaculture value chains: A review of key issues and implications for research

F&BKP Office — Fri, 16 Feb 2018 09:32:59 +0000

This paper (PDF) in the Aquaculture journal aims to elucidate current knowledge of gendered engagement in and returns from aquaculture value chains. It presents a review of existing evidence on gender issues in aquaculture value chains along five key dimensions: gender division of labor, distribution of benefits, access and control over assets and resources, gender and social norms, power relations and governance. Subsequently, it present the potential results for value chain performance and potential upgrading pathways. Although aquaculture is the fastest growing food producing sector in the world and generates significant employment opportunities at multiple scales, men and women are not necessarily able to participate in aquaculture value chains in the same way, and benefits may not be evenly distributed between them. There is limited data available on gender and women participation in aquaculture value chains. However, existing evidence indicates gendered imbalances in all five dimensions assessed, with formal and informal barriers, including gender norms, limiting women’s equal engagement and returns. Limited evidence was also available for the impact of gender inequity on value chain performance. While the upgrading pathways as described in the literature may result in economic upgrading, they may have limited effect on improving inequity or social conditions in the chain, if they do not take underlying inequities in institutions into account. Concluded is that research is needed to elucidate practical ways to increase women’s engagement in and returns from aquaculture value chains through addressing formal and informal barriers to women’s control over assets, including shifting underlying gender norms and relations towards gender equality

Youth involvement in agribusiness: Examples from Africa

F&BKP Office — Thu, 08 Feb 2018 09:46:29 +0000

This blog by The CGIAR Research Program on Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security (CCAFS) suggests that agribusiness can provide jobs for young people and help African countries achieve development goals. The blog highlights several successful youth-owned agribusinesses examples. It also builds on this online discussion: Engaging African Youth in Agribusiness in a Changing Climate, a platform to discuss critical issues facing African youths. It is argued that in order to accelerate the involvement of African youth in agriculture and agri-business, the current gaps in youth engagement must be addressed. First, governments must be held responsible for investing in youth through a commitment to providing financial support, including increased spending on youth initiatives along agricultural value chains. Second, youth must be empowered through opportunities to engage in agribusiness enterprises and linkages to private sector and development agencies. Africa’s youth need new climate-smart agricultural technologies (high yielding and more resilient food crops, irrigation and machinery). The youth also need energy, communication and transport infrastructure that links them to lucrative regional and global food markets. Finally, the youth need gender responsive policies that will enable women and girls to access climate services, credit, agricultural inputs and equipment and insurance.

Future of food : shaping the food system to deliver jobs

F&BKP Office — Thu, 08 Feb 2018 09:19:41 +0000

This paper (PDF) from the World Bank focuses on how the food system can deliver jobs and provides a framework for understanding the factors that determine the number and quality of jobs in the sector. The paper also highlights a set of actions that countries can adopt, adapt, and apply to their own circumstances to strengthen the food system’s contribution to employment. The food system extends beyond farm production to include food storage, processing, distribution, transport, retailing, restaurants and other services. The paper finds that the food system employs the most people in many developing countries in both self and wage employment, and will continue to do so for the foreseeable future. In many countries the off-farm aspect of the food system accounts for a large share of the economy’s manufacturing and services sectors. While the employment share in farming tends to decline as per capita incomes rise, the share in food manufacturing and services tends to increase. The authors find that more can be done to strengthen the food system’s contribution to jobs by supporting growth in food value chains, ensuring that policies and investments improve the quality and quantity of jobs, and facilitating the inclusion of more women and youth. Increasing the number and inclusiveness of jobs will require attention to food system growth, employment intensity, and inclusion of youth and women. Urbanization and per capita income growth offers significant new opportunities in non-cereal products and in new jobs in the food system beyond the farm. Inclusion of women and the growing number of youth into food system jobs can raise productivity and improve social harmony. Priorities vary by country and context. Different combinations of interventions will be needed in agriculture-dependent economies compared to transforming or urbanized economies; in land abundant compared to land scarce environments; whether “pull” or “push” factors are leading to movement of people out of farming in particular areas; and on the initial nature of skills deficits. Creating jobs for a new generation of workers while sustaining and improving the quality of employment of the billions of people already working will be a significant challenge for all sectors.

Mapping cassava food value chains in Tanzania’s smallholder farming sector: The implications of intra-household gender dynamics

Ati van der Honing — Mon, 22 Jan 2018 15:16:35 +0000

This article in the Journal of Rural Studies shows a gendered mapping of the structure and coordination of traditional cassava value chains in Kigoma, Mwanza, the coastal region, and Zanzibar Island in Tanzania. In contrast to global high value chains, traditional food value chains and associated gender relations as well as power dynamics within households have received little attention. The results of the study revealed that there are weak linkages within the cassava value chain, which is highly gendered. While production and processing nodes of the chain, which commenced from villages, were dominated by women and children, women were not well-integrated within high value nodes such as marketing in urban areas and cross-border trading, which were dominated by men. Transportation of cassava to highly lucrative markets was also dominated by men. Cassava processing was conducted at the household level as well as within small-scale cooperatives, with the major portion of this work being done by women. Supporting institutions were found to be involved in the supply of planting material, training, and the provision of processing equipment. In general, men played a prominent role in the control of resources, marketing, and income. In conclusion, the mapping of cassava value chains could help to identify avenues for understanding of poverty, enhancing food security, upgrading capacities, reducing gender inequality, and enhancing women’s participation in marketing and income control in the cassava value chains.

How should youth employment programs in low-income countries be designed?

Ati van der Honing — Thu, 18 Jan 2018 15:26:16 +0000

This paper (PDF) by USAID outlines the economic development challenges that constrain youth’s transition into employment, and it parses the evidence on which programs and policies appear to speed that transition. It concludes that it may be time for a fundamental reassessment of approaches for addressing youth employment and the youth transition in low-income countries. Employment opportunities in low-income countries reflect the pace of economic and structural transformation. In designing strategies, policies, and programs to meet the entry-into-employment challenge for youth, the starting point is to diagnose the economy and current/future employment opportunities. Combined with the analysis of youth employment problems from a structural transformation perspective, evidence from rigorous evaluations of youth employment interventions provides new insight into which kinds of interventions are more likely to help youth succeed in certain contexts. The evidence reviewed here casts serious doubt on the efficacy and value of training interventions to help youth enter formal wage employment. The case is stronger for interventions that speed the transition to self-employment in farming or non-farm household enterprises. Support for development of transferable character skills and social integration among youth through Positive Youth Development (PYD) programs should be tested further for employment and earnings impacts, perhaps along with cash transfers to youth or access to finance. In reviewing the evidence on cost-effectiveness and sustainability of youth employment impacts, the paper also notes the need for better measures of displacement and general equilibrium effects.

Attracting the youth to agribusiness

Ati van der Honing — Mon, 08 Jan 2018 12:48:41 +0000

This insight paper (PDF) provides examples of how 2SCALE tackled youth inclusion in its partnerships in Benin, Ethiopia, Kenya, Mali and Nigeria. A youth-oriented approach involves asking practical questions to develop tailored services for youth in the agribusiness sector. 2SCALE has been experimenting with various options to support young producers and entrepreneurs. Making agriculture interesting to youth requires making it attractive and remunerative by having access to land, finance and technologies in order to modernize. Tailor-made loans for youth were developed, which do not require material collateral, but instead required the loan user to be part of a professional cooperative with good access to markets. Besides production another alternative for youth inclusion was explored: specialized service delivery to value chain actors. As service providers, young people can establish a clientele to which they can offer specialized services for a fee, such as spraying pesticide, tractor rental, transport services and quality control management. They are simple options, which do not require many resources, but require a certain level of education. Specific training to perform these activities can easily be provided and the necessary skills acquired. Opening up such positions to youth is a viable option for improving services in agricultural value chains, which is key to developing the agricultural sector. By harnessing the potential of youth, a positive impact on the productivity, efficiency and quality of value chain operations can be achieved.

Rural Africa in motion. Dynamics and drivers of migration south of the Sahara

F&BKP Office — Thu, 21 Dec 2017 08:18:24 +0000

This atlas (PDF) by FAO and CIRAD offers a comprehensive analysis of the existing migration patterns as well as the diverse and multifaceted factors that impact on migration practices. Sub-Saharan Africa has a long history of internal and international migratory movements. Migration patterns and dynamics from, to and between rural areas are profoundly differentiated across regions, and flows have considerably evolved over time. Yet, more recently, rural migration takes place in the unique situation of a major rural and urban demographic increase. SSA’s population is expected to increase by 1.4 billion by 2050 which is an unprecedented demographic push. This unique population dynamic translates into a massive increase of the labour force. This represents both an opportunity for growth but also a challenge for SSA countries which will need a conducive economic and institutional environment to foster economic diversification, boost job creation and absorb new labour market entrants in the next decades. Both urban and rural areas are affected but, due to a delayed and stabilized pace of urbanization, population in rural areas continues to grow steadily. Based on the existing distribution of population and estimated trends in migration to cities, nearly 60% of these new workers (about 220 million) are likely to be in rural areas. This results in a challenging densification of rural areas, with direct impacts on rural livelihoods, increased mobility and diversification of activities. Rural migrants are mostly young people with limited education and employable skills, and the majority of them come from households relying on agriculture. These population dynamics will place a huge pressure on rural economies. Due to their limited diversification and to the recurring importance of agriculture in activities and incomes, the evolution of the sector will be decisive and the possible pathways will depend on the pressure on natural resources and their management, as well as on technical and organizational innovations that would be facilitated by a conducive economic and institutional environment. The complexity of rural migration calls for better policy coherence between migration and sectoral policies. It calls for strategies for inclusive growth that create conditions to live in peace and prosperity, by fostering rural-urban linkages, creating income generating opportunities and diversification to off-farm activities in rural areas, promoting investments in agriculture and rural development, increasing resilience of rural livelihoods, fostering climate change adaptation, and promoting territorial and integrated approaches to develop sustainable food systems. It also requires a political commitment to look at migration as an opportunity for the development of both countries of origin and destination and to promote a better management of migratory flows, through regular and safe migration channels. New rural livelihoods are contributing to intensifying rural-urban linkages and are part of the reshaping of regional dynamics and territorial development. Supporting these new dynamics with adequate public policies and multi-stakeholder strategies is of critical importance for the future of the continent.

Women’s empowerment in the context of food security and nutrition

Ati van der Honing — Wed, 20 Dec 2017 15:42:42 +0000

This report (PDF) was presented in preparation for the Committee on World Food Security (CFS) Forum on Women’s Empowerment in the context of Food Security and Nutrition. This forum brought together a wide range of stakeholders to discuss the challenges that remain in realizing women’s empowerment and to promote a shared understanding of the need to achieve gender equality and the full realization of women’s rights in the context of food security and nutrition. The structure of this background document mirrors the expected outcomes and seeks to support the Forum’s discussions by providing a context analysis, a thematic review of the challenges and examples of how they can be addressed, and key learnings and policy considerations. Four main thematic areas are identified as highly relevant in the context of the agriculture and agrifood sector: 1) Women’s participation in decision-making, public policies, partnerships and leadership roles; 2) Women’s access to and control over land, natural resources, inputs and productive tools; 3) Women’s access to decent working conditions and adequate wages; and 4) Women’s capacities to access markets. For each of these themes the challenges to women’s empowerment as well as strategies that seek to overcome these challenges are discussed. This report (PDF) discusses the outcomes of the Forum. It shows that CFS should recognize that achieving food security and nutrition is not possible without the realization of women’s rights and empowerment. Recognition of the right to adequate food and the principle of food sovereignty; support to women’s grass-root organizations and political will at the country level were mentioned as priority actions. Strong collaboration among the Rome Based Agencies was also mentioned.

Can agriculture create job opportunities for youth?

Ati van der Honing — Wed, 20 Dec 2017 14:13:31 +0000

This blog by the World Bank reviews whether agriculture can provide job opportunities for youth. First, undoubtedly, the share of farming jobs is shrinking. As countries urbanize and incomes rise, food expenditures decline as a share of total spending and farmers take up jobs off the farm. Yet the process can only be sustained if labor productivity in farming increases, through innovation in production as well as better access to markets to sell the surplus. ICT is helping with both. Some opportunities are further emerging within the urban areas themselves. Many farming jobs, have been created in urban centers and even megacities maintain their urban farming as an important part of the economic system. But most new and good jobs are to be generated down and up agricultural stream. With the demand for aggregation, storage, processing, logistics, food preparation, restaurants and other related services becoming increasingly important, many employment opportunities will emerge off the farm, in the larger agri-food systems. While the majority of youth expresses to see its future outside agriculture, many good job opportunities on and off the farm remain in agriculture. The challenge is to make the agricultural sector and its up and downstream activities competitive through innovation, public investment in supportive rural public goods and services, and secondary town development to make them sufficiently attractive to young and older farmers alike. More suggestions on how to do so can be found here.

Invisible lives: Understanding youth livelihoods in Ghana and Uganda

Ati van der Honing — Mon, 18 Dec 2017 15:22:53 +0000

This report (PDF) by the Mastercard Foundation creates an understanding of livelihoods, cash flows, and the nature of rural work of young people (18-24 years) in Uganda and Ghana. It was found that young people have diverse livelihoods. Both young Ghanaians and Ugandans undertake a mix of informal sector employment, self-employment and agriculture-related activities to sustain their livelihoods. Agricultural production is central to rural young people’s livelihoods, but agricultural incomes were meager. Both formal and informal wage employment is rare and sporadic, or elusive. Entrepreneurship and self-employment remains an important economic activity in both countries. The businesses that young people did engage in were characterized as patchwork, and pursued in reaction to various immediate opportunities. This research confirmed that support networks play an extensive role in young people’s lives, not only providing support in the form of advice, but also proving instrumental in accessing financial resources needed. The research found that mixed livelihoods allow for risk mitigation and help to maximize young people’s economic opportunities within vulnerable geographic areas. Mixed livelihoods are therefore a logical choice and may be the most economically viable course of action for many disadvantaged rural young people in Africa. The report suggests that the reality of young people’s mixed livelihoods may have implications for programmatic approaches that emphasize or encourage specialization in a particular skill or crop.

Gender and social inclusion

Ati van der Honing — Tue, 12 Dec 2017 15:23:01 +0000

This chapter in the book ‘Climate-smart agriculture manual for agriculture education in Zimbabwe’ (PDF) by the Climate Technology Centre & Network (CTCN) addresses the critical links of gender with climate change and agriculture. In Zimbabwe and the rest of the developing world, both women and men are smallholders, yet the role that women play is often unrecognized. Globally, women make up 43% of the agricultural labor force, and in Zimbabwe they provide 70% of agricultural labor. Women face structural barriers that create gender gaps and inequalities. Women farmers in southern Africa, as a result, face barriers in adopting climate smart agriculture (CSA) practices, including unequal access to credit, technology and agricultural inputs as well as capacity-building. The changing climate is poised to exacerbate these inequalities unless measures are taken to address them. This chapter demonstrates that climate-smart agriculture practices and policies will need to take these barriers into account and develop solutions to address them. Highlighted CSA case studies not only improve food security and increase incomes, but also benefit women and reduce gender barriers. Finally, the chapter emphasizes the importance of developing and implementing gender-responsive climate change and agricultural practices, and of mainstreaming gender into academic curricula.

Read also this blog by the CGIAR Research Programme on Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security (CCAFS) which discusses the chapter.

Examining the non-participation of some youth in agriculture in the midst of acute unemployment in Ghana

F&BKP Office — Thu, 30 Nov 2017 09:21:16 +0000

This article in the International Journal of Modern Social Sciences, sought to fill the knowledge gap by examining the puzzle of unemployed youth non-participation in agriculture in the Bawku Municipality, Ghana. There is a historic trend of growing unemployment problem in Ghana. The effect is even multiplied for graduates whose hope after school is to secure decent jobs to start their lives. The formal sector has proven over the years to be incapable of absorbing the existing job seekers and expectation is that these unemployed youth will like to grasp any legal and available job opportunity. In the contrary, it is amazing that these unemployed youth do not find it as a necessity to undertake agriculture as a source of livelihood in the midst of the acute unemployment. This study engaged the case study research design within a mixed research methodological paradigm to scrutinize the problem. Primary data was gathered from a sample of 200 unemployed youth respondents using questionnaires and from stakeholders using interview guides. The analysis revealed that the unemployed youth are not involved in agriculture because of lack of interest and passion for agriculture; they are busily looking for other ‘better’ jobs; historical losses by youth and family members in agriculture; land access challenges; and financial constraints. It was however identified that majority of the youth 144(72%) had plans of going into agriculture in the future. The study recommended that effort should be made to address the identified challenges and further participatory empirical research should be conducted on how to incite and sustain youth interest in agriculture.

Are prospects of rural youth employment in Africa a mirage?

Ati van der Honing — Wed, 29 Nov 2017 16:20:22 +0000

This article on the Inter Press Service (IPS) discusses the dismissal of productive employment of youth in rural areas in Africa as a mirage largely because they exhibit strong resistance to eking out a bare subsistence in dismal working and living conditions. The authors argue on recent evidence of agricultural transformation that this view is overly pessimistic, if not largely mistaken. There will be vast opportunities for the innovative young people in agricultural systems as they adapt to a range of challenges in the near future. To create opportunities commensurate with the number of young people who will need employment, constraints on the acquisition of capital, land, and skills must be removed or relaxed. Allowing alternative forms of collateral can ease the credit constraints-especially for young farmers. The two aspects of land administration that matter most to young entrants to the labor force are the need to improve security of tenure and the need to relax controls on rental. Land redistribution will also enhance young people’s access to land. In order to enable young people to respond to the environmental, economic and nutrition challenges of the future, they must develop suitable capacities. A case in point is ICTs which can develop young people’s capacities, while improving communication and easing access to information and decision-making processes. In sum, there is an abundance of remunerative employment opportunities for the youth in rural areas that could dispel the mirage through imaginative government policies.

Changing gender roles in agriculture?: Evidence from 20 years of data in Ghana

Ati van der Honing — Thu, 23 Nov 2017 14:29:39 +0000

This discussion paper (PDF) by the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) provides a unique overview of changes in gender patterns in agriculture during more than 20 years in Ghana. At a time when donors and governments are increasing efforts to mainstream gender in agriculture, it is critical to revisit long-standing wisdom about rural women and men farmers to be able to more efficiently design and evaluate policy interventions. Many stylized facts about women in agriculture have been repeated for decades. This study uses longitudinal data from Ghana to assess some of the facts and to evaluate whether gender patterns have changed over time. There is a focus on five main themes: land, cropping patterns, market participation, agricultural inputs, and employment. Major gender issues persevere in women’s access to land as well as access to input and output markets. Yet once the entry barrier is overcome, women and men seem to follow similar agricultural patterns. Important variations exist at the level of the agroecological zone and women’s positions within households. The evidence provided calls for more nuanced statements about gender trends in agriculture. A larger openness by researchers and governmental and nongovernmental agencies is needed toward what can be detected from solid data rather than what is expected based on commonly voiced gender myths or what would be beneficial to successful fundraising campaigns. More up-to-date genderdisaggregated data that facilitate a more precise analysis and interpretation of gender gaps are imperative.

A qualitative evaluation of gender aspects of agricultural intensification practices in central Malawi

Ati van der Honing — Tue, 31 Oct 2017 10:24:52 +0000

This evaluation report (PDF) by the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA) Africa RISING aims to provide guidance in understanding gender dynamics in central Malawi. This is needed to improve gender integration in agronomic practices and technologies being promoted by Africa RISING. Focus group discussions were held with 148 male and female farmers and complemented by key informant interviews. As to how male and female farmers evaluate new agricultural practices, results showed that female farmers tended to evaluate technologies in terms of household food security (going beyond just maize availability), while male farmers more often opted for technologies/varieties that are demanded by the market. With regards to preferences for adoption of specific technologies promoted by the project, both female and male farmers mentioned a preference for adopting intercropping and doubled-up legumes, among others. However, men and women differed in their choice of crop combinations. Most study participants, particularly females, appreciated the mother and baby trial extension approach of Africa RISING as opposed to the government extension demonstrations. The former allows farmers to learn and practice on the mother plot and implement the technology in their own fields within the same season. The findings of this study make a strong case for the need for projects implementing research and development activities to gain in-depth understanding of gender dynamics and relations at household and community levels as a starting point for ensuring effective uptake of technologies.

Rural transformation, cereals and youth in Africa: What role for international agricultural research?

Ati van der Honing — Mon, 30 Oct 2017 11:06:04 +0000

This article (PDF) in the journal Outlook on Agriculture examines the argument that the combination of agricultural value chains, technology and entrepreneurship will unlock a sweet spot for youth employment in Africa. This is done from a rural transformations perspective. The authors argue that there is a need to step back from the premise that research needs to explain whether, or how, rural young people can be enticed into agriculture. Using cereal agri-food systems as an example, the article identifies two new research areas that address important knowledge gaps: how young rural people in Africa engage with these systems and what pathways they use to become engaged. To address these questions, an analytical framework is proposed built around key contextual factors that constrain or enable young people’s economic activity. This framework analyzes young people’s economic room to manoeuvre in different rural contexts and the differential abilities of young people to exploit associated opportunities. Finally, the authors caution against attempts to introduce ‘youth mainstreaming’ in international agricultural research. Rather than constructing youth as a new and supposedly homogeneous target group whose concerns can be addressed independently of the rest of society, there is an important opportunity to use the interest in young people to resocialize understandings of, and attempts to influence, African rural transformation.

Just farming? Neoliberal subjectivities and agricultural livelihoods among educated youth in Kenya

Ati van der Honing — Thu, 26 Oct 2017 09:08:05 +0000

This article in the journal Development and Change examines how and with what impacts educated youth in Kenya construct and perform new identities as farmers. This is distinct from the stigmatized smallholder farmers and keeps with their status as elite, urbanized, social change makers. Given the precariousness of graduate employment in most African countries, coupled with intersecting challenges of food insecurity, urbanization and population growth, educated youth are increasingly being encouraged to seek alternative livelihood opportunities in agriculture. Agriculture is a sector traditionally associated with the uneducated rural poor but which has received considerable developmental attention. The article analyses how educated young farmers construct themselves as productive and socially respectable through different and locally understood neoliberal subjectivities. This is done by developing the concepts of neoliberal youth subjectivities and opportunity space, and examining their life and work histories. The author argues that the performances of educated youth who identify themselves as diversified selves, as members of the elite, and as social change makers challenge the normative notions of protracted youth-hood and, instead, illuminate the neoliberal lives of these young people, facilitated by a liberalized economy and their social positioning in society.

Financing women farmers: The need to increase and redirect agriculture and climate adaptation resources

Ati van der Honing — Fri, 20 Oct 2017 12:34:47 +0000

This briefing paper (PDF) by Oxfam finds that governments and donors are failing to provide women farmers with relevant and adequate support for farming and adapting to climate change. Oxfam conducted research on government and donor investments in Ethiopia, Ghana, Nigeria, Pakistan, the Philippines and Tanzania. It found that funding in these countries is significantly lower than commitments that have been made, and there is little evidence of resources and technical assistance reaching women farmers. Female farmers face two compounding layers of exclusion: as smallholder farmers and as women. Low levels of government spending on agriculture and climate change mean that the share of resources that women farmers can receive is already limited. Resources are being diverted to priorities other than smallholder farmers. The authors recommend that governments should support women farmers by: 1) Allocating resources specifically to women farmers, rather than assuming that resources trickle down to women. 2) Collecting gender-disaggregated data throughout agriculture and climate change planning and implementation processes. 3) Targeting gender-based barriers that restrict women’s access to key farm inputs. 4) Supporting the participation of female farmers in local budget decision making. Next to the focus on women, governments should redirect resources to small-scale farming. This can be done for example by aligning funding to areas with high levels of poverty and providing resources to local governments.

Tapping the potential of rural youth

Ati van der Honing — Thu, 21 Sep 2017 09:49:50 +0000

This issue of Rural 21 discusses the need for action in the area of creating employment and income opportunities for young people (see this article). Initiatives addressing these issues from a wide range of countries throughout the world are demonstrated in this issue. The global trend of increased youth under- and unemployment has led many governments and international organisations to develop and support youth-targeted strategies, policies and programmes. One of these programmes, discussed in this article, works on Green Colleges in India. This skill-building programme aims to increase the number and effectiveness of vocational training facilities, training, counselling and professional development in rural areas. Another article introduces back-office business operations carried out by third party service providers in rural areas in India, which have emerged as successful social enterprises. The idea was to create jobs for educated rural youth so they won’t migrate but contribute to the local economy and development. In Benin a project combines local expertise and international networks, youth-tailored ICT solutions and a demand-driven, results-based business model, explained in this article. Unemployed young people are trained and can get jobs in agricultural extension, and new technologies are reaching poor farmers who would otherwise have no access to them. Next to these initiatives, also representatives of development co-operation, politics, the private sector and rural youth give their views. This article for example, shows results from an SMS survey among young Africans in rural regions.

