AGRICULTURE

THE STATE OF FOOD AND AGRICULTURE 2016
Reducing gender inequalities
Because men and women have different priorities
and capacities in responding to climate change,
policy-makers and institutions need to explicitly
recognize gender differentials in designing
interventions that strengthen the resilience of
rural livelihoods (Acosta et al., 2015; Gumucio and
Tafur-Rueda, 2015). Social norms often impose
agricultural responsibilities and limit women’s
choices, which determine the type of information
they need and the information channels they can
access (Archer and Yamashita, 2003; McOmber et
al., 2013; Jost et al., 2015). For example,
information about the timing of rainfall onset is
important for male farmers in Senegal because
men have priority access to animals for field
preparation; women lack the capacity to act on the
information, and prefer forecasts of rainfall
cessation and dry periods (Tall et al., 2014).
The Kenya Agricultural Carbon Project,
implemented by Vi Agroforestry and the World
Bank, highlights several strategies that address
gender disparities in land and tree tenure, labour,
knowledge, benefit sharing, participation and
leadership. Examples include: contracts signed by
groups, including women even though they do
not own land; investments in training designed
to reach women (e.g. hiring female community
facilitators); the provision of seedlings of tree
species usually desired by women (e.g. species
that provide fuelwood, fodder, shade and fruit);
rotating leadership systems and rules; and
improvements in women’s access to loans and
insurance (World Bank, 2010a; Vi Agroforestry
2015; Shames et al., 2012). A participatory project
in the water-stressed Kumbharwadi community,
in Maharashtra state, India, reduced the amount
of time women spent collecting drinking water
and fuelwood by installing sources for both
nearer to their homes, and helped to increase
women’s participation in village decision-making
processes. The project resulted in an increase in
the incomes of poor households (Gray and
Srinidhi, 2013; World Bank, FAO and IFAD, 2015).
Migration
Environmental and climate stresses on
livelihoods – such as droughts, floods and
unpredictable weather patterns – push rural
people to migrate. As land is farmed more
intensively, soil degradation increases,
production declines, and incomes fall. Likewise,
water scarcity caused by prolonged drought and
conflicts over water use may induce poorer
farmers to abandon the land. Temporary, seasonal
and permanent migration can be a form of
livelihood diversification, which provides
significant benefits to many rural households. It
is a key source of income diversification that
boosts household resilience and provides the
means for productivity-enhancing investments.
On the downside, migrants often face multiple
hardships, risks and dangers.
One study projects that hundreds of millions of
people might need to flee their homes as a result
of climatic and environmental pressures between
now and 2050 (IIED, 2010). Such forecasts have
helped to place migration as an issue to be
addressed in climate change adaptation. In their
adaptation strategies, governments tend to take
one of two approaches (KNOMAD, 2014). The
first, and most common, sees adaptation as a way
of reducing migration pressures and allowing
people to remain where they are by improving
agricultural practices and infrastructure. In the
second view, migration is itself an adaptation
strategy, which alleviates population pressure on
fragile areas. Of particular interest to
development policy-makers is the potential of
migrants already living outside of vulnerable
areas to help their home communities adapt and
respond to climate change.
Social protection and active labour market
policies can play important roles in mitigating
many of the risks associated with migration.
Better quality education and training would
enhance the employment prospects of rural
people who decide to migrate, especially youth,
and of those who seek more skill-intensive
employment in sustainable agriculture. Provision
of suitable transport and communications
infrastructure, either directly by the public sector
or by promoting private investment, will be
important in bringing down the costs associated
with both travel and sending remittances, as well
as facilitating flows of information on
employment and business opportunities. •
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