On 8th of March, the world celebrates International Women’s Day, as it has since 1911 when women were absolutely invisible in the public sphere of work and polity.
At the threshold of this 21st century, we have reason to celebrate as empirical evidence shows remarkable achievements of women in the economy, political sphere, and in social life.
But progress remains skewed.
Women in developing regions of the world disproportionately cluster at the bottom of the pyramid, constituting the majority of the world’s 1.3 billion poor. The more sobering reality is that the majority of these are rural smallholders eking out an existence on small diversified production systems in which shrubs and indigenous tree species are an integral component.
We know from research that women smallholders play tremendous roles in agroforestry, through fodder production for small livestock, woodlot management, biomass recycling for soil fertility management and tree products value chains.
We also know women smallholders are significant producers of orphan crops, many of which are fruit trees and legumes with huge nutritional benefits; and significant potential to increase soil biomass/ and sequester carbon. Research has shown that women smallholders tend to manage complex integrated production systems serving multiple functions and purposes. Their systems are designed to optimize the productivity of crop mixes on their farm to ensure stability and resilience.
Yet huge structural obstacles remain that limit women’s opportunities to optimally benefit from their participation:
They often hardly own the land they work on; recent statistics indicate that in Africa, for example, less than 20 percent of landholders are women; Yet studies have consistently shown a direct correlation between ownership of agricultural land and adoption of sustainable practices—including the growing of trees on farms that enhance and sustain the fertility of the soil and provide critical environmental services.
As we celebrate this day, we must pause a moment to reflect on how our research can make transforming contributions to their livelihoods and the wellbeing of women smallholders and their households. We recognize that addressing gender in agroforestry requires a robust strategy, specific guidelines, practical tools, and a capacity development that explicitly articulates gender training as a key output. That process has begun.
Our challenge now is to grow and sustain the momentum to make ICRAF a truly gender responsive organization, reflected in our research and development –and in our organizational practice, building a diverse and highly motivated staff community.
Wishing you all a very happy Women’s Day, 2014!
Margaret Kroma
Assistant Director General
Partnerships, Capacity Development, Impact and Extension
World Agroforestry Centre (ICRAF)
