IITA women nutrition scientists perfecting a new recipe. (Photo: IITA)
The CGIAR Women in Research and Science (WIRES) employee-led resource group recently had a virtual engagement to discuss the progress and new happenings in the group. The meeting, themed âConnecting and Mentoring, Whatâs new with WIRES!â was held on October 24.
Giving the opening remarks, The Alliance of Bioversity International and CIAT Knowledge Sharing Specialist Arwen Bailey stated that the group was launched in July 2020 to empower and increase the visibility of women research and science professionals across CGIAR.
Explaining the vision and mission of the group, Das stated that WIRES aims to provide tools and knowledge that support professional development. She added that this would create visibility for CGIAR women in science and research so their voices are heard and their contributions recognized. âWe are an open community that accommodates both men and women who are willing to support the vision of WIRES,â she said.
HarvestPlus Cassava Breeder Dr Elizabeth Parkes is one of the WIRES coordinators. (Photo: IITA)
Discussing her reason for sponsoring WIRES, CGIAR Executive Managing Director Claudia Sadoff said she admires the efforts and engagement of the team in supporting women despite having other personal life activities. She added that the increase in the percentage of women scientists calls for more effort to train and empower these women. âThanks for allowing me to be your sponsor,â she said. International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) Director General Jimmy Smith, also a sponsor, stated that his motivation to join the cause stems from his experience raising daughters.
Highlighting how intending volunteers can support WIRES, Das spoke on mentorship as a promising strategy to advance Gender, Diversity and Inclusion (GDI) in the workplace as it offers access and advocacy for women. Explaining the criteria for engagement, she stated that a mentor must be passionate about advancing GDI, while the mentee must be a middle to senior-level career woman researcher/scientist with an appetite to learn. âRegistration for the program will begin in November, and the program will kick off in December. Interested mentors and mentees who meet the criteria can register and be trained,â she said.
Other new WIRES initiatives coming up before the end of 2022 include âRandom coffee,â where members can schedule to meet physically or virtually to build a vibrant relationship and network, and âFocus groupsâ for discussions that will ensure continuous improvement for WIRES.
Closing out the meeting, CGIAR Global Director of People and Culture, Fiona Bourdin-Farrell, summarized ways volunteers can help to advance women in science and research in CGIAR. She mentioned that it starts with joining the WIRES team, being a part of the mentoring program, engaging in the random coffee pilot, and joining focus groups. âYou can contribute to the information in the newsletter. You can also register as both mentor and mentee as long as you meet the criteria,â she concluded.
Sustainable Agrifood Systems Approach for Sudan (SASAS) takes a modular and multi-crop approach, implementing an integrated agrifood system that supports food security, employment, and equity. The project focuses on soil fertility management integrated with agrifood systems based on smallholder farmer productivity gains, leveraging both One CGIAR and non-CGIAR innovation partners to support scaling on the ground by last-mile partners.
SASAS moves beyond humanitarian response and resilience to inclusive agriculture-led economic growth and enables landless and under resourced people to participate in functional and gender-sensitive high-production value chains.
This work contributes to six of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs): Zero Hunger; Good Health and Well-Being for People; Gender Equality; Decent Work and Economic Growth; Responsible Consumption and Production; and Climate Action.
SASAS Feature FilmÂ
Technical Overview: Interventions and Food Security Initiative
Abdelrahman Kheir, chief of party for SASAS, highlights the project’s rapid deployment of agricultural technologies across Sudan.
Imtithal Ali Atta Allah from the El-Harram Cooperative
Ali Atta Allah, a farmer, talks about her recent financial gains from selling vegetables cultivated with SASAS-provided seeds.
Aziza Haroun from the El-Harram Cooperative
Aziza Haroun shares her story working with Mercy Corps and SASAS who have provided her with improved seed, doubling her crop yields compared to previous years.
The Eastern Gangetic Plains (EGP) are vulnerable to climate change and face tremendous challenges, including heat, drought, and floods. More than 400 million people in this region depend on agriculture for their livelihoods and food security; improvements to their farming systems on a wide scale can contribute to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
The Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research (ACIAR) has been supporting smallholder farmers to make agriculture more profitable, productive, and sustainable while also safeguarding the environment and encouraging womenâs participation through a partnership with the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT). On World Food Day, these projects are more important than ever, as scientists strive to leave no one behind.
The EGP have the potential to significantly improve food security in South Asia, but agricultural production is still poor, and diversification opportunities are few. This is a result of underdeveloped markets, a lack of agricultural knowledge and service networks, insufficient development of available water resources, and low adoption of sustainable farming techniques.
