Empowering women in agriculture

M. S. SWAMINATHAN

I have read with interest the article titled “Waiting for Women Farmers’ Bill” by Hema Yadav which appeared in Business Line dated January 26.

The author has rightly referred to women’s exclusion from credit, extension services and market infrastructure.

There are two points in relation to this article which merit clarification. First, the Bill is a Private Members’ Bill introduced by me in the Rajya Sabha and not a Government Bill. Secondly, a woman farmer has been defined in the draft Bill as below:

Explanation: The term “farmer” will include, but not limited to, agricultural operational holders, landless cultivators, agricultural labourers, planting labourers, pastoralists, sharecroppers and tenants. The term will not include corporate entities operated by or involving farmers. In case of landless farmers migrating or moving from one State to another, if anyone stays in a State for at least six months, such person may be considered as a farmer in that particular State.

“Woman farmer” means and includes, irrespective of marital status or ownership of land, any woman who is a farmer as defined in subsection (c) of section 2 and includes

(i) any woman living in rural area and primarily engaged in agricultural activity, though occasionally engaged in non-agricultural activity; or

(ii) any woman living in urban or semi-urban areas and engaged in agriculture; or

(iii) any tribal woman directly or indirectly engaged in agriculture or shifting cultivation or in the collection, use and sale of minor or non-timber forest produce by virtue of usufructory rights.

Thus, the definition is comprehensive but the author is correct in pointing out that according to existing practices and policies agricultural credit is only calculated on the basis of land-holding and the potential for kharif and rabi crops. Thus, all landless people including women have a problem. Having other assets such as livestock or goats or hens does not entitle the person to credit, whether male or female.

WOMEN’S STATUS

So, despite the broader definition of agriculture accepted by FAO and others, which includes a host of activities apart from farming, in the Indian banking system, it is only farming that is equated to agriculture. Pastoralists have always raised the issue of common grazing lands and access to fodder, but they are denied any kind of entitlements.

The deplorable gang rape incident that occurred recently in Delhi has fortunately led to an examination of the state of gender justice and equity prevailing in our country in a broader perspective.

The Justice Verma Committee has emphasised the need for looking at the status of women in its totality. Nearly 40 crore women out of the total of 60 crore female population depend upon crop and animal husbandry, fisheries, forestry, agro processing and agri-business for their livelihood, yet are handicapped by their inability to obtain equal access to natural resources such as land and water because of male-biased laws. Therefore, it is exceedingly important that we re-examine the current status of women’s empowerment in the field of farming. This is the purpose for which I introduced the Bill in the Rajya Sabha. The Bill is, however, yet to be discussed.

I congratulate the author for highlighting the need for women’s empowerment in the field of agriculture.

(The author is Member of Parliament, Rajya Sabha).

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Our Turn: New England agriculture gets a new voice in D.C.

New Hampshire may have a new all-women dream team representing it in Congress, but forging a path for women may not be their only opportunity. Flying under the radar is the fact that 2nd District Rep. Annie Kuster is now a member of the House Agriculture Committee, the first representative from New Hampshire in many years.

While it may seem an odd match for a state not known for agriculture, it is really indicative of how local, sustainable agriculture is on the rise in our region. Kuster’s seat on this committee is an opportunity for the agricultural community of New England and for area consumers whose interest in knowing more about their food has been steadily mounting. Now more than ever, people are becoming more connected with the source of their food and recognizing that what they eat is closely linked to their health, as well as to the health of the environment and their local communities.

This heightened consumer awareness is helping to keep New England farms in business, especially the hundreds of organic dairies in the region. Not only are these dairy farms an iconic part of our New England landscape, but they are also a critically important part of our local economy.

On the political front, we see evidence of the growing importance of New England agriculture in the establishment and growth of the New England Farmers Union. The diverse membership of this group, from century-old family farms to young urban farmers, is a testament to the surge in the region’s interest in producing and eating local, sustainable food and the need for advocating for policies that better serve our farmers.

New Hampshire’s agricultural economy is small in comparison with other states, but it still accounts for nearly $1 billion in economic activity and thousands of jobs. It also helps conserve our landscapes, both farm and forest. Well-managed farm and forestland contribute to improved soil health and water quality, and provide wildlife habitat and recreational use. Federal farm programs that support better management on these lands are essential to maintaining these benefits.

One of the first orders of business Kuster will have to deal with is the farm bill, which affects New Hampshire and New England in ways we rarely hear about. It’s critical to our region’s conservation and forestry programs, and it also holds the key to nutrition initiatives that will help families in need get greater access to fresh fruits and vegetables from local farms.