Creating opportunities for young people in Ghana’s cocoa sector

F&BKP Office — Tue, 12 Sep 2017 09:56:26 +0000

This paper (PDF) is published by the Youth Forward Learning Partnership, a partnership led by the Overseas Development Institute (ODI), The MasterCard Foundation, Global Communities, Solidaridad, NCBA-CLUSA and GOAL. It presents young people’s experiences of growing up in Ghana’s cocoa belt, and identifies key barriers to their involvement in the sector and highlights opportunities to promote their participation in cocoa farming. Based on findings from focus group discussions with youth aged 15-25 in the cocoa-growing belt and from key informant interviews, the key issues raised are access to land, finance, and skills development, as well as perceptions of the cocoa sector, particularly among women. There is currently insufficient agro-economic education or skills training for young farmers. Without education, youth are limited to working as unskilled labourers. Formal accreditation of skills and training would allow young farmers to command better wages, seek credit and investment, develop a business plan and, ultimately, increase yields. Furthermore, opportunities for young people in cocoa are not limited to the production of cocoa. The opportunity to provide services to the sector might offer an additional source of income to young people who are unable to access land or who are in the process of establishing a cocoa farm and cannot yet fund their livelihoods through the sale of cocoa beans alone. Nevertheless, young people will need sustained support from the Ghana Cocoa Board, non-governmental actors and their communities – particularly chiefs – if they are to be able to take advantage of the opportunities in the sector.

Counting the hours: The challenges of measuring time use

Ati van der Honing — Tue, 12 Sep 2017 09:56:25 +0000

This blog by the CGIAR’s research program on Agriculture for Nutrition and Health (A4NH) discusses the challenges associated with collecting time-use data in developing countries. Data from Women’s Empowerment in Agriculture Index (WEAI) surveys in Bangladesh and Uganda are used to compare the most commonly used methods of data collection to measure time: stylized survey questions and time diaries. Stylized questions focus on a specific activity, asking respondents how much time they spent on that activity over a given period. In comparison, time diaries ask respondents to recall all their activities within a given period, such as the last 24 hours. The authors found that the two methods can provide equally accurate answers and take about the same amount of time to administer. Respondents often found stylized question more difficult to answer because they had to recall activities over a longer period. Most time use research focuses on how much time was spent on an activity. However, the authors suggest that future research should develop stronger methods to measure both the quantity and quality of time to better understand how time use impacts well-being. Careful documentation and comparison of these approaches will help to advance the multidimensional measurement of time, in order to identify what time constraints contribute most to gender inequality, and what policies and interventions can be implemented to relieve those constraints.

This blog highlights the paper “Measuring time use in development settings” (PDF). This paper is part of three methodological working papers released by The World Bank, which discuss the challenges of measuring key areas of women’s empowerment.

Women’s economic empowerment and agribusiness: Opportunities for the gender transformative agenda

Ati van der Honing — Mon, 04 Sep 2017 09:07:41 +0000

This report (PDF) by the Global Donor Platform for Rural Development explains the extent to which donor-supported agribusiness initiatives engage with the gender transformative agenda. A methodology for analyzing agribusiness projects from a gender perspective was developed to review gender-related initiatives at the field level and in project management. The most common gender-related field-level activities were; developing women’s technical and business skills and knowledge; strengthening women’s voice and representation in groups and organisations; promoting access to resources, services, markets and employment. In contrast, the majority of projects did nothing specifically to address women’s voice in household decision-making and their well-being. Related to project management, most projects paid attention to the M&E system. Several projects had a gender strategy and allocated funds to support gender mainstreaming activities. Few projects paid attention to ensuring the gender-responsiveness of staffing, partners and procedures. At the agency level the authors recommend to use the methodology to review the agency agribusiness portfolio. As well it is recommended to introduce some of the more innovative field-level gender transformative approaches into the design of new projects or the implementation of ongoing projects. Lastly, it is recommended to strengthen the genderresponsiveness of project management to create an enabling environment for women’s economic empowerment.

Rural youth employment

Ati van der Honing — Fri, 01 Sep 2017 08:07:43 +0000

This report (PDF) by the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) and the World Bank Group was prepared as an input to discussions on rural youth employment in the G20 Development Working Group. This focus on rural youth employment is essential, since youth are more likely than adults to be unemployed and a large share of youth live in rural areas. The need to feed a growing population and shifting consumption patterns offers prospects for income gains and jobs in both farming and the broader food system as economies transform. The ‘youth bulge’ is an opportunity for countries to reap a demographic dividend. However, actions on both the demand and supply side are needed to increase jobs for youth in rural areas. General demand side actions include, among others, actions to invest in complementary infrastructure; raise agricultural productivity growth and climate resilience to stimulate demand for non-farm goods and services; and promote high value agriculture and value addition while protecting healthy diets. Specific supply side actions include actions to facilitate youth skills development and matching rural youth to jobs, facilitate rural youth access to land and affordable finance. Priorities vary by country context reflecting the variance in binding constraints across countries. Prioritization should be guided by consideration of the number of young people reached, urgency in particular areas, and potential effects on livelihoods of young people.

Integrating behavioural change to accelerate women’s economic empowerment

Nynke — Wed, 23 Aug 2017 08:35:47 +0000

This blog from SNV elaborates on the how behavioral change within the household can accelerate women’s empowerment. For development interventions to be successful people need to behave and choose in certain ways. For example, for new advanced agricultural practices to provide benefits, farmers must adopt and use them. Behavior thus affects whether the provision of advanced farming technologies have the effect they are intended to achieve. Whereas increasing access to inputs, finance, markets and knowledge for female farmers makes sense in areas where access is lacking, it is also important to examine factors that could influence whether female farmers will actually make use of this access and benefit from it. To get a better understanding of the barriers that female farmers and entrepreneurs face, various gender studies were done by SNV in Kenya and Vietnam. These studies show that women entrepreneurs in agriculture indeed lack access to resources and business assets, but it also shows that gender norms and intra-household power relations influence female farmers’ control over resources and decision-making power in their households and the community. The SNV project therefore complements its business support and policy influencing interventions with activities that focus on transforming key gender norms and power relations that prevent female farmers and agri-business entrepreneurs from equally participating in and benefiting from economic activities. Both in Vietnam and Kenya, time-use turned out to be the biggest barrier for women to equally participate and compete in economic activities. In both countries, taking care of household chores is perceived a women’s job, with women spending four times more time on household chores than men.

The blog is based on a study carried out under the ‘Enhancing Opportunities for Women’s Enterprises’ (EOWE) programme, which is being implemented between 2016 and 2020 in Kenya and Vietnam with funding from the Netherlands’ Ministry of Foreign Affairs under the ‘Funding Leadership Opportunities for Women’ (FLOW) framework.

Gender mainstreaming in agribusiness partnerships: Insights from 2SCALE

Ati van der Honing — Mon, 21 Aug 2017 11:30:43 +0000

This paper (PDF) by IFDC shares 2SCALE ‘s approach to gender mainstreaming, highlights case studies, and outlines lessons learned. Since its inception in 2012, 2SCALE has made significant progress in getting the whole program team to mainstream gender in their activities, for example through capacity building of women; interventions to promote labor-saving technologies; fostering women’s entrepreneurship and working with successful female entrepreneurs; and strategies to improve women’s inclusion in farmer-based organizations. However, there are still gaps and possible improvements to be made. These include the need for more systematic and detailed reporting on achievements and challenges regarding the integration of women into the clusters and value chains to draw additional lessons and improve further. Based on experience with private partners, 2SCALE also aims to make gender- and youth-related targets a non-negotiable condition for program support at the onset, not implicit/secondary or negotiated. Targeting smallholder farmers and SMEs is not enough; there must be an ambitious and explicit target for women and youth integration in every partnership. Moreover, building on the gender approach and tools, 2SCALE intends to develop similar methodology and materials for youth, aligned with the specificities of young farmers and rural entrepreneurs. Last, as any program has staff turnover, training and coaching of the field team must be continuous.

Addressing gender in agricultural research for development in the face of a changing climate: where are we and where should we be going?

Ati van der Honing — Wed, 16 Aug 2017 09:03:52 +0000

This article (PDF) in the International Journal of Agricultural Sustainability reflects on key findings from integrated quantitative and qualitative analyses at the nexus of gender, agricultural development, and climate change. The results highlight significant and nuanced gender differences in adaptive capacity of individuals and communities to respond to climate change. The gender gap is also substantial in exposure to climate change and its impacts, and uptake of new practices that lower vulnerability. Women in agriculture will remain largely neglected by information and service providers unless their differing needs, access to, and control over resources are considered at policy and project design stage. Agricultural development efforts that do not address persistent gender gaps miss opportunities for greater impact. Yet clear guidelines for addressing the needs of both men and women in different environments and agricultural systems are still lacking. Participatory ‘action research’ approaches with a focus on co-learning, and using innovative cell phone or social media-based approaches offer exciting new opportunities. Such efforts can further enhance understanding of gender and climate change issues, while building capacity in local partners. Agricultural development decision-makers and project designers need to ‘design with gender in mind’. Equipping them with tools and knowledge of innovative gender-transformative practices and intervention options and creating accountability for serving women and men will be key.

In this related article (PDF) in the journal Agriculture for Development argues for genderresponsive climate-smart agricultural practices and technologies to close the gender gap.

Is ‘mind-set change’ the new frontier for Africa’s youth?

Ati van der Honing — Tue, 08 Aug 2017 13:14:55 +0000

This expert opinion by the Institute of Development Studies (IDS) refutes the notion that the mind-set change of young people towards a more ‘entrepreneurial mind-set’ is the solution. First, surely it is right that we are very cautious about any analysis that defines the views, perspectives, attitudes and imagined futures of a whole generation as problematic. It is interesting to note that the idea that young people’s mind-set tightly constrains their actions and responses, sits in tension with another common example of essentialist discourse – that Africa’s young people are highly innovative and creative. Presumably they can’t be both constrained by their mind-set and innovative at the same time. But perhaps the more important objection to framing the problem as mind-set, is that this framing unambiguously places the problem of youth employment in Africa at the feet – or rather in the mind – of the young people themselves. And as such, they themselves have the power and responsibility – with a little help from development agencies – to create and open the door that will allow them to leave their current predicament behind. A final objection is that the mind-set framing tends toward a clean-cut, closed analysis that leaves little if any room for doubt or alternative explanations, and which requires no supporting research or continuing interrogation.

Youth in agribusiness in Africa: turning knowledge into action

Ati van der Honing — Tue, 08 Aug 2017 09:01:19 +0000

This blog by Rural 21 highlights the potential for fostering entrepreneurship and creating role models to persuade youth not to relocate to cities. The author states that a supporting environment should be provided for young people to thrive in agriculture and agribusiness. There are many challenges now confronting rural youth, like limited access to information, land and financial services. But there are also many examples of young people, in various African countries, who are determined to shine in the face of these challenges. These “agripreneurs” are taking giant strides in all fields of the industry – from farming and processing to savings management, communication and smart data collection platforms. The young often lack experience in business development, so they may need mentorship, leadership and business development training. Also a conscious and sustained global campaign is needed on agriculture to enhance the image of the profession. Moreover, a lot more consideration should go into giving recognition to those young people who are doing amazing work in rural areas, for example through awards. The entrepreneurial youth in Africa who have taken action in agriculture and its value chains are paving the way for others to follow. They are gradually becoming the role models and mentors they never had. The author encourages other young people to use their knowledge to take action in this sector.

Challenges and opportunities for women’s economic empowerment in agriculture

Nynke — Thu, 20 Jul 2017 10:32:51 +0000

This blog (PDF) by Raymond Brandes from SNV elaborates on the challenges and opportunities for women’s economic empowerment in agriculture. Brandes is global programme manager of SNV’s ‘Enhancing Opportunities for Women’s Enterprises’ (EOWE) programme, which is funded by the Netherlands’ Ministry of Foreign Affairs under the ‘Funding Leadership Opportunities for Women’ (FLOW) framework. Brandes states that over the past several years, there has been increasing evidence regarding the importance of women’s economic participation, both for the advancement of women’s rights and gender equality, as well as for the economic well-being of families, communities, sectors and nations. In the blog Brandes elaborates on the intervention strategy of a programme that builds on the Balancing Benefits framework which is developed by SNV as a gender-transformative, integrated fourfold approach which stimulates household and community dialogue to challenge gender norms that shape resource allocation patterns. Men are engaged in the dialogues too, and role models and community influencers are identified to act as change agents. Brandes argues that to make the shift away from “gender neutral” (but really gender blind) service provision, companies need to disaggregate client data by sex, so that they can identify and differentiate women’s market segments. Only then can organisations begin to understand women’s specific needs and constraints, whether they’re seeking access to farm equipment or financial services, and design and deliver products accordingly.

Gender analysis of women’s economic empowerment: summary of findings Kenya

Nynke — Tue, 18 Jul 2017 12:55:40 +0000

This learning document (PDF) from SNV describes the outcomes of a gender analysis of women’s economic empowerment in Kenya. The analysis was carried out under the ‘Enhancing Opportunities for Women’s Enterprises’ (EOWE) programme, which is being implemented in Kenya and Vietnam and funded by the Netherlands’ Ministry of Foreign Affairs under the ‘Funding Leadership Opportunities for Women’ (FLOW) framework. The analysis aims to establish: the socio-economic, cultural, religious and legal factors that underlie differential gender position on economic development; the consequences of the differential gender position on women’s access to economic opportunities, knowledge and markets; and the opportunities and constraints that affect women’s effective participation in businesses, producer organizations or cooperatives, markets, leadership. Some of the key findings of the analysis were: women have a larger workload than men; women do not usually control productive assets; women involved in group enterprises do control assets and income, however the control and access to resources is affected by culture, literacy and location. In addition, men tend to advise women on what economic activities to engage in and men made most of the decisions on use of assets and incomes in households. Recommendations from the programme were, among others: reduce women’s time spent on domestic chores; develop mentors for women entrepreneurs; invest in group enterprises to bring credit within reach of women; improve access to markets for women; encourage male engagement in women’s empowerment; and utilize technology and innovative methods to improve women’s access to information on pricing and markets.

Agricultural commercialisation: Where it’s hot and where it’s not

Nynke — Mon, 17 Jul 2017 09:50:56 +0000

This blog by Jim Sumberg from IDS scrutinizes the link between the level of commercialization of a local economy and youth inclusiveness. Greater agricultural commercialization, through engagement with value chains, is seen by many as the only viable way forward for small-scale farmers in Africa. In this view, increased commercialization has the potential to deliver significant income and livelihoods benefits to rural people, including young people. However, how this commercialization is influencing the opportunities of rural young people is hardly investigated. The author therefore looks at agricultural commercialization from a local economy perspective (as opposed, e.g. to an individual, farm, crop or commodity perspective). A local economy perspective starts with economic and employment opportunities associated with the commercialization of agricultural production itself. But it also encompasses the activities that support (e.g. seed and fertilizer sales) and/or add value (e.g. marketing processing and transportation) to this production, and all the other economic activities that are enabled by or linked to agricultural commercialization. Agricultural commercialization as an economic and rural development phenomenon is about much more than producing and selling agricultural products. Through identifying ‘hot’ and ‘cold’ spots for commercialization. In a hotspot more opportunities for youth tend to be available, however, the fact that there are additional economic opportunities for young people in the hotspot does not necessarily mean that the resulting jobs are particularly remunerative, secure or desirable, or that they satisfy the basic criteria for decent work.

Painting by numbers: The big picture for gender equality

Nynke — Wed, 12 Jul 2017 12:25:51 +0000

This blogpost by Hazal Belford from IFAD highlights the challenges related to sex-disaggregated data collection and the limited availability of accurate statistics that reflect the reality of women in poor, rural parts of the world. However, Belford argues that the 2030 Agenda will ensure a focus on gathering reliable statistics segregated by sex. In the blog, some data is shared that is relevant to IFAD’s mission related. Subjects that are discussed are: economic empowerment, women’s workload, women’s influence, and gender-based violence. The post also states that there are no clear and consistent global statistics available on women’s land use and ownership and that the statements related to the statistics that are often used (for example “less than 2% of the land is owned by women”) are being challenged by researchers. Nevertheless, the data that is available does show that women are at a disadvantage when it comes to land ownership. The author concludes that while statistics are important to make a case and draw attention to gender inequality, data and statistics must always be seen in their wider context, factoring in the complexity behind the numbers.

A spatial analysis of youth livelihoods and rural transformation in Ghana

Ati van der Honing — Tue, 11 Jul 2017 07:51:33 +0000

This policy note by the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) gives a spatial analysis of youth livelihoods and rural transformation for Ghana. It discusses the shift away from agriculture, occurring throughout rural Ghana, which is much more pronounced for youth. Participation in rural non-farm employment is more pronounced in the south than in the north and in rural areas closer to cities. Despite the rapid shift to the rural non-farm economy, over half of total rural households and around 40 percent of rural youth-headed households are still primarily engaged in agriculture. Urbanization and rural non-farm economic growth are often expected to have a major impact on agricultural intensification. However, overall it seems that it has not prompted significant intensification and technology adaption even among youth farmers in Ghana. It appears that youth, like other farmers, continue to face binding constraints to technology adoption, like lack of technologies and credit. There is a need for government policies and public investments that aim at promoting modern technology and agricultural commercialization to make agriculture more profitable and attractive to youth. Next to this, it would be worthwhile to further explore agricultural growth opportunities through agricultural and non-agricultural geographic linkages in predominantly rural areas. Policies that strengthen the rural non-farm economy and its linkages to agriculture could directly increase the attractiveness of agriculture for youth.

Cultivating opportunities for women in agriculture

Ati van der Honing — Mon, 26 Jun 2017 10:14:20 +0000

This blog by the Consultative Group to Assist the Poor (CGAP) explores opportunities for women in agriculture using two national surveys of smallholder households in Mozambique and Tanzania. These suggest that women face several barriers, which may prevent them from diversifying their sources of income both within and away from agriculture. Their lack of access to formal financial services may be one of these barriers. In both Tanzania and Mozambique, female smallholders appear to be as active as men in the use of financial services, when considering both formal and informal finance mechanisms. However, women rely almost exclusively on informal options. This implies that it is harder for them to access financial products that informal providers do not offer, such as insurance and long-term loans. This, in turn, limits their financial options to make important investments and improve livelihood management strategies. However, the opportunity exists for financial services providers to design products and delivery channels that allow women to seize opportunities and thrive beyond what current financial options make possible. The national surveys also show that smallholders who use digital financial services are more educated than those who do not. Also among smallholders with mobile money accounts, fewer women use their accounts to access additional digital financial services. Policy makers must take note of such results and they must also consider the constraints women face in land and property rights.

Africa’s youth employment challenge: New perspectives

Ati van der Honing — Mon, 19 Jun 2017 07:57:36 +0000

This issue of the IDS Bulletin reflects on challenges to youth employment in Africa and demonstrates how political context shapes youth-related policy. It illustrates the need for critical reflection on the multiple and divergent meanings of work and highlights an urgent need to rethink interventions that promote entrepreneurship. One article (PDF) discusses how social norms and micropolitics enable or constrain participation of particular groups of young people in smallholder livestock production and marketing. This analysis indicates a disconnect between Kenya’s youth policy which advocates for equitable distribution of employment opportunities, and the reality at community level. Interventions should therefore adopt strategies that recognise these norms as a first step to addressing social exclusion. Next, the potential of the rural non-farm economy to generate a significant number of jobs for young people is critically reflected (PDF). Evidence from Ghana shows that currently these enterprises have little potential for growth or employment creation. In order to harness their full potential, it is imperative for policymakers to identify specific sub-sectors that lend themselves to growth and have the capacity to offer sustainable employment avenues. Additionally, the links between young people, migration and work with a particular focus on migrants’ social networks are discussed (PDF). The author concludes that provision of financial support for rural young people to further their education, enforcement of laws within the informal sector and support for migrants’ networks would help improve the situation.

Realities, perceptions, challenges and aspirations of rural youth in dryland agriculture in Morocco

Ati van der Honing — Tue, 13 Jun 2017 13:29:29 +0000

This article (PDF) in the Sustainability journal analyses rural youth’s realities, perspectives and aspirations in dryland Agricultural Livelihood Systems in Morocco, with a particular focus on gender. Active involvement of youth in agriculture is necessary for sustainable agricultural systems but is currently a challenge in many areas. According to the authors the data collected are an important first step in understanding the target group and working with youth to identify and develop appropriate programmatic interventions to improve their livelihoods and rural futures. Prior to expressing their aspirations for their rural life and career, the youth first raised the issue of unfulfilled primary needs: access to education, potable water, heath care, and lack of infrastructure in their villages. The issue of outmigration from rural areas is controversial and not so widespread. The youth’s dream village is envisioned as a rural place where people have a more comfortable life with their own families, farming better and more sustainably rather than seeking a job in urban areas. However, agriculture does not seem to play a very important role in the desired future life of rural young women. To support the youth’s aspirations and their willingness to stay in agriculture, there is a need for infrastructural and regulatory interventions and specific training in agricultural practices targeting and engaging youth.

Strengthening sector policies for better food security and nutrition results: Gender equality

Ati van der Honing — Wed, 07 Jun 2017 13:29:57 +0000

This policy guidance note (PDF) by the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and the Directorate for International Cooperation and Development (DEVCO) of the European Commission seeks to facilitate policy dialogue on how to synchronize gender equality policy objectives and food security and nutrition ones. The aim is to enhance coordination between the two policy domains, and ultimately enable women on an equal basis with men to realize their potentials as key partners in improving food security and nutrition. The gender and food security policy domains are generally disconnected: food security and nutrition objectives are rarely reflected in gender-related policies, and gender equality concerns are often missing in food security and nutrition policies. However, they both have an important role to play in advancing food security and nutrition for all. To overcome this disconnect, cross-sectoral collaboration is needed so that institutions and stakeholders working on gender equality and women’s empowerment become more systematically engaged in the food security and nutrition policy debate. This will foster greater policy coherence and ensure mutually reinforcing measures which can advance both the gender equality and the food security and nutrition agendas. Generating and disseminating evidence on gender-based opportunities and constraints is key to raising awareness and supporting the development of policies and programs that coherently integrate gender equality with food security and nutrition objectives.

This guidance note is part of a policy guidance series. Each note provides guidance on how to sharpen the focus of sector policies in order to achieve sustainable food security and nutrition outcomes. Some of the sectoral issues discussed are land tenure, livestock, and climate change.

Changing the norm, making agriculture “cool” for young people

Ati van der Honing — Tue, 06 Jun 2017 10:25:20 +0000

This opinion paper (PDF) by the Participatory Development Associates Limited (PDA) discusses the perception of people on agriculture as a profession and ways to give it a more positive image. The challenge to attract the youth to the agriculture sector has been exacerbated by the image problem agriculture as a profession faces. Findings indicate that most respondents perceive agriculture as a rural activity for the poor which involves a lot of hard work with little profit. Others saw agriculture as a very profitable venture in developed countries but not worthwhile and associated with poverty in the developing countries. Attracting the youth to agriculture requires a shift in the perception of agriculture as a subsistence activity to a viable business enterprise. Additionally it is needed to create the enabling environment, which employs a modern approach to farming that raises productivity, making agriculture an attractive venture. Amongst the recommendations suggested to give agriculture a positive image are social media for agriculture promotion, making farmer role models visible to the youth, and strengthening the teaching of agriculture in schools, including field practicals. It is also recommended to use ICT to solve challenges in the agriculture sector, like mobile platforms. On top of that, participation of youth in agriculture policy discussions is advocated. Lastly, it is important that access to information, land and credit are improved.

Boosting youth employment in Africa: What works and why?

Ati van der Honing — Wed, 31 May 2017 11:53:16 +0000

This synthesis report (PDF) by the Knowledge Platform on Inclusive Development Policies (INCLUDE) reviews the latest knowledge on youth employment in Africa and the role of agriculture in combating youth unemployment. For most African youth (aged 15–24 years) the key employment issue is underemployment. They do work, but part-time and in low-skilled jobs in the informal sector. By 2020, most new jobs will be created in informal sectors like agriculture and household enterprises. A focus on enhancing productivity in these two currently low-productive sectors is, therefore, crucial in the short term. Raising productivity and, thus, creating employment in agriculture implies a need to invest in irrigation technology to ensure all-year round farming, as well as in training of farmers on the use of improved seeds and fertilizer. Also farm diversification will enhance agricultural productivity as it reduces seasonal underemployment in agriculture. Local economic conditions determine the (sub) sectors to prioritize. Possible priority sectors that could be targeted include staples, cash crops, horticultural products and livestock. Different actors have different roles to play in creating employment opportunities for youth. The conclusion is that a policy shift is needed to create employment for youth in the short term. Tackling un- and underemployment among African youth requires a local focus on multiple interventions that increase productivity in potential growth sectors, as well as tailor-made interventions that equip youth to exploit these opportunities.

The women’s empowerment in agriculture index: Results from SPRING/Bangladesh’s farmer nutrition schools

Ati van der Honing — Wed, 24 May 2017 13:29:53 +0000

This report (PDF) by the Strengthening Partnerships, Results, and Innovations in Nutrition Globally project (SPRING) studies whether women who have participated in Farmer Nutrition Schools in Bangladesh are more empowered than women who have not. For this the Women’s Empowerment in Agriculture Index (WEAI) tool was used. Although lessons in the schools did not specifically address empowerment, they did focus on indicators of empowerment, such as production decision making, community leadership, and control over the use of income. Findings reveal that female participants had higher empowerment scores than non-participants. The women in the schools also made greater improvements in empowerment over time. Although the intervention did not specifically target men, it is important to consider greater involvement of men to accelerate women’s empowerment. The end result is that both women and men gain skills around more than nutrition and food production; it helps women become more confident and productive, more empowered and better able to lead their communities. Thus, the authors recommend that other projects seeking to affect empowerment do so through a similar “bundled“ approach.

