Enhancing Women Farmers’ Access to Climate Smart Technologies for Rice Farming Households through Participatory Approach Poster by Truong Thi Ngoc Chi at the 3rd Global Science Conference on Climate-Smart Agriculture in Montpellier. Read more: http://ccafs.cgiar.org/3rd-global-science-conference-%E2%80%9Cclimate-smart-agriculture-2015%E2%80%9D#.VRurLUesXX4

1. Enhancing Women Farmers’ Access to Climate Smart Technologies for Rice
Farming Households through Participatory Approach
INTRODUCTION
Climate change is often seen as a technical problem, requiring technical solutions. However, there are important social (including gender) dimensions to this complex
issue which needs to be addressed in order to achieve agricultural research for development goals. This social research was conducted to: a) understand the linkage
between climate change and gender issues; b) assess gender gaps in access to key assets, agricultural extension services, training and climate smart technologies; c)
determine men and women’s criteria for rice variety through participatory varietal selection (PVS); and d) assess the impact of seed distribution of stress tolerant rice
varieties and training on improve crop management of women farmers.
Truong Thi Ngoc Chi1
, Thelma Paris2
, Tran Thi Thuy Anh1
and Le Duy1
1
Cuu Long Delta Rice Research Institute, Cantho city, Vietnam
2
International Rice Research Institute, DAPO Box 7777, Metro Manila 1301, Philippines
METHODOLOGY
This study was conducted in 2013 in Hau Giang and Bac Lieu provinces which
represent submergence/flood prone and salinity prone rice areas, respectively in
South Vietnam. Focus group discussions were conducted with separate groups of
men and women farmers. Two hundred rice farming households were randomly
selected for the surveys. In each household, the principal male and principal
female member were separately interviewed on perceptions of climate change,
impacts and risk- coping mechanisms, contributions to livelihoods, changes in
gender roles, access to and control of assets, climate- smart technologies and
training. Participatory varietal selection (PVS) which involves men and women in
researcher-managed trials, farmer-managed trials and sensory evaluation were
conducted. Preference scores (based on ballot voting) were used to determine
gender-differences in selection criteria for new lines/varieties tested in
researcher-managed trials, farmer-managed trials and sensory evaluation. One
hundred women farmers were provided with seeds of submergence-tolerant rice
varieties along with training on crop management practices. These trained
women were given a pre-and post-training test to evaluate the knowledge they
gained.
Table 1. Gender gaps in awareness of climate smart technologies (% of respondents)
* Significant at 5%; ** Significant at 1%
Acknowledgments: We thank the staff of the Technology Transfer Center and the
Genetic Department of Cuu Long Rice Research institute for their technical support. We
are grateful to CCAFS and ACIAR for funding this research.
KEY FINDINGS
• Men and women farmers both reported that they experienced climate change
in terms of unusual occurrence of floods and salinity. Climate change had
negative impacts on crop production in the flood/submergence areas and
shrimp production in the salinity areas. A higher percentage of husbands than
wives perceive that climate change had reduced crop yields. In contrast a high
proportion of wives than husbands said that the climate change have led to
livestock deaths. This differences in concerns are based on gender roles and
direct benefits in managing crops and livestock.
• Rice is the main source of livelihoods of men and women in both
flood/submergence and salinity prone areas. Men are more engaged in non-
farm employment (within and outside the village), while women are engaged
in growing upland crops and fruit trees, raising small animals and poultry
(except in the salinity prone areas), working off-farm as agricultural laborers
and engaging in small business.
• Men own high valued assets (land/machines) while women own low valued
assets (pigs, chicken, small store) which are critical for ensuring food security
in times of stress.
• Both men and women farmers have low levels of awareness of climate smart
technologies. However, men are more aware of climate smart technologies,
despite women’s active participation in rice farming (Table 1). To increase the
adoption of new improved high yielding varieties and new stress tolerant
varieties, women’s participation in rice varietal selection, seed distribution and
training should be increased.
Based on PVS results, men and women have the same preferences for rice
varieties based on agronomic characteristics (high yield, resistance to insect
pests, non-lodging) and market demand. Women who are responsible for
replanting seedlings prefer a variety which can recover from heavy floods.
Reducing/eliminating replanting will reduce their drudgery, time and health
risks. Women prefer varieties which are easy to cook, has volume expansion
and remains soft when eaten as left over rice.
Figure 1. Eliciting women farmers’ perspectives in selecting lines/varieties under
researcher-managed trials, farmer-managed trials and organoleptic test of cooked rice
Trained women significantly increased their knowledge on improved crop
varieties and management. Knowledge scores before and after training
reveal that women’s knowledge increased significantly after training on
topics such as traits of submergence tolerant rice variety, production of
healthy seeds, reduction of inputs, pest identification and management,
crop nutrition management, and harvesting practices (Table 2).
Table 2. Knowledge scores of women before and after training on
improved rice variety and crop management practices
CONCLUSIONS AND IMPLICATIONS TO RESEARCH,
EXTENSION AND POLICY
This research demonstrated that gender analysis is a necessary but not
sufficient condition to empower women farmers in agriculture. There is
a need to address farmers’ lack of access to climate smart technologies
(seeds of stress tolerant rice varieties), especially the women. Thus it
is important to require as much as possible, equal participation of men
and women in all the participatory research processes. Agricultural
extension should include women farmers in meetings, demonstration
trials and experiments. Agricultural research for development projects
should reduce gender gaps in access to climate smart technologies,
extension and information. Women farmers were provided seeds of
stress tolerant varieties and ‘hands-on training’ on how to produce
quality rice using climate-smart farming practices. Moreover, there is a
need to give more recognition of the potential and critical roles of
women as farmers and as farm managers in reducing poverty, ensuring
food security and adapting to climate change.
Reference:
Truong Thi Ngoc Chi, Thelma R. Paris, Tran Thi Thuy Anh, Dang Tuyet
Loan and Joyce Luis. Gender dimensions of climate change: a case study
of rice communities in south Vietnam. Report submitted to Climate
Change, Agriculture and Food Security (CCAFS) in Southeast Asia,
International Rice Research Institute (IRRI), Hanoi, Vietnam, 2013.