Over the past few years, we’ve seen the introduction of a variety of farm bill programs that would really help our area. They focus on organic agriculture and fresh fruits and vegetables, as well as beginning farmers and ranchers. Programs designed to help build local food systems really help our area. Unfortunately, Congress gutted all of these programs, including the nation’s largest conservation program, when it extended the farm bill as part of the fiscal cliff deal passed early this year.

This year Congress has a chance to reauthorize this bill, restore funding for these critical programs, and make much needed reforms to the farm safety net. While this won’t be easy, especially in light of the need to reduce the federal deficit, it’s never been more important for Congress to deliver a farm bill that meets the needs of both consumers and agriculture. A more regionally diverse agriculture committee is sure to do a better job of this than one that is stacked with members from the Corn Belt.

We’re counting on Kuster to make hay of this opportunity.

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Africa: Supporting Women in Agriculture for a 'Prosperous' Africa

BY SAMANTHA NKIROTE MCKENZIE

The African Union (AU) is celebrating its 50th anniversary this year, but instead of looking back, the current chair, Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, seems intent on casting her vision ahead to an Africa 50 years from now. Her hope is that it will be "a prosperous Africa at peace with itself".

Dlamini-Zuma admits that this will not be easy, and she sees human and agricultural development as critical to the realisation of the Africa she envisions. "Agriculture is very central not only in providing nutrition, food and food security but also in stimulating industrialisation," said Dlamini-Zuma, speaking last week at the bi-annual Gender is My Agenda Campaign (GIMAC) meeting.

Calling on the support of the 55 civil society organisations that make up the GIMAC network, she said, "The AU can only coordinate, facilitate and advocate but the actual work, in the end, has to be done at the national level by yourselves."

The unique and powerful role GIMAC can play was echoed by Frannie Léautier, the executive secretary of the African Capacity Building Foundation (ACBF). Léautier said GIMAC's connections at the grassroots level and its ability to "break doors in the halls of power whether it is at the pan-African, country, chamber of commerce or ministry level" allows for "holistic vertical and horizontal change".

In Africa, women play a vital role in agriculture and nutrition, but they face significant challenges. Léautier believes there are three key rights the GIMAC network needs to address if it aims to transform the role women play in agriculture: land rights; the right to conduct of cross-border trade without harassment; and the right to own businesses and conduct business across borders.

Another challenge that African women face in the agriculture sector is climate change. Mary Robinson, former president of Ireland who leads the Mary Robinson Foundation-Climate Justice has brought to GIMAC her passion to raise awareness about what she says is the injustice of how climate change is undermining livelihoods, particularly in developing countries. Bineta Diop, the founder of GIMAC, affectionately refers to Robinson as her "African sister".

Speaking to reporters after the GIMAC meeting, Robinson said she was impressed by how the women of GIMAC had adopted climate justice as part of their core agenda, and she applauded their focus on the role of women in agriculture because, she said, "food and nutrition is at the heart of development."

Last July GIMAC, in partnership with ACBF and under the patronage of Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, launched an initiative to empower women in agriculture. In its first phase, the initiative is carrying out a baseline study to determine what work is being done regarding women and agriculture. This will then determine what key areas the initiative will focus on.

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State Department of Agriculture to lobby for its share of barrel tax

Duane Shimogawa

Not only is the State Energy Office looking to grab a bigger piece of the so-called barrel tax. The state Department of Agriculture is hoping state legislators will nearly triple its share of the barrel tax from 15 cents to 42.5 cents of the $1.05 total for every barrel of petroleum that is imported to Hawaii.

The issue is expected to be debated during the upcoming legislative session.

“Some of the funds will go to restoring some lost [staff] positions and some new positions,” said Janelle Saneishi, spokeswoman for the state Department of Agriculture.

The positions it is looking to restore include clerical, plant pest technicians and noxious weed control staff.

The new positions include ag engineers, entomologists and irrigation and ag park program workers.

In addition to filling lost spots and adding new positions, Saneishi told PBN that the increased funding would go toward key new programs and developments.

They include establishing a Queen Bee Program on Kauai and in Kona on the Big Island, furthering livestock feed development and marketing the “Buy Local, It Matters, Seal of Quality” campaigns. The ag office also wants to spend money for livestock pasture improvement, which aims to increase the quality of grass-fed beef to meet local demand.

Additionally, the funds may be used for fishpond development, a bio-digester that converts food waste to animal feed and/or fertilizer, establishing mobile slaughterhouse operations on Kauai and Maui and undergoing more bio-control research, pest prevention and control efforts.