This research is also discussed in a webinar covering the WEAI tool and experiences with food and nutrition schools. The presentation slides can be found here.

An ICT agripreneurship guide: A path to success for young ACP entrepreneurs

Nynke — Mon, 15 May 2017 14:47:20 +0000

This practical handbook (PDF) published by the Technical Centre for Agricultural and Rural Cooperation (CTA) provides a guide for young aspiring information and communication technologies (ICTs) entrepreneurs to help them set-up businesses that address challenges in the agricultural sector. Governments, private sector, non-governmental organisations, and especially young people, are increasingly viewing the intersection of ICTs and agriculture as a way to tackle global youth unemployment. This guide sets out to provide young people with the business skills and knowledge needed to launch successful start-ups. The handbook is also aimed at incubators and institutions that support young entrepreneurs to develop their skills. Taking a hands-on approach, the guide provides a number of case studies, as well as practical advice from young entrepreneurs. One of the case studies highlights a successful initiative to improve food and income security in Africa by pairing the owners of low-cost ‘smart tractors’ with farmers via an innovative SMS-based service. The report also presents common mistakes and ways to avoid them, and recommendations on how to scale up successful cases. A selection of business and product development tools and references for further reading are included. Topics covered include ICT business challenges and how to solve them, creating effective business plans and developing strategies to attract funding and capital.

From awareness to action: Knowledge sharing for more gender-responsive animal and plant breeding

Ati van der Honing — Mon, 15 May 2017 13:40:00 +0000

This action plan brief (PDF) by CGIAR Gender and Agriculture Research Network illustrates the type of strategic knowledge sharing in gender research, with the example of the integration of gender into animal and plant breeding. Many breeders in CGIAR are aware of how gender differences can influence variety adoption and the impact of plant and animal breeding programs. However, the problem is that not enough is known about practical ways to make breeding programs more gender responsive. During a CGIAR workshop on gender, breeding and genomics, the key features of a gender-responsive breeding program were discussed. For example, the target population should be clearly defined at the outset of the breeding program as well as the social and physical environment. Sampling should be used to ensure that the gender differences to be addressed by breeding are representative of social target groups. This should be followed by characterizing and prioritizing traits desired by different target groups. Trait values should be defined by measuring priority traits, determining whether they are heritable, and assessing the genetic, economic, and cultural trade-offs. Multi-season selection should be managed to identify the desired genotypes more precisely and to accelerate selection. For this, farmer-participatory breeding trials should be part of the process. During the workshop it was recognized that gender-responsive breeding programs depend on a collaborative approach to targeting, implementation, and monitoring that involves multi- or trans-disciplinary teams.

Integrating a gender perspective to help scale Africa RISING technologies and practices: Requirements for proposal development and implementation

Ati van der Honing — Wed, 03 May 2017 07:43:30 +0000

This short guide (PDF) by the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) helps to properly address gender issues in proposals and interventions. The guide focuses on scaling of technologies that improve food, nutrition and income security, particularly for women and children. Gender equality is central to sustainable scaling since gender norms and inequalities within the cultural context of scaling, influence the uptake of technologies. This tool describes how gender issues should be addressed in each step of the intervention designing process. First the gender goals and objectives of the program should be set, supported by a gender analysis. Then for developing activities and approaches, gender should be either mainstreamed or integrated into everything that will be done. In addition, specific gender activities should be developed to compensate for women’s lack of equality. The proposal should explicitly state who the target beneficiaries are, how they are going to be involved on an equal and fair basis, and how they are going to benefit, preferably substantiated by the gender analysis. A gender-balanced team and partnering with organizations with the mandate and skills to deliver on gender are recommended. Gender-responsive monitoring and evaluation is central to documenting the outcomes of gender-responsive technologies and how these are achieved. The budget should specify the financial and human resources needed for gender-related activities, which should be at least 10-30% of the budget.

Making creativity a job engine for rural Africa: Panel discussion highlights role of young entrepreneurs

Ati van der Honing — Thu, 27 Apr 2017 12:27:23 +0000

This article in the Rural21 Journal describes main messages of a panel discussion with the topic, “Jobs, jobs, jobs – Innovation and young entrepreneurship in rural Africa” in Bonn on 27 March. One of the important challenge for Africa will be to make the rural economy a place of opportunity for the young. According to the young Africans who attended the discussion, one of the reasons that this is not yet happening is the lack of investment. Investors and NGOs are reluctant to invest in new ventures or new ideas. Panellist Nana Amponsah’s general advice to young entrepreneurs was to seize the initiative and build networks rather than wait for a big loan or rely on donors. There were, she said, creative ways of getting started and raising finance as a business expands. Whether the appeal to entrepreneurial initiative and creativity can meet the enormous employment and developmental challenge facing rural Africa remains to be seen. However, steps also have to be taken by governments and international agencies to effect major change. The overall message that came out of the discussion is that the young must be enabled to make the “population dividend” count, to ensure young people across the continent become job creators.

Despite hardships: Women running own households provide model of empowerment and innovation

Ati van der Honing — Wed, 26 Apr 2017 09:15:55 +0000

This blog by the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) discusses stories of resilience, change and achievement emerging from the testimonies of women running their own households. These stories were found during a recent study exploring gender and innovation processes in villages in maize farming regions of Ethiopia, Malawi, Mexico, Nepal, Nigeria, Tanzania and Zimbabwe. It showed that many of the “unattached” women in the sample rated themselves as strongly empowered by their experiences with running their households and with managing their own farms and livestock and petty trades. Also, many widows innovate in their agricultural livelihoods and work their way out of poverty. These findings are consistent with wider trends underway in sub-Saharan Africa where women-headed households are experiencing faster poverty reduction than male-headed households. It seems there is a distinction between the more fluid gender norms that apply to widows and other women who head their households in comparison to the more restrictive norms for married women. One of the most unexpected findings is the disproportionate numbers of women who report heading their households in the study sample of women identified as “innovators.” The research suggests that women heads of households may offer entry points for strengthening agricultural innovations at the local level as they can provide role models which may help to shift local normative environments for other women and men.

He says, she says: Exploring patterns of spousal agreement in Bangladesh

Ati van der Honing — Mon, 17 Apr 2017 14:31:53 +0000

This discussion paper (PDF) by the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) examines differences in spouses’ answers to questions regarding who participates in decisions about household activities, who owns assets, and who decides to purchase assets in Bangladesh. Participation in household decisions and control over assets are often used as indicators of bargaining power. Yet there is not necessarily spousal agreement and provide different answers to questions about these topics. Disagreement is substantial and systematic, with women more likely to report joint ownership or decision making and men more likely to report sole male ownership or decision making. Analysis of correlations between agreement and women’s well-being (including food security) finds that agreement on joint decision making/ownership is generally positively associated with beneficial outcomes for women compared with agreement on sole male decision making/ownership. In general, women benefit even more when their husband also acknowledges their role. This should encourage development programs to promote greater communication between couples regarding wives’ contributions. The results also show the importance of including women’s perspectives when collecting survey data. Given the strong positive association between a woman’s recognition of both her role in decision making and her control over assets and indicators of women’s bargaining power, the results support their usefulness in understanding intrahousehold decision-making dynamics.

Please find related research within the F&BKP on the influence of intra-household dynamics through impact pathways from agriculture to nutrition here.

Innovate for agriculture: Young ICT entrepreneurs overcoming challenges and transforming agriculture

F&BKP Office — Fri, 14 Apr 2017 15:26:54 +0000

This booklet (PDF) by CTA and Ashoka presents 20 ICT-enable entrepreneurial ventures created by young innovators form African and Carribean countries. Increasing the productivity and sustainability of agriculture depends, to a large degree, on engaging young people in the sector, drawing on their energy and innovations. The innovations by the young entrepreneurs feature the use of mobile phones, social media, websites and a new generation of tractors. Services offered target various segments and facilities along the agricultural value chain, from pre-production to production, financing, marketing, trade and consumption. The case studies offer analyses by the young entrepreneurs themselves of the factors that triggered them to start the initiatives, challenges faced and strategies to overcome them. Hereby they provide useful advice to other young people interested in ICT-enable agro-entrepreneurship. Although the ventures presented are still in early stages of development, they already demonstrate successes. Many innovators have launched their companies after winning competitions, or have been acknowledged as successful endeavours and benefited from programmes. A key message that comes out from these stories is the need for all stakeholders to develop holistic strategies that can build youth agribusiness capacities and advance this novel type of agro-entrepreneurship. Advise for aspiring entrepreneurs is: 1) Understand your user; 2) Find the right team; 3) Just get started; 4) Talk about your initiative and get feedback; 5) Read business books; 6) Be creative with the business model; 7) Stay focused; and 8) Practice self-care. Starting a venture is stressful.

Foresight Africa viewpoint: Science and the farm

Ati van der Honing — Mon, 10 Apr 2017 09:11:40 +0000

This blog by The Brookings Institution argues that Africa’s youth employment issue is fundamentally one of agricultural modernization and investment in science. Farming remains the dominant occupation of most young Africans; this despite the fact that few respond “I want to be a farmer” when asked about their aspirations. More youths remain on farms than leave, although the movement away is very visible and has raised concern about food security, aging of the countryside, and excessive dependence on food imports. Concerns would be best directed toward understanding the needs of young people who stay on farms. The author argues that the agriculture that will allow young farmers to prosper will have to draw on the best of modern agricultural science—and at present it does not. Current levels of investment in Africa’s agricultural science cannot support modernization. The prevailing paradigm of “closing yield gaps” has created the erroneous view that known science can be applied to great effect without investing in new science. Agricultural science that does keep up can deliver; and multiple examples like new bean varieties, orange sweet potato and improved backyard chicken show how efforts to strengthen the scientific foundations of Africa’s agriculture are essential for creating jobs for youn people as well as for improving nutrition. The author states that the challenges of youth employment and agricultural modernization are often seen and addressed in isolation. However, according to her these are inseparable — either mutually reinforcing problems that jeopardize the future of an entire continent, or mutually reinforcing solutions, each to the problem of the other.

Transforming gender constraints in the agricultural sector: The potential of social protection programmes

Ati van der Honing — Sun, 02 Apr 2017 09:53:09 +0000

This article in the Global Food Security Journal discusses role of social protection programming design and implementation to ensure gender equality in food security and agricultural productivity. Gender inequality continues to constrain women’s opportunities in the agricultural sector, both in terms of achieving food security and increasing agricultural productivity. However, investment in gender-responsive programming which promotes women’s empowerment can help to overcome these constraints. Results show that a large part of social protection programming remains focused on supporting women’s domestic and care roles and responsibilities. They also continue to reach women primarily as consumers and beneficiaries rather than producers. Part of the problem is that cash or in-kind transfers remain too small and/or irregular. They fail recognize the gender norms that limit women’s access to productive inputs and resources, which means that gender-blind programmes too often benefit men only. However, there are also important advances in thoughtful programming which supports more transformative changes in women’s roles as producers. These types of programmes typically recognize the multiple risks and vulnerabilities that women face, both in their reproductive and productive roles. They also aim to overcome these through integrated programming, combining support for basic needs as well as broader empowerment goals. The development of integrated programming that supports not only women’s access to productive resources but also supports women’s agency is therefore vital in future social protection and agricultural programming.

Gender [im]balance in productive and reproductive labor among livestock producers in Colombia: Implications for climate change responses

Ati van der Honing — Sat, 01 Apr 2017 08:30:21 +0000

This info note (PDF) by CGIAR Research Program on Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security (CCAFS), provides an account on gender division of labor in livestock production and household activities in Colombia. Even though men and women undertake the production in the livestock sector jointly, the roles and responsibilities in livestock production and household maintenance are segregated along gender lines. In general, men’s labor participation is higher in pasture management, livestock care and management, production of meat and buying and selling of animals. Women combine livestock production, particularly, milk processing activities with the responsibility of household and care work. Therefore, men’s and women’s indirect contribution to the household and care provision to family members is crucial for healthy and smooth functioning of livestock productive activities, this must be accounted for in policy decisions, including those related to changing climate. As a response to climate change induced drought, men, and particularly women, are investing their labor in alternative sources of income to pay for water provision services to meet the water demands of their animals. For women who already face the double burden of productive and reproductive work, this coping mechanism may deepen their time poverty. These preliminary findings on the gender division of labor have important policy implications. The policy consideration of both men’s and women’s direct and indirect contributions to livestock production is crucial to avoid any unintended climate change policy consequences and ensure successful response to technology adoption.

Gender and inorganic nitrogen: what are the implications of moving towards a more balanced use of nitrogen fertilizer in the tropics?

Ati van der Honing — Wed, 29 Mar 2017 13:47:25 +0000

This article (PDF) in the International Journal of Agricultural Sustainability discusses the gender dimensions of moving towards a more balanced use of nitrogen fertilizer. For agriculture to play a role in climate change mitigation, strategies are necessary to reduce emissions from inorganic nitrogen fertilizer through more balanced and efficient use. Such strategies should align with the overarching principle of sustainable intensification and will need to consider the economic, environmental and social trade-offs of reduced fertilizer-related emissions. However, the gender equity dimensions of such strategies are rarely considered. The case studies cited in this paper, from India, Lake Victoria in East Africa and sub-Saharan Africa, show that the negative externalities of imbalanced inorganic nitrogen use in high- and low-use scenarios impact more strongly on women and children. Through a literature review, the relative wide spread cooperation in household bargaining processes in low nitrogen use scenarios are examined to assess the degree to which they impact upon nitrogen use. The authors suggest that gender-equitable strategies for achieving more balanced use of nitrogen will increase the likelihood of attaining macro-level reductions in greenhouse gas emissions provided that they secure equity in intra-household decision-making and address food security. Gender-equitable nitrogen use efficiency strategies will help to integrate and assure gender and social equity co-benefits at local scales. However, change will ultimately be reliant on significant shifts in locally specific deep structures informing gender and social norms.

Addressing rural youth migration at its root causes: A conceptual framework

F&BKP Office — Mon, 27 Mar 2017 15:06:55 +0000

This paper (PDF) by FAO develops a conceptual framework about how agricultural and rural development policies can reduce the need for distress migration of rural youth; and how rural youth migration and remittances can contribute to sustainable agriculture and rural development, poverty reduction and food security in the areas of origin. The conceptual framework recognizes that distress migration is a complex phenomenon requiring integrated approaches which both address the root causes of distress migration and emphasize the positive impacts of migration for rural areas. Indeed, a wide range of issues and situations determine the decision to migrate, including local factors and stages of structural transformation, as well as household and individual characteristics. Likewise, the impacts of migration on the rural areas of origin can vary enormously. Based on available evidence, it may be concluded that within the ongoing processes of sustainable agricultural intensification and structural rural transformation in SSA and North Africa, the root causes of distress migration of rural youth need to be addressed by offering more and better on-farm and off-farm employment opportunities. The subsequent reduction in rural poverty and improvement of food security can contribute to ease migratory pressures. This conceptual framework identifies a number of key areas for intervention at policy and programme levels: First, obtain a better understanding of the drivers and impacts of distress migration of rural youth, through improved data and increased evidence to subsequently inform policies and programmes. Second, ensure that agriculture and rural development (ARD) policies and strategic planning processes account for migration, labour mobility and remittances, while ensuring policy coherence. Third, implement ARD programmes explicitly targeting rural youth to create viable on-farm and off-farm employment opportunities, which are productive, decent and in line with youth aspirations.

Equipping young people to make a change in agriculture

F&BKP Office — Mon, 20 Mar 2017 14:46:32 +0000

This YPARD report (PDF) provides one of the first comprehensive explorations of the impact mentoring can have both on young and senior agricultural professionals. A diversity of mentoring models were studied and in early 2015, YPARD decided that to understand how mentoring can best benefit its diverse global network, a number of different approaches to mentoring should be piloted – namely face to face, virtual, blended and group/peer mentoring. This report explores the outcomes, strengths and limitations of each approach. As this report demonstrates, young people in agriculture who have received mentoring are likely to see and promote agriculture as a viable career, have increased opportunities to access funding, from seed funds to loans to scholarships, become more business savvy and are invited to meaningfully participate in important conferences and events. They are seen as role models in their communities, enabling community resilience and better farming practices, leading to more secure and diverse food supplies. The report presents case studies and data exploring the impact mentoring is having in the lives of young people. Recommendations discussed include: 1. Face to face meetings enhance mentoring relationships and require investment; 2. Relationships must have an anchor/focus but this must be flexible; 3. Take steps to address time poverty; 4. Help mentees ask for help; 5. Set a nurturing, patient and supportive group culture in all projects; 6. Training and checking in is crucial; 7. Mentees need access to funding and practical opportunities; 8. Future program management and coordination is decentralised; 9. Expand M&E design to capture longer term lessons and successes; and 10. Operate from a comprehensive and realistic budget.

Gender in the farmed fish value chain of Bangladesh: A review of the evidence and development approaches

Ati van der Honing — Mon, 06 Mar 2017 07:29:19 +0000

This publication (PDF) by WorldFish analyzes gender relations in fish farming and value chains in Bangladesh, based on a literature review. To better appreciate the situation, it is important to understand the underlying social and gender norms that determine what women and men can and should do if the aim is to engage women, in particular, as more effective value chain actors. The authors state there are considerable differences in the ways and degrees to which men and women participate in the aquaculture value chain in Bangladesh. These differences are rooted in and perpetuated by social and gender norms and relations. These gender issues have received significant attention in the literature on the Bangladesh aquaculture sector, but have focused mainly on the producer node of the chain. The key gender differences are in the division of labor, access to and control over resources and benefits from aquaculture, and levels of decision-making power. Their workload in reproductive roles limits women from full participation, while a lack of access and control over assets and resources, as well as a lack of decision-making power, constrain opportunities and incentives for investment and upgrading. Many aquaculture development projects in Bangladesh have taken gender into account to varying degrees, although our review was unable to assess to what degree of success. The approaches used by these projects show a progression over time with gender issues and their complex nature being increasingly recognized in project design and implementation. There is also growing recognition that project teams must be well aware of gender issues and embody the knowledge and skills to address these in their work, and that project teams themselves should be gender balanced. New aquaculture value chain projects could benefit from these lessons and take them onboard from the outset.

Cost-effectiveness of community-based gendered advisory services to farmers: Analysis in Mozambique and Tanzania

Ati van der Honing — Fri, 03 Mar 2017 09:53:03 +0000

This discussion paper (PDF) by IFPRI conducts cost-effectiveness analyses of interventions that bring a gender lens to community-based advisory services in rural areas. Cost-effectiveness analysis subjects both the cost side and the effects side of agricultural interventions to technical scrutiny and unifies both sides in order to compare the relative cost-effectiveness of different modalities of a program, of efforts to reach different target groups or achieve different outcomes. Specifically, the study considers two programs: one in Mozambique in which such advisory services aim to improve sustainable land management practices, and the other in Tanzania to advise farmers on their land rights. The former enables the comparison of two modalities: a gender-sensitive and a basic modality. It was found that the gendered modality is consistently more cost-effective than the basic modality when considering varied outcomes and target groups. However, both studies show it is more cost-effective to improve outcomes for men than for women. This may be due to gender differentials in the depth of knowledge and literacy at the outset. Further a simulation of how cost-effectiveness would change if the program were scaled up geographically shows that expansion of the basic modality of the sustainable land management program leads to improvements in cost-effectiveness. Inconsistently, the gendered modality displays nonlinear changes in cost-effectiveness along the expansion path, first worsening with initial scale-up and subsequently improving with further expansion.

Unlocking the potential of non-farm enterprises to reduce rural unemployment in Ghana

F&BKP Office — Thu, 02 Mar 2017 10:55:42 +0000

This policy briefing (PDF) by IDS highlights the role of non-farm enterprise sector in the rural economy in Ghana. This sector constitutes about 35 per cent of rural incomes and engages around 21.2 per cent of the national labour force. In rural areas it employs about 13.8 per cent. Non-farm enterprises have been viewed as one of the surest ways of reducing rural youth unemployment in the country. However, despite their potential, limited understanding of the diverse nature of the non-farm enterprise sector has led to policies that do not fully exploit its potential to reduce rural unemployment in Ghana. The sector is characterised by a large degree of differentiation which makes it relatively difficult for a one-size-fits-all policy to address the issues and perhaps adequately take advantage of the potential the sector offers to reducing unemployment. Recognising the motive for young people to be involved in non-farm enterprises, whether as a coping mechanism or a livelihood strategy, is imperative to ensure effective and coherent policymaking across all the relevant players in the industry. An important recommendation is that non-farm sector programmes and policies designed by the government, NGOs, regional and international organisations on non-farm enterprises should be more focused and targeted, based on identified features, growth potential and employment capacities of the manufacturing and agro-processing sub-sectors which have the greatest capacities of absorbing the rural youth.

Agricultural value chains and their potential for youth employment in fragile and conflict-affected contexts

F&BKP Office — Mon, 27 Feb 2017 12:53:56 +0000

This GREAT Insights Magazine edition of February/March 2017 has a thematic focus on youth employment in fragile countries. It brings together a range of perspectives on the pressing question of how better to promote youth employment in fragile and conflict-affected countries. As agriculture is one of the most promising sectors in most fragile and conflict-affected environments, this article explores some of the key challenges and obstacles agricultural value chain development poses for youth employment. This article summarizes the main findings from the Agrifood Youth Employment and Engagement Study, highlighting the most promising opportunities and needed policy and programme changes in Nigeria, Rwanda, and Tanzania. The magazine highlight that the complex environment in fragile countries means that there is no simple, let alone unique, solution towards sustainable peace and prosperity. Instead, it is more about intertwined processes and inter-connected factors.

Inclusive development from a gender perspective in small scale fisheries

Nynke — Wed, 22 Feb 2017 15:14:30 +0000

This article in Current Opinion in Environmental Sustainability argues that gender inequality and discrimination challenge the social economic and environmental sustainability of the global small-scale fisheries sector in achieving inclusive development. The absence of a gender-aware perspective in fisheries research is often justified from the premise that fisheries are a male-dominated sector. However, millions of women are engaged in small-scale fisheries and their work has been systematically discounted and devalued. This article reviews the gender literature on small-scale fisheries to elaborate on the gender discrimination on; labor division, accessibility, and power relations, which hinder the sustainability and development process in marginalized communities. Ironically, women often contribute to such discriminatory processes in access and control of resources and decision making thus directly affecting on household and community well being. The article concludes that gender sensitive research can help to ensure that the conditions for achieving the sustainable development goals are met especially in the context of expected global stress on fisheries from climate change and development processes.

Increasing youth participation in livestock production in Kenya

F&BKP Office — Wed, 22 Feb 2017 10:48:40 +0000

This policy briefing (PDF) by IDS focuses on the increasing of youth participation in livestock production in Kenya. Agriculture is a primary source of employment in Kenya. Most employment takes the form of smallholder crop and livestock farming, either as a main or supplementary livelihood activity. In recent years, youth have been found to prefer employment in non-farm livelihood activities to farming, in part due to lack of markets, market information, affordable credit facilities, and land, and a preference for jobs that offer financial security, prestige, comforts of urban life and which avoid the drudgery associated with farming. In order to encourage young people back into livestock production, programmes led by the Ministry of Agriculture and partners need to avoid entrenching existing gender inequalities. Focus also needs to be placed on how the adoption of an agri-business model of smallholder livestock farming could improve profitability and attract young people into this type of employment.

Addressing the challenges faced by rural youth aged 15 to 17 in preparing for and accessing decent work

Ati van der Honing — Sat, 18 Feb 2017 07:45:44 +0000

This meeting report (PDF) by FAO features the results of the expert meeting on Addressing the Challenges Faced by Rural Youth Aged 15-17 in Preparing for and Accessing Decent Work in 2016. The expert meeting contributed to the identification of feasible and effective policies and actions to enable rural youth in this age group to prepare for and access decent work. Through working groups, 45 participants from 30 different countries collectively discussed and drafted problem statements and recommendations. These are compiled in this report. The agenda was organized around three main phases to reach three overarching objectives: 1) preparation for decent employment through education, skills development and life skills; 2) assessment of decent work opportunities in the rural economy, in particular related to agriculture; and 3) factors that enable youth to access decent work in agriculture and rural areas. The expert meeting recommends that awareness raising be carried out with the inclusion of youth, consulting with them and including their voice. Also, the promotion of community involvement is recommended. The high level of vulnerability of this age group requires multi sectoral partnerships, cooperation and dialogue. Additionally human capital should be increased through formal and informal education, including emphasize on agricultural topics in school curricula. Lastly, resources should be channeled towards rural youth aged 15-17 in order to enable them to equally access opportunities including education, information, power, infrastructure, markets, decent jobs, social protection and producers’ organizations.

