CHAPTER 2.1: FOOD PRODUCTION AND FOOD SECURITY
Figure 2.1.1: Shares of rural households that are female-headed and of agricultural land holders who are female, sample countries
10 15 20 25 30 35
0 5
Percentage of rural households that are female-headed Percentage of agricultural land holders that are female
Source: FAO (2011)
owners can be excluded in practice (Agarwal 1994; Van Koppen 2002; Vera Delgado 2011). Women farmers who are often the most in need of irrigation water are excluded from the formal and informal decisions about allocation schedules in male-dominated public spaces. So they have to accept the less advantageous irrigation turns, including night irrigation. Yet, social norms forbid women to be out in the night, so they are even more vulnerable to gender-based violence. Taboos against women undertaking technical construction and maintenance work on irrigation systems can be particularly strong. Yet, participation in these works are the primary way to confirm rights to the water of the infrastructure. Thus, women farmers are left with the choice to claim their right to construction work (Van der Grift 1993), to face the taboos at a greater risk of violence, or ask male kin or paid labourers to work on their behalf.
Since the financial and food crisis of 2008, foreign and national corporate agri-businesses have acquired large tracts of (potentially) well-watered land. Driven by a goal of profit making, these corporations typically co-opt local male elites to facilitate land wand water- grabs, while women and poor men are marginalized and dispossessed from their local land and water resource management (Mehta et al. 2013).
Access to financial services: Access to financial services is generally a challenge for women and men living below the poverty line. In most parts of the world, female farmers and fishers generally have less access to financial services than their male counterparts. Within households access to credit may not be gender neutral, as women often have less control over fixed assets that can be used as collateral. Even if women can obtain credit, traditional cultural practices often require them to relinquish control of a loan to male household members (FAO 2011). Where formal credit is not readily available, in many cases women have organized to assist each other through self-help microfinance groups. With sufficient resources, microfinance services can help women and their families address short-term household food insecurity, as they may be able to, for example, start small livestock schemes or invest in agricultural inputs (Grameen Bank 2016; KIVA 2016; WMI 2016; World Bank 2015).
Access to production inputs: The need of rural women and men for microfinancing is often driven by the high costs of external inputs including commercial fertilizers, pesticides and seeds, all of which could increase agricultural productivity. In the study of the cost of the gender gap in agricultural productivity in three Sub-Saharan countries (Table 2.1.1), lack of
35
Uganda
Dem.Rep.of Congo Morocco Guinea Egypt
Mali Viet Nam
Nepal Jordan Dominican Republic Guatemala Burkina Faso Peru
Percentage
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