Monday, July 9, 2012

Gender Mainstreaming in Horticulture and Fisheries

Rural women generally have less access to productive natural resources and opportunities such as education, capital, land, etc.  Gender mainstreaming is not a replacement of targeted women focused policies, instead adopting a gender perspective means focusing on BOTH men and women and their relationship with each other and natural resources in projects so that both can equally benefit from the development policies.  The important point is that Gender Mainstreaming should never be a one time exercise rather an integral part of the entire planning and implementation process that continues throughout the life of the project.

Women are not very visible in agriculture in Balochistan but as I have started my interviews, it is evident that they are playing a vital role in the agricultural activities in Balochistan. But their productivity is low on farm related work and is more concentrated on homebound components of agriculture sector such as fodder chopping, seed sorting and cleaning, pre and post harvest produce handling, live stock management and dairy production.

The project focuses on Fruit farms and fisheries, both largely male dominant professions in Balochistan. According to a national baseline survey, the majority of the producers, farm owners, and agribusiness owners are men. The proportion of men farm owners is 99.56 percent whereas women own farms very rarely and haven't found any in Balochistan. It will be challenging to engage women directly in agricultural activities in most areas of Pashtun and Baloch belts in the province without grassroots level mobilization and village and community level. If the team desires to increase its impact on women, they will need to establish linkages with community based local organizations having expertise in working with women.

No comments:

Post a Comment