The livelihoods of small scale men and women farmers are threatened by global agricultural trade liberalization, corporatization of agriculture, urbanization and industrialization, climate change, unresponsive regional integration, and inadequate care and support of governments to the sector. Rural women bear the brunt, as they do 50% or more of agricultural work in almost all crops. With less income in their pockets, there is less money for food, health, education of the family.
As part of the Womens’ Major Group in the Sixteenth Session of the United Nations Commission on Sustainable Development, held in New York, USA last May 12-16, the Asian Farmers’ Association for Sustainable Rural Development (AFA), through its Secretary General Ma. Estrella Penunia, shared concrete experiences and problems encountered by women in its member organizations as they try to perform their varied roles as wife, mother, and farmer. It also shared on-ground initiatives in empowering women farmers, including establishment of women farmers’ organizations and implementation of sustainable projects that respond to women’s immediate and strategic gender needs.
AFA also initiated contact with facilitators of the CSD Farmers’ Major Groups to see how it can be involved as part of their delegation in future relevant CSDs. Last but not the least, it was also an opportunity for AFA to gain experience on how to engage the UN so that its issues and proposals can be heard by this body.
The UN Commission on Sustainable Development (UN-CSD) was created in 1992 to ensure follow-up of outcomes from the 1992 UN Conference on Environment and Development in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Each two year cycle is separated into a review and policy year. During the review year, the issues, situation, good practices and lessons learned revolving around a specified theme is discussed. During the policy year, UN nation members agree on policies and commitments.
For the 2008-2009 cycle, there is CSD 16 (2008 review year) and CSD 17 (2009, policy year). The theme to be addressed in CSD 16 and 17 is “agriculture, rural development, land, desertification, drought and Africa”.
The UN CSD allows for participation of civil society, organized into Major Groups, among them Farmers, Women, NGO, Children and Youth, Business and Industry, Scientific and Technological Community, Local Authorities, Workers and Trade Unions. Major Groups are given some time (1-5 minutes, depending on the session) to make interventions during the government-level meetings.
AFA’s participation in UN CSD was supported by WOCAN (Women Organizing for Change in Agriculture and Natural Resource Management), a network of women and men professionals dedicated to increasing rural women’s access to and control of resources in order to enhance their livelihoods and alleviate poverty. WOCAN is co- facilitator of the CSD Women’s Major Group. Thus, AFA was part of the delegation of the Womens’ Major Group. WOCAN has received funding from IFAD for its activities in UN CSD 16.
Priorities of the Women Major Group for CSD 16-17
• The face of the farmer and natural resource manager is primarily female in most of the developing world. Knowledge, technology, policies, institutions & programs must therefore be developed by putting women at the centre to orient structures and processes to address their needs as food producers and environmental managers through gender mainstreaming.
• Rather than being regarded as a vulnerable group, women’s knowledge, experience and substantial roles make them experts in agriculture and natural resource management; they are key agents in the way forward for sustainable development.
• Our experience is that when governments implement the CEDAW Convention, especially Article 14, and the African Charter on the Rights of Women in Africa by developing and implementing policies to ensure ownership, including the right to inherit land, equal access and control by women to land and safe tenure.
• Access to safe drinking water and sanitation services: the text does not refer to remarks made about rights to water and sanitation, which are already recognized and incorporated in CEDAW, the Children’s Rights treaty and JPoI, thus creating an important framework, especially for women and girls, in getting access to these basic services.
• GMOs: women’s concerns about GMOs are not addressed in the Chair’s summary
• Women practice sustainable agriculture that incorporates practices of integrated pest management, integrated soil management and reduced use of pesticides and chemicals in many parts of the world.
• Biofuels: production of biofuels has to be made ecologically sustainable and binding criteria developed. Monitoring of sustainability criteria is crucial and should be done through an independent monitoring system, for instance by IFAD, and would have to include a mandate to visit the sites on fact finding mission.