The barrel tax, which was increased from 5 cents to $1.05 cents two years ago, hiked up the price of gasoline and energy prices with the goal of funding clean-energy projects and food security efforts.

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Role of agri universities underscored for ensuring women’s right to land

The women’s right to land is key to promoting sustainable agriculture and the agricultural universities in Pakistan have a bigger role to play in terms of initiating research studies on the issues of women farmers who produce more than 60 percent food but they own merely 2 percent of farm land.

While addressing a seminar on “Women’s Right to Land and Sustainable Agriculture: Role of Agricultural Universities” held on Monday at a local hotel by ActionAid Pakistan in collaboration with Arid Agriculture University, Rawalpindi, the speakers, including academia, the agricultural economists, media, students and development specialists, highlighted the role of women farmers in ensuring food security across the globe particularly in Pakistan. 

They lamented that it was a pure injustice that women farmers were not allowed to own and to have access to land. 

Uzma Tahir, Manager Policy, Advocacy and Research Unit, ActionAid Pakistan, said that students being the future leaders of our nation needed to understand social issues and causes of injustice, discrimination and poverty. She said that more than 44 percent population of our country is dependent on agriculture as a major source of livelihood and women happened to be more than half of that population. “More than 40 percent of rural land is owned by merely 2.5 percent population of the country which informs us how much injustice and discrimination was prevalent in the country,” she added.

“Inequality and injustice toward women start from the household where male members of the family dominate their female counterparts in decision making and ownership of land and livelihood resources,” Uzma said, adding that there was a dire need to acknowledge the role of women farmers in food production and food security and to introduce gender responsive agricultural policies and frameworks. 

Professor Dr Muhammad Azim Malik, Vice Chancellor of Arid Agriculture University, Rawalpindi, said that women’s education should be treated as a priority to facilitate women in seeking fulfilment of their basic rights particularly the right to land and a dignified source of livelihood. He said that in Arid Agriculture University, more than 34% students were girls who could play a critical role in addressing the issues of women farmers. 

He asked the government to immediately take measures to stop injustice and discrimination against women. He said that our religion, Islam has granted women due share in the inheritance but the social practices and norms stood against it. 

Lok Sanjh Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Dr Shahid Zia said that women’s right to land is linked with the land reform issue in Pakistan. There was absence of pro women agricultural knowledge in the market which added to the worries of poor women farmers. He observed that small farmers in Pakistan were gradually becoming casual farmers as first they did not own land and secondly there was lack of policy framework to address issues being faced by them. 

Nasir Aziz, Food Rights Policy Officer, ActionAid Pakistan said that women right to land and sustainable agriculture were interlinked and they should be treated collectively. To ensure food security, Pakistan will have to focus on promotion of sustainable agriculture which could only be realized fully if women right to land was acknowledged and they were provided easy access to land. He said that it was a pity that small scale agriculture had never been the priority of the government whereas the majority of the rural population particularly women were practicing small scale farming.

dailytimes-

Foundation Assists Women In Agriculture

A Non-Governmental Organisation (NGO) that aims at empowering farmers in rural agriculture has been launched in Accra.Known as the Periyer Africa Foundation (PAF), the organisation, which has its headquarters in India, seeks to invest mainly in women engaged in subsistence farming and reduce poverty through strategic investment. The ultimate aim of the organisation is to empower women and work towards eradicating all forms of gender discrimination against women to enable them to be self-reliant and with a right to inheritance.

It will educate the beneficiaries on best farming practices in order to increase yield and improve productivity.

Beneficiary groups will be assisted with high-yielding seeds and parcels of land to support their rural farming businesses and link them up with ready market in high demand countries.

Speaking at an event to officially launch the NGO in Ghana, its Secretary, Saalai Manikam, said the initiative had lifted the lives of millions of India’s rural poor from the poverty bracket and was looking forward to a fruitful support to positively impact on the Ghanaian community.

The launch coincided with the 134th birthday of its founder, Periyer Ramasamy, who is credited with pioneering ideas that have triggered social reforms leading to the removal of discrimination of all forms between socially under-privileged persons and other sections of the society.

She said the choice of Ghana for the start of the project in Africa, which will be replicated in other African countries, was informed by the positive business climate and the promise rural business held in the country.

She said the core target of the project would be women because they were central to national development. “With our operations back in India, it has emerged that any self-help initiative that targets women eventually affects the lives of all other members of the society and poverty levels are reduced drastically,” she said.

The NGO has already secured large tracts of land in the Ashanti Region to begin with the agricultural support model soon.