Coffee and cocoa value chains: Gender dynamics in Peru and Nicaragua

Nynke — Wed, 01 Feb 2017 15:49:54 +0000

This report from CIAT assesses women’s and men’s participation in coffee and cocoa value chains in Latin America in order to identify key considerations and next steps for the development of research, policy and practice on value chain upgrading for enhanced smallholder prosperity. In particular, the report analyzes the differential roles that women and men play and the benefits they perceive from their participation in coffee and cocoa value chains. It also considers the role of producer organizations in limiting or enhancing women’s participation and benefits from coffee and cocoa value chains. The report reviews existing studies of gender and coffee and cocoa value chains in Latin American countries in order to identify principal trends. The paper focuses on Peru and Nicaragua as two country cases. In general, the report demonstrates that while factors such as labor burdens, access to productive resources, and socio-cultural norms can limit women’s participation in and returns from coffee and cocoa value chains in comparison to that of men, varied initiatives have sought to address these restricting conditions via producer organizations. The extent and circumstances of their success in advancing gender equality in coffee and cocoa value chains will be an important area for future analysis.

Women in agriculture: Four myths

Ati van der Honing — Sun, 29 Jan 2017 15:40:27 +0000

This article (PDF) in the journal Global Food Security analyzes four gender myths about women, agriculture, and the environment persist. 1) Women account for 70% of the world’s poor. The main justification is the alleged predominance of poor, female-headed households, but it is not based on individual level data or analysis. 2) Women produce 60 to 80% of the world’s food. The kernel of truth in this myth is that women are important for food security. However, the challenge is how to attribute a share of the food that is produced to women as most smallholder production relies on the labor of both men and women. 3) Women own 1% of the world’s land. The myth embodies the truth that both the legal systems and patriarchal gender norms may prohibit or make it difficult for women to acquire and retain land. When trying to establish the numbers behind this myth, two challenges emerge: what we mean by ownership, formal land ownership amongst women is low, but so is it for men; and how to handle land that is jointly owned by a man and a woman. 4) Women are better stewards of the environment. The problems with this myth are that it relies on a selective reading of the evidence and it treats women as a homogenous group and simplifies the relationship between women and nature. To develop effective policies to promote food security, it is necessary to have appropriate data on women’s and men’s roles in food production and natural resource management and the gendered constraints that they face.

Learning and entrepreneurship in the agricultural sector: building social entrepreneurial capabilities in young farmers

F&BKP Office — Wed, 25 Jan 2017 09:38:01 +0000

This article in the International Journal of Work Innovation, highlights public programs that promote the improvement of the technical and productive conditions of the agriculture sector in Mexico through organisations such as Produce Foundation Puebla (FUPPUE). This organisation has implemented diverse mechanisms oriented to promoting young farmers’ technological and productive capabilities. However in some cases when the FUPPUE leaves them, farmers’ capabilities and performance decrease within a short period of time. This paper explores the learning mechanisms intended to develop new knowledge and capabilities that are expressed in the adoption of entrepreneurial behaviour by young farmers. The argument is that FUPPUE triggers learning. This organisation helps farmers identify their learning needs and coordinates the process of knowledge transfer to develop lasting technological, entrepreneurial and relational capabilities. The methodology consists of an exploratory case study. The case is the project of ‘ranch eggs’ and the unit of analysis is the relationships and activities developed within the project.

Agrarian transformation(s) in Africa: What’s in it for women in rural Africa?

Nynke — Mon, 23 Jan 2017 15:25:23 +0000

This article published in Development argues that while Africa is undergoing agrarian transformation(s) women are not benefiting equally compared to men. Transformations are characterized primarily by policy formulations at both regional and national levels that are primarily pushing for large-scale commercial agriculture, fragmented and excessive individual property rights and Foreign Direct Investments from multi-national agri-business companies. While rural African women in particular are posited as the main beneficiaries of these policies, the picture emerging is that of the privatization of the commons, privileging international, and to some extent local, private commercial agri-business interests over those of smallholder farmers, mostly women. The authors argue that these developments are promoting the rapid destruction of ecosystems and the increase in conflicts and displacements affecting the rural poor.

How to green food systems in a gender-smart way: A matter of insight and smart interventions

Nynke — Thu, 19 Jan 2017 12:55:16 +0000

This paper (PDF) by Groverman & Van der Wees elaborates on the relation between food systems and gender equality building on knowledge, experience and good practices in the field of agriculture, climate change, food security and value chains. The authors argue that since the current food systems poses serious problems of sustainability, a solution should be sought in greening of these systems which refers to investments to improve human well-being and social equity, reduce environmental risks and ecological scarcities. The authors use a model of gender asymmetries (in access to assets, markets, technology etc.) to increase insight into how gender inequality impacts on the functioning of food systems. For every asymmetry, the authors included good practices to address gender imbalances and improve social equity within food systems. Critical for any intervention is that it is grounded in the local culture and social context. That requires institutional capacity of companies, institutes, and organisations involved in greening of the food systems to ensure that needs, priorities, opportunities and constraints of female and male farmers are being considered and that both participate in interventions and development of new practices or chain activities. To address the gender asymmetries presented in the paper, the authors introduce a community-led planning methodology called Gender Action Learning System (GALS). The paper concludes with several interventions that promote a sustainable food system with a strong social equity dimension, in other words, gender-smart greening of food systems.

Developing gender-sensitive value chains

Ati van der Honing — Tue, 10 Jan 2017 11:23:49 +0000

This report (PDF) by FAO tries to facilitate in the systematic integration of gender equality dimensions into value chain development programmes and projects. It raises awareness on gender inequalities and discusses the importance of addressing these dimensions in value chain development, while also building a common approach for work on gender-sensitive value chain development. The report brings together key concepts from value chain development and gender and by providing concrete guiding principles for the integration of gender concerns into value chain development projects and programmes. Despite the many advantages of addressing social inequality, gender dimensions often remain overlooked in agricultural development programmes. Value chain development practitioners may find it challenging to mainstream gender within their work, either because they underestimate or are unaware of the relevance of gender dynamics to value chains, or because they need technical support in translating gender equality objectives into concrete actions in the implementation of programmes. This FAO framework on gender-sensitive value chains aims to respond to this gap and provide technical support to VC practitioners and decisionmakers in developing sustainable and gender-sensitive agrifood value chains. It does this by providing concrete guiding principles for the integration of gender concerns into value chain development projects and programmes (the framework is complemented by the Guidelines for practitioners that provide specific tools to support practitioners in designing, implementing and monitoring gender-sensitive value chain programmes).

The effect of land inheritance on youth employment and migration decisions

Ati van der Honing — Tue, 10 Jan 2017 09:11:16 +0000

This discussion paper (PDF) by IFPRI explores how the amount of land that youth expect to inherit affects their migration and employment decisions in rural Ethiopia. By using panel data from 2010 and 2014 it is found that larger expected land inheritance significantly lowers the likelihood of long-distance permanent migration and of permanent migration to urban areas. Inheriting more land is also associated with a significantly higher likelihood of employment in agriculture and a lower likelihood of employment in the non-agricultural sector. Overall, the results suggest that inheritance strongly influences the spatial location and strategic employment decisions of youth, especially in areas with less vibrant land markets and in relatively remote areas. It also shows that migration or non-agricultural employment is a last resort after exhausting all means of access to land. Furthermore, rural inhabitants tend to diversify sectorally, particularly in areas constrained by land availability, rather than exit agriculture altogether. The findings have broader implications for the development strategies available to Ethiopia. Absent government intervention, the decline in arable land over time may increase youth unemployment and urbanization. In this regard, relaxing policy-induced frictions in the land rental market in the country or otherwise freeing up land for individual use can reduce youth unemployment. Educational campaigns will be crucial to absorb the fraction of youth with limited opportunities for land ownership. Finally, there is a growing need to initiate modernization in the agricultural sector. Agricultural growth will increase rural household welfare, generating the demand for auxiliary services and goods, which landless rural youth can provide.

Towards gender responsive policy formulation and budgeting in the agricultural sector: Opportunities and challenges in Uganda

Nynke — Wed, 04 Jan 2017 15:42:25 +0000

This publication (PDF) from CGIAR-CCAFS focuses on Uganda’s approach towards gender responsive policy formulation and budgeting in the agricultural sector. The publication assesses, through a grading system, the level of gender integration of 83 agri-food policies and strategies at national, district and sub-county levels. The study also draws attention to the way men and women are characterized throughout the policy documents. While Uganda is progressively strengthening the gender component of its agricultural policies and strategic planning documents, a sizable proportion of policy documents remain gender blind. Gender issues in policies are largely equated to “women’s issues”, with women generally portrayed as vulnerable and marginalized by society. These stereotypical characterizations might reinforce gender inequalities and even become counter-productive. For an improved exercise of gender mainstreaming, gender issues in agricultural policies should incorporate men’s, women’s and youth challenges, opportunities, perceptions and preferences. Gender allocations in budgets at sub-county and district level remain low, with fluctuations from year to year and with sharp differences between estimated and actual budgets. The authors recommend the central government to encourage local gender planning processes and increase allocated budgets. Gender activities planned and implemented at district and sub-county level remain largely informative and need to be aimed at gender transformative strategies.

Exploration of cultural norms and practices influencing women’s participation in chickpea participatory varietal selection training activities: a case study of Ada’a and Ensaro districts, Ethiopia

Ati van der Honing — Mon, 19 Dec 2016 09:28:45 +0000

This article (PDF) in the Journal of Gender, Agriculture and Food Security describes the reasons why women in Ethiopian communities did not take up training opportunities. In order to encourage gender equality in delivery of varietal knowledge to male and female farmers in Ada’a and Ensaro districts of Ethiopia, chickpea breeders set a policy that each male farmer would bring along his wife to participatory varietal selection sessions. Women farmers did not attend planned trainings as expected. Using small-n approach, the reasons women in these communities did not take up the training opportunities were explored. Vignettes designed to depict the lives of a typical Ethiopian couple were used to exploring negotiations between husband and wife on ‘participation’ decisions. Short radius of movement, labour burden, sex of extension agents, intimacy and harmony in the home emerge as key factors considered by women. The authors propose dialogue between men, women, the old and the young to initiate transformation of gender relations to cede ‘space for women’, to build capacities to support chickpea production, and agriculture in Ethiopia.

Failing young people? Addressing the supply-side bias and individualisation in youth employment programming

F&BKP Office — Fri, 16 Dec 2016 08:24:21 +0000

This report (PDF) by the Institute of Development Studies (IDS), problematises and critiques some of the currently predominant models for getting young people into work. International development actors increasingly focus on youth employment as a key development challenge. The recognition of high rates of unemployment, underemployment and job insecurity among young people around the world has led to a plethora of youth employment interventions, as well as often problematic discourses about youth ‘dividends’ and ‘bulges’, which instrumentalise young people and paint them as security threats. Examining the current state of play of donor policies, the report critiques the supply-side bias built into the majority of approaches, and aims to advance an understanding of the demand-side and structural constraints. If supply-side approaches are not matched by measures to address these constraints, it argues, interventions risk adversely incorporating young people into the economy. The report also develops a critique of the overall narrow economic and individualistic approach currently adopted, building on the concept of social navigation to understand how young people’s decisions and trajectories regarding work are shaped in reality. Young people are socially embedded: their agency and aspirations are shaped by social values, positions and expectations, as well as by their social relationships and immediate political contexts. Consequently, the report argues that policies need to be de-individualised, both conceptually and practically, to better reflect the real constraints, opportunities and forces that will shape young people’s engagement with work.

Practical Notes: Critical elements for integrating gender in agricultural research and development projects and programs

Ati van der Honing — Thu, 15 Dec 2016 10:52:22 +0000

This paper (PDF), published in the Journal of gender, agriculture and Food security answers the question on how to integrate gender in agricultural research, development projects and programs. Gender integration has become a common topic within research and development circles. Most people now recognize that agriculture research and development must be gender responsive and must address the needs of both men and women, while recognizing and addressing the unequal access to resources and differential levels of productivity between men and women. As a result, organizations have developed strategies to integrate gender in their work and to ensure they are empowering women. More often than not however, most organizations have struggled to identify what the entry points for gender integration might be and how they can make the process more systematic and the integration more meaningful. Many organizations and programs have as a result ended up with gender policies and strategies that are broad, not clear on actions and therefore not implementable. This paper provides four entry points that provide guidance to research organizations or research programs looking for a systematic process for gender integration. Namely; 1) The focus of the research and expected outcomes; 2) Gender sensitive research; 3) Capacity building in gender integration and gender research; 4) Tracking and holding staff accountable for gender outcomes.

Structural transformation to boost youth labour demand in sub-Saharan Africa: The role of agriculture, rural areas and territorial development

F&BKP Office — Mon, 05 Dec 2016 16:00:15 +0000

This paper (PDF) by the International Labour Organization (ILO), explores the opportunities that economic diversification offers to foster structural transformation in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) while absorbing the growing youth labour force and providing them with the requisite skills. The paper focuses on structural transformation and the identification of possible building blocks for boosting youth employment in SSA. The first section details past processes of structural transformation and new challenges. The second section addresses the unique structural situation of SSA, its employment challenges and the enduring importance of the rural labour force. The third section reviews the existing policy options for speeding up SSA’s structural transformation, the limitations of segmented sector-based policies and the importance of reinvesting in multi-sectoral and place-based development strategies. The fourth section considers the rural economy and the need for renewed public policies adapted to the current realities of the region, notably the fading rural–urban divide. This new context requires a better understanding of the underlying processes of change – in particular, the growing pressure on land and natural resources and the consequences for viable agricultural systems. Section 5 concludes with policy recommendations for an inclusive growth process for youth employment. The paper considers that African youth are the key to the “African equation” and represent a major opportunity for SSA’s structural transformation. Because the replication of past transformation pathways is impossible, African civil societies, governments, entrepreneurs and youth have to invent a new development model, based on an inclusive and green development process for sustainable cities and rural areas. Achieving this new model will require political leadership, strong stakeholder engagement, and continuous research and evidence building to better understand what works to improve the labour market outcomes of youth.

Investing in women along agribusiness value chains

Ati van der Honing — Tue, 15 Nov 2016 15:06:18 +0000

This report (PDF) by the International Finance Corporation (IFC) of the World Bank calls upon the private sector to invest in closing gaps between men and women in agribusiness, in each stage of the value chain. The IFC sees potential benefits from closing gender gaps for companies. Due to the challenges the agribusiness sector will face in the coming years, there is a need to seize new ways of increasing the productivity and efficiency of agribusiness value chains. One solution to the challenges is to improve women’s access to assets, enabling them to fully participate in all aspects of agribusiness. The report focuses on four different stages of the value chain: 1) Input provision (provision of seeds and fertilizers, for example); 2 Production; 3) Post-harvest processing and storage; 4) Transportation, sales, and marketing. For each stage in the value chain, the report identifies potential benefits from closing gender gaps through reviewing women’s contributions and constraints and providing recommendations for the private sector. For example, gender-smart solutions in transportation, marketing, and sales include buying from and paying women directly; building on women’s strengths in indigenous, local, and organic crops; marketing investments in gender-smart solutions; and supporting investment climate reforms. The business rational is that this will lead to: concentrated supplier networks; transparent and reliable supply chains; and new markets for agricultural goods. The report outlines solutions for the private sector in every stage of the value chain, demonstrates the business rationale for making gender-smart investments, and presents best-practices.

Smallholder rural youth farming in Kiambu County, Kenya

F&BKP Office — Mon, 14 Nov 2016 13:58:03 +0000

This study (PDF) in the Journal of Culture, Society and Development aimed at highlighting age, gender participation and the role of literacy in small scale farming among the trained youth in Kiambu County, Kenya. The study population comprised trained agri-business young rural farmers aged 21 to 35 years who farmed on no more than 0.75 acres of land resident in Kabete Constituency. The authors show that a large majority (53%) of the trained youthful rural farmers had attained at least form four level of education compared to 40% of them who had college or University levels of education. These findings confirmed that guaranteed literacy among trained rural youthful famers in Kiambu County, Kenya was high (93%), an indicator for the likelihood of effective and successful farming. Over two-thirds (67.4%) of the rural youthful small-scale farmers in Kabete Constituency in Kiambu County, Kenya, has access to financial credit services compared 26.7% who did not have access and 5.9% who had not made up their mind about access to credit services. The rural youthful farmers had above average access to credit services in the study area, further the study established that slightly less than half (46.5%) of the farmers accessed their capital from their families through inheritance, 36% made savings and 17.5% accessed loans. Post-harvest challenge was the most prone challenge among youth framers and smallholder farming in Kabete constituency had improved lives of youths. To concluded, smallholder farming was offering a wide potential for rural youths by creating employment, encouraging savings, reducing food expenses and encouraged self-reliance among the youth. The study recommended review of agricultural policies that will accommodate the youth’s representation and protection of environment that supports farm. Also recommended is adoption of ICT in agricultural practice in Kenya.

The importance of gender in policy processes related to the right to food: The cases of Senegal and Togo

Nynke — Wed, 09 Nov 2016 11:35:14 +0000

This report in french (PDF) from the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) of the United Nations elaborates on the importance of gender in policy processes related to the right to food. The purpose of the study is to identify potential entry-points for the development of activities on the right to adequate food in both countries. It analyses the importance of gender issues in key dimensions of national policy and legislative processes currently ongoing and that are considered viable opportunities to initiate or strengthen the implementation of the Right to Food Guidelines at country level. The study provides an overview of some key areas where women are generally discriminated against, that influence the realization of the right to adequate food in West Africa and explores the importance of gender issues in political and legal processes related to the right to adequate food for each country. It concludes by focusing on positive experiences that could be scaled-up and concrete opportunities to further integrate gender components that will contribute to the realization of the right to adequate food in Senegal and in Togo.

Summaries of the cases of Senegal (PDF) and Togo (PDF) in french are also available. The FAO has also published a similar case study on Cambodia in May 2016 (PDF).

Farming for the Future: three ways to rethink youth livelihoods in the agriculture sector

F&BKP Office — Wed, 02 Nov 2016 15:13:54 +0000

In this blog, Grace Mwaura questions the nature of livelihood opportunities that young people are being encouraged to pursue and their implications for the future. Increasing the number of (young/new) farmers will address an immediate need for employment and food security in Africa; but it will also illuminate the systemic challenge concerning the future of farming. In this blog, she highlights three key issues around the narrative of enticing young people into agriculture: the ecological footprint, the markets, and the policy incentives. Her argument is that, in addition to real incomes and enhanced capabilities, youth opportunities in the agriculture sector must also contribute to ensuring that the agricultural landscapes remain resilient to the changing environment. At the heart of national and regional policy reforms to achieve the needed transformations, is the need to prioritise safeguarding the sovereignty of local farmers, their seeds, and their land resources; establishing agricultural processing and manufacturing industries so that more young people are absorbed across the agriculture value chains; and enhancing rural infrastructure to facilitate distribution, access and affordability even in the most remote areas of Africa. According to Mwaura, our attention should focus then on whether indeed our efforts to increase employment opportunities in agriculture align with our overall vision of sustainable development.

Involving men in nutrition

Ati van der Honing — Tue, 25 Oct 2016 11:53:45 +0000

This note (PDF) by GFRAS argues that it is important to include men in nutrition initiatives to turn around food discrimination. Men often have priority when it comes to food: they may eat before everyone else and enjoy the most nutritious food. Women and children can be left with smaller portions and less nutritious meals. This exposes women and girls to a range of harmful physical and emotional health outcomes. When women face food discrimination on a national scale, the human capital of the nation is put at risk. Integrating men in nutrition initiatives helps turn this situation around. By virtue of their power and privilege, men are in a prime position to tackle malnutrition in their own homes and in the broader community. In many households and communities, men make key decisions about what to grow and which animals to raise. They often decide what to sell, how much to store, and what foods to buy. However, many initiatives target women and girls, and ignore men. Women may learn a lot from courses on good nutrition, but excluding men means that women may not be able to act on their improved knowledge. Men may feel angry because their own nutritional needs are ignored.

Young people and agriculture in Africa: A review of research evidence and EU documentation

Ati van der Honing — Wed, 19 Oct 2016 08:50:54 +0000

This report (PDF) by IDS presents the results of a desk-based study to assess the available research evidence in relation to African young people’s engagement with agriculture, and to analyse how this evidence is reflected in current European Union (EU) policy and programming in Malawi, Ethiopia and Kenya, three of the 89 countries in which Alliance2015 members work. With the aim of stimulating constructive dialogue and debate with the EU and member states in Europe and in countries in Africa, the study sought to address four main questions: 1) Are rural young people in Africa turning their backs on agriculture?; 2) What does the research evidence say about young people’s attitudes toward and engagement with agriculture?; 3) How is this evidence reflected in Europe’s current policies and programming in the selected A2015 countries?; and 4) What alternative approaches to policy and programming are suggested by the evidence? The research finds that young people do not figure prominently in the EU’s policy and programmes in Malawi, Ethiopia and Kenya. It will be important to reflect on whether, how and in what situations the EU’s strong orientation toward economic growth, market-based approaches and broadly applicable principles and frameworks are appropriate in relation to the structural transformation agenda. Furthermore, the authors state that the available evidence provides no clear answer to the question of whether an increasing proportion of young people is turning their back on agriculture. Although, many studies point towards the opposite direction. They suggest that further research along these lines should be a high priority as it would be very beneficial to understand much more about how different groups of young people in different rural areas imagine their futures, and their strategies for moving toward those imagined futures. The relatively strong evidence around the research–technology–productivity nexus and issues around access to land suggest that youth should continue to be a central focus, even though they cannot (and should not) be framed or justified as a ‘youth specific’ policy or programme focus. There is a strong argument that until and unless the deep structural issues that are at the heart of these chains are addressed successfully, much of the more youth-specific programming will remain largely irrelevant.

“As a husband I will love, lead, and provide.” Gendered access to land in Ghana

F&BKP Office — Tue, 11 Oct 2016 08:19:40 +0000

This paper (PDF) in the World Development Journal, argues that gender relations are more than the outcomes of negotiations within households. It explains the importance of social norms, perceptions, and formal and informal rules shaping access to land for male and female farmers at four levels: (1) the household/family, (2) the community, (3) the state, and (4) the market. The framework is applied to Ghana, using the results from qualitative field work. Norms on household and family organization and on men’s and women’s responsibilities and capabilities play a key role in gendered allocation of resources. However, these norms and perceptions are dynamic and evolve jointly with the development of markets and changes in values of inputs such as labor and land. Theoretical models that represent the gendered distribution of assets as the result of intrahousehold bargaining should be revised, and extrahousehold factors should be included. From a policy perspective, laws that ensure gender equality in terms of inheritance and a more gender-equitable distribution of property upon divorce can play a key role in improving women’s property rights. Yet, their impact may be limited where customary rights dominate and social norms and rules continue to discriminate according to gender.

Transforming gender and food security in the Global South

Nynke — Sun, 09 Oct 2016 09:37:47 +0000

This book (PDF) published by Routledge and the International Development Research Centre (IDRC) provides empirical evidence and conceptual explorations of the gendered dimensions of food security. It investigates how food security and gender inequity are conceptualized within interventions, it assesses the impacts and outcomes of gender-responsive programs on food security and gender equity, and addresses diverse approaches to gender research and practice that range from descriptive and analytical to strategic and transformative. The chapters draw on diverse theoretical perspectives. One chapter focuses on women’s participation in food marketing as traders of forest foods in Cameroon instead of the more traditional focus on agricultural production and farming. Another chapter focuses on rural indigenous fishing communities in Bolivia and uses a gender transformative approach to identify strategic entry points to leverage positive change. But the book also delves into the gendered adoption of technology in Eastern Kenya and links between nutrition and agriculture in Malawi. Other case-studies are from Sri Lanka, Nepal, India, Ethiopia, and Tanzania. The report adds important conceptual and empirical material to a growing literature on the challenges of gender equity in food production. An unique feature of this book is the integration of both analytic and transformative approaches to understanding gender and food security. The transformative chapters also document efforts to build durable and equitable relationships between men and women, addressing underlying social, cultural, and economic causes of gender inequality. Taken together, these combined approaches enable women and men to reflect on gendered divisions of labor and resources related to food, and to reshape these divisions in ways which benefit families and communities.

The gender dimensions of global value chains

Nynke — Wed, 05 Oct 2016 13:02:21 +0000

This report (PDF) from ICTSD elaborates on the gender dimension of global value chains since policy makers are increasingly turning to global value chains as a means of driving development, generating employment and raising incomes. However, the access and benefits from participation value chains are closely related to gender issues and opportunities are different for men and women. This results in gender-based segregation and constraints that exist to different degrees in all societies. Without a focus on these inequalities, the effectiveness of trade and development policies can be hindered. According to the authors, taking gender issues into account and addressing them is critical to harness the potential for global value chains to contribute to both sustainable economic and social goals. This paper seeks to integrate gender into the global value chain framework, to assess the gender dimensions of integration and economic and social upgrading in global value chains, and to offer global value chain related policy recommendations that support economic and social development.

