On April 1st and 2nd, Fatou Batta, Groundswell’s Co-Coordinator for West Africa, participated as a panelist at a session on Food Solutions at the Pacific Northwest Funders Conference in Seattle.
Fatou’s presentation, titled “Food Solutions by and for People and the Planet”, was extremely well received by conference attendees. Please take a few moments to read her presentation below.
Introduction
Today more than ever the international community is concerned with the challenge of feeding the world’s population through “food solutions by and for people and planet.” This timely and complex issue requires responses that are appropriate and multifaceted. Indeed the idea of food solutions refers to a number or related issues such as:
- Agricultural policy and food production methods
- The control of population growth
- Management of agricultural lands
- Food consumption patterns
- Value added processing of food
- Access to water
- Availability and distribution of infrastructure
- Market access
- Human capital and knowledge
- Internal and external migration of populations
- Stability of countries in relation to conflicts, natural disasters, etc.
Within this complexity, I will focus my comments on the following:
1. The context of food insecurity in the Sahelian countries of West Africa
2. The causes of food insecurity, particularly in Burkina Faso
3. The role of rural women in agricultural production and food security
4. Challenges women face
5. The priorities and solutions of rural women
1. The West African Context: A challenging, fragile and high risk natural environment
In recent decades, the countries of West Africa have gone through successive food crises. Some of these crises are cyclical in origin, while others have more structural causes. The recent financial and food crises of 2008 that shook the world and led to unprecedented protests in several countries, particularly Sahelian countries, have highlighted the structural causes that affect the availability and use of food resources. They also highlighted the fragility of agriculture in most Sahelian countries that practice subsistence agriculture based largely on rainfall, and are therefore very vulnerable to climatic hazards.
In its latest 2010 report on hunger, the FAO estimates that 925 million people are undernourished in the world. Although this represented a decline of about 7.5% from 2009 levels, the figures are still too high, especially in Africa where one third of the population faces food insecurity and hunger. And these numbers are again increasing as food prices have risen in recent months. Indeed, global food security is threatened by population growth, changing eating habits, strong demand for agro fuels and disasters caused by climate change. So policy makers feel an urgent imperative to increase agricultural production.
2. The causes of food insecurity: the case of Burkina Faso
Despite efforts over many years to reduce hunger and malnutrition, we must recognize that food insecurity remains a daily reality in Burkina as in most Sahelian countries. Basic cyclical factors like climate risk, low soil fertility and crop pests contribute to food insecurity. There are also many contributing structural factors related to the availability, accessibility, and use of food. The main factors for rural communities are: the low level of access to and management of water; degradation of natural resources; inadequate and poor roads and communications infrastructure; low income levels particularly in rural areas; poor access to credit; and weak nutrition education. Finally, at the governmental and institutional levels, the coordination, support and monitoring of agricultural policies and programs for food security are not very effective or well-implemented.
Climatic and ecological changes in recent decades have led to the disintegration of traditional organizational forms of collective ownership, and the destabilization of the equilibrium of production and consumption patterns of different types of families. These changes have resulted in a serious crisis in the family as the basic unit of society. Another danger that threatens food security is land grabs for cultivation of non-food crops. Farmers are under pressure from firms which are located upstream and downstream from agricultural production.
To meet the food needs of a growing population, some experts have called for high external input agricultural strategies and a promotion of technologies related to pesticides, herbicides, fertilizers, seeds and water consumption. The risk is that we focus on maximizing productivity at the expense of social and environmental considerations to improve people’s lives.
We find that access to food for a majority of the population is not always related national agricultural production levels. In many cases in sub-Saharan countries, at the same time that the authorities declare a surplus food production thousands of people are hungry and have to resort to food aid or go hungry. The case of Burkina Faso is illustrative: at the end of the 2008-2009 agricultural season the government of Burkina Faso reported a strong harvest of more than 4.3 million tons of cereals, with a surplus of over 700 thousand tons (DPSA / DGPER, 2009). Yet the population of many areas in the northern part of the country did not have adequate food for even one meal a day. A main reason is that the low income family farmers must produce food sustainably and do not have money to purchase food.
