DISCUSSION No. 141 • FSN Forum digest No. 1303
|
|
What role can agricultural extension and advisory services play in realizing gender equality and improved nutrition? |
until 09 July 2017 |
|
|
|
|
CONTRIBUTIONS RECEIVED
|
Emile Houngbo, National University of Agriculture, Benin
|
Emile argues that AEAS are an interesting means to regularly build the capacity of men and women farmers. Where needed, AEAS should separately provide female and male farmers with specific information.
Read the contribution |
|
Funmilayo Bosede Olajide, National Horticultural Research Institute, Nigeria
|
According to Funmilayo, AEAS should be highly involved in realizing gender equity and improving nutrition, as extension personnel possesses the skills needed to communicate effectively with farmers. She stresses that although many agricultural intervention programmes aim to address gender equity, direct support for nutrition is not a common feature yet due to the focus on improving productivity. GFRAS should engage in awareness creation on the underutilized capacity of AEAS, organise capacity building initiatives and include AEAS in food security and nutrition programmes.
Read the contribution |
|
Dr. Amanullah, University of Agriculture Peshawar, Pakistan
|
Amanullah stresses that AEAS are important for realizing gender quality and improving nutrition in developing countries, and that it is crucial to provide women with adequate training on balanced nutrition.
Read the contribution |
|
Amtul Waris, Indian Institute of Rice Research, India
|
Amtul mentions various ways in which AEAS can contribute to enhanced gender equality and nutrition, such as by: 1) sensitizing women and men to the nutritional needs of girls, which are as important as those of boys; 2) promoting dietary diversity by providing high quality seeds of easy-to- grow fruits and vegetables; and 3) discussing with local schools the possibility of allocating time to nutrition education, in which growing and consuming locally available foods should be emphasized.
Read the contribution |
|
Kuruppacharil V. Peter, World Noni Research Foundation, India
|
KV Peter discusses the structure of AEAS in India, and points out that although the Green Revolution has yielded positive results in the country, crop failure, natural calamities and farmers’ suicide due to debt still occur. However, he also highlights that gender concerns in agriculture are being addressed with an open mind, and that many universities have established a ‘center for gender concerns’ for research and extension purposes.
Read the contribution |
|
Carlos Granado Fernandez, Universidad Politécnica de las Fuerzas Armadas, Venezuela
|
Carlos expresses his concerns regarding the situation in Venezuela, where gender inequality has not been adequately dealt with and where malnutrition, especially among children and elderly people, is common.
Read the contribution |
|
Joy Muller, Switzerland
|
Joy suggests recruiting more women as AEAS representatives, which can be conducive to changing the local perception on women and their capacities. In addition, AEAS can report to local public authorities on observations that go beyond agriculture and include other issues such as poverty. In this way, they can facilitate bottom-up knowledge sharing that can inform context-specific policy implementation.
Read the contribution |
|
Adewale Oparinde, HarvestPlus, United States of America
|
Adewale argues that for AEAS to contribute significantly to gender equality and improved nutrition, stronger economic incentives need to be built in for farmers. When there are stronger economic benefits (beyond those directly linked to the farm household's utilization of the services or products provided during AEAS activities), there is a better chance that men and women are more involved in AEAS. He discusses his experience with implementing biofortification programmes in Nigeria, where ‘creating’ local entrepreneurs, who were in the forefront of AEAS provision in their communities, led to increased participation and more local resource commitment.
Read the contribution |
|
Eileen Omosa, We Grow Ideas, Canada
|
Eileen points out that current AEAS need to review the training curricula to include information on household nutrition and gender in African agriculture. In addition, people involved in developing agricultural technology should put more emphasis on machinery specifically designed for women and girls. Regarding improving nutrition, it is necessary to consult more with women in rural households, as they are the majority of food providers and as a result, have developed knowledge on food items for a balanced diet. Furthermore, the question is how to engage youth in these efforts, as they are the producers, consumers and extension providers of tomorrow.
Read the contribution |
|
Stanley Weeraratna, Rain Water Harvesting Forum, Sri Lanka
|
Stanley highlights that AEAS could collaborate with other institutions such as land use planning divisions, and be involved in a holistic approach to development as farmers are facing wider limitations related to, for instance, inadequate transport, infrastructure and water provision. He also refers to his experience with a poverty alleviation programme in Sri Lanka, in which participatory approaches involving farmers, health officers and extension agents were successful in making people aware about nutrition, which crops could be cultivated and how this could be done in a sustainable way.
Read the contribution |
|
Valentine Obiasogu, University of Ibadan, Nigeria
|
Valentine refers to various issues, such as weak institutions, which limit the effectiveness of AEAS. He argues that AEAS can only play a role in improving nutrition and gender equality if there is a sound policy framework in place.
Read the contribution |
|
Frank Eyhorn, Helvetas Swiss Intercooperation, Switzerland
|
Based on the experience of the Nutrition and Mountain Agroecosystems Project carried out in Ethiopia, Nepal, Pakistan, Kyrgyzstan and Peru, Frank shares some initiatives implemented in the communities by the AEAS which proved to be particularly successful. These initiatives were aimed at improving nutrition by diversifying farms and increasing farm incomes. AEAS were instrumental in convening and facilitating multi-stakeholder collaboration to improve nutrition. For further details, a description of this project, funded by the Swiss Agency for Development Cooperation, is attached to Frank's contribution.
Read the contribution |
|
|
|