The India High Commissioner to Ghana, Mr Rajinder Bhagat, who was the guest of honour, unveiled the PAF logo and the portrait of Periyer and expressed the hope that the initiative would be supported to feed into his country’s bigger initiative of assisting Ghana to end poverty through capital investment.

The President of PAF, K.C Ezhilarasen, said the organisation would be funded from a nucleus fund created through the tireless efforts of Periyer.

He said some of the activities that the organisation would embark upon were partly financed by charging subsidised rates, using the concept of cross-subsidisation.

“Borrowing on large scale from public financial institutions has been one of the main sources of funding. Promptly servicing the loans, has made the institutions willing to supply the required funds as loans for major and minor projects, with the institutions ensuring the proper utilisation of such loans,” he said.

Source: Daily Graphic

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Rwanda: Agriculture Minister Wins Global Award

The Agriculture Minister, Dr Agnes Kalibata, was yesterday announced winner of the 2012 Yara Prize Award for her efforts towards ensuring food security in Rwanda.

In the announcement that was made from the Norwegian capital Oslo, Kalibata was awarded alongside Dr. Eleni Gabre-Madhin, the outgoing CEO of the Ethiopian Commodity Exchange (ECX).

According to a statement from Yara International, both leaders demonstrated how transformative change can be achieved in a complex and challenging environment.

"They have applied innovative approaches, collaborating with partners in new ways. Their achievements are fit to inspire other countries to transform the productivity and sustainability of their agricultural sectors," it reads.

The president and chairman of the Yara Prize committee, Jørgen Ole Haslestad, commended the winners for the substantial work they demonstrated in fighting food insecurity, not only in their countries but also on the continent.

"Yara creates impact by addressing global challenges. By awarding the Prize, we salute the champions of sustainable agricultural development. I wish to extend my personal congratulations to the laureates," Haslestad said.

"This is the exact kind of development needed to promote in the Grow Africa Initiative, co-chaired by Yara alongside NEPAD and the African Union".

The Yara Prize is based on nominations of candidates who are carefully evaluated by the Yara Prize Committee.

The prize consists of $60,000, which will be split between the laureates, a crystal trophy and a diploma.

"Dr. Agnes Kalibata is being awarded the prize for her great leadership in the transformation of food security and agricultural development in Rwanda in a relatively short period of time", continues the statement.

Rwanda has moved from having a food deficit to being a country that is largely food self-sufficient. Over 1 million Rwandans moved out of poverty between 2005 and 2011.

The committee agreed that Kalibata had been able to align national agricultural policies with the NEPAD/CAADP frameworks citing the commitment to increase government budget share for agriculture to 10 percent, and Rwanda was the first country to adopt a Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Programme (CAADP) compact.

In an interview with The New Times, the minister welcomed the prize attributing it to the good government policies that were initiated to ensure and promote food security in the country.

"Besides setting the stage in Rwanda and getting Rwandans to be food secure, we have also led in continental efforts. Our participation in CAADP and the lead we provided as a country at the continental level, and we are also leading in GrowAfrica initiative that is looking to link farmers to agro industries," she said

She added that the country has been among the few that make efforts to commit 10 per cent of the national budget to the agriculture sector as per Maputo Declaration.

Kalibata said that government policies, like embarking on crop intensification programmes to increase productivity, terracing programmes, One-cow-per-family as well creating market links to farmers, played a significant role in fighting food insecurity.

The laureates will receive their awards on September 27 in Arusha, Tanzania.

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Gauteng honours women in agriculture

By: Nthambeleni Gabara

PRETORIA: Gauteng women in agriculture were today honoured for their meaningful contribution towards job creation, inclusive economic growth and food security.

Gauteng Agriculture and Rural Development MEC Nandi Mayathula-Khoza on Thursday, 23 August 2012, recognised instrumental women in agriculture during the annual Agri-Business Woman of the Year Awards, formerly known as the Female Entrepreneur of the Year, in Tshwane.

"The link between women and agriculture is crucial as agriculture remains that backbone of our economy; women are the bedrock upon which families are built. We are resolute in our commitment towards the total emancipation of women, and these awards are testament of that resolve," she said.

The MEC said agriculture remained an important sector in job creation in the country, adding that through agriculture, the nation was able to ensure food security for families and communities, as well as guarantee that no child went to bed hungry.

"It is also through agriculture that we are able to tackle the triple challenge of unemployment, poverty and the growing inequality amongst our people," she said.

Overall winner and Best Agri-Business Woman of the Year (Informal markets, livestock) Flora Shilaluke, 46, told SAnews: "With agriculture, there is no hunger and I have been working very hard since I started farming in 2008."

