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World Rural Women's Day, 2004
“Biodiversity for Food Security: Women Farmers are ready!” RECOMMENDATIONS BY WOMEN FARMERS
The term “biodiversity” or “biological diversity” covers all plant and animal species used by people for their survival. Agriculture and biological diversity are inseparable. Biodiversity is at the root of agriculture since it provides the plants and animals required for production. And agriculture is a crucial element in the knowledge and preservation of biodiversity.
Protecting the numerous existing species used in agriculture is a way of contributing to the long-term food security of the world population by supplying a variety of healthy and nutritious products. What is more, by ensuring a wide range of products for harvesting, biodiversity favours production in sufficient quantities to feed the populations. Preserving biodiversity also implies ensuring regular income for farmers, derived from diversified products, while at the same time protecting the environment. It is therefore vital for the human species to preserve biodiversity and promote its rational and sustainable management.
Women farmers play a key role in the knowledge and preservation of biodiversity.
* Over the centuries, rural women have acquired knowledge about most of the species of animals and plants that share their everyday life. They have frequently exchanged, tested and improved these species in order to obtain greater profits (species that are more resistant, productive, nutritious, in greater demand on the market, etc). Handed down from generation to generation, this accumulated knowledge is regularly enriched by experiments (gardens run by women farmers), education (technical agricultural training for adults) and institutional agricultural research (dissemination of information about discoveries among women farmers).
* Furthermore, women farmers protect the plants and animals produced locally, select the different species depending on how local conditions evolve, and handle agricultural ecosystems in order to renew resources in the long term.
This diversification of production and adaptation of plants and animals to the conditions of their environment, which can sometimes be difficult, are two tools to fight against famine and malnutrition.
At present, biodiversity is in danger: poverty in rural areas and world demographic pressure lead to an intensification of the agricultural production, a search for short-term income and an over-exploitation of natural resources. Agricultural and natural ecosystems have become fragile due to unplanned exploitation by poor populations. The number of agricultural varieties available is falling to the detriment of a well-balanced diet.
This is why women farmers are ready to continue their efforts to preserve biodiversity all over the world.
In order to safeguard the knowledge acquired by women farmers, it is indispensable to support their recommendations.
* The International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture recently established that women farmers have “the right to be remunerated for their contribution towards preserving biodiversity” (source : FAO). This principle also implies the right of women farmers to take part in decision-making, to have lasting access to biological diversity and to preserve their traditional knowledge. Women farmers ask not be forgotten. They should be the priority targets of the programmes and policies emerging from this Treaty. It is necessary to ensure the rights of women to use the resources to them by biodiversity and their rights to make long-term use of the resources resulting from their experimental work.
* Women farmers are ready to work with agricultural research services to guide them on their roles and needs, lay down the working priorities jointly, and disseminate the results of research on the preservation of biodiversity. Women farmers are ready to work with the players involved in research to develop projects designed to preserve biodiversity.
* Women farmers are ready to circulate their knowledge on biodiversity so that it can be taken into account in the policies of the agricultural sector and in the management of the environment. A policy framework that favours the recommendations of women farmers on the rational and sustainable management of biodiversity should be drawn up with the aim of preserving the knowledge accumulated over generations.
* Women farmers are ready to undertake professional training so that they can use biodiversity more efficiently and rationally, and develop solid marketing plans for their production. They need to reinforce their technical and entrepreneurial capacities through the introduction of agricultural training services.
* Women farmers are ready to participate in awareness-raising campaigns aimed at the general public to help all citizens understand the necessity of safeguarding biodiversity.
* Women farmers are ready to better integrate ecosystem approaches into the management of their farms. Implementation of this project requires national and international funding.
Women farmers are the guardians of biological diversity and play a major role in world agricultural production. Applying these recommendations is vital to ensure food security for people while respecting the balance of ecosystems.