“Peace for Rural Women to Achieve Food Security”
Kampala, Uganda, October 15-17, 2001
Final Report
By Fabienne Derrien, Coordinator of the IFAP Standing Committee of Women in Agriculture
For the first time at the international level, the IFAP Standing Committee of Women in Agriculture celebrated World Rural Women’s Day and World Food Day in Kampala, Uganda, from October 15 to 17, 2001 under the theme “Peace for Rural Women to Achieve Food Security.” Some 40 women farmers from around the world and 70 rural Ugandan women assembled to share their experience of agricultural development and support for food security in rural communities.
Chebet Maikut, President of the Uganda National Farmers Association (UNFA), warmly welcomed the participants and noted that governments must acknowledge the role played by women and give them the opportunity to achieve peace and food security at all levels of society. Moreover, women must help promote sound governance practices and development initiatives.
Benson Tayebwa, President of the Uganda Cooperative Alliance (UCA), pointed out that women, while they do contribute enormously to food production, do not have the visibility they deserve, especially from the standpoint of access to resources and services. UCA has put women farmers at the centre of all of its programs to combat social, economic and cultural segregation.
Victoria Kakoko Sebagereka, Chair of the IFAP Standing Committee of Women in Agriculture, explained in her message for World Rural Women’s Day that the struggle for food security* can only be won if the contribution made by women is recognized and socio-economic and political conditions allow them to develop their potential as women farmers and participants in development. Farm women are facing widespread inequality with respect to access to resources, education, training, technology and services, and marketing networks. Such inequality prevents them, except through enormous effort, to play their basic role in ensuring the survival and well-being of families and the food security of communities, key components of peace and economic and social development.
According to Hilda Stewart, Chair of the Associated Country Women of the World, food security can only be achieved when traditionally marginal women farmers are fully integrated into the production cycle and decision-making processes to ensure sustainable agriculture. Agriculture must urgently be enhanced for the benefit of everyone, especially through participation by women in development programs and agricultural policy. The socio-economic advance of rural women will make possible the attainment of worldwide food security.
Ajmal M. Qureshi, a FAO representative in Uganda, presented a talk by Sissel Ekaas, Director of the Women and Population Division of FAO. It is through the bolstering of their economic and political skills that women can exercise a positive influence in the prevention and resolution of conflicts. Inequality hampers the efficient use of human resources to achieve peace and food security. A gender analysis is, therefore, essential to an integrated, effective agricultural development approach. A new FAO action plan on gender and development (2002-2007) will enable the organization to intensify its commitment to the equality of the sexes in the rural and agricultural sector.
Gerard Doornbos, President of the International Federation of Agricultural Producers, represented by Sisko Mäkelä, Vice Chair of the IFAP Standing Committee of Women in Agriculture, emphasized that farming is not solely a production activity but is also a way of live and a means of combating poverty. Greater political will and adequate resources are needed to support producers, especially women, who are the main suppliers of food. Participation by women in the implementation of policy is a prerequisite for world development. Peace and sustainable development will result from the establishment of a relevant dialogue between men and women within agricultural organizations, national and international bodies, and governments, which must adopt measures adapted to these challenges.
The Honourable Zoë Bakoko Bakoru, Ugandan Minister of Gender, Labour and Social Development, stressed the need to operationalize existing political and legal structures aimed at combating all forms of discrimination at the constitutional level. To this end, it is essential to strengthen at the grass-roots level the skills of rural women, who can then obtain the services and support necessary for agricultural development and, consequently, contribute to community food security.
We were honoured by the presence of the First Lady of Uganda, the Honourable Janet Museveni, who expressed her country’s hopes for development. The chances of achieving peace in families and at the national level increase as injustices such as inequality among rural women diminish. When agriculture is modernized, we must ensure that women have equal access to new techniques and resources. Rural women can eradicate poverty if they receive support from the standpoint of production and marketing and at the political level.
Fight against HIV/AIDS: consequences of the spread of the disease on development, the maintenance of peace and food security
Dr Kihumuro D. Apuuli, Director General of the Ugandan AIDS Commission, indicated that HIV/AIDS must be perceived as a short- and long-term development and security problem. In economic terms, the drop in productivity in the family unit (and in all sectors of activity) and the attendant increase in medical and funeral expenses affects household (and national) income. Children are frequently taken out of school to work or act as caregivers, thus affecting the development of future generations. Production capacity is being permanently undermined. The volume and quality of production is declining because growers are shifting to crops that are less labour intensive. Furthermore, production stocks are often sacrificed to cover funeral expenses or are managed by children, who do not necessarily possess the necessary knowledge. Aside from the general poverty that it engenders, the HIV/AIDS epidemic is also causing social instability through high infant mortality, which will affect the labour force in the future, a generation of orphans, unmanageable social services, and an increase in community conflicts. HIV/AIDS is not merely a public health issue.
