Women in Agriculture - Farmsecure

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WORLDWIDE Agriculture Development, Intensive Monoculture, and Health Written by Elvera Strydom The ‘Green Revolution’, developed by Nobel Peace Prize winner Norman Borlaug, was a development initiative that sought to improve yields of rice, wheat, and maize with genetically modified seeds, intensive monoculture requiring intensive irrigation, and the use of pesticides and fertilisers. Vandana Shiva has written critically and extensively about the effects of the ‘Green Revolution’ in India and South Asia, and much of her work focuses on how the ‘Green Revolution’ has affected women and their families. Shiva discusses the ‘Green Revolution’ and its harmful effects on biodiversity in her article, “World in a Grain of Rice,” originally published in the December 2000 edition of The Ecologist. Shiva is also the director of the Research Foundation for Science, Technology and Ecology (RFSTE). The Foundation, along with Navdanya, has created a Diverse Women for Diversity program that believes in non-violent resistance to globalisation, genetic engineering, and patents on life forms. The intensive pesticide use that characterises many of the international agricultural development efforts that target women has been highly criticised. In his article, “Pesticides and Reproduction - Women Farmers in Indonesia,” Andrew Watterson states, “The occupational health issues which women face have often been either ignored or downplayed by scientists and legislators. This partly reflects the lack of research or selective research on women’s health.” The article details the use of pesticides in Indonesia, identifies effects on women’s reproductive health, and offers a summary of the epidemiological studies about women and pesticide use. The Pesticides News is part of the Pesticide Action Network UK. Chief Editor Chantal Yazbek, Elvera Strydom Sub-editor & Writer, Layout & Design Dieter Strumpher, Published by Farmsecure Holdings (PTY) LTD.
Microcredit Projects The word “microcredit” did not exist before the seventies. Now it has become a buzz-word among the development practitioners. Microcredit programs offer women small loans for small-scale, incomegenerating projects in agriculture, textiles, and other fields. Microcredit programs are often funded by nongovernmental institutions and are often managed by local women themselves. The Grameen Bank is a wellknown example of a microcredit program. The Grameen Bank has given loans to 3.7 million people in Bangladesh. Ninety-six percent of these borrowers are women. Their purpose is to end the exploitation of poor women and men by money lenders and to promote and create opportunities for self-employment. Rebuilding Economies through Agriculture During the 1994 genocide in Rwanda, over 800,000 people were massacred and 2 million people sought refuge in neighbouring countries. Many men were killed, leaving the women to provide for their children. A primary cash crop in Rwanda before and after the genocide was coffee. However, as more and more countries produced coffee for export, the international market for coffee plummeted. The combination of the genocide and the drop in coffee demand was devastating for Rwanda’s economy. In response to these events, several American and Rwandan Universities collaborated to form the Partnerships to Enhance Agriculture in Rwanda through Linkages (PEARL) program. The PEARL program went into the communities most affected by these events and established specialty coffee cooperatives. The PEARL project offers various support programs for women coffee farmers, including credit and extension programs, which enable women to grow their own specialty coffees and to sell them on an international market for a fair price. There are a number of agencies and organisations worldwide that pay attention to women, women in agriculture and the general needs of women in developed and developing (rural) nations. We would like to focus on one such organisation as they provide important information on women in developing nations and their involvement in agriculture. This organisation is called GreenFacts. The ‘GreenFacts’ organisation’s executive summary of the IAASTD Synthesis Report states that gender, that is socially constructed relations between men and women, is an organising element of existing farming systems worldwide and a determining factor of ongoing agricultural restructuring. They note that current trends in agricultural market liberalisation and in the re-organisation of farm work, as well as the rise of environmental and sustainability concerns are redefining the links between gender and development. The report says that the proportion of women in agricultural production and postharvest activities ranges from 20% to 70%, with women’s involvement increasing in many developing countries – particularly with the development of export-oriented irrigated farming, which is associated with a growing demand for female labour, including migrant workers. Ironically, these dynamics have in some ways brought along certain benefits in general, but the largest proportion of rural women worldwide continues to face deteriorating health and work conditions, limited access to education and control over natural resources, insecure employment and low income. Furthermore, it is reported that the situation is due to a variety of factures, including the growing competition on agricultural markets which increases the demand for flexible and cheap labour, growing pressure on and conflicts over natural resources, the diminishing support by governments for small-scale farms and the re-allocation of economic resources in favour of large ones. Other factors include increasing exposure to risks Chief Editor Chantal Yazbek, Elvera Strydom Sub-editor & Writer, Layout & Design Dieter Strumpher, Published by Farmsecure Holdings (PTY) LTD.
Page 1 and 2: Farmsecure Newsletter, Edition 15,
Page 3: Women’s Work in Agriculture, Glob
Page 7 and 8: Women within our Company With this
Page 9 and 10: Nog een van ons dames Nettie Greyli
Page 11 and 12: WHO’S WHO CHARLENE BOTMA My name
Page 13 and 14: WHO’S WHO NADA NEL Ek is Nada Nel
Page 15 and 16: Baie Geluk!!! Vanaf almal hier by F
Page 17 and 18: Hier is ‘n foto van die dames van
Page 19 and 20: Margaret Africa Hi, Margaret Africa
Page 21 and 22: Events National Women’s Day, 9 Au
Page 23: Agriculture in the Media Enter Temr

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