Gender dimensions on farmers’ preferences for direct-seeded rice with drum seeder in India

F&BKP Office — Mon, 03 Oct 2016 09:05:29 +0000

This study (PDF) by the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI), measures the willingness of male and female farmers to pay for climate-smart technology in rice. Rice is the most important crop in India in terms of area, production,and consumption. It is also the biggest source of greenhouse gas emissions among all crops. Direct-seeded rice (DSR)with drum seeder, a climate-smart technology, requires less labor and water and is more climate friendly than transplanted rice; yet, its adoption is slow in India. The authors of this study carried out a discrete choice experiment with 666 farmers from the Palghar and Thane districts of Maharashtra to measure their willingness to pay for drum seeders—a key piece of equipment for adopting DSR. Both male and female farmers were surveyed to capture the heterogeneity in their valuation of the key attributes of drumseeders. Although both male and female farmers prefer cheaper drum seeders, the marginal valuation of different attributes of the drum seeder varies by the farmers’ gender. The authors also used the Women Empowerment in Agriculture Index (WEAI), developed by IFPRI, to collect self-reported data on the role and say of women in agriculture. The respective gender roles in the family and on the farm seem to explain some of this difference. Men have a greater say over how the family spends the cash. Accordingly, men tend to have a higher willingness to pay for attributes that increase income (increase in yield) or reduce cash costs (reduction in the seedrate). Women contribute a large share of the labor for transplanting rice, much of whichis unpaid work on family farms. Not surprisingly, therefore, women seem to value labor saving significantly more than their male counterparts. Further, theWEAI data show that although men in the family have more say, women do have an influence on decisions regarding crop production and the adoption of new technologies,to an extent. Therefore, to enhance the adoption of drum seeders, the product designers and extension workers should also target women.

Assessing gender inequality in food security among smallholder farm households in urban and rural South Africa

F&BKP Office — Wed, 28 Sep 2016 09:15:57 +0000

This study in the World Development Journal, extends existing knowledge on household food (in)security by assessing gender inequality among smallholder farm households in urban and rural areas of South Africa. In doing-so, the authors use the gender of the head of household and treatment effects framework. With the ongoing changes in climate, household food insecurity is likely to be more widespread in most smallholder and subsistence farm households in sub-Saharan Africa. However, the existence and extent of gendered household food security—or lack thereof—remains unclear. The results show that male-headed households are more food secure compared to female-headed households, with the latter depending more on agriculture to increase household food levels. They further find that the household food security gap between male- and female-headed households is wider in rural than in urban areas, where rural male- and female-headed households are more likely to report chronic food insecurity, i.e., are more likely than their urban counterparts to experience hunger. Interestingly, the effects of climatic characteristics on household food security are more apparent in rural than in urban areas. Their findings suggest that household food security initiatives are likely to be more effective, in closing the gender gap in household food security, if aligned with policies on urban and rural agriculture and development.

Agrifood youth employment and engagement study

F&BKP Office — Thu, 22 Sep 2016 08:45:15 +0000

This report (PDF) by the Michigan State University examines the potential of Sub-Saharan Africa’s agrifood systems to provide new jobs for unemployed, underemployed and disadvantaged youth. It identifies constraints affecting the capacity of youth to take up economic opportunities. According to the report, Sub-Saharan Africa’s agricultural sector is rapidly changing and can be a key driver of youth employment and economic transformation. Two analytical tracks generate insights and guidance on cost-effective strategies and programmatic entry points most likely to improve employment options and livelihoods for disadvantaged African men and women. Chapters 2 and 3 analyze economic mega-trends for Rwanda, Tanzania and Nigeria and projects how economic changes, specifically farm structure and dietary transformations, will affect future job prospects for rural and urban African youth. Chapters 4 and 5 examine the economic and policy environment affecting youth engagement with the agrifood system, assesses the supply and demand for related workforce training and perceived gaps, and distills best practices and lessons learned related to youth economic programming. Based on the results of this study, the authors offer recommendations for youth-related programming in Rwanda, Tanzania and Nigeria, such the development of youth employment programming that focuses on the food manufacturing and horticulture sectors, which are expected to generate high quality jobs for youth and women. A policy brief can be found here.

This article by ECDPM summarizes some of the insights of this report.

Gender-based constraints and opportunities to agricultural intensification in Ethiopia

Ati van der Honing — Tue, 20 Sep 2016 07:11:56 +0000

This literature review (PDF) by the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) provides a holistic perspective of the stock and interaction between the capitals required by men and women farmers for effective engagement in agricultural intensification in Ethiopia. Although land reform has enhanced women’s access to land, participation in decision-making and asset control are yet to be achieved. Female-headed household farm sizes are smaller compared to those of male-headed households and they possess less livestock. Women work longer hours compared to men, affecting their decisions to adopt time and labour intensive technologies. Due to cultural norms, there are discrepancies in access to information, extension services and credit. This lowers women’s access to farm inputs to invest in irrigation, soil fertility and land improvements. Women have lower membership to farmer-based organizations. When this would be higher, women can achieve economies of scale in access to markets, build confidence, and leadership. The Ethiopian government has plans to develop the agricultural sector and gender equality is one of the pillar strategies. Policy enforcement, transformation of gender constraining norms, gender capacity development, development of women’s social capital, increasing women’s access to and control over resources and benefits from their investment will minimize the inequalities.

Also see this article in the Community Development Journal that explores the factors of enhancing or constraining women’s access to resources required to participate and benefit from small ruminant value chain activities in Ethiopia.

Gender inequality in agrifood systems in Latin America and the Caribbean

F&BKP Office — Mon, 05 Sep 2016 08:28:45 +0000

In this study by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) (spanish only), the value chains of cassava (Belize), quinoa (Bolivia), corn (Guatemala) and the regional cultivation of cotton are examined from a gender perspective, to enhance their sustainability. The FAO study notes that participation of women is more pronounced in activities that involve time and physical effort, such as planting, weeding and harvesting. According to FAO, the strategic integration of the gender perspective in national agrifood systems can lead to a substantial improvement in the competitiveness of markets, particularly those where women can offer their products without the intervention of intermediaries. The gender perspective applied to value chains can recognize the different roles assumed by women and men in the various links in the production chain and their impact on countries agrifood systems.

Assessing the future of agriculture in the hands of rural youth in Nigeria

F&BKP Office — Tue, 30 Aug 2016 09:12:51 +0000

This study (PDF) in the International Journal of Agricultural Extension examined the perception of rural youths toward Agriculture as a profession in Nigeria. Data for the study were obtained through interview and structured questionnaires administered to one hundred and twenty respondents. Findings revealed that majority of the respondents (81.7%) were between 15 – 25 years. However, only 2.5% of the respondents were into farming while many of them engage in various types of business. The findings further showed that majority of the respondents were secondary school leavers and this accounts for 40%. Although 80.8% of the respondents were of the opinion that farming can be considered as business but still have a negative perception about farming as a profession. Many considered that farming work is tedious and does not bring daily income, agriculture is for old people, making a choice of career in agriculture is tantamount to choosing to be poor. Access to loans, land, infrastructures, etc. also indicated negative perception of respondents in the study area. Based on these findings, it is recommended that land should be made available to rural youths; it will still be of good advantage if the government can help in the provision of farm machineries and basic social amenities like adequate water supply, good electricity, good road network linking rural-urban areas so as to facilitate efficient marketing of agricultural products.

Women in non production roles in agriculture: A literature review of promising practices

Nynke — Sun, 21 Aug 2016 08:55:01 +0000

This review of literature (PDF) published by USAID reveals that there are many opportunities to increase women’s economic empowerment beyond interventions focused on production. While there is a wealth of information related to women’s economic empowerment through production, there is limited available data related to best practices and promising approaches for women’s empowerment at other value chain levels. This literature review aims to fill this knowledge gap by examining approaches to empower women or increase their incomes in four phases of the value chain outside of production: input and service provision, post-harvest handling, processing, and the marketing of agricultural goods. Overall, projects at all four value chain levels tended to direct women’s empowerment efforts and activities through producer groups or cooperatives. The review states that there is evidence that interventions have successfully generated social and economic gains for women by working through producer groups of varying sizes. This literature review points to quite a few good practices that generate positive socioeconomic impacts for women. These include the creation or strengthening of women’s groups; strategies to increase women’s participation in mixed groups; technical trainings for women; the provision of post-harvest or processing technology for women; collective marketing; and the inclusion of specific gender trainings in post-production interventions. The review focuses on three specific value chains: maize, groundnut, and horticulture (defined as fruit and vegetable production). Projects span the continents of Africa, Asia, and Latin America.

Gender differences in climate change perception and adaptation strategies: A case study on three provinces in Vietnam’s Mekong River Delta

Nynke — Thu, 18 Aug 2016 16:18:01 +0000

The info-note (PDF) from CGIAR-CCAFS presents insights on current climate change perceptions and adaptation strategies and gaps between male and females farmers in three selected provinces across the Mekong River Delta (MRD) in Vietnam. Perceptions of climate change in Vietnam do not appear to be individual but rather dis-aggregated at the household level or possibly at the landscape level. The findings of the study affirm that there is no gender imbalance in terms of awareness and understanding of climate change issues between male and female rice farmers in the MRD. However, this study finds differences in the coping and adaptation strategies between male and female. Also, since the perceived impacts of stress by male and female respondents are quite similar, this may indicate that stress is managed at the household level rather than at the individual level. The authors recommend that further gender research in Vietnam should focus on adaptation and coping strategies during climate change stress as it appears that gender differences are most present in this area. In addition, they recommend to include spatial analysis in future climate change studies, since challenges related to climate change faced by individual households are likely to be the same challenges as their neighbors.

Can better technology lure Asia’s youth back to farming

Ati van der Honing — Thu, 18 Aug 2016 09:40:17 +0000

This Article is about the Asian Development Bank (ADB)’s Food Security Forum from June 22 to 24 at the ADB headquarters. There, food and agriculture experts said that farming and agriculture may not seem cool to young people, but if they can learn the thrill of nurturing plants to produce food, and are provided with their favourite apps and communications software on agriculture, food insecurity will not be an issue. According to the experts youth can make a great impact on the agricultural sector as many young people today are educated and will appreciate the future of food and the environment. With 750 million young people aged 15 to 24, Asia and the Pacific offer a huge potential of youth. However, as the study: ‘A Viable Future: Attracting the Youth to Agriculture’ (PDF) of the Asian Farmers Association for Sustainable Rural Development (AFA) shows, at this moment most youth is stimulated to migrate to cities or overseas as most families associate farming with poverty. To make the agricultural sector more attractive, emphasis at the forum was also put on the plight of farmers. They are mostly older in age, dwindling in numbers and remain one of the most marginalised sectors in every society. Globally, farmers have been neglected, and in the Asia Pacific region, they are the poorest.

Intervention guide: for the women’s empowerment in agriculture index (WEAI)

Ati van der Honing — Fri, 12 Aug 2016 10:54:43 +0000

This Intervention Guide for the Women’s Empowerment in Agriculture Index (WEAI) (PDF) by USAID provides guidance to donors and implementers of agricultural market development programs on how to translate into practice the evidence and insights gained from the WEAI survey results. The WEAI was developed as a direct measure of economic empowerment and gender parity at the individual and household levels. The guide assists practitioners in selecting and designing evidence-based interventions that are the most relevant to the domains of empowerment prioritized in the WEAI, using a market systems and gender-responsive approach. The guide begins with an overview of the WEAI and some of its recent evolutions and then outlines when practitioners should use the guide in the project life cycle. Next, readers will find an overview of the inclusive market systems and genderresponsive approaches that form the foundation of the suggested interventions, followed by specific techniques for how to operationalize market facilitation and communication techniques to implement the proposed interventions. The guide then presents the interventions, which are organized in five domains of empowerment. This is the second edition of this guide. It has been updated to include more examples of how to implement the interventions, gender analysis questions, social and behavior change communication techniques.

Gender, climate change and agriculture

Nynke — Thu, 04 Aug 2016 13:27:14 +0000

This special issue of Gender Technology and Development explores gender-based disparities in resource access and its contribution to uneven production levels between men and women. As farmers continue to develop methods of climate change adaptation, unequal access to resources could prevent women from adapting at the same pace as their male counterparts. Findings presented in the special issue demonstrate that providing women with engagement opportunities and adaptation resources will greatly reduce the variance in agricultural productivity between men and women, which currently range from four to 25 percent globally. For instance, research shows that in comparison to men, women have limited access to irrigation, information and communication technologies (ICTs), and extension services. Furthermore, the available agricultural technologies do not take into account the specific needs of women. Technologies that focus on large-scale agricultural enterprises, for instance, are often not appropriate for women, who are more likely to be in charge of smaller plots of land. The issue contains articles on the role of mobile phones to improve climate information services in a gender-inclusive manner; the importance of of the role of men in households and communities when improving food security and building adaptive capacity; on the possibly negative impact of gender-sensitive climate change adaptation technologies on traditional gender roles.

Adressing women’s work burden: Key issues, promising solutions, and way forward

Nynke — Thu, 28 Jul 2016 10:27:50 +0000

This factsheet (PDF) from FAO, IFAD and UNIDO discusses women’s triple work burden in the household, as producers and at community level. The competing demands linked to this triple role make women time poor. This affects their quality of life and decision making, puts their health at risk and prevents them from taking full advantage of economic opportunities through engagement in income generating activities. The factsheet also introduces good practices, like labor saving technologies (for example, water wheels), community managed multiple use water systems (MUS) and energy multi platforms. The last page shows how the approaches of FAO, IFAD and UNIDO can be complementary when tackling this triple work burden of women.

Effects of rural-urban youth migration on farm families in Benue state, Nigeria

F&BKP Office — Fri, 22 Jul 2016 08:08:01 +0000

The study (PDF) in the International Journal of Agricultural Research, Innovation and Technology aimed to determine the effects of rural-urban youth migration on farm families in Benue state, Nigeria. Data was collected trough interviews from a sample of 80 respondents. Results indicate that majority (76.3%) of the respondents were males, middle aged and married. Major causes of rural-urban youth migration indicated by the respondents include inadequate employment opportunities in rural areas, search for better education, inadequate social infrastructure such as schools, poor medical care services in rural areas, looking for money through labour, apprenticeship programme, etc. Findings of the study also indicate that reduction of agricultural labour force, low agricultural productivity, high cost of labour, reduction on demand for locally grown foods, decrease in dependency ratio in the rural areas, reduction on number of mouths to feed, among others were major effects of ruralurban youth migration among farm families. The study recommends that Nigerian government should provide adequate physical and social infrastructure in rural areas in order to encourage youths to remain in agriculture, reduce rural-urban youth migration as well as sustain agriculture for enhanced food security.

How much of the labor in African agriculture is provided by women?

Ati van der Honing — Fri, 15 Jul 2016 14:32:46 +0000

This article (PDF) by the Worldbank Group is a product of the “Agriculture in Africa—Telling Facts from Myths” project. It challenges the common knowledge of the contribution of women in Africa’s agricultural. The contribution of women to labor in African agriculture is regularly quoted in the range of 60–80%. Using individual, plot-level labor input data from nationally representative household surveys across six Sub-Saharan African countries, this study estimates the average female labor share in crop production at 40%. It is slightly above 50% in Malawi, Tanzania, and Uganda, and substantially lower in Nigeria (37%), Ethiopia (29%), and Niger (24%). There are no systematic differences across crops and activities, but female labor shares tend to be higher in households where women own a larger share of the land and when they are more educated. Controlling for the gender and knowledge profile of the respondents does not meaningfully change the predicted female labor shares. The findings question prevailing assertions regarding substantial gains in aggregate crop output as a result of increasing female agricultural productivity.

Gender integration in research: So where do we start?

Nynke — Mon, 11 Jul 2016 11:40:13 +0000

This blog on the website of the Journal of Gender, Agriculture and Food Security elaborates on the practicalities of integrating gender in research. Most people recognize that agriculture research and development must be gender responsive and must address the needs of both men and women, while recognizing and addressing the unequal access to resources and differential levels of productivity between men and women. However, the question often remains of where and how to start integrating. The author, Jeminah Njuki, presents four entry points that provide guidance to research organizations or programs that want a systematic process for gender integration. These entry-points are: 1) start with a good understanding of the needs and aspirations of both men and women smallholder farmers, fisher folk and/or consumers; 2) ensure that there are equal opportunities for men and women in research; 3) build capacity in gender awareness and gender research methods; 4) track and hold staff accountable for gender outcomes.

Africa’s structural challenges can’t be solved by “youth innovation”

F&BKP Office — Mon, 04 Jul 2016 14:49:35 +0000

Discussions around young people in Africa often hold them to be particularly innovative. The hope is that the next generation, if supported properly, will solve the continent’s problems through innovation and entrepreneurship. Ideally, such claims, which play an important part in policy, should be supported by solid evidence. In this blog, IDS experts challenge the current discourse around youth employment challenge in sub-Saharan Africa, as it is commonly stated that young people are innovative, and in some respects, more innovative than older people. The authors suggest that the centrality of the claim that youth and innovation are tightly linked reflects how dominant ways of thinking have painted development policy into a very tight corner. They challenge policy makers to step away from assumptions and to build up young people’s capabilities.

Promoting gender-transformative change with men and boys

Nynke — Thu, 30 Jun 2016 09:05:24 +0000

This publication (PDF) from Promundo-US and CGIAR is a manual showcasing 13 activity-based group sessions to spark critical reflection on harmful gender norms with men and boys in aquatic agricultural systems. While a lot of workshops on gender focus on empowering women, this manual focuses on involving men and boys and their role in enforcing gender-transformative change. The sessions focus on understanding the ways in which power and gender inequalities perpetuate poverty and harm overall well-being; taking action to create more inclusive environments for women in aquatic agricultural development; promoting shared financial and household decision-making between partners; increasing negotiation and communication skills via cross-gender dialogue; promoting men’s involvement in care work; and understanding how to stop cycles of violence, including economic violence. The manual also contains guidelines and recommendations for facilitation of the sessions. At the end of the manual, there is a tool to guide facilitators in the development of community-based campaigns, should group members wish to take action following the completion of their participation in the group.

Global gender and environment outlook: The critical issues

Nynke — Wed, 29 Jun 2016 13:05:53 +0000

The first Global Gender and Environmental Outlook is a report (PDF) from the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) that presents an overview of critical evaluations and analyses of the interlinkages between gender and the environment. It shows their importance for gender-sensitive policy-making and actions and provides an overview of existing knowledge on these subjects. The report looks in different chapters at the gender aspects of food production and security, water and sanitation, energy, sustainability, fishing, forestry and at cross-cutting issues, like climate change, conflict and health. The Outlook concludes with an agenda for transformational change and highlights the need for gender-disaggregated data and the gender dimension of sustainable development and policies. A transformative agenda should ensure, among others, that existing environmental an gender commitments are met by governments; that adequate funding is and resources are devoted to implementing gender-sensitive environmental policies; that women’s organisations are supported, and that men and boys are included into the gender-and-environment conversation.

What do we mean by ‘women’s crops’? A mixed methods approach

F&BKP Office — Mon, 20 Jun 2016 09:40:21 +0000

This ICRISAT study (PDF) aimed to revisit this issue of gender and commercialization of crops. They developed a ‘women’s crop tool’ that measures how much control women have over different crops. This tool was used to compare women’s perceived level of control at different stages of commercialization and to compare the perceptions of men and women regarding women’s control. The study reveals interesting insights from both a methodological point of view and in terms of outcomes on strategic, operational and financial control between women and men over 4 crops in Eastern Zambia. The mixed method of quantative household surveys and focus group discussions yielded starkly different results, which are discussed. And mechanization of groundnut shelling and greater commercialization did pull in male labor, but women did not perceive a loss of operational or financial control, although men challenge that. ‘The power to name’ plays an important role in household and community perceptions of power, as do gender roles, cultural norms and conjugal contracts in a balancing act for women.

Agricultural transformation and agribusiness in Africa: how can jobs for women and youth be created?

F&BKP Office — Mon, 13 Jun 2016 11:50:41 +0000

In preparation for a side-event on the African Development Bank (ADB) annual meetings, the INCLUDE Platform launched a series of one pagers on Africa’s agricultural transformation and how it can be made inclusive for women and youth. This one pager introduces the concepts of agricultural transformation and agribusiness and identifies the key challenges in making both inclusive. The series of one pagers assess how an inclusiveness lens can best be applied. It does so in the form of four briefs on the most pressing issues of inclusive agribusiness: 1) Job opportunities for youth in Africa’s agricultural transformation (in collaboration with the F&BKP); 2) What works to empower women in agriculture; 3) The role of inclusive value chains for women and youth in Africa’s agricultural transformation; 4) The importance of social protection for Africa’s agricultural transformation. The series concludes with the one pager ‘A policy agenda for inclusive agricultural transformation in Africa’, containing INCLUDE’s recommendations for an inclusive policy agenda on Africa’s agricultural transformation. Important conclusion from the one pager is that it remains to be seen if agribusiness will be the panacea for Africa’s agricultural transformation. More importantly, can agribusiness lead to inclusive transformation, as structural transformation and inclusive development do not always go hand-in-hand, particularly if a lens of inclusiveness is not applied. Inclusive development and wellbeing need to be incorporated into goals for agricultural transformation, particularly as agricultural transformation is more likely to be successful when focused on inclusiveness.

What do we mean by ‘Women’s crops’? Commercialisation, gender and the power to name

Nynke — Thu, 09 Jun 2016 13:37:48 +0000

This article in the Journal of International Development gives a nuanced analysis of changing gender roles in the commercialization of “women’s crops”. The authors explore the relationship between commercialization and gender for groundnuts in Eastern Province, Zambia, using a mixed methods approach. Women saw themselves as having greater control over groundnuts than other crops, and both sexes saw groundnuts as controlled by women. Machine shelling and higher sales did not reduce women’s perceived level of control over groundnuts. On the other hand, women welcomed greater male participation in machine shelling because it reduced the drudgery of shelling by hand, and were willing to trade some control in exchange for the male labor required to capture the full benefits from commercialization. The authors argue that this suggests the need to re-think the narrative of commercialization and gender as a zero sum game in favor of a cooperative-conflict model where bargaining between women and men can result in higher incomes for them both.

Should we stop talking about “youth”?

F&BKP Office — Thu, 09 Jun 2016 07:39:33 +0000

Youth and young people are becoming a hot topic among development donors and actors. But who exactly do these “labels” apply to, and are they too broad for effective policies? Or do they create too narrow a focus which is blind to larger structural issues? In this blog by IDS, Philip Mader argues that the term “youth” implies a homogeneity which could lead to misinformed policy decisions. Focusing on “youth” rather than the bigger structural or systemic issues which affect everyone – such as climate change, adverse markets or class-based exploitation could exacerbate problems. Mader argues that it would be good if development policymakers and practitioners develop a keener eye for the variegated issues which diverse young people in different countries face. Furthermore, the youth lens on development problems also entails risks, thus good policies will involve not just employing the concept of “youth”, but will also disentangling and problematize it.

Determinants of changes in youth and women agricultural labor participation in selected African countries

F&BKP Office — Wed, 01 Jun 2016 12:36:09 +0000

This paper by Eugenie W. H. Maiga was prepared for presentation at the 2016 Agricultural & Applied Economics Association Annual Meeting, Boston, Massachusetts, July 31-August 2016. This paper investigates the determinants of changes in youth and women participation in agriculture by using data from the Living Standards Measurement Surveys-Integrated Surveys of Agriculture (LSMS-ISA). Participation in the agricultural labor force is measured using hours per week in agriculture and change in hours worked per week in agriculture between two survey waves for Nigeria and Uganda. Ordinary Least Squares and Tobit methods are used to estimate the model. The findings suggest that age is a strong determinant in hours worked per week in agriculture in Nigeria but not in Uganda. For both countries, age does not seem to have an impact on changes in hours worked per week in agriculture by the youth or by women. Nigerian men work more hours per week in agriculture than women while the opposite is true for Uganda. Education, gender, rural residence, and non-agricultural wage income strongly affect hours worked per week in agriculture.

Gender analysis training for EKN projects report

Nynke — Mon, 30 May 2016 15:56:04 +0000

This report (PDF) of an expert meeting initiated by AgriProFocus in cooperation with Dutch embassy in Ethiopia, highlights the importance of gender analysis in each stage of a (development) program/project. It also provides a practical four-step approach to integrate a gender analysis in projects. The workshop focused on analysing the sesame value chain, however, the lessons learned can be more broadly applied. The last appendix provides guidelines to carry out gender-sensitive value chain mapping. This tool is easy to replicate and use.

