From pdh@u.washington.edu Thu Jan 18 13:48:59 1996 Return-Path: Received: from saul2.u.washington.edu by lists.u.washington.edu (5.65+UW96.01/UW-NDC Revision: 2.33 ) id AA17333; Thu, 18 Jan 96 13:48:56 -0800 Received: by saul2.u.washington.edu (5.65+UW96.01/UW-NDC Revision: 2.33 ) id AA30838; Thu, 18 Jan 96 13:48:56 -0800 X-Sender: pdh@saul2.u.washington.edu Date: Thu, 18 Jan 1996 13:48:55 -0800 (PST) From: Preston Hardison To: Indknow List Subject: Eroding Role of Women in Agriculture Message-Id: Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII /* Written 11:18 PM Dec 4, 1995 by twn in igc:twn.features */ /* ---------- "ERODING ROLE OF WOMEN IN AGRICULTUR" ---------- */ WOMEN'S ROLE IN AGRICULTURE GETTING ERODED Thousands of years ago women were the first to cultivate the land, according to some Asian traditions. Today too, women produce more than half the food in most countries. But during the last century, women's role in agriculture has been gradually denied and marginalised. Women in agriculture too were left out of innovations and they thus lost even that small prestige. By C Martin Third World Network Features Thousands of years ago women were the first to cultivate the land, according to some Asian traditions, and today too women produce more than half the food in most countries. But during the last century, women's role in agriculture has been gradually denied and marginalised, according to a report by the Pesticide Action Network (PAN). PAN is an international coalition of citizens' groups and individuals who oppose the misuse of pesticides and support reliance on safe, sustainable pest control methods. It was established 12 years ago, and currently links over 300 organisations in 50 countries. Women in agriculture too were left out of innovations and they thus lost even that small prestige. Left behind for them was the hardest work, the lowest salaries and the least recognition, says the report titled Planting the Future: Women in Agriculture. Worse still, modern agriculture, with the use of expensive high-yielding varieties which require high inputs of costly fertilisers and pesticides, has impoverished large numbers of peasants -- both women and men -- and proved ecologically destructive. Though agriculture accounts for over 70% of recorded women's labour in Asia, some 70% of agricultural households or tillers are landless. PAN notes that traditionally land was owned communally, and rights were given to the tilers `who were often women'. But since colonial times, land has been registered officially in the names of males, as they are perceived to be the `heads' of the house holds. `Even today land is being taken out of women's hands through state settlement schemes where men are encouraged to grow cash crops, leaving women landless and with a family to feed. So although peasants are losing their land, women are losing their rights to it at a greater rate,' adds the report. Landlessness of peasants is increasing rapidly owing to many factors: encroachment on agricultural land by industry and commercial timber plantations; tourism and militarisation; land speculation; logging and cash-cropping for exports. `Some land reform programmes that have been instituted in Asia have only been done to quell unrest and are implicitly and ex- plicitly pro-landlord in nature,' adds PAN. In the 1980s, the debt crisis also hit most of the Asia-Pacific countries. This led to structural adjustment programmes, which, together with the Green Revolution and the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT), have led to peasant women in Asia being forced to grow cash crops, use expensive biotechnology, import cheap food products and be pushed in numerous ways off their land. Food security -- meaning the local, sufficient availability of food for a community -- has been under threat. Women, as traditional subsistence farmers, are particularly affected, says PAN. They are displaced from the land and the means of production, as the new technology passes into the hands of men, and they are put in the position of passive consumers. The family is then made reliant on the commercial success of cash crops, which are de- pendent on both expensive inputs and market fluctuations. `The GATT and "free-trade" agreements have been designed to move the control of food production from small farmers worldwide to the hands of a few transnational corporations,' notes the report. It points out that peasant women farmers in Asia are innovators and protectors of seed and genetic resources. Yet, TRIPs (Trade-related Intellectual Property Rights) exclude these kinds of knowledge, ideas and innovations that take place in the villages among farmers and in forests among tribals, only to recognise intellectual property rights as private rights. Indigenous knowledge and innovation in Asia has promotedsustain- able agriculture. This allowed the evolution of farming methods in tune with the environment, which allowed women to feed their families directly rather than as consumers. But the key role of women's knowledge, skills and labour remained undervalued. Instead the myth of women's dependence was perpetuated. `Women traditionally have maintained diversity in agricultural plants to ensure food security and environmental stability. Throughout the world, women have been selectors, developers and custodians of seeds. This knowledge along with traditionalagri- culture has been gradually eroded since the Green Revolution of the 1960s up to today where TNCs are attempting to get farmers to pay for seeds after each harvest,' says the study. Seventy-five per cent of the world pesticide trade, for instance, is controlled by only 10 transnational corporations (TNCs) which are from either North America or Europe. Dramatic adverse effects of pesticide use are of particular concern to women. Women in Asia, who produce 50-60% of the continent's food, are exposed to pesticides, either directly as applicators or indirectly in crop harvesting, planting and soil preparation. PAN says that unfortunately, within the women's and NGO (non-governmental organisation) movements there is a `glaring bias in favour of women's development in urban areas'. Among its many recommendations, the group calls on governments to implement genuine agrarian reform programmes that grant women -- the actual tillers -- the right to own the land. Such rights should be granted with sufficient legal guarantees, it is suggested. -- Third World Network Features - ends - About the writer: C Martin is a freelance journalist based in India. When reproducing this feature, please credit Third World Network Features and (if applicable) the cooperating magazine or agency involved in the article, and give the byline. Please send us cuttings. Published by Third World Network 228, Macalister Road, 10400 Penang, Malaysia. Email: twn@igc.apc.org; Tel: (+604)2293511,2293612 & 2293713; Fax: (+604)2298106. 1388/95 ---------------------- From the conference twn.features on PeaceNet, a non-profit computer network working for social justice. For more information on PeaceNet, send a blank email message to: peacenet-info@igc.apc.org. .