FAO
FSN Forum

DISCUSSION No. 141   •   FSN Forum digest No. 1300

What role can agricultural extension and advisory services play in realizing gender equality and improved nutrition?

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Dear Members,

The online discussion What role can agricultural extension and advisory services play in realizing gender equality and improved nutrition? has come to an end, and below we share with you the summaries of the latest contributions and the closing message from the facilitators of the discussion.

We wish to join our facilitators in thanking you for having taken the time to share your valuable thoughts and experiences on this important topic, and for making this such a lively and fruitful exchange. We would like to extend our special thanks to the members of the Young Professionals for Agricultural Development (YPARD) network for their support and active participation in this discussion.   

The discussion page will still be open for a couple of days in case you wish to share any additional comments and a summary of the outcomes will be prepared over the coming weeks.

Participants will receive further information from the GFRAS Nutrition Working Group and will be invited to be part of their broader community and engage in future activities.

We look forward to our upcoming exchange!

Your FSN Forum team

Edye Kuyper, Hajnalka Petrics, Soniia David and Fatima Hachem, facilitators of the discussion

Dear Members,

As facilitators of this discussion, we are exceedingly grateful for the knowledgeable, astute, and diverse comments received thus far. We will do our best to be good stewards of the insights shared by using the GFRAS Nutrition Working Group as a platform for addressing needs and implementing suggestions.   

The discussions highlighted the role AEAS can play not only technically in terms of addressing the specific constraints and needs of women farmers and providing skills, technologies and knowledge on nutrition-sensitive agriculture, but also their importance in coordinating and convening multiple stakeholders to advance and advocate for nutrition-sensitive agriculture and gender equality.

Some recommendations made by contributors for advancing these two agendas include: hiring more women advisors; ensuring that AEAS organizations and their staff are gender-sensitive; incorporating nutrition in the training curricula of rural advisors; engaging also men in nutrition education; involving the youth for generating innovation; enhancing the linkages between research and women’s and men’s reality; modernizing technology to reduce women’s work burden, and promoting policies that ensure rural advisory systems are gender- and nutrition-sensitive.

Kind regards,

Hajnalka Petrics, Soniia David and Fatima Hachem, FAO  

Edye Kuyper, INGENAES

CONTRIBUTIONS RECEIVED

iconF. M. Safiul Azam, University of Development Alternative, YPARD Bangladesh

Safiul suggests various activities in which a global forum such as GFRAS should be involved, including: 1) promoting nutrition and health clubs in schools, universities and other localities; 2) identifying local, cultural and religious constraints regarding achieving gender quality and formulating local solutions, and 3) engaging young professionals to generate new ideas through youth empowerment. In particular, he discusses the efforts of INGENAES and YPARD in empowering young people, and provides links to information on a number of events on extension services, gender, and nutrition.

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iconMahesh Chander, Indian Veterinary Institute, India

In this contribution, Mahesh argues that AEAS should change their focus with regard to the selection of contacts to share information with from the head of the households (usually the eldest male member of the family) to female family members. Furthermore, women participation in agricultural training programmes should at least be 50 percent, and men could be asked to accompany their wives. In addition, women could be trained on backyard poultry and value addition activities, and AEAS should promote digital literacy among women as ICT tools can be important for empowering them.

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iconDurlave Roy, Northern Agro Services Ltd, Bangladesh

Durlave introduces the Agriculture for Nutrition Network (Ag4N) that is being established by YPARD Bangladesh and INGENAES, and which targets scientists, experts, researchers, students and young professionals working on nutrition-based agriculture. The platform is supposed to facilitate networking and information sharing, which could support the identification of challenges related to food and nutritional security in the country as well as develop sustainable solutions to the issues found.

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iconMohammad Mahbubur Rahman, YPARD Bangladesh, Bangladesh

According to Mohammad, AEAS has a significant opportunity to contribute to a wide range of rural development goals, and eventually to achieving the SDGs by promoting food security and nutrition. With specific regard to women, AEAS could support them in adapting to climate change and in managing their natural resources effectively. In addition, extension services can support poor rural women and improve their livelihoods by organizing them into women-led producer groups and by increasing their access to health services and education for their children.

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iconShahla Salah, YPARD, Pakistan

Shahla highlights that farmers are in need of price support programs and field demonstrations. Another major concern is the fact that farmers do not have sufficient skills to recognize certified seeds and pesticides that do not harm health and the nutritional value of crops. Farmers’ skills should be enhanced in this regard, and youth and especially young women should be involved in agricultural growth programmes. In particular, women play a great decisive role in livestock production, and empowering them will be crucial for economic growth.