Innovative and inclusive finance for youth in agriculture

F&BKP Office — Mon, 23 May 2016 14:30:45 +0000

This chapter “Innovative and inclusive finance for youth in agriculture” (PDF), was contributed by CTA as part of the 2015 Africa Agriculture Status Report. This chapter focused on analysing youth access to credit, savings, insurance or other forms of financing to promote their entrepreneurship drive. It starts with a brief review of the challenges preventing young agripreneurs from accessing needed finance. It went further to assess the current state of financing available to youth in agriculture, observing that financing youth in agriculture is already happening. Authors summarized their analyses and recommendations into five key points: 1)Links between young entrepreneurs in agriculture and formal financial institutions need to be strengthened by improving youth’s financial literacy and the capability of institutions to assess agricultural sector opportunities; 2) Better metrics can drive better policy – African governments should produce and share reliable statistics on youth employment in agriculture and their financial inclusion; 3) Young agripreneurs, having fewer assets, will benefit from forms of finance that do not require fixed collateral, such as contract farming, leasing, warehouse receipt finance or factoring. Governments and international development organizations should encourage such forms of finance through blending and guarantee schemes; 4) Crowdfunding platforms offer opportunities to young African entrepreneurs, including in agriculture, and governments should remove all barriers that prevent them from operating properly, including for equity and loan financing; and 5) A scarcity of venture capital firms (including the mentoring services that they provide) hampers African young entrepreneurs, including in agriculture, in developing and scaling up their businesses. Development organizations should continue to scale up their support for challenge funds and impact investing to fill this critical gap in the market. Leveraging on these recommendations could help governments and development organisations working with young people in agriculture to facilitate increased youth engagement in agriculture and unleash their entrepreneurship drive.

Delving deeper into the agricultural transformation and youth employment nexus: The Nigerian case

Babs — Mon, 16 May 2016 10:39:51 +0000

This working paper by IFPRI aims to critically analyze the youth unemployment situation in sub-Saharan Africa as a whole and in Nigeria in particular and to delve deeper into the potential that agriculture has for job creation for youth. In Section 2 the authors provide an overview of the youth unemployment situation globally and in Africa, followed in Section 3 by a review of the literature on the role agriculture plays in job creation. In Section 4, the dynamics of unemployment and job creation in Nigeria are reviewed. In Section 5 recent initiatives in Nigeria on this front are discussed. The concluding section of the paper discusses some policy recommendations emanating from the analysis for Nigeria of youth employment in agriculture. One of these recommendations is that in order to transform the agricultural sector to create jobs that youth aspire to engage in, there is a need to incorporate well-structured training appropriate for imparting the skills needed by youth employed along agricultural value chains.

A crop of one’s own? Women’s experiences of cassava commercialization in Nigeria and Malawi

Nynke — Mon, 09 May 2016 15:07:24 +0000

This article (PDF) in Agri-Gender Journal of Gender, Agriculture and Food Security elaborates on women’s experiences and the benefits from cassava commercialization. Improving the effectiveness of agricultural markets for economic growth and poverty reduction has been a central focus for development initiatives, particularly in Sub-Saharan Africa. Staple crops with low input requirements and drought tolerance, such as cassava, are being promoted for market development due to their accessibility for poor smallholder farmers. Narratives often equate commercialization of cassava to benefits for women. However, little is known about whether or how women can engage with new cassava commercial opportunities and the livelihood outcomes from this, particularly given the importance of cassava for food security. Findings from fieldwork in Nigeria and Malawi identify cassava value chains that offer different opportunities and challenges for women, which are often overlooked in agricultural development narratives. Women can gainfully participate in new commercial cassava opportunities while maintaining, if not increasing, food security. However, this is highly dependent on gender norms and household relations. Greater attention is required to these more difficult aspects of gender analysis in development projects to ensure women’s integration and benefit from agricultural markets.

Rural women’s participation in producer organizations: An analysis of the barriers that women face and strategies to foster equitable and effective participation

Nynke — Sun, 01 May 2016 11:33:02 +0000

This review paper (PDF) in Journal of Gender, Agriculture and Food Security analyzes the factors that hinder women’s participation in producer organizations, and identifies and documents good practice that can be applied by agricultural research and development institutions. In the last decades, participation in producer organizations has become a key principle of development, enabling people’s empowerment, inclusiveness, and facilitating democracy. However, studies show that women and youth often remain excluded from participation and leadership roles, decision-making processes and services. This review identifies several factors as major barriers for women’s participation, including: socio-cultural norms; women’s double burden and triple roles; women’s status, age and previous membership in organizations; access to assets and resources; educational level; organizations’ rules of entry, and; legal and policy environment. It provides strategies for strengthening women’s participation in producer organizations at the household, producer organisation, and policy level. At the household level, strategies to improve individual capabilities and intra-household relations were assumed crucial for promoting women’s participation and leadership. At the producer organizational level, strategies to ensure that the structures and governance mechanisms are more gender sensitive, and promote inclusion, are crucial. Equally important are policies for promoting gender-sensitive producer organizations. The paper also provides a summary of lessons, good practices and lists more strategies for strengthening women’s participation in producer organisations on different levels.

Gender, assets, and agricultural development

Nynke — Fri, 29 Apr 2016 15:14:16 +0000

This article (PDF) in the World Development Journal elaborates on how ownership of assets by women could positively influence the development outcomes at the household and individual levels. The research draws lessons out of eight mix-methods projects that evaluated the impacts of agricultural development projects on individual and household assets. The projects were done in seven countries in Africa and South Asia. The results show that assets both affect and are affected by projects, indicating that it is both feasible and important to consider assets in the design, implementation, and evaluation of projects. All projects were associated with increases in asset levels and other benefits at the household level; however, only four projects documented significant, positive impacts on women’s ownership or control of some types of assets relative to a control group. Of those projects only one project provided evidence of a reduction in the gender asset gap. The quantitative and qualitative findings suggest that greater attention to gender and assets by researchers and development practitioners could improve outcomes for women in future projects.

Gender, agriculture and water insecurity

Nynke — Thu, 28 Apr 2016 10:29:08 +0000

This report (PDF) published by ODI links gender to agriculture and water insecurity, using desk research and two case studies in Malawi and Ethiopia. The report explains how and why improved water management on the farm matters for women and girls, and what can be done to better support opportunities for them, as well as for men and boys, in the face of climate change. Rural female farmers are becoming increasingly vulnerable to climate variability and water insecurity. Thus, policy and programme implementation for water insecurity must consider social norms around gender and other drivers of inequality. Too often, policies and programmes on agricultural water management are gender blind and don’t consider women’s unique needs and experiences. The authors identify three areas where gender-focused programming needs to address the unique vulnerabilities of women to water (in)security: 1) Women are often at the pinch point of water-related tasks in the home and on the farm, with pressure intensifying around seasonal periods of scarcity in many developing countries; 2) Compared to men, women may have less access to or control of assets that can be used to buffer against the effects of rainfall variability; 3) Women often have fewer opportunities to pursue off-farm work or migrate to urban areas as a temporary coping strategy for seasonal food and income shortages, or for shortages caused by droughts and floods.

Bringing gender analysis and resilience analysis together in small scale fisheries research: Challenges and opportunities

Nynke — Tue, 12 Apr 2016 10:09:54 +0000

This working paper (PDF) from the University of East Anglia scrutinizes the challenges and opportunities for bringing a gender analysis together with an analysis of social-ecological resilience in the context of policy-orientated small-scale fisheries research. The authors argue that whilst the analysis of social-ecological resilience has made valuable contributions to integrating social dimensions into research and policy-making on natural resource management, it has so far demonstrated limited success in effectively integrating considerations of gender equity. They argue that gender analysis and the analysis of social-ecological resilience have divergent epistemological and methodological underpinnings and show how these have shaped the progress in social-ecological resilience analysis in addressing gender, as well as the progress of gender analysis in addressing social-ecological resilience. The authors conclude that rather than searching for a single unifying framework for gender and resilience analysis, it will be more effective to pursue a plural solution in which closer engagement is fostered between gender analysis and resilience analysis whilst preserving the strengths of each approach. The authors believe that fostering constructive debate between analyses of gender and social-ecological resilience has the potential to generate a richer understanding of the ways in which gendered power relations mediate social-ecological resilience.

Innovate for agriculture: Young ICT entrepreneurs overcoming challenges and transforming agriculture

Nynke — Fri, 01 Apr 2016 15:52:59 +0000

This report (PDF) from CTA demonstrates how young agro-entrepreneurs across the developing world are tackling some of the value chain’s most substantial challenges through using information communication technologies (ICT). The authors argue that when it comes to building a more efficient and equitable value chain, the potential impact of ICTs is more than incremental; it is catalytic. One reason for this is that through having better access to information, farmers can save time and faster access the information they need to support their work. An increasing number of young innovative entrepreneurs in African, Caribbean and Pacific countries are developing ICTs for agriculture solutions to support agricultural value chains. In this way they are providing employment and livelihood opportunities. The report showcases different initiatives that use ICT to improve production, access to finance and access to markets. In the whole report 30 young innovators are introduced from countries including Barbados, Botswana, Cameroon, Côte d’Ivoire, Kenya, Nigeria, Uganda, Jamaica, Senegal, Tanzania. The publication presents a multidimensional picture of the emerging field of ICT entrepreneurship in agriculture in developing countries. It describes challenges, successes stories and presents recommendations from youth on how to start and maintain ventures.

Is agriculture the answer to the Africa youth unemployment challenge?

F&BKP Office — Fri, 01 Apr 2016 07:37:25 +0000

Is agriculture the sector of opportunity for youth in sub-Saharan Africa? That was the question that was asked as part of a debate for the Mastercard Young Africa Works Summit in November 2015. Dr. Nteranya Sanginga – Director General International Institute of Tropical Agriculture and Jim Sumberg from the Institute of Development Studies (IDS), highlighted the pro’s and cons of this debate. Jim Sumberg presented four reasons to be cautious:

There is a significant gap between, on the one hand, the characteristics of the agricultural sector that a recent book – “Youth Employment in Sub-Saharan Africa” (pdf) – indicates would be required to support high levels of young employment; and on the other hand, the actual characteristics of African smallholder farming today.
The discourse, and much of the programming meant to encourage young people into agriculture, fails to acknowledge the diversity that is evident between rural young people and rural areas.
In the enthusiasm to promote agriculture as a sector of entrepreneurial opportunity for young people, it is not altogether clear that sufficient attention is being given to the qualities of the work and employment that are likely to be on offer.
There is evidence that suggests that the futures that rural young people imagine for themselves are not the same as the vision of futures that are embedded in the policy and programmes that promote youth employment in agriculture

Other sessions of the Summit focused on private sector engagement, multistakeholder involvement and the including of the entire value chain as well as science, innovation and ICT. Key takeaways from the Summit included that agriculture can be more than a subsistence activity for young people, providing they have access to training, financial services and access to markets. It was reasoned that it is the conditions that determine whether young people will be able to establish and maintain sustainable livelihoods in the sector.

Unleashing potential: gender and youth inclusive agri-food chains

Babs — Mon, 28 Mar 2016 14:08:17 +0000

SNV Netherlands Development Organisation and the Royal Tropical Institute (KIT) have partnered to address youth- and gender-inclusive value chain development. This working paper provides a basis for SNV-KIT collaboration on gender and youth inclusive value chain development as well as offering inspiration and food for thought to others engaging on these issues. The paper looks at the changing ‘who’ in agriculture and challenges related to inclusive agricultural value chain development. The authors use a gender lens to specifically focus on women and young people’s challenges and potential opportunities in the agricultural sector. It is argued that inclusion is an active process and that harnessing excluded group’s potential using a market-savvy approach, can produce better results in agricultural value chains to meet current and future food and nutrition needs as well as provide livelihoods for the people involved. Part 1 addresses gender aspects to the question of ‘who’ is the farmer of tomorrow and provides background on gender dynamics in agriculture. Part 2 conceptualises youth in this sector. Part 3 looks at the intersection of youth and gender and how a gender lens sheds light on inclusion. Part 4 lays out the SNV-KIT partnership’s approach to inclusive value chain development for unleashing potential of young women and men. It looks at how value chain inclusion efforts can be more robust and nuanced. The paper’s concluding remarks focus on how value chain development can be more effective and equitable by engaging with gender, generational and power dynamics.

Food security, gender and resilience: Improving smallholder and subsistence farming

Nynke — Thu, 24 Mar 2016 15:14:08 +0000

This book published by Routledge focuses on how food security and resilience can improve smallholder and subsistence farming and how integration of gender can accommodate this. Through the integration of gender analysis into resilience thinking, this book shares field-based research insights from a collaborative, integrated project aimed at improving food security in subsistence and smallholder agricultural systems. The scope of the book is both local and multi-scalar. The gendered resilience framework, illustrated with detailed case studies from semi-arid Kenya, is shown to be suitable for use in analysis in other geographic regions and across disciplines. The book examines the importance of gender equity to the strengthening of socio-ecological resilience. Case studies reflect multidisciplinary perspectives and focus on a range of issues, from micro-finance to informal seed systems. The book’s gender perspective also incorporates consideration of age or generational relations and cultural dimensions in order to embrace the complexity of existing socio-economic realities in rural farming communities. The issue of succession of farmland has become a general concern, both to farmers and to researchers focused on building resilient farming systems. Building resilience here is shown to involve strengthening households’ and communities’ overall livelihood capabilities in the face of ongoing climate change, global market volatility and political instability.

The way forward: Accelerating gender equity in coffee value chains

Nynke — Thu, 17 Mar 2016 15:39:44 +0000

This report (PDF) from the Coffee Quality Institute tries to respond to key concerns related for addressing gender equity in coffee supply chains and aims to share learning on challenges and best practices. It proposes recommendations for individual companies, public-private partnerships and the coffee industry as a whole, to create a foundation for industry-wide collaboration towards a more resilient coffee supply chain through greater gender equity. An estimated 25 million smallholder coffee farmers produce 80 percent of the world’s coffee. Women do much of the work on smallholder coffee farms, however, despite their contributions they are often excluded from decision-making processes and have less access to resources (land, credit, agricultural inputs, training, information, and leadership opportunities). While some efforts have been made within the coffee industry to address gender equity and women’s empowerment, they are not widespread and systemic. Much more can be done by adapting existing policies, practices, and projects to become more gender aware and equitable, and by investing in programs to improve gender equity. This practical guide provides guidelines, discusses the enabling factors and proposes next steps for partnerships.

Youth employment in sub-Saharan Africa: Taking stock of the evidence and knowledge gaps

F&BKP Office — Tue, 01 Mar 2016 14:21:41 +0000

This scoping paper (PDF) is one of a series jointly commissioned by Canada’s International Development Research Centre (IDRC) and the MasterCard Foundation. The paper provides an overview of the youth employment challenge in sub-Saharan Africa. It gives context on the overall economic and employment climate in the region, and takes stock of what is known — and not known — about youth employment specifically. It summarizes existing interventions to expand employment and livelihood opportunities for African youth, and identifies research that could address policy-relevant knowledge gaps. The paper highlights that most young Africans work in agriculture and much of the region’s poverty is concentrated in this sector. With the majority of youth work in farming, meaningful improvements in their livelihoods will require a focus on productivity and innovation in agriculture. An important policy recommendation is that low levels of educational achievement and skills gaps limit the employment prospects for many young people. So, in addition to job experience, various types of skills development programs, from second-chance education to technical training, are important. Furthermore, the authors stress that context matter: the nature of employment challenges differs across the region, which means that policy priorities must vary as well. This paper highlights priority areas for further research, including a better understanding of school-to-work transition and youth employment dynamics.

A future in coffee: Growing a new generation of coffee professionals

F&BKP Office — Tue, 01 Mar 2016 08:09:19 +0000

A new generation of coffee professionals is urgently needed. Over the last decade, organisations in various parts of the world have launched projects to increase the number of youth involved in the coffee sector. Some have been extremely successful, generating benefits that extend far beyond the coffee sector into social, economic and psychological welfare. These projects provide clear insights that can be applied in many other sectors and can potentially transform the coffee production sector. This publication (PDF) by Hivos summarizes 5 case studies worldwide on good practices how to involve youth in the coffee sector, and comes up with successful strategies that attracted young people back to the coffee sector. In each of these studies, the pivotal element attracting young people was education and training, both for women and men. Once this was facilitated, participants experienced the benefits in terms of productivity in their fields, and progressed to training others as well. The most successful initiatives broadened their focus from farming to all aspects of the value chain. The interventions did not limit themselves to agricultural training. They focused on wider areas of empowerment within the community, such as leadership development, provisions of social necessities and even creative work. This combination of foci seems to have translated into a major source of general support for the young people.

Gender, nutrition, and the human right to adequate food: Toward an inclusive framework

Nynke — Thu, 18 Feb 2016 16:25:54 +0000

This book published by Routledge links the themes of gender, nutrition and the human right to adequate food and proposes an inclusive food sovereignty framework. The authors argue that the human right to adequate food and nutrition are evolving concept and identifies two structural “disconnects” that fuel food insecurity for a billion people, and disproportionally affecting women, children, and rural food producers. These are the separation of women’s rights from their right to adequate food and nutrition, and the fragmented attention to food as commodity and the medicalization of nutritional health. Three conditions arising from these disconnects are discussed: structural violence and discrimination frustrating the realization of women’s human rights, as well as their private and public contributions to food and nutrition security for all; many women’s experience of their and their children’s simultaneously independent and intertwined subjectivities during pregnancy and breastfeeding being poorly understood in human rights law and abused by poorly-regulated food and nutrition industry marketing practices; and the neoliberal economic system’s interference both with the autonomy and self-determination of women and their communities and with the strengthening of sustainable diets based on democratically governed local food systems. The book calls for a social movement-led reconceptualization of the right to adequate food toward incorporating gender, women’s rights, and nutrition, based on the food sovereignty framework.

Are there nutritional trade-offs in increasing women’s time in agriculture?

Nynke — Mon, 15 Feb 2016 16:29:15 +0000

This blog on AgriLinks from the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) elaborates on the linkages between women’s engagement in farming and nutrition within rural households. Many studies have shown that one way to improve nutrition among rural households is to increase women’s engagement in farming since increasing women’s control of food production and their power to make decisions, leads to better nutrition for their families. However, increasing women’s time in agriculture may also have adverse effects on their own and their families’ nutrition, taking time away from nutrition-improving domestic work such as preparing food, feeding, childcare, collecting water and firewood, and engaging in good hygiene and sanitation practices. Using time use and nutrition data from Bangladesh, Cambodia, Ghana, Mozambique, and Nepal, the author argues that there is a difference between asset-rich and asset-poor households. When women in poor households sacrifice domestic and cooking work to other tasks, the quality of their diet—and that of their children—suffers. However, in non asset-poor households, children’s dietary diversity was less sensitive to changes in women’s time in cooking or domestic chores. The author concludes that those designing agricultural interventions should assess the gender roles in agricultural and domestic work, including identifying who controls what in the agricultural process to avoid unintended consequences on nutrition.

Youth employment in Sub-Saharan Africa: Challenges, constraints and opportunities

Nynke — Mon, 15 Feb 2016 12:26:13 +0000

This article in the Journal of African Economies provides an overview and analysis of youth employment in Sub-Saharan Africa. While many refer to the youth employment problem as the ‘youth unemployment problem’, unemployment is not high in low-income sub-Saharan Africa (3%) or in middle-income countries outside of Southern Africa. Since jobs remain elusive in the formal wage sector, youth have found innovative ways to express and exploit their talents and capabilities in the agriculture and household enterprises (informal sector). Jobs in the formal sector remain unstable, since African economies have failed to transform structurally from low productivity agriculture to higher productivity non-agricultural sectors. This can not only impact employment but also food and nutrition security of youth. Given the large numbers of youth entering the labor market each year, and the weak structural transformation of most African economies, the informal sector will remain a major employer of youth, particularly the less skilled and less educated. The author argue that therefore policy thinking across Africa needs to change. According to them it is imperative that policy makers make concerted efforts to raise productivity (and thus earnings) in the informal sector, rather than continue to focus exclusively on the formal wage sector. The authors recommend that policy makers need to learn from, and work with the youth to enable scalability of certain youth initiatives.

Africa’s got work to do: A diagnostic of youth employment challenges in Sub-Saharan Africa

Nynke — Wed, 03 Feb 2016 08:54:17 +0000

This article in the Journal of African Economies provides a macroeconomics analysis of the youth employment problem in the low and lower middle income countries of Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). While concerns about youth employment are often voiced, the discussions tends to lack context due to the absence of labor market data and analysis. This article tries to reduce this gap through analyzing macroeconomic changes and indicators in SSA. It concludes that youth unemployment is just a subset of the overall employment challenges in SSA. This stems, according to the authors, from the slow pace of the demographic transition combined with slow development of a modern, export-oriented enterprise sector. This leaves the majority of youth entering the labor market no employment options, except for household farms or firms. Since in these segments, earnings and productivity are usually low, it has resulted in a large gap between the aspirations of youth and the economic opportunities available. More recognition of these realities in the labor market and of the limited prospects for major change, could bring better focus to current youth employment strategies and guide the directions for public and private interventions. The authors argue that strategies should focus on productivity and earnings in the sectors where most of the labor force works, instead of just concentrating on the urban wage employment sector.

Youth in agribusiness within an African agricultural transformation agenda

F&BKP Office — Mon, 01 Feb 2016 08:01:22 +0000

The International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA), The Technical Centre for Agricultural and Rural Cooperation (CTA) & The International Labour Organizattion (ILO) prepared a background paper for the Feeding Africa conference of October 2015. The paper highlights several challenges in involving youth in agribusiness, such as access to credit and land, skill sets, involvement in policy dialogue, accessing green jobs, technical and business opportunities and mindset change. Furthermore, some specific challenges are mentioned for ICT support of rural youth in Africa. The greatest barrier to the adoption of ICTs by young farmers and agro-entrepreneurs in Africa is the associated costs. Furthermore, the enabling environment is mentioned as a critical factor in the involvement of youth in agribusiness. Nevertheless, clear opportunity exists for directing African youth toward agribusiness, and if done in an inclusive manner, to profound societal and economic benefit. Many mechanisms toward this goal are being examined by several research, development and investment interests. The next critical step is to develop a comprehensive program that forges widespread commitment and partnership, combining these approaches in an effective manner and delivering cost-effective opportunities to youth for profitable agribusiness development. This paper describes several projects which aim to address the role of youth in rural transformation. In addition, the authors stimulate the development of a special program to promote youth in agribusiness. This program should include: 1) skills and capacity development; 2) agribusiness development; 3) youth networking; and 4) program management and coordination.

Bringing agriculture and nutrition together using a gender lens

Nynke — Thu, 21 Jan 2016 16:41:16 +0000

This paper (PDF) from the Royal Tropical Institute (KIT) and SNV is a background paper to the Nutrition and Gender Sensitive Agriculture (NGSA) Toolkit. The paper refers to the current discussions on linking food and nutrition security at program level. It looks at the discussions from a gender lens, and how this demands for a different way of program planning. It shows the need to plan programs based on knowledge of the current realities of men and women in a particular context and time. To facilitate this kind of program planning, the toolkit promotes an integrated approach to understand under-nutrition through linking different sectors -namely agriculture, nutrition, WASH- using a gender lens. The toolkit uses qualitative methods and allows for the development of a common approach, while at the same time providing insights for developing context-specific interventions. Therefore, the added value is that methods can be applied and adapted to any context, but may lead to tailor-made interventions. The toolkit is primarily intended for use by field staff engaged in designing, planning and implementing nutrition-sensitive agriculture programmes. The online toolkit consists of eight steps, each providing key questions to consider at different stages of program development, and each including an appropriate combination of data collection, analysis, and community consultation methods. The overall approach is highly participatory, and all steps work towards a community action plan.

Women forging change with agroecology

Nynke — Thu, 21 Jan 2016 14:33:18 +0000

This issue (PDF) of Farming Matters presents stories about women from who forge positive change through agro-ecology on their farms and in their communities. While around the world women leverage change in their communities using agroecological approaches, only little has been written about it. This issue of Farming Matters presents stories and analyses of agro-ecology as a strategy for women to create safe, healthy and just societies. The issue features expert opinions of Pablo Tittonell and Hanny van Geel, but also displays stories from women’s leaders in Asia and Africa, from women working with System of Rice Intensification (SRI) and showcases several agro-ecology initiatives of women in Nepal, Tanzania, Ecuador and Congo. It also includes an article with recommendations for policy-makers to ensure smallholder farmers -especially women- participate in decision-making and can ensure their priorities are reflected in appropriate agricultural policies. In the different articles the links between women empowerment, agro-ecology and food security are paramount.

Looking for greener pastures: African youth and their future jobs

F&BKP Office — Thu, 21 Jan 2016 09:44:34 +0000

In this blog post on the INCLUDE platform, Marije Balt from Springfactor elaborates on youth moving to urban areas and explores programmes and plans of donors to invest in job creation in Africa’s largest sector, agriculture. The blog highlights a number of obstacles faced by young people wishing to engage in agriculture, such as the stigma surrounding agriculture as a lifestyle and source of livelihood, restricted access to land, irrelevant education, inability to handle risk and poor access to finance. She mentions that much of the 70% of African youth who are currently in rural areas are expected to migrate to cities in the next decades, but are unlikely to find decent jobs there. Hence, there certainly is a logic behind focusing on the food security-agriculture-employment nexus as reflected in the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG). The ceating of jobs of the future in rural Africa requires a comprehensive approach. Such an approach should investigate why governments have failed to create investments country-wide, address why youth have been excluded from (not only economic) opportunities and determine whether or not resources such as arable land and water for irrigation will run out in the next decade. It should also investigate if the jobs are actually out there, both in rural areas and the urban areas youth are heading to. More interventions in urban areas are needed to better integrate and transition these young city migrants for services, manufacturing or trade – which might well be in agricultural products. These interventions should draw on specific skills sets of young migrants. Such comprehensive approaches, both in rural and urban areas, in agriculture and other sectors, can help youth in Africa find decent work and stop looking for the proverbial greener pastures elsewhere, Balt concludes.