Current food systems in the EGP fail to provide smallholder farmers with a viable means to prosper, do not provide recommended diets, and impose undue strain on the regionâs natural resources. It is therefore crucial to transform the food system with practical technological solutions for smallholders and with scaling-up initiatives.
Zero tillage wheat growing in the field in Fatehgarh Sahib district, Punjab, India. It was sown with a zero tillage seeder known as a Happy Seeder, giving an excellent and uniform wheat crop. (Photo: Petr Kosina/CIMMYT)
ACIAR: Understanding and promoting sustainable transformation of food systems
Over the past ten years, ACIAR has extensively focused research on various agricultural techniques in this region. The Sustainable and Resilient Farming Systems Intensification in the Eastern Gangetic Plains (SRFSI) project sought to understand local systems, demonstrate the efficacy of Conservation Agriculture-based Sustainable Intensification (CASI) approaches, and create an environment that would support and scale-up these technologies.
To establish a connection between research outputs and development goals, the Transforming Smallholder Food Systems in the Eastern Gangetic Plains (Rupantar) project expands on previous work and partnership networks. This is a collaborative venture with CIMMYT that demonstrates inclusive diversification pathways, defines scaling up procedures for millions of smallholder farmers in the region, and produces a better understanding of the policies that support diversification.
Building the future and inspiring communities
Men and women both contribute substantially to farming activities in the EGP of India, Bangladesh, and Nepal, but gender roles differ according to location, crops and opportunities. It is a prevalent perception supported by culture, tradition, and social biases that women cannot be head of the household.
In Coochbehar, India, the unfortunate passing of Jahanara Bibiâs husband left her as head of her household and sole guardian of her only son. Though a tragic event, Bibi never gave up hope.
Going through hardships of a rural single female farmer intensified by poverty, Bibi came to know about CASI techniques and the use of zero-till machines.
Though it seemed like a far-fetched technique at first and with no large network to rely on for advice, Bibi decided to gather all her courage and give it a try. Being lower cost, more productive, adding income, and saving her time and energy all encouraged Bibi to adopt this zero-till machine in 2013, which she uses to this day. Today, she advocates for CASI technology-based farming and has stood tall as an inspiration to men and women.
âI feel happy when people come to me for advice â the same people who once thought I was good for nothing,â said Bibi.
With no regrets from life and grateful for all the support she received, Bibi dreams of her future as a female agro-entrepreneur. Being a lead female farmer of her community and having good contact with the agriculture office and conducive connection with local service providers, she believes that her dream is completely achievable and can inspire many single rural female farmers like herself to encourage them to change perceptions about the role of women.
Cover photo: Jahanara Bibi standing by her farm, Coochbehar, India. (Photo: Manisha Shrestha/CIMMYT)
In Mexico there is an indigenous poem that says, “We are grains of maize from the same cob; we are one root of the same path.” So, it is not surprising that the path of Alicia Medina Hoyos, a researcher with the National Maize Research Program at El Instituto Nacional de InnovaciĂłn Agraria (INIA), began life in a rural community in Cupisnique, Cajamarca, Peru, at 1,800 meters above sea level.
At an early age, she realized the importance of maize as a feature of identity. This prompted her to dedicate her life to contribute to food security through research on starchy maize, soft maize types used for human consumption with 80% starch in their composition.
Medina studied Agronomy at the National University of Cajamarca, where her thesis brought her into contact with Luis Narro, a Peruvian researcher linked to the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT), which she has been associated with ever since.
“This permanent contact has been key to strengthening my capacities to actively participate in the co-creation of better opportunities for producers in Peru and Latin America,” said Medina. Her connection with CIMMYT has helped her to maintain an enriching exchange of knowledge and experiences with researchers such as Terry Molnar, a specialist in native maize, as well as with the more than 130 colleagues who make up the Latin American Maize Network.
It has also provided opportunities to showcase Peruvian agricultural research. In 2022, Peru hosted the XXIV Latin American Maize Meeting, an event jointly organized by CIMMYT and INIA every two years. Medina explained, “The event is a great opportunity to show Cajamarca, producers, organizations, to highlight the best we have, and to promote purple maize.”
Award-winning research
On International Women’s Day in 2019, Medina received an award from the College of Engineers of Peru for the effort, dedicated work, and contribution of engineering to the service of society.
When asked what it meant to receive this award, Medina said, “Research in starchy maize and, in recent years, in purple maize, has taken me to Ecuador, Colombia, Bolivia and Japan, and has given me the satisfaction of receiving awards that motivate me to continue putting research at the service of producers.”
