Gender Research Strategy for Dryland Systems in South Asia

1. Led by
Partners
Gender Research Strategy for
Dryland Systems in South Asia
KH Anantha and Team
Resilient Dryland Systems
ICRISAT, Patancheru 502324 Andhra Pradesh, India

2. Agriculture in South Asia
Led by
Partners
 SA is home to about 20% of the world’s
population.
 Three-quarters of this population live in rural
areas, with one-third living in extreme
poverty.
 More than 50% of employed women in South
Asia work in the agriculture sector.

3. Women in agriculture
Led by
Partners
Country Rural
population
(% of total)
Female share
of rural
population
(%)
Agri share of
economically
active
women (%
of total)
Afghanistan 75.2 NA 82
Bangladesh 71.9 51.4 57.4
Bhutan 63.1 47.2 97.2
India 69.9 48.7 61.8
Maldives 59.6 50.6 14.3
Nepal 81.8 51.6 97.8
Pakistan 63.0 50.2 56.9
Sri Lanka 84.9 50.5 41.6
Source: Saxena LP (2013)

4. Women in food production
Led by
Partners
Particulars Bangladesh India Nepal Pakistan
Female share of agr.
Holders (% of total)
NA 10.9 8.1 NA
Share of rural
households, female -
headed (%)
13.2 14.9 24.0 11.0
Source: Saxena LP (2013)

5. Gender disparity in food production
Led by
Partners
 Women do not have equal access to and control
over land, livestock, technology, credit,
extension services and other essential
resources.
 Women’s capacity/ability to cope with and
recover from climate change-induced impacts on
crop production and yields very limited

6. Priority areas
Led by
Partners
 Integrating gender participation in crop-livestock value
chains.
 Quantifying women’s role in agricultural development.
 Identify entry points to reduce drudgery and increase
efficiency of labour use; and
 Improving nutrition and food security for women.

7. Critical focus areas for
strategic gender research
Led by
Partners
 Empowerment through enhanced and targeted
knowledge sharing using ICT4D.
 Self employment generation for women through
collective action in the crop-livestock systems.
 Inclusive market oriented holistic development
through PR4D.
 Value addition and marketing.
 Enhanced nutrition and food security.

8. Led by
Partners

9. Gender Research at ICRISAT
Led by
Partners
 Engagement, empowerment, and investment of and
in women.
 Contributions to improve rural livelihoods through
inclusive market oriented development (IMOD),
improved food security, better health and nutrition,
reducing drudgery for women and sustainable
management of agriculturally-related natural
resources.

10. ICRISAT’s Approach to Gender
Led by
Partners
ICRISAT takes the position that gender is an integral element
of its overall agenda and attaches great importance to the
gender implications of its research with human face through
training activities.
Gender responsive goal of ICRISAT: Increase benefits for
women and men in terms of income, nutrition, food security
from improvements in the production and marketing of
ICRISAT mandate crops so that gender inequality is reduced.
The Inclusive Market-Oriented Development (IMOD)
conceptual framework: that underlies ICRISAT’s Strategic
Plan to 2020 categorically mentions, “will enable the poor,
particularly women, to participate and benefit rather than be
sidelined” in the economic growth (ICRISAT, 2010).

11. The Strategy
Led by
Partners
1. Integrating gender in:
• programme development and implementation
• capacity building
• support to women’s empowerment
2. Documenting gender issues:
• Developing gender disaggregated database on ICRISAT’s core
programs & research issues
• Documenting gender issues in ICRISAT’s research programs
• Disseminating information related to gender issues for advocacy and
policy dialogue
3. Influencing Policies by:
• Documenting & disseminating information related to gender issues
in ICRISAT’s research programs
• Integrating gender issues in dialogues and other initiatives with
policy-makers
• Giving visibility to gender issues under ICRISAT’s research programs
in the regional and international platforms

12. Thank you!
ICRISAT is a member of the CGIAR Consortium