Lynda Campbell-Morrison from Zimbabwe, where the Commercial Farmers’ Union has established an HIV/AIDS education program for rural families and farm workers in order to deal with its impact on commercial farming operations in rural areas, pursued this theme. Many unemployed workers cannot be reached in the workplace because of current political unrest.
Ivory Coast, which could not be represented at the gathering, wished to emphasize that rural women are more extensively affected than men by HIV/AIDS. Rural African women are made vulnerable through their sexual subordination (a lack of information among couples on the disease, frequent affairs on the part of married men, often with young women), their economic subordination (without access to education, training and employment, women remain economically dependent on men), and their greater biological susceptibility to contamination.
Access to agricultural resources and raw materials: land, water, inputs, financing and marketing systems
Leonard Msemakweli, Secretary General of the Uganda Cooperative Alliance (UCA), outlined the experience of Ugandan farm organizations with regard to access to markets. Farmers need strong, independent organizations to work efficiently in a highly competitive environment. All too often, crops are not planned in light of market demand. Producers must obtain broader access to markets in the realms of commercial information, infrastructure and transportation, storage and processing. After explaining the operation of trade associations and the information centre, Mr Msemakweli stressed the importance of the domestic market, which offers considerable potential, before turning to exports.
Mercy Karanja, Chief Executive of the Kenya National Farmers’ Union and Vice Chair of the IFAP Standing Committee of Women in Agriculture, explained that in Africa farming is a way of life and not a simple commercial operation. Women play a very important role in farming. The government must demonstrate its commitment to the attainment of food security by establishing an institutional framework to support women farmers through more extensive funding for agriculture and a stronger commercial environment. In the meantime, women farmers can organize themselves in order to obtain the service and support that they need. Producers must guide research and the government, in light of existing information and legislation, so that their activities are geared to the interests of the farming community.
According to Halima Sekouah, a woman farmer and agrologist from the Chambre d’agriculture de Constantine, Algeria, the world’s biggest importer of wheat, must overcome its agricultural development problem. A new plan has been implemented under which women and men have equal access to financing. Growing numbers of young, educated women farmers are entering the field and taking advantage of the services and technical support of agricultural organizations. These women are organizing associations to exchange information and pool their experience, enhance the quality of crops and defend their land rights, and they must be encouraged.
Louise Smith, President of the North West Women’s Agricultural Union, noted that women farmers are still struggling to gain access to agricultural resources. Land continues to be a major problem: land reform is being contemplated as a key to rural development with a view to achieving fairer redistribution of land and maintaining communal land ownership in certain groups. Limited water also hampers agricultural output: the development of irrigation will make it possible to enhance food security. Many women farmers only sell their products at the local level for want of infrastructure, information and knowledge of commercial practices. Financial services for high-risk categories of borrowers such as women farmers exist, but many women do not benefit from them because information and communication are lacking.
According to Rosalie Sawadogo, a woman farmer from Burkina Faso who was unable to attend the gathering, under customary law, women farmers have very limited access to land ownership. All too often, they are entitled solely to farm poor land, which, by dint of hard labour, they succeed in developing before the land is once again taken away from them. Furthermore, women farmers do not participate sufficiently in decision-making that affects them, even in the villages.
Mercy Msoka, Administrative Assistant, Zambia Co-operative Federation Ltd., explained that agricultural strategies must be formulated and implemented carefully in order to achieve food security. Zambia is slowly becoming aware of the impact of recognition of women farmers and support for them in gaining access to the means of production. Through the development of projects, women are now engaging in more modern agricultural production.
Sadio Thioune, Secretary General of the Fédération Nationale des Groupements de Promotion Féminine du Sénégal, explained that, under the traditional Sahelian system, most women are entitled to land through their husbands’ families. As for access to water, an extensive water program has been established but water collection continues to be a concern for women. In light of the existing migratory dynamic, women often find themselves unofficial farm operators, which raises the question of recognition of their occupational status that would assure them access to agricultural inputs and other equipment and services.