This is without losing sight of the other valuable awards that Medina has received: the Personage of the Bicentennial, awarded in 2021 by the Provincial Municipality of ContumazĂĄ, Peru; the compass that Chile gave her in 2021 as recipient of the Strait of Magellan Award for Innovation and Exploration with Global Impact; and the SUMMUM Research Award given by the Summum Awards Advisory Committee in 2019.
Purple maize holds many health benefits due to its high content of anthocyanins and antioxidants. (Photo: Alicia Medina Hoyos/INIA)
Why is purple maize so important?
Purple maize comes from a breed called kulli. The team of researchers led by Medina â who obtained the variety â brought a population of purple maize from Huaraz, Peru, and crossed it with another from Cajamarca. Ten years of breeding gave rise to the INIA 601 maize, characterized by its high yield and high content of anthocyanins and antioxidants that are beneficial to health, cancer prevention, and lowering high blood pressure and cholesterol.
“In 2011 I had the opportunity to go to Japan, followed by working with a team of Japanese experts in Cajamarca,â explained Medina. âThere, we started a project that gave more importance to purple maize, not for its production but for its color and therefore anthocyanin content. We saw the characteristic of the color in the husk. In 2013, we determined the amount of anthocyanin in this variety and it turned out that it was higher in the husk than in the cob. That gave us the option to market both parts.”
Medina explains how teamwork with the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) laid the foundations so that today, 500 Peruvian producers “who see that there are profits, are convinced, by listening to their testimonies, in dissemination and training events” grow the maize in 12 of the 13 provinces that make up Cajamarca and market a kilo of cob and purple maize bract at $5 USD each.
There is currently high demand for the product in grain, grain flour, whole, dried, chopped and chopped dried forms; transnational companies based in Lima acquire the purple maize to extract the pigment and anthocyanin, and export it to the United States, Japan and Spain. “In fact, there are companies that produce whiskey with purple maize flour from Cajamarca,” Medina added.
In October 2021, a new agricultural campaign began in the Peruvian fields and Medina continues to promote agriculture based on the dream of seeing purple maize become a flagship product of the country, while becoming the engine of agribusiness in the region of Cajamarca, so that producers benefit in a better way, have more income and see the real magnitude of the grain they grow every day.
Cover photo: Medina assesses purple maize in Peru, which she introduced to the country. (Photo: Alicia Medina Hoyos/INIA)
Women play an integral role in all stages of agrifood systems, yet their unpaid labor is often culturally and economically devalued and ignored. As agriculture becomes more female-oriented, women are left with a double workload of caring in the home and laboring in the fields, leaving no time for leisure. Training programs are often developed with only male farmers in mind, and women can be completely excluded when it comes to mechanization.
The Cereal Systems Initiative for South Asia (CSISA), established by the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT), and implemented jointly with the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI), the International Water Management Institute (IWMI) and the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI), is empowering women to become active participants in farming, improving their abilities and confidence through training, expanded access to machinery and better crop management practices. To celebrate International Day of Rural Women, here are stories from three of the women CIMMYT has helped.
Equality in agricultural opportunities
Nisha Chaudhary and her husband Kamal were engaged in agriculture, poultry and pig farming in Nepal, but struggled to provide for their family of seven; their combined income was never sufficient for them to make ends meet.
Through the CSISA COVID-19 Response and Resilience Activity, CIMMYT introduced Chaudhary to mechanization’s advantages and supported her to connect with banks, cooperatives, and machinery dealers to access financial support to introduce agriculture machinery into the family business. She became the first farmer in her village to acquire a mini combine rice mill and offer milling services. The following month, Chaudhary received additional tutoring from the Activity, this time in business management and mill repair and maintenance.
Learning about mechanization was eye-opening for Chaudhary, particularly as the Bankatti community that she comes from uses traditional methods or travels great distances to process grains using machines hired out by other communities.
Chaudhary’s primary income is now from her milling services, offering post-harvest processing services to 100 households and earning more than $150 USD each month; after deducting expenses, she is still able to save around $50 USD every month. She has bought four more cows, increasing the number of cattle she owns from 12 to 16, and is able to make her own for her livestock, saving an additional $20 USD per month.
Giving rural women the credit they deserve
As part of its response to the pandemic, CSISA launched a COVID-19 Response Activity aimed at supporting farmers and service providers to access subsidies and collateral-free loans via the Government of Nepal Kisan Credit Card (KCC) scheme, designed to support agriculture-related businesses. Through this scheme, farmers received hands-on training in providing after-sales support to customers, as well as mentoring to learn how to operate machinery and use it to generate sales and income.
