Households

Citation:

Kerr, Rachel Bezner. 2013. “Seed Struggles and Food Sovereignty in Northern Malawi.” The Journal of Peasant Studies 40 (5): 867-97.

Author: Rachel Bezner Kerr

Abstract:

In this paper I use seeds in Malawi as both an analytical lens and an empirical focus of study to examine how food sovereignty is threatened or enhanced in a particular location and time. I argue that while food sovereignty was eroded for smallholders through neoliberal reforms to the agricultural system, community and kin practices help to maintain food sovereignty. The intersection of gender and class dynamics, combined with state policies, however, works to undermine food sovereignty for particular groups in northern Malawi. Historical processes of exclusion, dispossession and exploitation changed the division of labour and reduced time and land for diverse farming systems. State policies reduced knowledge and availability of preferred local varieties. While peasants, particularly women, have considerable knowledge of seed varieties, and seeds continue to be exchanged in agrarian communities, young women, tenant farmers, food insecure younger couples and acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS)-affected families are particularly vulnerable to reduced food sovereignty, in part due to gender inequalities, unequal land distribution and social stigma. New efforts to strengthen food sovereignty need to build on community and kin relations, while addressing social inequalities. Understanding the struggles and relations linked to seeds helps us to understand ways in which food sovereignty is undermined or strengthened.

Keywords: Malawi, food sovereignty, maize, seeds, agrobiodiversity, Gender

Topics: Agriculture, Class, Gender, Health, HIV/AIDS, Households, Livelihoods, Rights, Security, Food Security Regions: Africa, Southern Africa Countries: Malawi

Year: 2013

Citation:

Kayigema, Vincent, and Denis Rugege. 2014. “Women's Perceptions of the Girinka (One Cow per Poor Family) Programme, Poverty Alleviation and Climate Resilience in Rwanda.” Agenda 28 (3): 53-64.

Authors: Vincent Kayigema, Denis Rugege

Abstract:

The Girinka ‘one cow per poor family’ programme has been implemented in Rwanda since 2006 to contribute towards poverty reduction, reduction of child malnutrition as well as to promote climate resilience among poor rural families. Under the programme, every family whose local community confirms it meets national criteria of being poor receives one dairy cow. Impacts of the Girinka programme on female beneficiaries for increasing livelihood options and enabling food security in the drought-prone Bugesera District as well as its potential contribution to climate resilience were assessed. The specific focus was whether the Girinka programme assists female beneficiaries to better cope with climate change in Bugesera District. The key consideration is the extent to which interventions reduce women’s vulnerability to climate change impacts. Both quantitative and qualitative research methods were used in this study. One hundred and thirty three female beneficiaries were interviewed and four focus group discussions held. The key findings of the study show that the one cow per poor family resulted in expanded land use, improved household nutrition and food security. Changes in agricultural practices resulting from the use of green fertiliser contributed to climate change resilience, increased crop production and generated income for poor rural women. The study reveals that while the government energy policy prioritises biogas energy production and the use of cow dung for biogas energy generation to reduce deforestation and greenhouse gas emissions in the atmosphere for climate resilience, few respondents in the study could afford to buy biodigesters. Direct benefits for women who are responsible for energy and the collection of wood for their households are not yet being reaped and depend on affordable biodigesters. The main problems reported by respondents were inadequate veterinary services for care of the cow, the frequent search for water sources during droughts and insufficient land to grow fodder.

Keywords: climate change, climate resilience, Girinka programme, Rwanda, women

Topics: Agriculture, Economies, Poverty, Environment, Climate Change, Gender, Women, Households, Livelihoods, Security, Food Security Regions: Africa, Central Africa, East Africa Countries: Rwanda

Year: 2014

Citation:

Kakota, Tasokwa, Dickson Nyariki, David Mkwambisi, and Wambui Kogi-Makau. 2011. “Gender Vulnerability to Climate Variability and Household Food Insecurity.” Climate and Development 3 (4): 298-309.

Authors: Tasokwa Kakota, Dickson Nyariki, David Mkwambisi, Wambui Kogi-Makau

Abstract:

Climate variability presents different challenges for men and for women in their efforts to ensure household food security. However, despite their central role, gender issues have received only cursory attention in adaptation studies. This article looks at causes of gender vulnerability to climate variability and household food insecurity in one sub-Saharan African country: Malawi. Data were collected through a household questionnaire survey, focus group discussions and key informants’ interviews in Chikhwawa and Ntcheu districts, located in the southern and central areas of Malawi. Results revealed that exposure and sensitivity to climate risks vary between men and women; therefore, each gender responds differently to climate risks, with men having more opportunities than women. The results highlight the need for policies and interventions to empower women in the access to resources that can strengthen households’ resilience to climate variability. 

Keywords: adaptation, climate variability, food insecurity, Gender, Malawi, vulnerability, Africa

Topics: Environment, Climate Change, Households, Livelihoods, Security, Food Security Regions: Africa, Southern Africa Countries: Malawi

Year: 2011

Citation:

Jarosz, Lucy. 2011. “Defining World Hunger.” Food, Culture & Society 14 (1): 117-39.

