Women rise by International Rice Research Institute

Gaining recognition as rice farmers

Ranjitha Puskur, gender researcher at IRRI, narrates her encounter with women farmers in Bihar, India. She talks about how engaging women farmers in IRRI’s participatory technology development and evaluation programs resulted in women’s better access to knowledge and technologies in rice production. Aside from the higher economic gain brought by the technologies, these knowledgeable and progressive women farmers have become the go-to persons on rice farming and management practices. As a result, the women told her that they gained their “identity” and recognition as farmers in the community and their respective families.

WOMEN IN MOTION

Stories that demonstrate how targeting women in rice research for development can reduce gender disparities in access to technology and training and improve the lives of poor women farmers. Read on.

A STEADY SEED SUPPLY FOR THE NEPAL MID-HILLS

In the western mid-hill districts of Nepal, women have joined forces to form seed-producer groups. These women of substance manage their multiple roles as housewives, mothers, and partners in farming and income generation. Read on.

CREATING AN OASIS WITH RICE

The strong-spirited Mrs. Devi is known in the village for having a progressive outlook. She took on the role of the family breadwinner when her husband was stricken with hypertension and a heart problem, making him unable to work. Read on.

HOME AMONG THE HEIRLOOMS

Neneng Wadingan once left her hometown to seek greener pastures abroad, a dream shared by many Filipinos. But she found her true calling and economic success when she returned to tend her ancestors’ land and heirloom rice. Read on.

A WOMAN’S TOUCH SAVES SEEDS

With Aroti’s new knowledge on producing good healthy seeds and improved seed storage, she decided to keep her own seeds this year and sold the extra seeds to her farmer-neighbors. The training she received enabled her family to become seed producers, which provides an extra and independent income. Read on.

BREAKING THE BARRIERS: FROM HOUSEWIVES TO BREADWINNERS

The success stories of Sukanti, Sanjukta, and Rabi have been contagious in the sense that other women in Khanijipur have been encouraged to take up farming and other activities to supplement their family income. Read on.

HOLDING BACK FLOOD, SWEAT, AND TEARS

Swarna-Sub1 not only helps farmers in the low-lying areas of South Asia cope with floods. For women farmers, the flood-tolerant rice variety reduces their work burden and gives them more time for other activities. Read on.

Swarna-Sub1, a flood-tolerant rice variety, helps ease the burden of women farmers.

A WIDOW’S STORY

Across a wide range of cultures, widows and unmarried women often make up the most marginalized group. Despite the loss of her social status and her reduced economic circumstances, one widow gains empowerment through modern farming technologies. Read on.

MORE THAN A WOMAN

Rural women in Bangladesh are responsible for most of the hard work in and around the homestead, yet their work is seldom recognized as part of agriculture. But a woman from a small village in Bangladesh is proving that she is capable of contributing to household food security through improved farming practices. Read on.

GIVING WOMEN A VOICE

Kamala passionately believes that women should have a say in research and development activities. We should include their voice: first, in our research work, and second, in the policymaking and decision-making processes, and we should give them access to resources such as information and communication technologies. Read on.

Women like Fatema Begum, a widow from a rural village in Bangladesh, now have access to new rice varieties and other crops.

BREAKING STEREOTYPES

The crucial roles and the substantial support women provide to society have often not been recognized, much less appreciated. Social stereotypes have confined them in constricting environments that limit their growth and potential to contribute more to the development of their respective communities. Read on.

WOMEN ON THE PATH TO PROGRESS

In India, self-help groups have made a tremendous impact on the lives of poor women in rural areas. Read more

WOMEN RICE FARMERS: AGENTS OF CHANGE IN EASTERN INDIA

STRASA has ensured that the seed interventions are not isolated and random initiatives, but active catalysts that contribute to the livelihood of the women and their households in stress-prone areas. Read more

Small voluntary associations of poor and marginalized people help the members seek the solutions. (Photo: CSISA)

An underlying framework of involving women-led institutions has been proven effective to empower women. (Photo: Swati Nayak)

TRIBAL WOMEN FARMERS FIND THEIR VOICE

Women farmers of a migrant tribal community in India have found their place in the decision making processes of their community after a drought-resistant rice variety was introduced to their community. Read on.

SPREADING THE WORD

Sister Sajita is not a self-taught, solitary wanderer, but a participant in an international network of partnerships forged to disseminate the benefits of modern agricultural science among poor subsistence farmers. Read on.

WOMEN OF WAR TURN TO RICE IN BURUNDI

Ex-combatant Burundi women are turning their own lives around—they just needed a hand to get started. Now, they are helping the country attain rice self-sufficiency and build a more stable future for all Burundians. Read on.

THE HAND THAT ROCKS THE THRESHER

Women without question play major and critical roles in the maintenance and success of rural livelihoods and household undertakings in their communities. Stereotypes, however, have downplayed their importance and put them in the shadows of the men. Read on.

LASER-GUIDED DREAMS

Although Nhan is not a typical Vietnamese farmer, she has managed to turn their farm into a productive and efficient business. But, many people are surprised by Nanh’s decision to be a farmer. They do not understand why a young lady like her, with a background in software programming from a prestigious university, would want to go back to agriculture. Read more