Shilaluke, who started farming in Leeufontein near Bronkhorstspruit, took home R140 000. At her 21-hectare farm, she has four farming enterprises with poultry layers as the main enterprise, goats, cattle and vegetables.

Currently, she said the three poultry houses, with 9 000 layers, supplied eggs to supermarkets around Bronkhorstspruit.

Asked about her future plans, the mother of four, who had already created permanent jobs for two women and six local men, said: "I want to expand the production of layers from 9 000 to 20 000 layers as this will help to create more jobs."

The awards have eight categories that appeal to progressive agribusiness and encouraging food security, value chain activities as well as trade and export.

The categories are Best Female Worker; Best Homestead Food Garden; Best Community Project: Food Gardens and Poultry; Best Young/Disabled Agri-Business Woman of the Year; Best Agri-Business Woman of the Year: Informal Markets (Livestock); Best Agri-Business woman of the Year: Formal Markets (livestock and crops); Best Agri-Business Woman of the Year: Export markets; Best Agri-Business Woman of the Year: Processing and the Overall Winner.

The Agri-Business Woman of the Year Awards is an annual event where women are rewarded for their contribution they have made in agricultural sector.

It was initiated in 1999 by the national Department of Agriculture for the nine provinces, with the aim of empowering women in agriculture by recognising their contribution and increasing their visibility.

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Africa: Clinton Talks Agriculture, Health Care, Women's Rights in Africa

Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton is discussing health care, agriculture and women's empowerment as she continues her 10-day Africa tour in Uganda, Kenya and Malawi.

Clinton kicked off her trip July 31 in Senegal and stopped also in South Sudan before arriving in Kampala, Uganda, where she presented the State Department's 2011 Human Rights Defenders Award to a coalition of groups she praised as an "inspiration to the world" for working to defend human rights under difficult and sometimes dangerous circumstances.

"You are tearing down barriers that prevent people from enjoying the full measure of liberty, the full experience of dignity, the full benefits of humanity," she said in presenting the award August 3. "This coalition shows what can happen when brave change-makers come together."

While in Uganda's capital city, Clinton also visited the Reach Out Mbuya Health Center, a clinic that does HIV/AIDS community outreach.

Thanks to the center's work, the secretary said, people in the area "have a place to come to be given support, to be given treatment, to be given dignity in order to achieve their own personal goals of being healthy and productive citizens."

Clinton called the clinic "a model not only for Uganda, but for all of Africa -- indeed for the world" in remarks during a joint news conference with Ugandan Health Minister Dr. Christine Ondoa. The two discussed the U.S.-Uganda partnership to improve health, including the 300,000 Ugandans receiving treatment for HIV/AIDS through the U.S. President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR).

Since the program's start in Uganda, Clinton said, the prevalence of HIV/AIDS has dropped from nearly 20 percent to below 7 percent. But infections are once again on the rise.

"Uganda is now the only country in sub-Saharan Africa where the rate of HIV is going up," Clinton said. "Together we can work on making prevention the focus again and making sure that rate of infection goes down."

She said the United States has pledged an additional $25 million to Uganda, and that U.S. government leaders are reviewing their strategy to combat the disease with their Ugandan counterparts. Clinton said the United States is also working with Uganda to combat the Ebola virus, and on maternal and child health issues.

While in Kampala, Clinton met with President Yoweri Museveni for talks on strengthening democratic institutions and protecting human rights, while also reinforcing Uganda as a key U.S. partner in promoting regional security.

Clinton traveled next to Nairobi, Kenya, where she met with President Mwai Kibaki, Prime Minister Raila Odinga and Chief Justice Willy Mutunga to discuss the importance of holding credible, transparent, free and fair national elections in 2013.

"The eyes of the world will be on this election," the secretary said at an August 4 press conference. "Kenya has a chance to be a model for other nations, not just here in Africa but around the world."

She praised the country's recent referendum on a new constitution, and said the United States is committed to helping the country continue on its path to democracy.

Clinton next visited Lilongwe, Malawi, where she stopped by a Feed the Future event at the Lumbadzi Milk Bulking Group. She said for the decade that the United States has supported Malawi's dairy sector, the country's milk production has increased 500 percent and benefited thousands of farmers.

"Malawi and the United States are building on this success," she said. "I am pleased to announce that over the next three years, the United States intends to invest in Malawi more than $46 million to strengthen the entire agricultural chain."

As gifts to the milk bulking group, the secretary presented a dairy bull named Emanuel and a liquid nitrogen network to help farmers in the region improve their dairy cattle breeding.