3. Women’s roles related to agriculture and food security, and the challenges they face
The role of women in agriculture has taken on added importance as African countries continue to suffer from famine and malnutrition. Women are the primary link between production, family consumption and ensuring the nutrition of children and the whole family.
Since the great droughts of 1973-74 and 1984-85 in the Sahel countries, women have seen an increase in their responsibilities in agricultural production because the majority of the male workforce increasingly leaves vulnerable areas in search of employment in cities. This has led women to spend more time in the fields in order to meet the needs of family members – especially children and the elderly. Over 30% of people in countries like Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger are in almost permanent food insecurity (IFPRI, 2004). In times of crisis, women are the main players in the survival of families. Indeed it is women who develop initiatives and strategies to overcome these crises, and make a disproportionate effort to keep their families fed. The result is that rural women play a central role in household food production and food security in the Sahel.
So if we seek to improve the food security of small scale farming families in the Sahel, we must necessarily support women. The big questions are: Do we clearly understand the roles of rural women? Can we identify appropriate kinds of support for them? How can we provide that strategic support without further destabilize the family unit?
According to the latest data on Sub-Saharan Africa, women represent over 50 percent of agricultural labor – the highest proportion in the world. However this proportion varies greatly between countries and even within countries. Data indicates that women’s participation in agriculture ranges from at least 33% in the coastal countries to over 60% in a country like Niger. In Burkina Faso, women represent over half of the agricultural workforce, and their participation rate in economic activities in rural areas is 81% (ENSA 1993). Although they are heavily involved in agricultural activities, women’s roles vary significantly by regions, ethnic groups and production systems.
3.1 Women’s Role in Agriculture and Livestock Production
Rural women in Burkina Faso participate in farming activities, ranging from responsibility for a few activities to being primarily responsible for all farming activities – including difficult tasks such as stump removal in some regions. In some areas of western Burkina Faso, after marriage women are primarily responsible for working to repay the dowry paid by their husbands.
During a recent discussion with the women of Tampoutin, a village in eastern Burkina Faso, they described that they are involved in all agricultural activities – from the preparation of fields, which is their exclusive responsibility, to the transport of crops after harvest. In addition to this crushing burden, they cultivate personal plots of peanuts, cowpeas, groundnuts, sesame, and okra. Yet often the land they are provided to cultivate is already highly degraded. As family fields become too degraded to farm, husbands allow women to cultivate these parts of the farms. Such plots are also often very small, so women are required to cultivate several scattered plots. The fragmentation of plots leads to an inefficient use of women’s time, especially since they only have the right to work on their own fields after they have completed their work on the main family plots, which is usually when the sun goes down. This leaves women little time for their own activities.
Despite these constraints, women make enormous efforts to produce food in order to meet their needs and those of their families. For example, I recently spoke with Tantamba, a 45 year old woman who is a leader who lives in Tibga village. Over the past two years she has produced enough in her field to feed her family. The plot that her husband’s family granted her is largely barren and eroded by water runoff. In her first year working the plot, her efforts were entirely unproductive, as she cultivated with a hoe and barely producing enough for 5-6 months of the year. But through perseverance and the opportunities provided to learn improved agroecological farming techniques, she is now produces enough food for her family for all 12 months of the year. To conserve and improve her soil she uses the techniques of mulching (dead leaves and branches laid on the ground); working with her children to collect the manure of animals in the wild and transporting it in small containers to integrate into her fields; and transporting rocks to construct stone bunds, or rock barriers for soil conservation. With these approaches and hard work she has managed to restore part of her plot and increase its production. She is continuing her efforts to improve the land through locally accessible technologies. Tantamba expressed great satisfaction that she is able to produce enough to meet her family’s cereal requirements for the entire year, while generating some surplus to sell so she can invest her earnings in other income generating activities. Last year she received support and guidance from an NGO, including a cart, plow mules and a compost pit, allowing her to further increase her production.