Smallholder female farmers have been subject to many hardships due to lack of access to finance. They are forced to sell produce at low prices and buy inputs at high prices, which makes them suffer financially and physically. Now, loans through appropriate intermediaries can foster rural entrepreneurship and the service delivery business model.
The KCC scheme gave Chaudhary financial security just when she needed it. Her next step, with her newfound confidence, respect of her community, and the support of a collateral-free loan from KCC, will be to launch her own poultry farm agri-business.
Eradicating discrimination in mechanization
The CSISA Mechanization and Extension Activity (CSISA-MEA) enables smallholder female farmers to discover the advantages of scale-appropriate mechanization and its benefits: increased productivity, reduced labor costs, improved financial stability and greater food security.
Rokeya Begum was a stay-at-home mother to three children in Bangladesh and aspired to give her daughter a good education. However, her husband found it difficult to sustain the family as a factory worker due to the high cost of their daughter’s education.
As a result, Begum opted to work in an agriculture machinery manufacturing workshop like her husband. She was initially hesitant to work in a male-dominated workplace but on the other hand realized that this job would mean she could pursue the dream she had for her daughter. She immediately began using her earnings to fund her daughter’s education, who is currently in high school.
Begum was part of the grinding and painting departments at M/S Uttara Metal Industries in Bogura, Bangladesh, for five years. Her weekly wage was equivalent to $12 USD â insufficient to support her family or sustain a decent quality of life.
CSISA-MEA included Begum in skills training, which proved to be a gamechanger. She participated in CIMMYT’s training on spray gun painting, as well as in fettling and grinding skills. As part of both training programs, she learnt how to handle an air compressor paint gun and painting materials, as well as different painting methods. She has also learnt more about keeping herself safe at work using personal protective equipment. “Before the training, I did not know about the health risks â now I don’t work without PPE,” she said.
Begum used to paint the traditional way with a brush, but now the owner permits her to paint with a spray gun with her increased expertise. As a result, she has been promoted from day laborer to contractual employee in painting and grinding, with a new weekly salary of $50 USD. Her confidence has grown to the extent that she is comfortable in an engineering workshop among male coworkers.
Farmer Malti Devi in her field, where she grew wheat through zero-till. (Photo: Nima Chodon/CIMMYT)
Harvesting the benefits of improved practices
Farmer and mother of six, Malti Devi has an infectious smile that hardly reveals the toil and labor of her everyday farm work in India.
She grows wheat on nearly 0.45 acres of leased land. Her husband, a barber, earns an ordinary income that is insufficient for a family of eight. Despite the challenges, Devi has managed to earn income through her efforts in the field and by working as a daily wager in nearby fields.
To support women farmers like Devi, CSISA made efforts to build relationships via on-the-ground partnerships with civil society, women’s cooperatives like JEEViKa in Bihar and Mission Shakti in Odisha, or self-help groups. The team provides in-field demonstrations, training, workshops on best practices and support with access to better seed varieties and extension services. CSISA’s integrated approaches reach these women with information and associated technology that best serves them, while being climate-smart and sustainable.
Devi expressed that due to zero-till practice encouraged by the CSISA team, she saved time in the planting season, which she devoted to working on other’s fields for extra income. “The traditional method would have left me struggling for time, on the field or at home. Practices like zero-till ensured our crop was harvested on time with reduced input costs and resources and enabled a good harvest for consumption, and we could also sell some produce.”
Devi has ensured self-sufficiency for her family through her efforts and hopes to make use of the support in better crop management on offer from CSISA for wheat and other crops.
Cover photo: Rokeya Begum has increased her workshop salary through support from CSISA. (Photo: Abdul Mumin)
Despite the development of improved wheat varieties with increased productivity, farming systems in the Global South are still marred by inequitable access based on gender and other social characteristics.
Focusing on Ethiopia and India due to their large wheat economies and challenges with inequality, researchers assessed the barriers preventing male and female smallholders from using modern wheat varieties. Issues covered through evaluation could include wheat varietal trait preferences, adoption of technology, and decision-making and labor-use changes associated with new varieties.
Concluding the paper is the argument that institutional arrangements in research and development (R&D) programs must transform to address gender equity and inclusivity in wheat improvement.