While in Malawi's capital, Clinton stopped by a joint PEPFAR-Peace Corps event at Camp GLOW.

An initiative of the Peace Corps, Camp GLOW -- Girls Leading Our World -- is an educational camp that teaches young women life skills that they can then share with their home villages.

"Every young woman can make a difference in her own life and in her community," Clinton said, adding that the United States believes strongly in the great human potential of all Malawians.

"Some countries may have oil or gold or diamonds, but the greatest treasures are the people of every country, which is why investing in the future of the children of a country is the best investment that we can make."

She said the United States is establishing an internship program at the Peace Corps for a few graduates of Camp GLOW, supporting nurse training for more than 2,400 Malawians between 2010 and 2015, and recruiting American doctors to help train health workers in Malawi.

"The United States really believes that the future of Malawi is bright," the secretary said.

Making the first trip to the country by a U.S. secretary of state, Clinton praised Malawi for standing up for democracy.

"You showed the world what kind of people you were, and that sent a message everywhere," she said.

Clinton met earlier in the day with President Joyce Banda for talks on economic and political governance and reform.

The secretary next traveled to South Africa, where she is scheduled to visit democracy icon and former President Nelson Mandela and to participate in the U.S.-South Africa Strategic Dialogue before returning to Washington.

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Youth seminar: ‘Increase spending on education’

Youth urged to form an understanding of political, economic affairs.

FAISALABAD: Speakers at a seminar on Saturday said spending on education should be increased to ensure that the youth were adequately trained for leadershiop roles they would take up in future. The youth seminar was arranged jointly by the University of Agriculture’s Career Development Centre, Department of Women Development and Positive Pakistan, a non-governmental organisation.

Positive Pakistan president Abid Iqbal Khari said the country was fortunate to have a majority of young population. “Young people are open to new and different ideas,” he added. Khari urged the youth to focus on first completing their education and to form an understanding of political and economic affairs. He said the youth should equip themselves with adequate skills before start their careers so that they could contribute towards the sustainable development of the country.

He said in the absence of education opportunities, young people from poor households were being manipulated by different political and sectarian groups and organisations. National Institute of Food Science and Technology Subject Specialist Prof Javeed Aziz Awan said he would arrange similar seminars at his organisation in the coming days. Earlier, UAF Career Development Officer Asifa Naz gave the welcome address and briefed the participants about the services offered by the Career Development Office, including career counselling and assistance with interview techniques.

Published in The Express Tribune

Appropriate land with compensation: Zuma

The state must be allowed to appropriate land with compensation, as set out in Constitution, President Jacob Zuma said.

"Land reform must represent a radical... break from the past without significantly disrupting agriculture production and food security," Zuma told ANC delegates at the close of the party's policy conference.

"[The] conference also affirmed the proposal to replace willing buyer, willing seller with the just and equitable principles in the constitution immediately – where the state is requiring land for land reform purposes."

Agriculture Minister Tina Joemat-Pettersson said expropriation without compensation will only happen with land that is acquired illegally.

"The expropriation that we have now is unconstitutional and that act needs to be brought in line with the Constitution," she told reporters at the ANC policy conference in Midrand.

"We do not need to change the Constitution for this. Expropriation without compensation will only happen when land was acquired illegally. Only the court will determine whether land was acquired illegally, so there will be no indiscriminate expropriation."

She said the conference had decided that the "willing buyer, willing seller" approach to land restitution would be dropped.

Instead land expropriation would be done in terms of the “just and equitable” requirement of Section 25 of the Constitution.

Joemat-Pettersson said the section was a property clause that "allows us to do exactly we wanted to do [with land]".

She said the conference had not set any goals for expropriation, but would rather wait for the land audit to be completed at the end of the year.

Zuma also said the ANC proposed that land ownership by women be accelerated. "This is aimed at correcting the land question to address poverty," said Zuma.

He said women were the largest group affected by poverty and inequality. Zuma said the policy conference also proposed that land reform needed to be done in a way that would not disrupt agriculture and food security.

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Women in both Iowa and Afghanistan play a major role in agriculture

BY ANNA EGELAND

Though one may think first of the many differences between Iowa and Afghanistan, one local expert said women's roles in agriculture is one of the several similarities between the two.

Denise O'Brien, an organic farmer from Atlantic, Iowa, returned in April from a yearlong stay in Afghanistan, where she served as an agricultural adviser for the U.S. Department of Agriculture Office of Foreign Service Operations/Overseas. She spoke to a small group of friends and colleagues on Tuesday night at the Newman Catholic Student Center, 104 E. Jefferson St., about her experiences.