• Vocational training for women: Training of women for a specific vocation is an absolute prerequisite to enhance their economic and livelihood opportunities. Vocational training at different education levels, especially for women and the girl child, has to be given priority and incorporated in development strategies. Vocational training should be based on the train-the-trainer principle and incorporate local knowledge systems. Women must be trained to carry out minor maintenance of agro-processing equipment in rural communities.
• Extension workers in the field should be trained and sensitized to the needs and knowledge of women farmers. One good example of this is the Farmer Field Schools. Furthermore it is very important to gender balance all teams of extension workers.
• Many governments have already endorsed 30% women’s participation in decision-making processes. However, this percentage should be increased to at least 50% at all levels of decision-making.
• We call for measures to improve water distribution, the provision of safe drinking water and sanitation facilities to be included in all agricultural and health policies and projects. Access to water and sanitation is a basic human right.
• Criteria of funders often include the proof of long standing legal status and proven track-records; most women’s organizations can not comply with that either because they have recently been founded or are not able to get a legal status because of lack of resources or legal constraints – a paradigm shift and creative solutions by policy makers are needed. We also refer to the agreed conclusions of the Commission on the status of women 2008 on financing for gender equality and the empowerment of women.
• We stress again that gender indicators and disaggregated data collection (by sex and age) have to be part of monitoring programs and gender budgeting has to be part of the planning process.
• Adaptation & mitigation practices need to address climate change which impact women and their livelihoods.
• HIV/AIDS, malaria and waterborne diseases, impact women and children heavily and should therefore be considered as an essential thematic cross-cutting issue.
• We urge the CSD to recognise the growing problem of suicide amongst farmers and its impact on the lives of agricultural women.
• Finally, we would encourage the nomination of a woman chair for CSD-17 and beyond.
Intervention of Women’s Group, May 15
(Presented by Ms Sabinah from Africa)
Thank you, Mr. Chairman, for allowing Major Group WOMEN the opportunity to share our recommendations and thoughts with you today.
I would like to bring to this session some of the spirit and excitement generated at a side event organized by WOCAN last night to launch a new Network of Women Ministers of Agriculture. This was attended by over 50 women and men who came to listen to women ministers of 6 countries and women farmer representatives from Asia and Africa all of who spoke of their passion and commitment to increasing women’s leadership and empowerment in relation to agriculture and natural resource management, and to their beliefs that having women in leadership positions makes a difference when it comes to re-orienting agriculture and natural resource management sectors to address rural women’s needs.
As said by our group before, the MG Women seeks recognition of the primary roles of women as farmers and environmental managers. Rather than being regarded as a vulnerable group, women – through their extensive knowledge, experience and substantial roles related to land use – are experts in agriculture and natural resource management. They are key agents – not vulnerable victims – in the way forward and as such, should be placed forefront and centre of a transformation of institutions (including those of the UN system) that generate policies, technologies, knowledge and programs so as to orient structures and processes to address women’s needs as food producers and environmental managers through gender mainstreaming.
Women practice sustainable agriculture that incorporates practices of integrated pest management, soil conservation and minimal use of chemical fertilizers in many parts of the world. But to come up from subsistence levels, these women farmers need additional tools and knowledge, access to credit and markets and land rights that enable them to reduce their heavy workloads and generate sufficient profits from their labor. A new form of vocational and extension training that puts women farmers at the centre, that mobilizes massive numbers of gender sensitive male and female extension agents and makes use of innovations in modern communications technologies could transform women farmers’ knowledge and access to agricultural services.
Climate change adaptation and mitigation measures similarly need to engage women as primary actors and as those most impacted by climate change. HIV/AIDs, malaria and other waterborne diseases also affect women and children heavily, affecting agriculture and rural development efforts as well as household livelihoods. The growing problem of suicide amongst male farmers has also had serious impacts on women and their abilities to manage farms.
But investments and political commitments to women are needed for this to happen. Women leaders at all levels – from farmer groups to professionals to ministers – are part of a vertical chain that is forming to build a mutually supportive network of individuals and organizations that share a passion and commitment to this cause.
We urge and welcome all UN agencies and others represented here in this room to join us in this endeavor.
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