Cover photo: Rural farmers associated with JEEViKa-Bihar attend a public wheat harvest activity organized by the Cereal Systems in South Asia (CSISA) project in Nagwa village, India, to encourage conservation agriculture practices in the region. (Photo: Nima Chodon/CIMMYT)
Using data from 2,279 farm households in Ethiopia, the results show a significant gap due to the observable and unobservable different characteristics of households headed by men and women. For example, women are less likely to adopt climate change adaptation measures due to their workload in household chores. However, evidence suggests that when the gender gap shrinks, climate change adaptation can be improved in female-headed households by almost 19%.
The study determined that policies must tackle unobservable characteristics in order to address the gender gap. Short-term projects and long-term gender-informed policies are essential in creating equitable opportunities for all.
This crucial work will support developing countries to achieve targets set by the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and farming householdsâ susceptibility to the risks of climate change.
Cover photo: Female farmer harvests green maize in Ethiopia. Women are essential to the agricultural sector, but the gender gap prevents them from embracing climate change adaptation measures. (Photo: Peter Lowe/CIMMYT)
A new special issue on gender research in agriculture highlights nine influential papers published in the past three years on gender research on crop systems including maize.
The virtual special issue, published earlier this month in Outlook on Agriculture, features work by International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) scientists on gender inclusivity in maize systems in Africa and South Asia.
In the Global South, women contribute substantial labor to agriculture but continue to face barriers in accessing agricultural resources, tools and technologies and making decisions on farms.
Combatting gender inequality is crucial for increasing agricultural productivity and reducing global hunger and poverty and should be a goal in and of itself. Evidence suggests that if women in the Global South had access to the same productive resources as men, farm yields could rise by up to 30 percent, increasing total agricultural output by up to 4 percent and decreasing the number of hungry people around the world by up to 17 percent.
The latest virtual special issue includes a review of existing research by CIMMYT gender experts, exploring issues and options in supporting gender inclusivity through maize breeding and the current evidence of differences in male and female farmersâ preferences for maize traits and varieties. The team also identified key research priorities to encourage more gender-intentional maize breeding, including innovative methods to assess farmer preferences and increased focus in intrahousehold decision-making dynamics.
The issue also features a study by CIMMYT and Rothamsted Research researchers on differences in preferred maize traits and farming practices among female and male farmers in southern Africa. The team found that female plot managers and household heads were more likely to use different maize varieties and several different farming practices to male plot managers and household heads. Incorporating farming practices used by female farmers into selection by maize breeding teams would provide an immediate entry point for gender-intentionality.
Also included is a recent paper by CIMMYT gender researchers which outlines the evidence base for wheat trait preferences and uptake of new farming technologies among male and female smallholder farmers in Ethiopia and India. The team highlight the need for wheat improvement programs in Ethiopia and India to include more gender-sensitive technology development, evaluation and dissemination, covering gender differences in wheat trait preferences, technology adoption and associated decision-making and land-use changes, as well as economic and nutritional benefits.
In a study carried out in the Eastern Gangetic Plains of South Asia, CIMMYT scientists investigated how changes in weed management practices to zero tillage â a method which minimizes soil disturbance â affect gender roles. The team found that switching to zero tillage did not increase the burden of roles and responsibilities to women and saved households valuable time on the farm. The scientists also found that both women and menâs knowledge of weed management practices were balanced, showing that zero tillage has potential as a gender inclusive farming practice for agricultural development.
Also featured in the special issue is a study by CIMMYT experts investigating gender relations across the maize value chain in rural Mozambique. The team found that men were mostly responsible for marketing maize and making decisions at both the farm level and higher levels of the value chain. The researchers also found that cultural restrictions and gender differences in accessing transport excluded women from participating in markets.
Finally, the collection features a study authored by researchers from Tribhuvan University, Nepal and CIMMYT exploring the interaction between labour outmigration, changing gender roles and their effects on maize systems in rural Nepal. The scientists found that the remittance incomes sent home by migrants and raising farm animals increased maize yields. They further found that when women spent more time doing household chores, rearing farm animals and engaging in community activities, maize yields suffered, although any losses were offset by remittance incomes.
More than 200 staff came together to celebrate the winners of CGIARâs first-ever Inclusive Workplace Awards on September 15 at a special online ceremony that rolled out the red carpet from Peru to Penang.
When the nomination period closed in early July, more than 150 staff had submitted nominations â indicating the value of CGIARâs collective work towards creating even more inclusive workplaces.
âItâs our very own GDI Oscars,â said co-host Fiona Bourdin-Farrell, CGIARâs Global Director of People and Culture, setting the celebratory tone in the first few minutes of the event.