O'Brien said one of the similarities she noticed was the local-food infrastructure, which Iowa has been shifting toward and is already present in Afghanistan.

She said her main duty as an agricultural advisor was to work with Afghanistan's Directorate of Agriculture, Infrastructure and Livestock on making agriculture more transparent.

"One of the big things was to work on anti-corruption … everybody wants to skim off something for themselves," she said, citing the sale of weak seed and livestock as corrupt practices.

Despite the problems with agriculture in Afghanistan, she said, Iowa farmers could learn from farming practices in Afghanistan. Upon her return to Iowa, she noticed the extensive soil erosion on Iowa farms and thinks agriculture in Afghanistan could provide clues for how to handle the problem.

O'Brien, who cofounded the Women, Food and Agriculture Network in 1997, said the organization is working on a project called Women Caring for the Land, which includes listening sessions across Iowa. Women own half of the rentable farm land in Iowa, she said.

"Women have a very strong conservation ethic … women feel very strongly about the land and want to preserve the land," she said.

Leigh Adcock, the executive director of the organization, said that while not everyone in the network farms organically, most women choose to participate in small-scale diversified agricultural farming as opposed to commodity agriculture.

"At the time this group was formed, there weren't very many groups for women involved in [small-scale agriculture]," Adcock said. She noted that the number of organizations has increased since then.

Across the ocean in Afghanistan, more than 7,000 miles away, women are very involved in farming and agriculture.

"Many times, [women are] just behind the walls of the compound where lots of the farming goes on," O'Brien said. "They contribute incredible amounts to make agriculture viable and receive very little credit and very little income."

Karen Mason, the curator of the Iowa Women's Archives, noted that women and agriculture have long been linked. 

"I think that women are very close to food traditionally because they are the preparers — that, of course, has changed over the years …" she said.  

While the small-scale, local agriculture in Afghanistan is an ideal model for some Iowa farmers, there are still valuable systems that the United States can share with Afghanistan.

"We were setting up a system in Afghanistan similar to the extension system in the United States," O'Brien said.

The cooperative extension system is a network of state, local, and regional offices that provide "useful, practical, and research-based information to agricultural producers, small-business owners, youth, consumers, and others in rural areas and communities of all sizes," according to the National Institute of Food and Agriculture official website.

"We worked with leadership, we worked with anti-corruption, and we helped people scale up in poultry production," O'Brien said. "We covered the whole spectrum of what agriculture is about."

Mason said the Iowa Women's Archives are working hard to ensure that O'Brien's stories are not lost.

"We're making sure that all of her efforts with women and agriculture are being preserved," she said.

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Govt appoints new commerce, agriculture secretary

The government on Monday appointed S R Rao as commerce secretary, in place of Rahul Khullar, who was made chairman of the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India after he retired earlier this month.

Prior to this, Rao, an IAS officer of the 1978 batch belonging to the Gujarat cadre, was special secretary, telecom.

Rao is a Padma Shri awardee for the work he did in 1994 for cleaning plague-ridden Surat, for which he got national praise.

As the new commerce secretary, Rao faces a tough challenge ahead in propelling India's merchandise exports, which is currently facing adverse conditions due to a slowdown in demand from European countries and the US.

Rao's immediate task is to present the annual review of the Foreign Trade Policy 2009-2014, which is eagerly awaited by exporters.

It remains to be seen how Rao steers the policy measures to contain the soaring trade deficit and help India achieve the government's target of $500 billion of exports by 2013-2014.

Rao's experience would also be counted in how he emerges as a trade negotiator in negotiating some of the pending, yet important, bilateral deals such as the India-EU free trade agreement.

Meanwhile, Ashis Bahuguna has been appointed agriculture secretary. Bahuguna, an IAS officer of the 1978 batch from the Rajasthan cadre, is at present special secretary and financial adviser in the Department of Agriculture.

Among other appointments, S K Srivastava, at present mines secretary, will be coal secretary in place of Alok Petri, who has retired.

Sudhir Kumar will be Food Secretary and will move from Special Secretary in the Ministry of Women and Child Development, in place of B C Gupta. Gokul Chandra Pati will now be officer on special duty with the rank and pay of secretary in the Department of Animal Husbandry, Dairying and Fisheries.

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Land tenure system undermining women active participation in agriculture

The land tenure and heritance systems in the Upper West Region are undermining women active participation in agricultural activities, Ms Cate Bob Milliar, Regional Director of Department of Women has observed.

She said women in the region have no title to land and therefore rely on the goodwill of their  husbands to release barren lands to them make a living, which makes it difficult for them to produce food to enhance their livelihoods.