Author: Lucy Jarosz

Abstract:

Through a reading of policy texts centering upon food security published by the World Bank and the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization, I problematize the concept of food security by showing how its definition and its scale have changed over time. I use scale as an analytic frame to highlight how changing definitions of food security serve neoliberal ideology. The scaled definitions of food security move from an early emphasis upon the attainment of food security at the international and national levels to a micro-level focus upon households and gendered individuals. The most recent changes link individuals to global modalities of governance with an emphasis upon the instrumentality of agricultural productivity in economic development strategies. Considering the contested and dynamic construction of scale in relation to the changing definitions of international food security reveals the political and ideological dimensions of these dynamics and their contradictions with the material history of hunger over the last thirty years.

Keywords: scale, food security, development, discourse

Topics: Development, Economies, Food Security, Gender, Households, International Organizations

Year: 2011

Citation:

Author: Fatma Osman Ibnouf

Abstract:

This paper investigates the role of women in achieving household food security in the Western Region of Sudan, an area much affected by the impacts of drought and civil conflicts. The study is based on a quantitative survey and qualitative focus group discussions, supported by personal observations made during fieldwork. Additionally, the study draws upon secondary data that is publicly available. Results demonstrate that women play a major role in producing and providing food for their households in this high-risk climate and conflict area, while men are more likely to migrate seasonally and even permanently. In addition, women are responsible for food preparation, processing, and food preservation and are wholly responsible for attending to household garden plots. They therefore contribute more to household food security than men, though this contribution is not recognized in official statistics. The study findings indicate that the main problems women face as food producers and providers are a lack of access to the full package of improved production methods (improved seeds, fertilizers, modern farming methods, credit services, pesticides, appropriate technologies, and marketing facilities), in addition to gender disparities and gender-biased traditions. The impacts of natural crises and civil conflicts are gendered and therefore the responses to these crises must be gender responsive. Holistic and strategic policies and plans that take gender issues into account are thus needed in order to achieve food security.

Keywords: Sudan, women, Gender, migration, food security

Topics: Armed Conflict, Civil Wars, Displacement & Migration, Migration, Environment, Climate Change, Environmental Disasters, Gendered Power Relations, Households, Security, Food Security Regions: Africa, East Africa Countries: Sudan

Year: 2011

Citation:

Farnworth, Cathy Rozel, Clare Stirling, Tek B. Sapkota, M. L. Jat, Michael Misiko, and Simon Attwood. 2017. “Gender and Inorganic Nitrogen: What are the Implications of Moving Towards a More Balanced Use of Nitrogen Fertilizer in the Tropics?” International Journal of Agricultural Sustainability 15 (2): 136-52.

Authors: Cathy Rozel Farnworth, Clare Stirling, Tek B. Sapkota, M. L. Jat, Michael Misiko, Simon Attwood

Abstract:

For agriculture to play a role in climate change mitigation strategies to reduce emissions from inorganic nitrogen (N) fertilizer through a more balanced and efficient use are necessary. 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 more broadly from sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), show that the negative externalities of imbalanced inorganic N use in high- and low-use scenarios impact more strongly on women and children. We examine, through a literature review of recent work in SSA, the relative jointness of intra-household bargaining processes in low N use scenarios to assess the degree to which they impact upon N use. We suggest that gender-equitable strategies for achieving more balanced use of N will increase the likelihood of attaining macro-level reductions in GHG emissions provided that they secure equity in intra-household decision-making and address food security. Gender-equitable N use efficiency strategies will help to integrate and assure gender and social equity co-benefits at local scales. 

Keywords: inorganic fertilizer, nitrogen use efficiency, mitigation, Gender, low-emissions development, India, Sub-Saharan Africa

Topics: Agriculture, Development, Economies, Environment, Climate Change, Gender, Gendered Power Relations, Gender Equity, Households, Livelihoods, Security, Food Security Regions: Africa, East Africa, Asia, South Asia Countries: India

Year: 2017

Citation:

Collins, Andrea. 2018. “Saying All the Right Things? Gendered Discourse in Climate-Smart Agriculture.” The Journal of Peasant Studies 45 (1): 175-91. 

Author: Andrea Collins

Abstract:

Amidst debates about the role of ‘climate-smart agriculture’ (CSA), the intersection of concerns about climate change and agriculture offer an opportunity to consider how gender is considered in global policymaking. The latest module in the Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations, World Bank and International Fund for Agricultural Development Gender and Agriculture Sourcebook – ‘Gender and Climate Smart Agriculture’ – offers an opportunity to reassess how gender factors into these global recommendations. This contribution argues that the module makes strides toward more gender-aware policymaking, but the version of CSA discussed in the module sidesteps the market-led and productivity-oriented practices often associated with CSA. As a result, though the module pushes a more feminist agenda in many respects, it does not fully consider the gendered implications of corporate-led and trade-driven CSA. 

Keywords: agriculture, climate change, Gender, FAO, global governance

Topics: Agriculture, Development, Environment, Climate Change, Gender, Gendered Discourses, Households, International Organizations, Livelihoods

Year: 2018