âThe Inclusive Workplace Awards allow us to recognize the stars among us who have demonstrated in words and deed their personal commitment to advancing gender, equity and inclusion in our workplaces.â
Inclusive Team Award
The final award of the day, the Inclusive Team Award, went to the CIMMYT Women in Crop Science Team for proactively adopting better ways of working to create an inclusive and respectful team culture.
Members of CIMMYT’s award-winning Women in Crop Science group.
Accepting the award on behalf of the team, Alison Bently, Director of CIMMYTâs Global Wheat Program, said that the Women in Crop Science Team grew out of the significant underrepresentation of women in crop science.
âWe established the group to identify and try to collectively address some of the causes of underrepresentation,â she said. âAnd importantly,â she added âto develop tangible actions broadly covering operational equality, recruitment and retention, and raising awareness and visibility.â
Winding up her acceptance remarks, Alison said: âI think itâs important to say that thereâs much work that remains to be done. But the CIMMYT Women in Crop Science Team is committed to working with and supporting colleagues here at CIMMYT, across the CG[IAR], and in the international community to build a more inclusive and diverse community.â
French Gates believes initiatives to improve gender equality âtreats symptoms, not the causeâ, which is why the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) incorporates gender equality work into each project. Social norms and gender-based labor division mean women are often confined to set roles in agricultural production, leading to exclusion from decision-making and a lack of control over their economic wellbeing and household food security. Across CIMMYTâs work in the Global South, researchers are addressing multiple aspects of gender inequality.
Training shows women their power
Rina Begum, Nilufar Akter and Monika Rani are Bangladeshi women supported by CIMMYT to achieve their highest economic potential. Developing their business acumen enabled the women to take on essential roles in the workplace, establish themselves in their communities, and fund their childrenâs education.
CIMMYT-led workshops helped the women grow their self-confidence and identify where their skills and knowledge could enhance their economic situations. In turn, they are keen to help more women access the same opportunities for independence and growth.
âI used to think I wasnât cut out for light engineering because it was primarily male-dominated, but I was mistakenâ, confessed Akter. âThis industry has a lot to offer to women, and Iâm excited at the prospect of hiring more of them.â
âWhen women have economic means in their own handsânot just cash, but in an account that they controlâit unlocks all kinds of things for their lives,â French Gates says.
Adapting research methods to womenâs needs
CIMMYTâs Accelerating Genetic Gains in Maize and Wheat (AGG) project is designing a better framework for faster turnover of improved varieties and increased access for women and marginalized farmers. However, traditional data collection methods may not be suitable for understanding the true experiences of rural women.
Instead, researchers have adapted their data collection methods to cultural restrictions, where women may feel unable to talk openly. Instead of a traditional survey, the team used five vignettes that explore how the production and consumption decisions are held within the households. Respondents then chose the scenario that best represents their own experiences.
Providing opportunities for women to tell their stories in more accessible ways will lead to richer qualitative data, which can improve the development and implementation of gender interventions.
Climate change and gender equality
For International Day of Women and Girls in Science this year, researcher Tripti Agarwal shared her research on the impact of Climate-Smart Agricultural Practices (CSAPs) on women and farming households in Bihar, India. The region is at risk of natural disasters, causing agricultural production loss and food insecurity â with womenâs food security more severely affected.
Climate-Smart Villages (CSVs) could offer a solution by acknowledging the gender gap and promoting gender-equitable approaches in enhancing knowledge, developing capacity and improving practices. Through the adoption of climate-resilient practices and technologies, CSV reduces the risk of crop loss and ensures there is enough food for the household.
Agarwal also highlights the work that men must do to level the playing field. âWhen we talk about women, especially in rural/agricultural contexts, we see that support from the family is critical for them,â said Agarwal. âCreating plans and roadmaps for women would help achieve a gender-empowered agricultural domain, but we must also bring behavior change among men towards a more accepting role of women in farming and decision making.â
During field day, women farmers use a mini tiller for direct seed. Training women in new technologies improves their opportunities and income. (Credit: P. Lowe/CIMMYT)
Careers for women in science
CIMMYTâs global presence provides opportunities for women to launch and grow their careers in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM).
Madhulika Singh, an agricultural scientist with CIMMYTâs Cereal Systems Initiative for South Asia (CSISA) project, made what was seen as a radical choice to study a STEM subject. She was inspired by seeing other women in her family build successful careers, showing the power of role models in inspiring the next generation. âI grew up thinking âthere is so much that a woman is capable of,â whether at home or her workplace,â said Singh.
