Feminization of agriculture: building evidence to debunk myths on current challenges and opportunities (webinar #1)

This PIM webinar, recorded on June 10, 2021, presents the findings from five projects that comprised a set of PIM grants on Feminization of Agriculture: Building evidence to debunk myths on current challenges and opportunities. Research teams from across CGIAR worked since 2018 to explore the dynamics and impacts of migration, including male-outmigration, on gender relations in agriculture and natural resource domains.

Migration is an important aspect of the feminization of agriculture. The prevailing narrative on migration is that men are leaving rural areas in search of more lucrative opportunities, while women are “left behind” to farm. The assumptions are that farming continues as usual after men migrate, and that migration is linear and increasing over time. Findings of the studies that will be presented during this webinar challenge and nuance this narrative.

Presentations:

• Migration and gender dynamics in irrigation governance in Nepal (Wei Zhang, Senior Research Fellow, International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI))
• Rural out-migration and the feminization of agriculture in sub-Saharan Africa: a multi-country, mixed-methods study (Jordan Chamberlin, Spatial Economist, International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT))
• Gender and generational dynamics in land restoration amid male out-migration: Strengthening the evidence base through cross-country analyses (Ana Maria Paez, Social Scientist, Gender, World Agroforestry (ICRAF)
• Scrutinizing the ‘feminization of agriculture’ hypothesis: A study on the gendered evolution of labor force participation in agriculture and forestry in Indonesia 1993 – 2014 (Markus Ihalainen, Senior Research and Engagement Officer, Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR))
• Changing gender roles and implications for scalable gender inclusive climate resilient agriculture technology (Nozomi Kawarazuka, Scientist, International Potato Center (CIP))

Webinar recording and presentations available here >> 

Photo by Ollivier Girard/CIFOR