In the latest edition of its report on the global status of food and agriculture, the FAO said if women in rural areas had the same access as men to land, technology, financial services, education and markets, it would be possible to increase agricultural production and reduce the numbers of hungry in the world by 100 to 150 million people. The report adds that by giving women farmers in developing countries the same access as men farmers to agricultural resources, women-managed family farms could increase their production by 20 to 30 percent. This would increase total agricultural production in developing countries by 2.5 to 4 percent, and would reduce from 12 to 17 percent the number of undernourished people worldwide (the total of 100 to 150 million people).
In the area of livestock management, women are responsible for watering the animals, a task they perform with the help of their young children. In some areas they can engage in fattening livestock such as cattle, sheep and goats, and can raise poultry, which can generate income and/or be bartered for grain in times of need.
Another example of a woman improving her life is Lucie. She is the president of the hygiene and sanitation committee in her village in Mali, and she has also maintains a garden plot. She received training in agroecological production and some basic equipment from an NGO. When I recently interviewed her she said: “Earlier, our food supplies ran out before we reached the next harvest, and my family had problems obtaining money to buy food. Now my vegetable production has allowed me to feed my family and even to buy a sheep. And the sheep has now had offspring.” Like other women, Lucie has been able to meet the food needs of her family by diversifying and improving her production.
3.2 Women’s Roles in Natural Resource Management
Women also play an important role in the management of natural resources, and because of that are key sources of knowledge about biodiversity. As one of their tasks is to gather fuel wood for the household, they are very familiar with different species of trees and their uses. They also are responsible for gathering wild fruits and leaves for family needs, or for sale to generate income to help ensure food security for the family. Women also earn substantial income to purchase food for their families by exploiting species such as shea butter, tamarind, baobab, locust, and balanites, etc. Locust seeds are rich in protein, and women process them into foods to improve their family diets and contribute to the recovery of malnourished children.
3.3 Women’s Roles in Processing and Marketing Agricultural Products
Women also engage in non-farming activities, including the processing, preservation and marketing of agricultural products. Food security is not limited to agricultural production, as there are many important activities required to manage beneficial linkages between producers and the market. These activities include processing, marketing and distribution. Women play central roles in allowing products to be stored, transported to markets, and circulated according to consumer demands. At the same time, women play crucial roles in the development of local markets. Given these primary responsibilities, much flexibility and decision making is in the hands of women and they can develop strategies to improve family and community wellbeing. Ways to provide support at this level include improving rural roads and transportation infrastructure, local food storage facilities, and appropriate technologies for processing agricultural products (such as husking fonio, processing rice, or making shea butter). All of these would help create more favorable conditions for local markets and improve the condition of women.
4. Challenges and difficulties
Despite the importance of their roles, women farmers are often not involved by policy makers and funders in decision making regarding development programs and policies. Even while some efforts have been made over the last two decades on behalf of women in agriculture, these are still not sufficient.
Women are investing in agro-ecological practices that are more sustainable, respectful of the environment and biodiversity, and better adapted to the conditions of small-scale farmers. Yet they face many difficulties in accessing resources. They have little access to training on technical and management issues, because their specific needs are not taken into account either within organizations or in the design and content of training sessions. In many cases, they are not able to access equipment and inputs that are intended for the family farms, yet are controlled by men.
In recent focus groups with women we discussed their access to use family farming equipment. Without exception women expressed that they are not entitled to use the equipment at peak seasons, and when their husbands do give consent it is generally too late for required agricultural activities like plowing or weeding. Likewise, they expressed that animal manure or compost, an important source of organic fertilizer, is reserved for family fields, even though women play a key role in filling and maintaining compost pits. The quantities of compost produced are not even sufficient for the family farm fields, so none is left for women’s plots.