Initiatives such as CIMMYTâs Women in Crop Science group also help to highlight role models, create mentorship opportunities, and identify areas for change. The group recently received the Inclusive Team award at the inaugural CGIAR Inclusive Workplace Awards.
âWhen I see women achieving their dreams in science, or as businesswomen, and supporting other women, that keeps me hopeful,â said French Gates.
Cover photo: A girl in India harvests good quality hybrid green maize cobs. Women and girls play an essential role in global agriculture. (Credit: CSISA/Wasim Iftikar.)
Md. Fazlul Karim is a machinery development officer with CIMMYT’s Sustainable Agrifood Systems (SAS) Program in Bangladesh. He completed an undergraduate and masters degree at Bangladesh Agricultural University in agricultural engineering and technology, with a major in farm power and machinery.
After that, Karim worked as an agricultural engineer under the Government of Bangladesh Enhancement of Crop Production through Improved On-Farm Water Management Technologies project, working in the Department of Agricultural Extension.
In addition, Karim has experience in conducting training for farmers at the Farmers Field School, organizing field days for machinery (including combine harvesters, reapers, rice transplanters and bed planters), supervising and monitoring project works, and providing technical support to beneficiaries.
Md. Rokonnuzzaman Rokon is a machinery development officer with CIMMYT’s Sustainable Agrifood Systems (SAS) program in Bangladesh. He graduated from Hajee Mohammad Danesh Science and Technology University in 2014 with a degree in agricultural engineering, before completing a masters in irrigation and water management at Bangladesh Agricultural University.
After finishing his masters, Rokon joined Solargao Ltd as an assistant engineer to a solar irrigation project, before becoming a lecturer at the Government Shahid Akbar Ali Science and Technology College. He joined CIMMYT in 2022.
Rudriksha Rai Parajuli is a Technical Partnerships Manager with CIMMYT’s Cereal Systems Initiative for South Asia (CSISA) project in Nepal. She has worked in the areas of farm-based agriculture research, extension, and adoption of sustainable soil management practices.
Parajuli’s professional experience is on building resilience of farmers in rural parts of Nepal whose livelihoods depend on agriculture and forest. She has worked on mainstreaming gender and social inclusion in development activities, and has extensive experience of leading policy influence and policy reform work with the Nepal Government and with non-government stakeholders.
At CIMMYT, Parajuli oversees implementation of the CSISA program, looking specifically at the adoption of mechanization, inclusion of poor and disadvantaged populations, and access to finance for individuals and small and medium agri-business who want to recover business lost to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Michael Euler is a CIM-integrated expert and joined CIMMYT in June 2021. As Agriculture and Resource Economist, he analyzes the diffusion and impacts of agricultural innovations on smallholder farms. One focus of his work includes the assessment of opportunities and challenges of the use of DNA fingerprinting for varietal adoption and impact studies.
Before joining CIMMYT, Michael was with the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), the German Institute for Development Evaluation and the Deutsche Gesellschaft fĂŒr Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ).
Michael holds a PhD in Agricultural Economics and a Master of Science in Agricultural Sciences from the university of Gottingen, Germany. Results of his research and evaluation work are published in peer-reviewed academic journals and evaluation reports.
More than 40% of the global agricultural labor force is made up of women, and in the least developed countries, two in three women are employed in farming. Yet, despite being the largest contributors to this sector, womenâs potential as farmers, producers and entrepreneurs is frequently untapped due to gender inequalities, limited access to farming assets and inputs, low participation in decision-making spaces, and lack of financing and capacity-building opportunities.
Tackling these gendered barriers is critical not only to help women achieve their highest economic potential, but also to feed an increasingly hungry world. Before this yearâs Womenâs History Month comes to an end, read the stories of three Bangladeshi womenâBegum, Akter and Raniâto find out how the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) are empowering them to become decision-makers in their communities, learn new skills and knowledge to boost their incomes, and advocate for bending gender norms across the country.
Embracing agricultural mechanization has improved Begumâs family finances
Rina Begum lives in Faridpur, a major commercial hub in southern Bangladesh. Before starting a business, her financial situation was precarious. Her primary source of income was her husbandâs work as a day laborer, which brought in very little money. This, coupled with the lack of job security, made it hard to support a family.
Rina Begum started out in business as a service provider, hiring agricultural machines to farmers.