Several issues were examined during the discussions:
· Women farmers encounter marketing problems since their crops do not reflect consumer demand. Basic products must be developed.
· By grouping together, women farmers can demand their rights, gain access to agricultural resources and achieve economic freedom.
· It is important that rural women participate in meetings at all levels to ensure the circulation of information.
· Individuals must obtain information on the legislation in their country. Legislation has often been adopted by is not enforced since it is unknown to its main potential beneficiaries.
The representation of rural women: participation in power structures and the decision-making process
Following a presentation by Margaret Ndaga, a Ugandan woman farmer, Joke Von Doorn, President of LTO Women and Affairs presented LTO and LTO Women and Affairs, Netherlands agricultural organizations. She focused on the hierarchical operation of agricultural organizations, which is not adapted to women, who find it harder to impose themselves on mixed boards. The representation of women in decision-making bodies is affected by this system and organizations do not fully benefit from the skills of the women farmers present. Moreover, the presence of women farmers in power structures necessarily depends on better preparation of such women to take part in the decision-making process. We must all encourage our organizations to propose training for administrative positions in local and national bodies.
Sisko Mäkelä, a Finnish woman farmer and Vice Chair of the IFAP Standing Committee of Women in Agriculture, noted that the representation of women in agricultural organizations is proportional to the recognition of their roles in this sector. When women participate in administrative bodies, they offer a different, complementary viewpoint on key policy directions. With more extensive representation at the local level and adequate training, women could serve organizations by initiating an active dialogue with various social groups through their common bases, i.e. the home and food production. Solidarity among women is crucial to the advancement of their careers and strong networks of women farmers are also necessary.
Luisita Esmao, Regional Vice President of PAKISAMA and Vice Chair of the IFAP Standing Committee of Women in Agriculture, explained that within her organization in the Philippines a genuine effort is being made to achieve gender balance in decision-making bodies, policy and activities, i.e. at least 30% of participants must be women farmers. However, agricultural organizations must establish education programs for members and leaders on gender issues and men must be involved in order to truly achieve change. PAKISAMA recently established a national women farmers’ organization.
According to Cecilia Makota, National Coordinator, Zambian Women in Agriculture, there is widespread awareness of the need to facilitate the education of women in order to empower them and promote a clear change in Zambia’s political, social and economic development. However, such change is hardly convincing: despite heightened awareness among a number of interveners such as legislators, leaders and tribal authorities, and the establishment by the government of bodies to guide government policy in light of women’s needs and demands, effective account is not taken of women farmers when legislation is formulated and decisions are made at all levels.
Aminata Diarra, a woman farmer and member of the Assemblée Consulaire de l’Assemblée Permanente des Chambres d’Agriculture du Mali, explained that women’s passive social status persists because of failure to strictly apply existing laws, thus engendering a lack of participation in administrative bodies. Women farmers must broaden their knowledge and bolster their negotiating skills and transmit them to other women. Furthermore, it is essential to heighten awareness among men in order to increase the visibility of their spouses and promote forums for training and the exchange of experience.
Various ideas were shared during the discussions:
· Regardless of their determination, women can only obtain power if they are supported by their husbands or by male family members.
· We must enhance the negotiating skills of women, especially through better communication and more effective dissemination of useful information.
· Women must immediately demand the services they need.
Judith Lewis, Regional Director of the World Food Program, noted that despite all the positive developments since the last quarter of the 20th century, the fact is that women and men still live in an unequal world. UNDP estimated that 70% of the world’s poor are women, owning only 2% of the land and receiving only 5% of all agricultural extension resources. In addition, women constitute only 7%-11% of the beneficiaries of the credit programmes and receive lower pay than men for equal work. The key issue for rural women is control over, not access to, resources and the means of production.
Food security and nutrition: rural women as key players in respect of the well-being of families and communities
According to the representative of Agricultural Commissioner Mr Tumusiime, food supply in Uganda can meet demand, although the population does not have sufficient access to nutritional food adapted to its needs. Certain factors are especially decisive, i.e. poverty, which limits the consumption of varied food that satisfies nutritional needs; lower agricultural productivity, which hampers abundant, diversified production and the generation of sufficient income to round out the family’s diet; storage problems, which lead to high crop losses; and the lack of infrastructure, which limits the marketing and distribution of products. Uganda is elaborating a nutrition program that addresses these problems.
