Addressing gender norms in Ethiopia’s wheat sector

Poster prepared for a share fair, Addis Ababa, May 201

Enhancing the gender-responsiveness of your project's technical farmer training events

This resource sets out simple suggestions for ensuring that women as well as men feel included in training events, are fully informed about technological options, learn effectively, and have the confidence to implement what they have learned. Over time, if their experience has been successful, they should be able to build on the training course to innovate by themselves in response to their needs and changes in the wider environment

Gender and innovation processes in wheat-based systems

This WHEAT report is based on 43 village case studies from eight countries set in diverse wheat-based farming regions of the Global South

Strengthening women in wheat farming in India: Old challenges, new realities, new opportunities

This resource provides guidance for scientists, researchers, and rural advisory services in wheat-based systems on how to better target women in all communities and how to improve inclusion for everyone. It builds on 12 case studies conducted across India’s wheat belt under CRP WHEAT. It discusses how norms are shifting in parts of rural India to accommodate open recognition of women as farmers and managers of wheat and as adopters of associated technologies, including zero tillers, combine harvesters, and improved varieties of wheat

Embedding gender in conservation agriculture R4D in Sub-Saharan Africa: Relevant research questions

This resource examines the impact of gender relations on Conservation Agriculture (CA) adoption and adoption mechanisms. It offers a set of research questions to help integrate gender considerations into CA research for development, including on topics such as gender dynamics at the household and community level, minimum tillage, crop rotation and diversification, residue management, and knowledge networks

Leaving no one behind: Supporting women, poor people, and indigenous people in wheat-maize innovations in Bangladesh

This guidance note for scientists and research teams acknowledges the complexity of marginalization processes and provides recommendations for making sure no one is left behind. It draws on GENNOVATE findings from a community in Bangladesh where the indigenous Santals, Bengali Muslims, and Hindus live and work together

Gender and innovation processes in maize-based systems

This MAIZE report offers a panorama of the gender dimensions of local agricultural innovation processes in the context of maize-based farming systems and livelihoods

SOCIAL RELATIONS AND SEED TRANSACTIONS AMONG SMALLSCALE MAIZE FARMERS IN THE CENTRAL VALLEYS OF OAXACA, MEXICO; PRELIMINARY FINDINGS

This paper explores social arrangements associated with seed transactions among small-scale maize farmers in the Central Valleys of Oaxaca, Mexico, a centre of crop genetic diversity. A formal seed distribution system has yet to develop in the region and when seed loss occurs, farmers are faced with costs and difficulties identifying, locating, and obtaining seed of desired varieties. For these reasons, it was hypothesized that there were strong incentives for collective action among farmers to facilitate seed supply. The study found, however, no evidence of collective action with regards to seed supply in the three study communities-San Pablo Huitzo, San Lorenzo Albarradas, Santa Ana Zegache. Instead, farmers acquired seed using a variety of networks of social relations and different types of seed transactions. The results suggest that seed flow among farmers in the Central Valleys of Oaxaca is a complex process of negotiation and reciprocity, influenced by a variety of agroecological, socioeconomic, and cultural factors.Farm Management,

Participatory research: a catalyst for greater impact

This paper discusses the notion of farmer empowerment as a primary objective of participatory research. The authors argue that agricultural technologies are adapted - not adopted – through a social and cultural process which includes the transformation of the technology. Farmer participation in agricultural research is important and necessary first of all to increase the efficiency and impact of agricultural research and technology development. This includes the identification of traits that can guide crop breeders’ work. Farmer empowerment is valuable and desirable, and while it can result from participatory research, direct empowerment per se should not be the main objective of participatory research conducted by research organizations. Of more importance is the empowerment of partner organizations and the identification of future research needs, i.e. the functional purposes of participatory approaches in agricultural research