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iconMamiya Binte Ahsan, Chinese Academy of Agriculture Sciences, Bangladesh

Mamiya mentions that in Bangladesh, women engaged in agriculture are still facing difficulties in obtaining the same opportunities that men working in agricultural production enjoy. She also highlights a number of steps that should be taken to foster agricultural development, such as insisting on youth involvement by engaging them in practical activities, and sharing knowledge about ICTs.

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iconDinesh Panday, YPARD, Nepal

Dinesh stresses that AEAS and social development workers should consider youth to be central in promoting gender equality and nutrition. He also points out that in terms of education, attention for developing soft skills is missing, and argues that if a young professional misses these competencies, he or she will not be able to deliver the right message to the target audience. Additionally, Dinesh mentions a number of activities YPARD has organized, such as the “EduMala Mentoring Program”, which discussed the importance of underutilized food crops, food processing methods and dairy entrepreneurship.

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iconDick Tinsley, Colorado State University, USA

Dick refers to his previous contribution, and stresses the need to make sure that funding is available for recruiting extension personnel and to equip them with the necessary tools to be effective. He also reiterates that the nutrition that is being promoted must be affordable or producible by the beneficiaries. Dick argues that agronomic technology is typically developed through small plot research, which can determine the physical potential of an area, but does not include the question of what is needed to expand that “small plot result”. In fact, it demands farmers to implement practices for which they do not have the required means and energy.

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In his third contribution to the discussion, Dick questions one of the basic premises of extension programmes, namely whether the “documentable administrative link” from the extension programme to the individual farm established in past American extension services is still relevant for AEAS in developing countries. In addition, he wonders whether it would be more effective if mass media delivers the basic extension message, and then to follow up on how people apply the message to their individual situation.

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iconAkinremi Julian, Fourteen Farms, YPARD, Nigeria

Akinremi highlights that African women engaged in agriculture still lack access to training, inputs and funds, which has made it difficult for them to keep pace with men farmers. AEAS can inform women about opportunities for farmland ownership and educate them on setting up cooperatives that would enable them to access government subsidized inputs, and on how to obtain government funds in general. Furthermore, youth engagement in agriculture should be promoted and food processing should be made more lucrative for local investors by improving infrastructure.

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iconPhilip Ifejika, NIFFR, Nigeria

Philip acknowledges that AEAS has an important role in improving gender equality and nutrition by means of capacity building, knowledge and information sharing on gender roles and responsibilities, and by promoting linkages among institutions and other actors in the value chain. He also suggests to review current curricula and to include contemporary development issues.

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iconMargaret Koyenikan, University of Benin, Benin City, Nigeria

Margaret believes that AEAS are expected to address broader issues related to agriculture and rural development, and that gender and nutrition are among the areas which need to be dealt with in order to improve people’s living standards. She suggests that AEAS should disseminate information and technologies that can change the attitude, knowledge and skills of people on gender and nutrition. Furthermore, they need to apply scientific research and knowledge to agricultural and home management practices, and educate farmers on the needs and benefits of adopting these methodologies.

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iconAtinuke Lebile, SheAgric Initiative, YPARD, Nigeria

Atinuke stresses that agricultural extension services can help bridge the gap between agriculture and health by focusing on nutrition. Making use of ICTs is useful in this regard, as it provides farmers with up-to-date information and women with accurate information on household nutrition.

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iconPride Ebile, University of Hohenheim, Germany

Pride introduces an ongoing project in Cameroon which aims to improve Mbororo women’s economic as well as physical access to nutritious food, employing an innovative approach to upland farming in establishing an economically viable, eco-friendly gardening system. A key aspect of the project is its focus on financial, managerial and environmental sustainability. Three extension officers assist the women in managing and running the garden project, which attempts to reduce the dependency of women on their husbands, and to empower them by connecting them and by creating a market for their products.

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iconMylene Rodríguez Leyton, Universidad Metropolitana de Barranquilla, Colombia

Mylene thinks that AEAS should be reoriented to intervention models that have a greater impact on rural development. She points out that one of the challenges hindering AEAS from addressing gender inequality and nutrition is the belief that agricultural work is mainly carried out by men, and that it is only directed at ensuring the availability of food. Hence, a holistic view of food and nutrition is missing. Mylene suggests that GFRAS could promote nutrition and gender equality by identifying and disseminating successful experiences in this regard, and by engaging in projects aiming to improve the skills and leadership of women.

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