About five years ago, Begumâs interest in agricultural mechanization was ignited by the farmers in her town, who were earning extra money by investing in farm machinery and hiring it out. Her first foray into the business world was buying a shallow irrigation pump and setting herself up as a service provider. Next, she saw her neighbor using a power tiller operated seeder and decided to try one out for herself. Finally, after taking part in a potential machinery buyer program run by CIMMYT under the Cereal Systems Initiative for South Asia â Mechanization and Irrigation (CSISA-MEA) and funded by USAID, she took the bold step of purchasing a seeder and adding it to her inventory of machines available for hire.
While her husband learned to operate the seeder, Begum put her business and accounting skills to good use, taking on an essential role in what ended up being the family business and establishing herself as an entrepreneur. Her work defied the established social norms, as she regularly interacted with the mechanics and farmers who came to her for mechanized services. Moreover, she occasionally stepped up alongside her husband to repair and maintain the machines. All this earned Begum a reputation as an experienced service provider, operator and mechanic, and turned her into a decision-maker and a role model to her family and community.
In 2021, Begum used her business profits to pick up the bill for her daughter’s marriage. “I know this job inside-out now,” she says, “and Iâm really proud to have paid for the wedding myself.”
This taste of success fueled Begumâs appetite to expand the business even further, pushing her to take part in another training offered by CIMMYT, this time in mat-seedling production. Moreover, Begum, who plans to grow seedlings to sell on to rice farmers this year, has applied for a government subsidy to buy a rice transplanter, which can be hired out for use with mat-seedlings, and increase her stock of agricultural machinery.
With her new skills, Akter is advancing gender equality in Bangladeshâs light engineering sector
At age 18, Nilufar Akter (pictured top) passed her high school certificate and soon after married Rezaul Karim, the owner of a light engineering workshop in Bogura, a city in northern Bangladesh, that manufactures agricultural machinery parts, with a workforce mainly composed of men. Akterâs ambition was to go out into the workplace and make her own money, so when Karim asked her to work alongside him, she agreed and soon became a valuable part of the business. Her primary responsibilities were inventory management and marketing, as well as business management, which she found more difficult.
Reza Engineering Workshop began working with CIMMYT in 2020 as part of CSISA-MEA, an initiative that supports light engineering workshops in Bangladesh with staff development, access to finance, management, and business growth. Under this project, CIMMYT organized a management training at the Bangladesh Agriculture Research Institute (BARI), which Akter attended. With the confidence these new skills gave her, she went back to the workshop and introduced a few changes, including building a computerized finance management system and updating the stack management. Moreover, she also established a dedicated restroom for female employees.
“We need human resources to maintain things in the businessâand women can do a fantastic jobâ, Akter says. âWe had no idea what good source of strength women workers would be for the factory. Therefore, if we provided them with adequate facilities, we could create jobs for many women who really need them”, she adds.
Akterâs current priorities are workshop safety and occupational health, two issues sheâs tackling using the knowledge she learned in the CIMMYT training. Recently, sheâs created some occupational health and safety posters, and established a series of workshop rules. “I used to think I wasnât cut out for light engineering because it was primarily male-dominated, but I was mistakenâ, Akter confesses. âThis industry has a lot to offer to women, and I’m excited at the prospect of hiring more of them”, she adds.
Producing better quality rice has boosted the income of Rani and her family
Monika Rani lives in Khoshalpur, a village located in Dinajpur district in northern Bangladesh, with her husband Liton Chandra Roy and their two-year-old child. They farm just a quarter of a hectare of land, and Liton supplements their income with occasional wages earned as a day laborer.
Monika Rani wanted to increase her family’s income to provide better schooling opportunities for her children.
Rani was looking for ways to increase their income so they could give their children an education and a better life. During last yearâs boro rice-growing season (December to May), she and her husband joined the premium grade rice production team of CIMMYT as part of CSISA-MEA. The market value and yield of premium quality rice is greater than other types, so when Rani heard that she could make more money producing that variety, she decided to make a start right away. CIMMYT provided her with five kgs of premium seed for the 2021-22 winter season and trained her in premium quality rice production technology and marketing, which she followed to the letter.
Through hard work and persistence, Rani and her husband avoided the need to hire any additional labor and were rewarded with the maximum yield possible. She dried the premium quality rice grain according to buyer demand and sold 1,600 kgs, in addition to 140 kgs to farmers in her town.
“Knowing about premium quality rice production has tremendously changed my future for the better,” Rani explains. “I had no idea that, through my own hard effort, I could have a better life”, she added.
Cover photo: Nilufar Akter is using the knowledge she gained in CIMMYT training to focus on workshop safety and occupational health in her business.
