Gender and innovation processes in wheat-based systems

Abstract

For more than half a century, wheat research for development has delivered highly valuable technologies. Some of these have had very large impacts, significantly improving productivity, food security and incomes. However, for other possibly equally good technologies, the impacts have been more limited. Most of the innovations developed by the CGIAR and partners have been, and continue to be, driven by a focus on resolving important technical problems, such as low-yielding and susceptible varieties; widespread crop pests and diseases; debilitating abiotic stresses; and the productivity problems of poor quality seed. However, it is becoming increasingly clear that without appropriate incorporation of gender and other social considerations in agricultural research and development (AR&D), otherwise technically superior innovations can be limited in their impact and in some cases may even lead to further exacerbation of social inequalities (Cornwall & Edwards, 2010; Okali, 2011, 2012; Kumar & Quisumbing, 2010). Deep-seated gender norms contribute to important inequalities in the ability of women, men and youth to learn about, try out, adapt, and benefit from new agricultural and natural resource management (NRM) technologies and practices. Such norms often limit women’s access to and control over productive resources (Quisumbing and Pandolfelli, 2010), which in turn further constrain their capacities to access new technologies and practices (Ragasa, 2012). Yet, how and why women in some contexts can effectively access and benefit from new technologies but not in others, remains poorly understood. This lack of understanding of the relationship between local contextual characteristics, including the normative environment for gender and wider social inclusion, and uptake of agricultural technologies, constrains the capacity of agricultural research for development (AR4D) to design and scale out innovations that enable adult and young women and men in poor communities to engage and benefit. This report illuminates how gender norms and agency work together to shape access to, adoption of, and benefits from agricultural innovation at the local level. The findings are based on the perspectives and experiences of approximately 2,500 women and men who live and work in 43 villages of Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Ethiopia, India, Morocco, Nepal, Pakistan, and Uzbekistan, where wheat is a key crop.