According to Abby Taka Mgugu, National Coordinator of the Women and Land Lobby Group in Zimbabwe, the food and nutritional security of families depends on policies respecting access to and control over the means of production. It can be enhanced if women farmers obtain long-term land ownership so that they can then adjust their production to the food and nutritional demands of their families or the market. The government must also adopt legislation that assures women access to and control over the means of production, and support and information services so that they can make the right decisions with regard to production. It is essential to establish marketing services for women farmers to ensure the sale of their output on the market.
Soheir El Saghir, a consultant on women’s issues with the Central Agricultural Cooperatives Union of the Arab Republic of Egypt, emphasized that, through their operations, local cooperatives provide women with an opportunity to make decisions, pool their experience and information, gain access to the means of production and services, and enable them to raise their income and standard of living. Moreover, cooperatives offer training on themes such as nutrition, thus helping to bolster family food security.
Cristina Manzano, an advisor to the Sociedad Rural Argentina and to the IFAP Standing Committee of Women in Agriculture, stressed that women continue to be invisible players in agriculture, which limits the impact of agricultural policy. We must ensure that women are the beneficiaries of agricultural policy. Support for farming enterprises, the modernization of agriculture, the supply of inputs and credit, technical assistance and training are the keys to the attainment of food and nutritional security.
Margareta de Roo, a member of the national council of the Union des Agricultrices Belges, explained to participants that in Belgium, the food problem is not one of quantity but of health. Consumers are highly demanding with respect to criteria governing products, production methods, and the traceability of products, which demands investment by producers. Consumers are reluctant to pay the price for their demands. Furthermore, overproduction leads to drops in prices on the markets and producers cannot cover their costs. Women must seek remuneration off the farm through additional work. For this reason, KVLV, the Belgian women farmers’ organization, supports these women in establishing farm-based activities.
According to Béatrice Mukakalisa, a gender advisor with the Syndicat des Agri-Eleveurs du Rwanda IMBARAGA, women rarely gain access to remunerated agricultural activities and it is hard for them to develop parallel activities that generate income that would enable them to ensure their families’ food and nutritional security. Moreover, women have little time to devote to production and technical training, with the result that crops are poor in terms of quality and quantity. Since the resolution of the Rwandan conflict, women have been granted a more important place in society and a number of measures concerning access to and control over agricultural resources have been initiated to ensure food security and nutrition adapted to individual needs.
Given the differences between agriculture in Europe and Africa, the Belgian example sparked a good discussion on prices, the quality of products, the search by women for off-farm income, and exports of agricultural products.
The everyday lives of rural women from the standpoint of income-generating activities: a family matter
According to Albertine Rasoanivo, Vice President of the Coopérative Tanjona Manandona in Madagascar, it is by grouping together farmers that proposals from the farm sector can be established. The existence of sectoral monopolies has meant that producers have had to create cooperatives that enable them to develop their agri-food potential. FIFATA is working in conjunction with the rural development plan to focus results on the private sector by supporting farm production and reducing food dependency. From a fiscal standpoint, FIFATA is asking the government to enforce financial legislation taxing agricultural imports so that such revenues are invested to enhance productivity and develop income-generating activities.
Berthe Owonyebe, a Cameroonian woman farmer, examined the income-generating activities in which rural women engage along with their daily chores in order to support their families. These activities centre on agriculture, animal husbandry and the processing of products hampered by limited storage and packaging capacity. Women farmers encounter technical problems such as home-made tools that lead to small yields, a lack of knowledge and training with respect to the processing of fresh produce, and the absence of road infrastructure. The acquisition of small, inexpensive farm machinery that can be used by several producers appears to be one possible solution.
Mariama Soihili, a rural community worker from the Syndicat National des Agriculteurs Comoriens, emphasized the differences between the position of Comorian women and women in other African countries. When a Comorian woman marries, the husband joins his new spouse in the parental home. This arrangement may seem trifling but it affects many rights: women own their homes and land that is passed from mother to daughter and jointly own the husband’s property. Comorian women engage in farming on the same footing as men but they also single-handedly ensure the transportation, processing and marketing of products. However, their know-how is limited and they need technical and commercial training.
Jova Bagarukayo Nkusi, a Ugandan woman farmer, told participants that the main need in Uganda is to encourage people to join existing groups in which mixed management committees must be set up from the local to the national level. In her organization, no training program can begin until women make up 30% of the participants. It is also necessary to ensure that training centres are located near the target population, since their very busy schedules mean that women farmers must be able to visit the centres between two activities in order to seek the varied information they need.