She explained that until women are given the right to own land and the right to inheritance their role in agricultural production would forever remain insignificant.

Milliar made the observation at an advocacy for gender equity in agriculture workshop in Wa on Saturday organised by The Rural Organisation of Women Farmers and Agro Processing Development (ROWFAD), a local non-governmental organisation (NGO) advocating gender equity in agriculture organised the workshop.

It aimed at supporting women groups in agriculture to campaign for their inclusion in the cultivation of groundnuts in the “Block Farming Programme”.

Milliar appealed to stakeholders from policy-formulation level and the community level to see land rights for women as a critical and relevant issue, which needed to be addressed quickly as possible to encourage more women to embrace agriculture.

Elizabeth A. Kutina, Regional Officer responsible for Women in Agriculture at the Ministry of Food and Agriculture said women participating in the Block Farming Programme in the communities had not been encouraging.

She said government’s subsidised tractor allocation to farmers in the region benefited only men and urged women farmers to form cooperatives to qualify them to take advantage of the programme.

Alhaji Amidu Sulemana, Regional Minister in a speech read on his behalf urged women to take advantage of government agricultural interventions to increase food production.

Women should not depend on the hoe and cutlass alone for farming activities, saying the time had come for them to venture into large scale food and cash crops production to make the region food sufficient.

Mr Yaana Yahaya, Executive Director of Rural Organisation of Women Farmers and Agro-Processing Development, said the NGO had realised that groundnut was the most important crop that brought income to rural women in the three northern regions.

Groundnut also increases the nutritional level of rural household and its non-inclusion among crops under the programme was a gross disincentive to women in agriculture.

He appealed to government to include chemical fertilisers for groundnuts as part of its fertiliser subsidy to farmers to help increase groundnut production.

The Business Advisory Centre sponsored the workshop on the theme: “Access to guarantee market after production and process” and was attended by women groundnut farmers from the nine districts in the region.

Source: GNA

Primary agriculture credit societies, self-help groups to run public distribution system: Chief minister

By Faizan Ahmad

PATNA: Chief minister Nitish Kumar stressed the need for giving more representation to women in the primary agriculture credit societies (PACS). Reservation could be a way but other options are also being discussed to increase their representation, which is at present 15% only, he said on Saturday while inaugurating the women's cooperative conference for developing women cooperative movement in Bihar.

"The public distribution system (PDS) shops will be given to PACS and self-help groups (SHGs) on priority basis," he announced.

Pleased with the successful implementation of various schemes for women empowerment and visibly impressed with the working of women elected to various rural and urban bodies, the CM recalled his meeting with Urmila Devi, a woman associated with a self-help group (SHG) in Kaimur.

During his seva yatra in Kaimur last month, Urmila had met the CM and told him about the fraud committed by a bank in releasing the loan of Rs 1.25 lakh to her under a scheme wherein each beneficiary was to get a sum of Rs 1.25 lakh from the state government also. She told him in detail how the bank denied her the government's share and also fixed interest on the bank loan. "Nobody ever told me about this but for that woman. I raised the issue with the bankers during the state-level bankers committee meeting last week," CM said, praising the woman for pointing out with clarity such a glaring irregularity.

He said women have carved out ways for their financial uplift through SHGs and PACS. "Through these initiatives, women are showing their power (nari shakti)," he said.

Stating that the Mahila Akshar Anchal scheme of the state government was a huge success with over 32 lakh women made literate, Nitish announced to launch a similar scheme exclusively for the Mahadalit women whose literacy rate was abysmally low. He said, in census 2011, Bihar topped in the decadal growth in women literacy.

The CM took a dig at his arch-rival Lalu Prasad, without taking his name, for advocating presence of the husbands of elected women representatives in panchayats. "The interference of MPs (mukhiya pati) and SPs (sarpanch pati) has been checked. Still, some incidents are reported. We have decided to take action against them," he said.

Commenting on the participation of a large number of women associated with PACS and SHGs from rural areas in the conference, deputy CM Sushil Kumar Modi said this was the biggest congregation of women at one function. He said the target was to help constitute 10 lakh SHGs in the state.

Cooperative minister Ramadhar Singh said Mahila cooperative banks would be opened in Patna and Nalanda and a haat would be established in Patna, on the pattern of the one existing in Delhi, for providing market for the products of the cooperative societies.

Adviser to Gender Programme International Cooperative Alliance, Asia Pacific, Savitri Singh, president of Astha Mahila Nagrik Sahkari Bank, Bhopal, Arti Bisaria, and retired IAS official S Jalja highlighted women's role in cooperative movement.

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