The future of youth in agricultural value chains in Ethiopia and Kenya

Nynke — Thu, 14 Jan 2016 08:06:18 +0000

This report (PDF) from Fair & Sustainable and AgriProFocus elaborates on how increased youth involvement in the agricultural value chain can improve food security and diminish youth unemployment. The study assesses where in the farming systems and the agricultural value chain youth is present and tries to understand the perspectives of youth towards agriculture. The study identifies the conditions that influence the involvement of male and female youth in maize and potato value chains in Ethiopia and Kenya. The authors conclude that organisations need to look beyond statistics to determine who ‘the youth’ really are in the context of their society. The authors argue that in general low income, limited availability of land and finance, lack of education and training, negative perceptions, inadequate infrastructure and market access cause youth not to be involved in the agricultural sector. Therefore the authors believe that to include youth in agriculture, efforts need to be aimed at these topics. However, the local context and the inter-relatedness of different topics needs to be taken into account. The authors also created a ‘dashboard’ that shows the six conditions, and gives indicators for each of these conditions. When the dashboard is filled in, it gives the practitioner an overview in one page on which conditions score well, and which ones need improvement. Based on this mapping, organisations, governments and others, can start looking for domains of intervention.

Youth in livestock production: Key to the actualization of the agricultural transformation agenda

Nynke — Mon, 11 Jan 2016 13:09:21 +0000

This article (PDF) in The Journal of Animal Production Research elaborates on the involvement of youth in livestock production as key to the actualization of the Agricultural Transformation Agenda (ATA) in Nigeria. It scrutinizes the socio-economic role of livestock, the state of Nigerians livestock industry, youth involvement in livestock production and the constraints young people face to get involved in livestock production. The authors provide solutions to ensure the active participation of youth in livestock production. For example, young people should have sufficient access to knowledge, information, and education; they should have access to land, adequate financial service and markets; and, they should be involved in policy dialogue. The authors believe that addressing these factors will prove vital to increasing youth’s involvement in the agricultural sector, most especially in the area of livestock production. While the article focuses specifically on the case of Nigeria, the recommendations presented could also apply to other developing countries that struggle with youth unemployment in agriculture and that want to create opportunities for youth in livestock production.

African rural women hold the key to climate change resilience

Nynke — Fri, 18 Dec 2015 15:24:39 +0000

This report (PDF) by the African Biodiversity Network, The Gaia Foundation and Africa Women’s Development Fund shows the central role of African rural women within agricultural systems and their contribution to diversity, climate change resilience and nutrition. The report focuses on the role of women in knowledge systems of seeds and the challenges they face from agri-business practices and seed monopoly laws. It elaborates on how the complexity of this knowledge has evolved through women’s relationship with land and seed, and their understanding of the nutritional and cultural needs of the family and community. The report highlights how more corporate-driven policies in seed and agriculture, embraced by most African governments, are challenging women’s position in agriculture and their access to seeds. The harmonisation of seed law in Africa seems to favor a select group of corporation and disregard rural women’s role as custodians of seed, land and livelihoods. The report demonstrates that women are able to rebuild resilience through reviving and enhancing their seed and food diversity and their knowledge systems. The authors also appeals for urgent action to support women community leaders and conserve the knowledge they have. Also, they suggest a stronger link is needed between social movements and rural women to ensure their positions are defended.

Enhancing the potential of family farming for poverty reduction and food security through gender-sensitive rural advisory services

Nynke — Fri, 18 Dec 2015 14:55:32 +0000

This paper (PDF) of the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations (FAO) elaborates on the role of gender-sensitive rural advisory services (RAS) in addressing gender inequalities. RAS programmes have often fallen short of expectations to design and implement relevant services to help rural women and men achieve food security and generate more income. This paper is based on an examination of a broad selection of existing literature on gender-sensitive RAS. It looks at gender-differentiated barriers in access to RAS and challenges of effectively targeting women family farmers when delivering these services. Examples of good practices are provided that have been successful in responding to women farmers’ specific requirements in supporting their economic empowerment. The paper provides recommendations on what can be done to improve the gender-sensitivity of RAS. It offers a reflection on actions needed to ensure that good practices and lessons learnt translate into the design and provision of demand-driven and gender-sensitive RAS for improved food security and poverty reduction.

Toward solutions for youth employment: A 2015 baseline report

F&BKP Office — Thu, 17 Dec 2015 10:06:48 +0000

The is a report (PDF) by Solutions for Youth Employment (S4YE), a multistakeholder global coalition established to improve youth access to work opportunities. It is intended to set a baseline for youth employment trends, research and analysis, actions, and knowledge in line with S4YE’s agenda and comparative advantage. Part I of this report lays down a quantitative contextual baseline. Part II of this report sets an evidence and knowledge baseline to inform further research and programmatic strategy. Part III of this report includes an initial inclusion baseline for understanding, monitoring, and examining inclusion by first exploring gender, conflict and fragility, and spatial dynamics, and considering disability while recognizing that other minority groups or segments of youth also have distinct needs worthy of attention. The report highlights that agriculture remains the dominant source of youth employment. In rural areas, endless demand and rising crop and commodity prices create profitable opportunities for youth to engage in agriculture. However, land scarcity and weak or lacking land rights, are hindering youth from engaging in agriculture; and lack of access to loans and leases also prevent youth from obtaining their own land. At the same time, the concentration of people, business, government, and information creates distinct opportunities for urban youth. While there is no doubt economic dynamism afforded by the density in cities, young people may not be poised to capitalize on innovative and inclusive potential that this concentration can bring. These dynamics create disparities in labor market outcomes between urban and rural youth. More rigorous evaluations are needed to understand the impact of youth employment programs for both rural and urban young people. An important conclusion is that since most youth are active in either nonfarm employment or are self-employed in agriculture, stimulation of the agricultural market is critical for boosting youth unemployment in poor, rural areas.

Addressing Africa’s youth employment and food security crisis: The role of African agriculture in job creation

Nynke — Thu, 10 Dec 2015 12:56:04 +0000

In this knowledge sharing interview (PDF), the former president of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, H.E. Olusegun Obasanjo, discusses the critical factors responsible for food insecurity and youth unemployment in sub-Saharan Africa. He argues that there are numerous actions that governments could take to address obstacles for youth to get involved in agriculture. He believes that removing these obstacles can prevent both massive youth unemployment and food insecurity in Africa. His recommendations are that policymakers should ensure agriculture provides the lifestyle and status that young people desire and expect. In addition, the land tenure system needs to be modernized and conducive finance and reasonable interest rates for agricultural loans need to be arranged. Also, hard and soft infrastructure needs to be provided to promote agribusiness and value addition to agriculture produce. Policymakers should also promote and develop successful young farmers as role models for other youth. He also concludes that agricultural policies should be strategic and sustainable and not change with every new government.

Youth employment and agriculture in Sub-Saharan Africa

Babs — Tue, 01 Dec 2015 13:03:37 +0000

This expert opinion of David Suttie on the INCLUDE Knowledge Platform, highlights the role that agriculture can play in tackling the youth unemployment challenge in Sub-Saharan Africa. Suttie states that integrating the dynamism, energy and innovative potential of youth in agriculture is crucial to increase agricultural productivity in Sub-Saharan Africa, to meet the food and nutrition needs of its population, and to increase the competitiveness of African food markets. Young people, especially women, face significant constraints related to access to land, financial services and training. Therefore, investment in smallholder farming is crucial to tackle such constraints and to increase the attractiveness of agriculture to young people according to Suttie. Much good practice and knowledge in these areas already exists and documenting, scaling-up and adapting these holds much promise. But a more inclusive and youth-sensitive institutional and policy environment is needed, where growth is broad-based and job rich, inequality reduced and the young people of today are presented with viable opportunities to drive a modern agriculture capable of feeding Africa.

Developing the knowledge, skills and talent of youth to further food security and nutrition

Babs — Wed, 18 Nov 2015 15:37:28 +0000

This report by CFS; FAO; IFAD and WFP (PDF) provides case studies from different regions, that set out the challenges, successes and lessons learned relating to the development of knowledge, skills and capacity for youth in agriculture. The case studies cover the areas of peer-to-peer knowledge transfer, vocational training and skills development, and education systems and research. The case studies presented demonstrate the significant benefits of investing in developing the capacity of young women and men to enhance food security and nutrition. The report also highlights the challenges of rural deficits in basic education which constrain the productive potential of young women and men and underline the need to enhance the access and relevance of basic rural education. The authors conclude that in order to respond to food security and nutrition challenges in the coming decades, developing the capacity of young rural people to engage in modern and inclusive food value chains will be indispensable.

How to enhance youth employment in Africa

Babs — Wed, 18 Nov 2015 11:22:07 +0000

This short movie on CNBC Africa focuses on how to enhance youth employment in Tanzania. Agriculture is a very important job creator in Tanzania, which has an unemployment rate of around 12 per cent. However youth unemployment is much higher and this applies to most of the continent. CNBC Africa’s Thomas Maree spoke to Awadh Milasi from SNV Netherlands Development Organisation on strategies to enhance youth employment.

Cultivating equality: Delivering just and sustainable food systems in a changing climate

Nynke — Thu, 12 Nov 2015 13:56:23 +0000

This report (PDF) from Food Tank, CARE International and the CGIAR Research program on Climate Change, Agriculture, and Food Security (CCAFS) shows how inequality determines diets around the world and shapes the ability of farmers to adapt to climate change. Inequality determines who eats first and who eats worst, and how this shapes people’s ability to adapt to climate change. The report argues that solutions around food production are not enough, and demands more dialogue and action to address inequality in food systems. The report concludes with recommendations to actors like governments, private sector, donors and individuals: 1) prioritize women’s empowerment and integrate climate change in all approaches to food and nutrition security; 2) ensure small-scale food producers and women are included in policy decision-making on budgets; 3) commit to ambitious actions to tackle the climate crisis; 4) commit to scaling up of finance to address hunger and climate change; and 5) respect the rights of small-scale food producers and women.

Supporting women farmers in a changing climate: Five policy lessons

Nynke — Tue, 10 Nov 2015 14:12:24 +0000

This policy brief from CGIAR (PDF) tries to focus attention to women farmers in changing climates. Agriculture is one sector that will be particularly hard hit by a changing climate and to respond and adapt to global climate change, agricultural producers (particularly those in developing countries) will need to embrace new, more sustainable technologies and practices. However, when it comes to discussing climate-smart agricultural practices, one group often seems left out: women. The policy brief presents five key policy recommendations to better address women’s roles in both agriculture and climate change adaptation. These range from adapting new technologies and practices for climate change to women’s interests, resources and demands, to recognizing women’s capacities as farmers and innovators. The report concludes that in order to meet all of these recommendations, gender needs to be better integrated into climate change and agricultural policies across all levels, from local community groups to international governing bodies. Women’s needs and priorities need to be taken into account in the design of such policies, and monitoring and assessment of gender inclusion in agriculture need to be stepped up.

The cost of the gender gap in agricultural productivity

Nynke — Mon, 09 Nov 2015 11:38:11 +0000

This concise report (PDF) by UNWomen estimates the monetary value of the gender gap, its associated costs and the effectiveness of certain policies and interventions in agricultural productivity. The report focuses on the countries Malawi, Tanzania and Uganda. However, the analysis can be replicated by policy makers from other countries since the methodology and data used to quantify the costs of the gender gap and to determine to what extend different factors contribute to the gender gap are aptly presented in two Appendices. While women comprise a large proportion of the agricultural labor force in Sub-Saharan Africa (30-80%), they are consistently found to be less productive than their male counterparts. Women tend to have unequal access to key agricultural inputs, like labor, knowledge, fertilizer and improved seeds. The study provides further evidence that reducing the gender gap could translate into significant poverty reduction and improved nutritional outcomes. The report provides a unique quantification of the costs in terms of lost growth opportunities and an estimate of what societies, economies and communities would gain were the gender gaps in agriculture to be addressed. The authors estimate that the gender gap amounts to US$100 million in Malawi, US$105 million in Tanzania, and US$67 million in Uganda per year. The report also provides guidance as to the factors that must be targeted in order to close the gender gap by improving opportunities for women farmers. It concludes with a set of general policy recommendations on how women’s empowerment, agriculture productivity and economic growth can be addressed in an integrated manner and thereby contributes to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals at the national level. The report is accompanied by a policy brief (PDF) and also presented as a poster (PDF).

Agricultural science can speed job creation for youth in Africa South of the Sahara

Babs — Sat, 07 Nov 2015 11:31:12 +0000

This expert opinion written by Karen Brooks, Director of the CGIAR Research Program on Policies, Institutions, and Markets and published on the INCLUDE Knowledge Platform on inclusieve development policies, focuses on the role of agricultural science for job creation in Africa. Young people born on farms choosing to remain in rural areas have more opportunities than in the past, and agriculture is receiving new attention as a potential source of employment. Farms that want to attract young people will need a transformation from traditional to modern farming. Neither existing farmers nor potential young entrants to the job market can accomplish this alone and investments and knowledge are needed. The article highlights that African leaders have already recognized in principle that transformative agricultural growth requires more investment in science and technology. According to Brooks, removing or reducing current barriers will attract more young people to agricultural careers and help those already farming to do so more successfully.

Identifying women farmers: Informal gender norms as institutional barriers to recognizing women’s contributions to agriculture

Nynke — Tue, 03 Nov 2015 14:46:15 +0000

This article (PDF) in the Journal of Gender, Agriculture, and Food Security elaborates on the challenges of collecting sex-disaggregated data. While sex-disaggregated data collection is seen as an important step towards understanding women’s contributions to agriculture and including a gender perspective in agricultural research, social norms both in farming communities and research organizations often limit the amount of data collected from women. This reinforces the notion that women are not farmers or producers. This is especially true for male-dominated crops, such as rice in Latin America. This article draws on experiences of collecting sex-disaggregated data about rice production in Peru, Bolivia, and Ecuador. The authors found that women as well as research-staff often disqualify women as farmers and therefore women are not interviewed. However, the data that does exist, collected mostly from men, indicates that women play significant roles in rice production. Several recommendations to include women’s perspective in research are presented, like working with more gender sensitive sample designs and including gender researchers who are aware of the barriers in collecting sex-disaggregated data. The authors argue that for gender and agricultural research, it is important to recognize how gender-norms-as-institutions impact data collection and how this limits our knowledge of women’s contributions to agricultural production and gender differences in agriculture. This research shows how gender norms are institutions that are embodied in specific actors and constrain our understanding of women’s roles in agriculture.

Enhancing youth engagement in agricultural careers

Babs — Wed, 28 Oct 2015 10:22:26 +0000

This blog by Cabi, explores what can and is being done already to improve employment opportunities for youth in rural areas, particularly in the agricultural sector. The blog highlights that there needs to be greater investment in education and training from primary through to tertiary levels, and teaching needs to take account of advancements in technology, foster innovation and be of relevance to the evolving agricultural sector. Alongside improving education, more needs to be done to change young peoples’ perception of agriculture as a potential career. Furthermore, it is important to create opportunities for young farmers to influence farming policies at both the local and national level to help identify and address barriers to engagement. According to the author, it is important to support innovation and entrepreneurship. A key step is to recognising farms as agribusinesses, considering not only the farm but also the industry and services. Finally, the prominence of social media in today’s society could be capitalised upon as both a tool for education and a route to improve the image of agriculture as a career.

How resilient are farming households and communities to a changing climate in Africa? A gender-based perspective

Nynke — Thu, 22 Oct 2015 15:40:03 +0000

This article (PDF) in Global Environmental Change uses a gender-based perspective to assess the conditions that underlie vulnerability and resilience of households and communities that face climate-change. The authors utilized a feminist political ecology framework to analyze how women and men are differently affected by issues of climate change and resource degradation. The research uses an integrated qualitative and quantitative dataset composed of household surveys and village focus group studies, carried out across a wide range of environments and agricultural systems and in nine East and West African countries. The compared the agricultural and livelihood systems of male and female respondents, as well as their productive resources, organization and access to services, and concluded that women have less access than men to common property resources, as well as to cash to obtain goods or services. Women control less land than men, the land they control is often of poorer quality, and their tenure is insecure. Women engage in mutual insurance and risk-sharing networks, and benefit from non-agricultural services provided by social support institutions external to the village. However, formally registered, public and private external organizations that foster agriculture and livestock production have tremendous anti-women biases, and tend to provide support primarily to men. The authors conclude that policies and strategies are needed to eliminate these prejudices so that men and women increase their resilience and manage well their changing environments.

Replacing gender myths and assumptions with knowledge

F&BKP Office — Wed, 21 Oct 2015 08:55:33 +0000

In this expert opinion blog, CIMMYT Director General Martin Kropff speaks on the topic of ‘Wheat and the role of gender in the developing world’ prior to the 2015 Women in Triticum Awards at the Borlaug Global Rust Initiative Workshop in Sydney on 19 September. Kropff highlights “If we are to be truly successful in improving the lives of farmers and consumers in the developing world, we need to base our interventions on the best evidence available. If we act based only on our assumptions, we may not be as effective as we could be or, even worse, actively cause harm.” One example is the common perception that women are not involved in the important wheat farming systems of North Africa and South Asia. By recognizing and engaging with these myths, we are beginning to build a more sophisticated understanding of how agriculture works as a social practice, thus Kropff. There are only a few published studies that take a closer examination of the roles played by women in wheat-based farming systems. These studies have found that, in some cases, men are responsible for land preparation and planting, and women for weeding and post-harvest activities, with harvest and transport duties being shared. Between different districts in India, huge variations may be found in the amount of time that women are actively involved in wheat agriculture. This shows that some careful study into the complexities of gender and agricultural labor may hold important lessons when intervening in any particular situation.

Africa agriculture status report: youth in agriculture in sub-Saharan Africa

Babs — Mon, 05 Oct 2015 11:32:31 +0000

This report (PDF) by AGRA, highlights the current status of youth in sub-Saharan Africa and present the opportunities and potential that the region’s ‘youth bulge’ and ‘youthening’ generation brings to agriculture. Challenges to agricultural productivity in SSA, such as land tenure and reform issues, lack of capital and limited access to finance and credit, inadequate supplies of improved farming inputs, limited availability of new and innovative technologies and methods, untapped entrepreneurship skills, and limited public and private sector investment in agriculture and social infrastructure are all discussed in this report. The significant opportunities in the agriculture sector that are available to young ‘agripreneurs’, and the progress that has been made in the sector to harness the skills and the potential of youth, are also presented in detail. This report is an affirmation and recognition of the prominent role of youth in transforming SSA agriculture and their vital contribution to engendering a uniquely African green revolution.

Examining gender inequalities in land rights indicators in Asia

Nynke — Thu, 01 Oct 2015 15:41:42 +0000

This article in Agricultural Economics Journal examines gender inequalities and land rights indicators in Asia. It argues that while a broad consensus has emerged among policymakers and researchers that strengthening women’s property rights is crucial for reducing poverty and achieving equitable growth, only little data exists on women’ property rights in Asia. This paucity hinders the formulation and implementation of appropriate policies to reduce gender gaps in land rights. This article reviews the existing micro-level, large sample data on men’s and women’s control of land, identifies what can and cannot be measured by these data, and uses these measures to assess the gaps in the land rights of women and men. Utilizing nationally representative individual- and plot-level data from Bangladesh, Tajikistan, Vietnam, and Timor-Leste, the authors calculate five indicators: incidence of landownership, distribution of landownership, distribution of plots owned, mean plot size, and distribution of land area, all by sex of owner. The results show large gender gaps in landownership across countries. However, the authors argue that limited information on joint and individual ownership are among the most critical data gaps and thus are an important area for future data collection and analysis.

Are the youth exiting agriculture en masse?

F&BKP Office — Thu, 01 Oct 2015 12:17:30 +0000

This paper by Eugenie Maïga, Luc Christiaensen, and Amparo Palacios-Lopez, investigates the extent of youth engagement in agriculture in six African countries using unique data from the Living Standards Measurement Surveys-Integrated surveys on agriculture (LSMSISA). They employ both descriptive and regression analysis to compare the hours worked per week in agriculture by the youth (16-35) and the prime-age group (36-60). The descriptive analysis suggests that the Nigerian (62.8%), Malawian (23.4%), Tanzanian (17.8%), Ugandan (16.0%), and Ethiopian (9.9%), youth work less hours per week in agriculture than the older age groups. In Niger, there is a small difference (0.7%) in hours per week in agriculture by the two groups. All differences in mean hours worked per by the two groups are strongly significant (5% level or higher) except for Niger where there is the difference in mean hours worked is insignificant. The regression results suggest that age is a strong correlate of hours worked per week in agriculture in Nigeria, Tanzania, and Malawi and a weak correlate in Niger and Uganda. The correlation between age and hours worked per week in agriculture is insignificant in Ethiopia. Other important correlates of hours worked per week in agriculture include education, gender, rural residence, wealth index, farm size per capita, land ownership, and livestock ownership. Based on both the descriptive and regression analyses, we can conclude that the youth are leaving agriculture in Nigeria, Malawi and Uganda. The results also show that the exit from youth in Southern Nigeria’s youth is more pronounced than the exit from youth in Northern Nigeria.

An exploratory study of dairying intensification, women’s decision making, and time use and implications for child nutrition in Kenya

Nynke — Wed, 30 Sep 2015 15:53:50 +0000

This article in the European Journal of Development Research elaborates on the implication of dairy intensification strategies and women’s decision-making and their use of time on child nutrition. While dairy intensification as a development strategy is expected to improve household nutrition, the pathways by which this occurs are not well understood. This article examines how women’s time use and decision-making patterns related to dairy income and consumption are associated with dairy intensification, as a way of exploring the links between intensification and nutrition. Results from the mixed methods study conducted with households representing low, medium and high levels of dairy intensification in rural Kenya indicated that children in high-intensity households received more milk than children in medium-intensity households. While women seemed to be gaining control over evening milk sales decisions, men seemed to be increasingly controlling total dairy income, a trend countered by the increase in reported joint decision making. Women from medium-intensity households reported spending more time on dairy activities than women from high-intensity households. The researchers suggest that more research on how dairy interventions affect women is needed.

Validating women’s knowledge and experiences: A case study of women’s experiences and food security in Kenya

Nynke — Wed, 30 Sep 2015 15:46:23 +0000

This paper (PDF) in Pathways to African Feminism and Development, Journal of African Women’s Studies Centre aims at demonstrating that women’s experiences and knowledge about food security are critical in order to create inclusive and more comprehensive policies in food security. Using a feminist theoretical framework, the author argues that women’s knowledge and experiences have remained invisible and underutilized by policy makers and development workers. One reason for this is that research methods have themselves been products of a male knowledge development process and thus have enhanced exclusion and marginalization of women’s perspectives. To overcome this, this research has used women friendly methodologies, such as oral testimonies an focus group discussions, to access women’s knowledge on food security. The author argues that much of the knowledge of the rural women has not been tapped in to. There is a need to capture and utilize the knowledge of women to ensure transformative development in Africa

Economic empowerment of African women through equitable participation in agricultural value chains

Nynke — Thu, 17 Sep 2015 14:24:39 +0000

This report (PDF) from the African Development Bank (AfDB) highlights five major constraints that can limit African women’s productivity and inclusion into the agricultural economy: lack of access to assets, lack of access to financing, limited training, gender-neutral government policy, and time constraints due to heavy domestic responsibilities. Women make up almost 50% of the agricultural labour force in Sub-Saharan Africa. A total of 62% of economically active women in Africa work in agriculture, making it the largest employer of women. In some countries, such as Rwanda, Malawi and Burkina Faso, over 90% of economically active women are involved in agriculture. To transform the agricultural sector, the economic empowerment of women through boosting their productivity and raising their participation in commercial and higher value-add activities in agriculture, is central. The report highlighted three broad areas for action that could contribute to this: 1) Grow the number of large-scale agribusiness entrepreneurs by providing access to financing and training, and improving regional and global market links; 2) Make sure women are remunerated by setting them up as co-owners, improving productivity, and providing training in core business skills; 3) Increase women’s access to niche markets by producing and marketing women-only products. This report will help to identify target areas for the AfDB and its partners to empower women economically through agriculture. This relates to the Gender Strategy of the AfDB.

Youth in agriculture: Inspiring stories of young people changing agriculture

Babs — Thu, 17 Sep 2015 12:36:35 +0000

This blog from the Journal of Gender, Agriculture, and Food Security, highlights some succes stories of young agriculture entrepreneurs. Significant challenges remain in realizing the full potential of Africa’s agriculture: access to finance, land rights, and women’s empowerment are just some of the critical issues to address. But with the right tools and training, the continent’s young people can play a critical role in transforming this sector into the engine of Africa’s development. Opportunities for increasing youth engagement in this sector are summarized as: 1) Investing in building capacity of young farmers; 2) Identifying agribusiness opportunities beyond the farm; 3) Increasing access to finance for young people and 4) Providing of mentoring.