Everyone believes that it is absolutely necessary for men to participate in awareness programs aimed at women to encourage them to support and mobilize their wives and take an active part in the development of women farmers’ skills.
Furthermore, women leaders must be able to subsequently share their experience and encourage other women to do whatever they can.
The education of rural women: a step toward the elimination of poverty
Dr Nite Tanzan from the Department of Women and Gender Studies at Makerere University, and Professor Victoria Mwaka, also from Uganda, showed that it is absolutely necessary in combating poverty to keep children in school as long as possible. Similarly, it is important to adapt to the needs of adults by developing functional literacy programs linked, for example, to the ability to use knowledge in order to bolster agricultural production. Educated girls and women will be able to better manage their activities, earn income and learn about existing experience and organizations in order to integrate into such organizations. Educational needs must be pinpointed on a case-by-case basis.
Kaswera Siviholya, Vice President of the Syndicat de Défense des Intérêts Paysans of the Democratic Republic of Congo, mentioned four strategies that must be developed: eliminate all discrimination against women, establish an egalitarian training system, ensure with government assistance respect for equal rights in all domains and the full enjoyment by women of their rights, and revise land-ownership legislation and the loan system. Educational programs are gradually contributing to increasing agricultural output and family income, improving the management of inventories, enhancing women’s abilities, and fostering the emergence of women leaders, and inculcating a analytical spirit with respect to agricultural problems.
According to Paola Ortensi, coordinator of women farmers with the Confederazione Italiana Agricoltori (CIA) in Italy and a member of the Advisory Group of the IFAP Standing Committee of Women in Agriculture, education is developing women’s ability to mobilize by reducing their external dependency through broader general knowledge and information on the productive, social and economic situation, which is bolstering production capacity. It is probably from this process that the empowerment of rural women and heads of farming enterprises in Italy has stemmed. IFAP must serve as a permanent forum to support women farmers.
Stefania Tedeschi from the Osservatorio per l'imprenditoria agricola ed il lavoro femminile in agricoltura announced the establishment of twinning with the Rural Women Association of Uganda.
Lilia Hantanirina Ravoniarisoa, a woman farmer and national coordinator of the recently established Fédération des Femmes Malgaches, discussed several forms of poverty: moral poverty (submission to the social order), intellectual poverty (exclusion from education), financial poverty (limited disposable income to be optimized), food poverty (on-farm consumption), and institutional poverty (the very recent organization of Malagasy women). Statistics reveal that over half of the rural population is deprived of education, 74% of rural households live below the poverty line, i.e. US$100 per year, half of the country does not obtain the minimum daily food ration, and in rural organizations, women account for only 30% of members, which is hindering their socio-economic integration. Extensive educational initiatives are needed.
Kathleen J. Stylianou, a member of the Executive Committee of the Cape Women’s Agricultural Association in South Africa, noted that the level of education has improved strikingly, although older women are still bound by tradition. Rural women do not necessarily wish to engage in farming activities alone; many of them want to improve their way of life and earn additional income. Aside from basic courses, education can also entail the establishment of agricultural fairs and competitions to motivate and restore the confidence of the rural population. In any event, it is essential to assemble the population to discuss the projects without imposing them.
The participants then discussed various educational projects aimed at women farmers.
Recommendations of the Committee concerning future activities
· Exert pressure through IFAP and the ACWW on the United Nations to have declared an international year of food security focusing, among other things, on control of agricultural resources.
· Strengthen the ties between IFAP and the ACWW through participation in the organizations’ meetings and conferences and through the establishment of discussions on issues pertaining to rural women.
· Elaborate a pilot support project for women farmers to be submitted to the IFAP Development Cooperation Committee, which can then propose it to agricultural development agencies.
· Share information: anyone attending a conference is required to submit a brief report to IFAP, which will disseminate the report as widely as possible. The participants asked to maintain constant contact between themselves and IFAP in order to share their ideas and information. Technical solutions must be found.
· IFAP will prepare in anticipation of the 3rd International Conference of Women in Agriculture to be held in Spain in 2002 one or more documents that present the viewpoints of our organizations.
· IFAP must broaden its initiatives concerning participation by women in the decision-making process at all levels.
· Each agricultural organization must inform us of the themes and ideas on which its women farmers’ committee is focusing by giving examples of initiatives undertaken.