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Gender Research Strategy for Dryland Systems in South Asia

KH Anantha and Team

Resilient Dryland SystemsICRISAT, Patancheru 502324 Andhra Pradesh,

India

Agriculture in South Asia

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SA is home to about 20% of the world’s population.

Three-quarters of this population live in rural areas, with one-third living in extreme poverty.

More than 50% of employed women in South Asia work in the agriculture sector.

Women in agriculture

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Country Rural population (% of total)

Female share of rural population (%)

Agri share of economically active women (% of total)

Afghanistan 75.2 NA 82

Bangladesh 71.9 51.4 57.4

Bhutan 63.1 47.2 97.2

India 69.9 48.7 61.8

Maldives 59.6 50.6 14.3

Nepal 81.8 51.6 97.8

Pakistan 63.0 50.2 56.9

Sri Lanka 84.9 50.5 41.6Source: Saxena LP (2013)

Women in food production

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Particulars Bangladesh

India Nepal

Pakistan

Female share of agr. Holders (% of total)

NA 10.9 8.1 NA

Share of rural households, female -headed (%)

13.2 14.9 24.0 11.0

Source: Saxena LP (2013)

Gender disparity in food production

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Women do not have equal access to and control over land, livestock, technology, credit, extension services and other essential resources.

Women’s capacity/ability to cope with and recover from climate change-induced impacts on crop production and yields very limited

Priority areas

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Integrating gender participation in crop-livestock value chains.

Quantifying women’s role in agricultural development.

Identify entry points to reduce drudgery and increase efficiency of labour use; and

Improving nutrition and food security for women.

Critical focus areas for strategic gender research

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Empowerment through enhanced and targeted knowledge sharing using ICT4D.

Self employment generation for women through collective action in the crop-livestock systems.

Inclusive market oriented holistic development through PR4D.

Value addition and marketing.

Enhanced nutrition and food security.

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Gender Research at ICRISAT

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Engagement, empowerment, and investment of and in women.

Contributions to improve rural livelihoods through inclusive market oriented development (IMOD), improved food security, better health and nutrition, reducing drudgery for women and sustainable management of agriculturally-related natural resources.

ICRISAT’s Approach to Gender

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ICRISAT takes the position that gender is an integral element of its overall agenda and attaches great importance to the gender implications of its research with human face through training activities.

Gender responsive goal of ICRISAT: Increase benefits for women and men in terms of income, nutrition, food security from improvements in the production and marketing of ICRISAT mandate crops so that gender inequality is reduced.  The Inclusive Market-Oriented Development (IMOD) conceptual framework: that underlies ICRISAT’s Strategic Plan to 2020 categorically mentions, “will enable the poor, particularly women, to participate and benefit rather than be sidelined” in the economic growth (ICRISAT, 2010).

The Strategy

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1. Integrating gender in:• programme development and implementation• capacity building• support to women’s empowerment2. Documenting gender issues:• Developing gender disaggregated database on ICRISAT’s

core programs & research issues• Documenting gender issues in ICRISAT’s research programs• Disseminating information related to gender issues for

advocacy and policy dialogue3. Influencing Policies by:• Documenting & disseminating information related to

gender issues in ICRISAT’s research programs• Integrating gender issues in dialogues and other initiatives

with policy-makers• Giving visibility to gender issues under ICRISAT’s research

programs in the regional and international platforms

Thank you!

ICRISAT is a member of the CGIAR Consortium