Premise of progress – Building human and social capital for Africa’s agricultural success

Babs — Wed, 09 Sep 2015 12:49:59 +0000

This blog by Katrin Glatzel on Agriculture for impact highlights the challenges of youth engagement in Africa’s agriculture. Glatzel recommends socio-economic intensification, the integration of innovations and practices from the fields of ecology, genetics and socio-economics to build environmentally sustainable, equitable, productive and resilient ecosystems, to improve the well-being of farms, farmers and their families. Another option is for youth to engage in business groups or associations, according to Glatzel. She highlights that to make the agriculture sector flourish and earn a good living from agriculture, it is not necessary to work on the farm. Concluding, the premise of progress for Africa’s agriculture sector rests on an enabling environment that allows innovation for Sustainable Intensification to be adopted. It should combine methods of Ecological and Genetic Intensification with appropriate investments in building human and social capital.

African youth and the persistence of marginalization: Employment, politics, and prospects for change

F&BKP Office — Thu, 13 Aug 2015 13:01:23 +0000

The much heralded growth and transformation of many economies in sub-Saharan Africa over the last decade continues to receive prominent attention in academic scholarship and among policy practitioners. An apparent feature about this transformation, however, is that Africa’s youth appear to have been left out. This book by Routledge critically examines the extent and consequences of the marginalization of African youth. It questions conventional wisdoms about data trends, aspirational goals, and common policy interventions surrounding Africa’s youth that have been variously propagated in both the development studies literature and in mainstream donor policy reports. The book explores macro trends from both a temporal and cross-regional perspective in order to highlight what is distinct about contemporary African youth and whether their prospects and behaviours do actually vary from their counterparts in other regions of the world or from previous generations of African youth. Such studies include cross-country analyses of youth employment patterns and modes of political participation, in-depth examination of the behaviours and aspirations of the urban youth, and critical reflections on the impact of rural employment initiatives, vocational education, and learnership programmes. The incorporation of multiple methods and disciplines, as well as its attention to policy issues, ensures that the book will be of great interest to graduate students, researchers, and professional researchers whose work lies at the intersection of African area studies and development studies as well as those focused on development economics, political science, and public policy and administration.

Life stories of African women and young professionals in science

F&BKP Office — Wed, 12 Aug 2015 15:08:08 +0000

This booklet (PDF) by The Technical Centre for Agricultural and Rural Cooperation (CTA), takes a look at the life stories of 12 remarkable African agricultural scientists who are making a difference on the continent and internationally. Ten of them are the women and young researchers who were winners of the 3rd Africa wide science competitions. They are motivated to be part of the solution, and not the problem. Indeed, as researchers they are helping to transform agriculture by developing science-based solutions to some of the complex issues facing African farmers. Their journeys to becoming agricultural scientists are strikingly similar: most of them come from smallholder farms, and their flair for science was spotted and nurtured by their secondary school teachers.

Running out of time: the reduction of women’s work burden in agricultural production

Babs — Wed, 05 Aug 2015 10:09:37 +0000

This publication (PDF) by FAO discusses rural women’s time poverty in agriculture, elaborates on its possible causes and implications and provides insight into the various types of constraints that affect the adoption of solutions for reducing work burden. The paper raises questions about the adequacy of women’s access to technologies, services and infrastructure and about the control women have over their time, given their major contributions to agriculture. It also looks into the available labour-saving technologies, practices and services that can support women to better address the demands derived from the domestic and productive spheres and improve their well-being. The reader is presented with an overview of successfully-tested technologies, services and resource management practices in the context of water, energy, information and communication. In order to address women’s low technology and service adoption rate, the paper proposes a development approach that encourages more dialogue among key players at the national level, and also focuses on fostering dialogue and transformation of gender relations at the household level.

Realising women’s land rights: law, gender and farming in Tanzania

Nynke — Tue, 04 Aug 2015 16:26:53 +0000

The book Women, Land and Justice in Tanzania by Helen Dancer (University of Brighton) explores women’s claims to land in practice. Land rights and governance are often seen as essential in achieving food security, inclusive economic growth and sustainable development. The focus of this book is on the under-explored role of women and their experiences of land law reforms in the context of a ‘land rush and land-grabbing. It is based on fieldwork in northern Tanzania. This is a region with a high number of land conflicts and legal disputes. Taking the social nature of women’s claims to land as the starting-point, the book discusses the extent to which women are realising their interests in land through the legal system and through land courts. The author traces the progression of claims from their social origins, through legal processes of dispute resolution to judgment. She seeks to re-orientate current debates on women’s land rights to a focus on the law in action and explores how the country’s land law reforms have impacted on women’s legal claims to land. The book analyses the obstacles and pathways that women face, and the role of social, legal and political actors in processes of justice. Also see the blog by the author on Future Agricultures.

Youth, conservation agriculture and sustainable development – Engagement insights from Africa

Babs — Mon, 03 Aug 2015 11:04:07 +0000

The unexplored potential of youth as the next frontier and workforce is a recent phenomenon in agricultural transformation in Africa. This calls for innovative approaches to create connections from the available human and technical competencies. Conservation agriculture and sustainable development are emerging lucrative economic domains. But, what is youth engagement in Africa? How do we engage youth in these economic domains? What are the lessons to be learned when youths are engaged in conservation agriculture and sustainable development? This book provides ways to create new ideas, images, knowledge, and facts for use by farmers, students, youths, researchers, practitioners and scientists. This book aims to stimulate critical dialogue and resolve among readers on truly engaging youth in agricultural transformation. In using Zimbabwe, as the anchorage, the book, holistically scans the nation’s landscape – food and nutrition security, climate change and variability, and the post-2015 development agenda, for examples of innovative thinking, leadership, and action, in youth engagement, and thus, catapults local futuristic-thinking youths to the global stage.

Why gender matters for food safety

Babs — Tue, 07 Jul 2015 16:10:59 +0000

In this blog post, Sophie Theis (Research Analyst, Poverty, Health, Nutrition Division, International Food Policy Research Institute) and Delia Grace (Program Manager, International Livestock Research Institute) relate findings from a recent A4NH/International Livestock Research Institute analysis of 20 livestock and fish value chains in Africa and Asia that reveal how gender differences in value chain participation influence risk exposure. The findings from the analysis of these value chains indicate that differences in risk exposure between men and women derive primarily from gender-based differences in occupational exposure, and secondarily, to differences in patterns and practices of the food consumed. Biological differences between men and women were less important determinants of health risk; but can be important for some value chains and diseases. Attention to the influence of gender on risk exposure and risk management along the value chain is critical for improving food safety and managing health risks in informal markets.

Building a gender-transformative extension and advisory facilitation system in Sub-Saharan Africa

Babs — Tue, 07 Jul 2015 12:52:12 +0000

This paper (PDF) at Agri-gender, focusses on the debate around conceptualizations of what women and men do in farming in order to see what they actually do. The authors provide evidence for a “conceptual lock in” in rural advisory services, one that constructs farmers as male regardless of the reality of female farmers on the ground. They show that this not only hampers access by women to advisory services, it also fails to tackle the underlying gender inequalities that prevent both women and men from maximizing their decision-making capacity and economic potential. Tackling the underlying gender relations that hamper access and implementation should be a priority, according to the authors. A model for a “gender-transformative extension and advisory facilitation system” is introduced. The model posits the extension and advisory services as a facilitation system. An important recommendation is to capture, integrate, and scale out existing “best bet practices” to build an empowering extension and advisory facilitation system in order to effect broader social change.

Perspectives on jobs and farming: Findings from a Q study with young people, parents and development workers in rural Ghana

Babs — Mon, 06 Jul 2015 09:30:08 +0000

This working paper by Future Agricultures aimed to explore in a systematic way the perspectives of rural young people, their parents and development officials on a series of questions relating to work in general and agriculture in particular. The study presents the results of a series of Q Methodology studies with secondary students and parents in Ghana, and with development officials. It was found that young people strongly emphasise their desire for modern jobs and for jobs that are in line with their education. Though few positive perspectives of young people or parents towards farming were found, not all perspectives were negative. Modernisation of farming was central to the perspectives of both young people and parents. An important recommendation is that attention should be paid to bringing the views of policymakers, development professionals and young people closer together.

Please also find a version of this paper in the Food Security Journal here.

Report of national youth forum on agro-based entrepreneurship development

Babs — Wed, 01 Jul 2015 10:41:15 +0000

This report covers a summary of the workshop entitled, “National Youth Forum on Agro-based Entrepreneurship Development, which was held in Lalitpur, Nepal on 9th-10th January 2015. This workshop was organized with the support of YPARD, YPARD Asia, MCRC and NFYN. The workshop aimed to addres a two-fold challenge for agricultural development: how to expand emerging sustainable practices, and how to inspire more young professionals to choose agriculture as a professional career to replace retiring farmers. Innovation in agriculture -farms, agro-based processing and marketing is highlighted as the most viable option for addressing youth unemployment. The report summarizes lessons learned from the two-day workshop.

Information networks among women and men and the demand for an agricultural technology in India

Babs — Mon, 29 Jun 2015 14:27:37 +0000

In this discussion paper (PDF) by The International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI), agricultural information networks among men and women are analyzed by using gender-disaggregated social network data from Uttar Pradesh, India. Gender-specific network effects are tested on demand for laser land leveling —a resource-conserving technology—using data from a field experiment that combines a Becker-DeGroot-Marschak (BDM) auction with a lottery. The authors find that factors determining male and female links are similar, although there is little overlap between male and female networks. Some evidence of female network effects on household technology demand was found, although male network effects are clearly stronger. Public and private efforts to promote technological change in smallholder agriculture often rely on social networks to transmit information across large numbers of farmers. The results indicate that extension services can leverage female networks in order to reach more households when promoting new technologies.

The new Gender and Land Rights Database: a hub of information on gender-equitable land tenure

Babs — Thu, 11 Jun 2015 15:06:11 +0000

FAO has re-launched its Gender and Land Rights Database (GLRD). The database consists of several main sections: country profiles and gender and land-related statistics. Furthermore, a new Legislation Assessment Tool is included, which offers 30 indicators for measuring progress towards gender equity in land tenure in national policy and legal frameworks. The database provides information, statistics and analysis on the different political, legal and cultural factors that influence women’s land rights throughout the world.

Gender opportunities and constraints in inclusive business models: the case study of Unifrutti in Mindanao, Philippines

Babs — Thu, 11 Jun 2015 14:55:54 +0000

This publication (PDF) by FAO adds to the debate around whether private investment in agriculture contributes to production growth, poverty reduction, food security and gender equality by case studies in the Philippines. Data and information were collected via key informant interviews, focus group discussions and direct observation. The report shows that investment models and contractual arrangements implemented by Unifrutti – a major private company producer, processor and exporter of pineapple and banana in the Mindanao Region – have had positive implications for the livelihood of the rural communities involved. However, the study also demonstrates that women and men have not equally benefitted from the investment opportunities. An important lesson learned is that gender neutral practices and approaches do not necessarily lead to gender equitable results. Instead, both investment schemes and policy frameworks need to recognize and address the different needs and priorities of women and men to ensure more gender equitable distribution of benefits.

Rural radio and community media: Empowering rural youth to build resilient livelihoods and improve food security and nutrition

Babs — Tue, 02 Jun 2015 16:45:21 +0000

This report (PDF) by the Global Forum on Food Security and Nutrition in West Africa of FAO, in collaboration with UNESCO, is a result of an online discussion on rural radio and community media, organized in February 2015. This initiative aimed to contribute to current debates about the challenges and opportunities of the role that rural radio and community media can have to young people to improve the resilience and food security in West Africa. Radio was recognized by the contributors as a powerful tool to provide fundamental information and raising awareness among rural communities, especially on these topics: market production, ecological and sustainable farming practices, awareness on new opportunities, improving nutrition practices and bridging the gap between policy makers and farmers.

Youth sustaining family farming through ICTs

Babs — Mon, 01 Jun 2015 14:40:14 +0000

This report (PDF) is the result of an e-debate of three weeks on “Youth sustaining family farming through ICTs”, organised by the Technical Centre for Agricultural and Rural Cooperation (CTA), in collaboration with the African Youth Foundation (AYF), in October 2014. The debate aimed at discussing the involvement of youth in family farming, opportunities and challenges faced, as well as exploring how ICTs can strengthen their engagement in family farming. It generated over 150 contributions from more than 20 countries from Africa, the Caribbean and Europe. The report includes a list of initiatives shared by youth and organisations supporting youth in agriculture. A key message is that engaging youth in family farming will require stronger focus on agribusiness and relevant ICTs.

Is gender inequality the main roadblock to achieving nutrition targets? The Global Nutrition Report on gender equality

Babs — Wed, 27 May 2015 15:12:53 +0000

In this blog, Lawrence Haddad highlights the draw out messages about women and gender from the Global Nutrition Report. He highlights that improvements in nutrition are important to achieve gender equality and to empower all women and girls. Improvements in women’s nutritional status indicators, especially anemia rates in women of reproductive age, seem slow. Recommendations in the report suggest to involve women in a decision making way on the prioritization, design, implementation and evaluation of more nutrition sensitive interventions.

Supporting women’s agro-enterprises in Africa with ICT: a feasibility study in Zambia and Kenya

Babs — Tue, 19 May 2015 13:24:26 +0000

This publication (PDF) by the World Bank views ICTs as potentially transformative technology for rural development. The study was designed to examine the feasibility of integrating ICTs into two large investment programs: the Irrigation Development and Support Project (IDSP) in Zambia and the Kenya Agricultural Productivity and Agribusiness Project (KAPAP). The specific goal was to examine how ICT-based interventions might be designed to strengthen women’s participation in commodity value chains under the two projects. A major finding from the literature review and ICT inventory is that numerous ICTs have been developed for small-scale farmers in Kenya, but very few have been developed in Zambia, and no ICT tools in these countries have been developed specifically for women farmers. Demand for extension information continues to be high, especially among women, whose access to agricultural information has so far been limited.

Adaptation actions in Africa: evidence that gender matters

Babs — Wed, 13 May 2015 09:12:16 +0000

This paper (PDF) by CGIAR presents the initial data analyses of the CCAFS gender survey implemented in four sites in Africa. It highlights some key gender-related findings regarding climate change perceptions, adaptation strategies of climate smart agricultural (CSA) practices and information needs across sites in Africa. Important findings include that both men and women are experiencing changes in long-run weather patterns and that they are changing their behaviours in response. It was found that women are less aware of many CSA practices. However, women, when aware, are more likely than or just as likely as men to adopt CSA practices. In West Africa, overall, the adoption of these practices was much lower. The authors argue that targeting women with climate and agricultural information is likely to result in uptake of new agricultural practices for adaptation.

Youth and agriculture: key challenges and concrete solutions

Babs — Thu, 07 May 2015 14:52:39 +0000

This report (PDF) has been published by FAO, The Youth and United Nations Global Alliance (YUNGA), the Technical Centre for Agricultural and Rural Cooperation (CTA) and the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD). The document builds on results of the project “Facilitating Access to Rural Youth to Agricultural Activities” undertaken by FAO/IFAD/MIJARC, as well as on CTA youth activities. During the project, six principal challenges for the future of youth in agriculture were identified. For each challenge, this publication presents a series of relevant case studies that serve as examples of how this challenge may be overcome. These challenges include: insufficient access to knowledge, information and education; limited access to land; inadequate access to financial services; difficulties in accessing green jobs; limited access to markets; and limited involvement in policy dialogue. A key message of the report is that a coordinated response is needed in order to increase “youth power” in the agricultural sector.

Gender matters in farm power

Nynke — Sat, 18 Apr 2015 16:18:30 +0000

This report (PDF) published by KIT, CIMMYT and CGIAR explores how gender matters in small-scale farm power mechanization in African agriculture, particularly in maize-based systems. It investigates how inter-household gender dynamics affect women’s articulation of demand for and adoption of mechanization in Ethiopia and Kenya. The study offers a conceptual approach to grasp these gender dynamics, a gender analysis methodology, and a set of recommendations. The study finds that women in different households and in different sites experience high labor burden and intensity. Yet, only in exceptional cases, women articulate demand for mechanization and use tractor technology. This weak articulation is due to the complex interplay of values and assumptions, access to and control over resources, and intra-household decision making. Different factors influence this: 1) values and assumptions make women’s work invisible and go unrecognized; 2) women lack access to and control over a range of resources, including land, income, and extension services; 3) the gender division of labor exacerbates this limited access, because women’s time poverty negatively affects their access to resources and information; 4) decision-making is a male domain, and women are mostly excluded or merely informed. Many factors interlock and reinforce each other in undermining women’s opportunities to articulate demand and adopt mechanization technology or other options to reduce their labor burden. The authors recommend among others to take women’s need as an entry point for technology design; to engage with gender norms and values; and to ensure business modeling specifically for women.

Effect of farm succession on coffee production in Kenya

F&BKP Office — Thu, 16 Apr 2015 13:48:55 +0000

This article (PDF) in the International Journal of Agricultural Extension studies the effect of farm succession on coffee production. Coffee farmers in Kenya are elderly (average 55 years), and reluctant to release coffee farms to the new generation, leading to reduced adoption of new technologies and reduced coffee production despite its profitability and opportunity of expansion. The objective of the research study was to establish the effect of farm succession on coffee production in Kisii County. Simple random sampling and purposive sampling techniques were employed to obtain quantitative and qualitative data using structured questionnaires, interviews, focus group discussion and case studies on a sample of 227 respondents from a population of 69,000 coffee farmers. The research findings indicated a weak significant correlation between farm succession and coffee production. The research findings are aimed at filling policy gaps by encouraging agricultural extension practitioners to encourage the youth to participate in coffee farming and encourage the elderly farmers to mentor the youth to take up farming. The coffee farmers need to be encouraged to widen the choice of farm successors beyond family members and beyond gender imbalance in order to encourage spurring of coffee production, thus increasing production and profitability.

The effects of microcredit on women’s control over household spending in developing countries: a systematic review and meta-analysis

Babs — Wed, 08 Apr 2015 09:09:29 +0000

This report (PDF) by a group of researchers under the editorial control of the Campbell Collaboration, aims to provide a systematic review of the evidence on effects of microcredit on women’s control over household spending in developing countries. The authors identified 310 papers for full text examination, of which 29 papers, corresponding to 25 unique studies, were retained for further analysis. These papers were then analysed through application of both statistical meta-analysis and context-mechanism-outcome synthesis. Through the analysis, the report finds that overall there is no evidence for an effect of microcredit on women’s control over household spending. The authors argue that there appears to be a gap between the societal belief in the capacity of microcredit to improve the position of women in decision-making processes within the household on the one hand, and the empirical evidence base on the other hand.

Young people, agriculture, and employment in rural Africa

Babs — Thu, 02 Apr 2015 14:48:37 +0000

This paper (PDF) by UNU-WIDER examines the current interest in addressing the problem of young people’s unemployment in Africa through agriculture. It aims to address what role policy and associated programmes and projects can play in re-aligning rural young people’s engagement with agriculture. By use of two overarching concepts, transition and mobility, a conceptual framework is introduced that could be used as a lens for the analysis of policies, programmes and projects involving young people and agriculture in Africa. The framework is used in a preliminary exploration in four examples of government initiatives (in Ghana, Malawi and Ethiopia). It is argued that policy and programmes that seek to engage young people with agriculture must be more realistic, rooted in more context-specific economic and social analysis, and appreciative of the variety of ways that rural men and women use agriculture to serve their needs and interests.

Gender in agriculture: closing the knowledge gap

Babs — Wed, 01 Apr 2015 14:32:10 +0000

This book (see synopsis) by IFPRI and FAO, is a compilation of the growing knowledge base on the gender gaps in agriculture. It explains why closing gender gaps is important; analyses the role of gender in agriculture; and takes a look at access to assets, agricultural inputs, and markets by gender. The first part of the book summarizes the main messages of the 2011 FAO report and reviews how gender has been conceptualized in agriculture. Part 2 of the book focuses on data and methods for understanding gender issues in agriculture. Part 3 gathers background studies that document gender gaps in assets and key agricultural inputs. Part 4 looks beyond the farm to observe and analyse gender roles in markets and value chains. Part 5 proposes ways that agricultural research, development, and extension systems can be made more responsive to the needs of both male and female farmers. Steps for moving forward are suggested on land, inputs, livestock, social capital, physical capacity, market access and participation in labour markets.

Coffee Toolkit 2014: sustainable coffee as a family business

Babs — Wed, 01 Apr 2015 08:36:38 +0000

This Coffee Toolkit (PDF) was developed for the coffee industry, in response to the demand for knowledge on how to best integrate women and youth in the coffee value chain and provides practical approaches and tools for stakeholders and service providers. The toolkit is a joint effort of the SCP, Agri-ProFocus, Fair & Sustainable Advisory Services, IDH and Hivos. The toolkit is based on the Gender in Value Chains Toolkit developed by Agri-ProFocus and tools included were selected from existing gender focused manuals, including those produced by USAID, Enclude, GALS, ILO, Care, and experiences from Hivos gender programmes in the coffee sector. The toolkit focuses on interventions at the individual and household level, small entrepreneurship, producer organizations, large businesses, standards and certification, service providers and networks. The interventions recommended in this toolkit aim to trigger increased production, improved quality and ensure a steady supply of sustainable coffee now and in the future.

Reducing the gender asset gap through agricultural development: a technical resource guide

Babs — Tue, 31 Mar 2015 14:08:33 +0000

This guide (PDF) by IFPRI, explores the intersection of gender and assets in the context of agricultural interventions. Researchers from IFPRI and ILRI worked together and shared the lessons learned from the Gender, Agriculture, and Assets Project (GAAP) activities. The guide aims to: 1) increase the reader’s knowledge about the importance of both gender and assets in the development process; 2) strengthen the design, implementation, monitoring, and evaluation of agricultural projects that reduce gender gaps in assets and 3) Identify tools drawn from both quantitative and qualitative approaches to support sex-disaggregated data collection and gender analysis efforts on assets.

The Gender and Inclusion Toolbox: Participatory Research in Climate Change and Agriculture

Babs — Tue, 31 Mar 2015 13:06:23 +0000

This toolbox (PDF) provides gender-responsive methods and tools for the development and research community. It is the result of a long-term partnership between the CGIAR Research Program on Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security (CCAFS), World Agroforestry Centre (ICRAF), and CARE International. The participatory toolbox builds on the previously released Gender and Climate Change Research in Agriculture and Food Security for Rural Development (PDF) training guide produced by FAO and CCAFS. The toolbox is divided into four main parts and includes a) an overview of concepts in gender, climate change, participation, qualitative research, and gender and social analysis; b) team-based learning and reflection activities to support gender and inclusion concepts; c) a logistics and planning guide supporting sampling strategy, sex-disaggregation, and field work best practices; and d) participatory research tools covering co-production of knowledge, climate resilient agriculture, climate information, and mitigation for socially differentiated data collection and analysis.

Who wants to farm? Youth aspirations, opportunities and rising food prices

Babs — Tue, 31 Mar 2015 11:40:48 +0000

This publication (PDF) by IDS explores conditions favourable for active engagement of educated young people into farming in a context of food price volatility, and in particular rising food prices since 2007. The paper is an output from the research project Life in a Time of Food Price Volatility. Based on analysis of interviews, focus group discussion and household case studies with almost 1500 people in 23 rural, urban and peri-urban communities in low and middle income Asian, African and Latin American countries in 2012, this research digs deeper into some of the established explanations as to why youth in developing countries appear reluctant to enter farming. The key conclusion of the paper is in line with the other literature on the topic: that farming is not a favoured option for the younger generation in rural areas of developing countries, even those in which agricultural remains the mainstay of livelihoods and the rural economy. The researchers suggest that agriculture could be made more appealing to young people by: 1) adjusting public policies to fit better with youth’s aspirations; 2) the use of successful role models; and 3) supporting access to markets, inputs and modern technologies.

Livestock entrepreneurship as an emerging self-employment option for university graduates in Ethiopia: Overview of concerns and potentials for growth

Babs — Mon, 16 Mar 2015 09:55:11 +0000

This paper (PDF) in the European Journal of Business and Management, compiles and synthesizes existing and emerging knowledge on major aspects of livestock enterprises and support services including practical skills and information needs among self-employed graduates. Implications for further investigation and interventions and informing institutional policies development on livestock enterprises as a growing employment option are also highlighted. It is concluded that apart from embedding entrepreneurship education in every department; support services including livestock-related technical skills and science-based information; and policy or strategies that engage the potential roles of all stakeholders need to be in place to make use of Livestock entrepreneurship as a viable career option in the emerging interest of graduates and meet the growing demand of livestock products.

2014

The Gender advantage: women on the front line of climate change

Babs — Fri, 06 Mar 2015 13:47:35 +0000

This report (PDF) compiles the experiences of the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) in their work to close the gender gap and mobilise women in climate change adaptation programmes and projects. The paper shows that successful adaptation to climate change means recognizing the role of women smallholder farmers. Through the collection of ten case studies, IFAD shows how gender-sensitive adaptation results in better outcomes in food security, livelihood options, incomes, and reduced workloads. The case studies are grouped thematically under the following headings: valuing women’s knowledge and experience creates opportunities for the whole community; equitable access to adaptation knowledge; investing in women brings economic returns for smallholder farmers; equal voice, equal access to decision making; and tackling women’s worsening workloads. The paper highlights that knowledge management and policy advocacy are increasing in importance to address longer-term issues.