5. The priorities of rural women
The important role of women in agriculture is evident. It is also clear that development strategies to improve the food security of small rural producers in the Sahel should emphasize support for women. So this raises the important question: What is the best way to support women and to ensure that this support is sustained?
One of the proposed solutions to boost agricultural production in Africa, in particular since the 2008 food crisis, is the Green Revolution. While the model of Green Revolution of the 1960s that was introduced in Asia and Latin America produced some spectacular results in terms of increased productivity, it has also had devastating effects on the environment and the social fabric. Now these same experts are trying to introduce a Green Revolution in Africa that supposedly has been cleared of its past imperfections. African farmers do not seem convinced. Nearly a half century after the introduction of the Green Revolution much of humanity is still suffering from chronic famine, so it is doubtful that the problems of hunger and poverty can be solved by this solution.
On the other hand, a number of African organizations and national and regional networks are working to promote alternative solutions, based on the experiences of African farmers and that are appropriate to the African context. These include the Alliance for Food Sovereignty in Africa (AFSA) and the We are the Solution campaign. It is in this context that organizations of rural women in Africa are seeking to express their concerns and interests. Key concerns are the loss of diversification of crops and seeds, and the reduction or even loss of the ability to farm and produce in a way that allows them to sustain their families during the lean periods. These factors undermine the resilience of families to respond to food shocks such as price spikes or droughts.
Women have analyzed their needs from a practical and strategic point of view, and have identified the following priorities:
- Training on sustainable farming techniques
- Access to information on markets and training in value added processing for agricultural products
- Strengthening their organizational capacity
- Access to credit and equipment
- Land tenure security
- Agricultural research based on traditional knowledge
- Documentation and enhancement of existing knowledge of women
- Access to appropriate technologies to reduce the burden of food processing
- Access to literacy, education and services for reproductive health.
6. The Role of Groundswell International
The Sahel is extremely vulnerable to disasters, droughts, floods and invasions of pests. In such a fragile and vulnerable environment, the slightest shocks can send hundreds of thousands of families deeper into a vicious cycle of poverty. In this context, the NGO Groundswell International is working to address the structural causes of food insecurity by strengthening the capacities of farmer organizations to promote agro-ecological approaches to improve the resilience of their farming systems, sustainably manage their natural resources and preserve the biodiversity upon which they depend. While successful local alternatives and agroecological practices exist, in general they have not been supported by governments and development agencies, so their potential has remained untapped.
Groundswell’s strategy in Burkina Faso is to: a) support a network of local organizations to identify sustainable agricultural practices that are being implemented by communities and are showing a promising impact in the fight against poverty and hunger; b) to further support, diversify and strengthen these practices and examples; c) to strongly prioritize the leadership and involvement of women and women’s groups in the process; d) and to spread and multiply the adoption of these practices through support and knowledge sharing between farmers, women’s groups, communities and local organizations.
Groundswell International is a partnership of nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) and resource people in Africa, Latin American and Asia that is committed to strengthening the capacity of rural communities to achieve positive social change. The founders and members of the Groundswell partnership have decades of experience in methodological and technical support for rural development process that strengthen the capacity of local organizations to promote environmentally friendly farming practices that protect the environment, biodiversity and strengthen the resilience of local food systems. These approaches are an important part of sustainable solutions to improving food security and overcoming poverty in rural communities.
Conclusion
Whatever the level of global and national food supply, development policies and practices should directly address the root causes of poverty and malnutrition among the majority rural populations. This includes the lack of sustainable strategies for the rural poor, especially women and children, to access adequate, healthy food. Women have little access to land and other productive resources, and their involvement in the survival of their families and households is undervalued. In spite of this, many women have demonstrated their ability to overcome family and community-level challenges and to successfully diversify and increase their food production and income, sustain their families and become more resilient in the face of crises. Women must be seen as important leaders and an undervalued resource in the struggle to end poverty and hunger in Africa.
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