Abstract
In agricultural development, empowerment is considered essential in order for
farmers to safeguard their livelihood interests and seed- based agro- biodiversity.1
Empowerment is also considered to enable small farmers from marginal areas
to participate in research as more equal partners alongside scientists, thereby
increasing the eff ectiveness of agricultural research.2 Empowerment of the most
marginal farmers, and rural women in particular, is considered important to
provide these most vulnerable groups with the means to voice their needs and
desires and to take action so that they can infl uence rural and agricultural development
for the improvement of nutrition and food security.3 Nobel Prize
winner Amartya Sen demonstrates in his book Poverty and Famines how hunger
stems from disempowerment, marginalization, and poverty.4
Research on the empowerment of women farmers in Syria is important
because of its intrinsic interest in a region where there is a relative paucity
of research literature on any aspect of women in agriculture, and particularly
because of its potential to improve the relevance and effi cacy of development
work.5 Th is article presents the fi ndings of an assessment of changes in the
empowerment of twelve farm women from three rural villages in Syria. Th e
assessment is based in the context of a Participatory Plant Breeding (ppb) program
coordinated by the International Centre for Agricultural Research in the
Dry Areas (icarda).
Scientists regard ppb as an innovative technological process and an institutional
mechanism for enhancing rural livelihoods by providing the means and
a process for improving plant varieties. By collaborating with the most marginalized
and poor farmers, ppb addresses their agro- ecological, geographical
and sociocultural needs.6 ppb also has been recognized as an approach that
knowledge” are some of the specifi c benefi ts mentioned by farmers involved
in ppb projects.7
A ppb program was initiated in Syria at icarda in 1996. It adopted a
gender- neutral approach to the involvement of interested farmers. It was
open, in principle, to the participation of both male and female farmers but it
did not assess gender- based needs and constraints. However, aft er ten years of
activities it was found that only male farmers had become involved. In 2006
a diagnostic study was carried out to understand the reasons for the absence
of women farmers from the ppb program.8 At the same time the women expressed
a strong interest in participating in the program. Th ereaft er the researcher
(a young, newly married Italian woman) was appointed as a member
of the ppb team and tasked to develop, together with the interested women
farmers, a proactive approach to address the barriers to their involvement.
Seven women farmers from Lahetha and Souran have since been involved
in growing ppb trials, evaluating their performance, selecting varieties, and
naming them. Th ey have also been involved in other activities organized by
the program, such as conferences and meetings. From 2007 an assessment
was undertaken by the researcher that evaluated the impact of the ppb program
on the empowerment of the newly involved women farmers over a period
of four years (2007– 10).
Th is article reports the fi ndings of this assessment and addresses the question:
can participation in the ppb program enhance women’s empowerment,
and if so, how? Th e challenges encountered in the research give rise to a number
of refl ections on the meaning of empowerment and how this concept can
be measured and understood by researchers, as well as by the women and
men concerned in this case
Original language | English |
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Pages (from-to) | 58-92 |
Journal | Frontiers-A Journal of Women Studies |
Volume | 34 |
Issue number | 01 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - 2013 |
Keywords
- management
- india