Women Make the Difference

Women work. New innovations can provide employment opportunities as well as reduce the drudgery of women’s work. Pigeonpea stalks are an ideal fuel, reducing the onerous task of firewood collection that largely falls on women. And the introduction of an improved groundnut production package developed by ICRISAT and ICAR in Maharashtra State, India not only generated 71% more income for farmers, but also reduced the labor burden of women, because it made weeding and harvesting easier.

It also helped generate more employment opportunities for them and gave them a greater role in decision-making. Similarly, in the Barind of Bangladesh where ICRISAT helped develop chickpea as a new cropping option in rice fallows, women found that they could earn money from the sale of the green young leaves of the plant - a high-value fresh vegetable that commands a good price because few others are available at that time.

Groundnut in sight. In Africa, groundnut is known as a women’s crop. Grown by them around the household, it is a vital source of cash income and nutritious, high-protein food for the family. Children especially benefit from women’s food and income-generating activities.

According to a recent UNICEF report, malnutrition kills more children in the world than any infectious disease, war or natural disaster. Malnutrition is implicated in more than 6 million deaths of children under age five each year and leaves millions of survivors stunted physically and intellectually.

Child blindness is a common result of severe malnutrition, partially due to vitamin A deficiency, which is strongly associated with insufficient fat in the diet. The human body requires fat to absorb vitamin A, such as the oil provided in groundnuts.

ICRISAT is working with partners to help Malawi increase groundnut production through the new higher-yielding variety CG 7, jointly developed with the Department of Agricultural Research and Technical Services. CG 7 has quickly spread to 10% of Malawi’s groundnut area, contributing an estimated US$ 6.4 million annually in additional revenues. The nongovernmental organization World Vision International is helping accelerate CG 7’s rapid spread.

From East to West. Groundnut is also a women’s crop on the other side of Africa. Malian women use the income from groundnut sales to feed their families and send their children to school.

Through partnerships with the national research institute IER and ADAF-Galle, a nongovernmental organization, ICRISAT and women farmers are jointly testing improved disease-resistant groundnut varieties on-farm. The new varieties are consistently outyielding traditional ones by 50% and are resistant to foliar diseases, a major constraint in the region. They also mature earlier, a trait that helps them to escape drought at the end of the season.

A force for Green. By unleashing the power and ingenuity of women to turn the grey tropics green, ICRISAT and its partners are not only improving the livelihoods of today’s generation. They are also seeding the Grey to Green Revolution for decades to come. If the generous and steadfast commitments shown by development investors so far can be sustained, these women’s children - and the planet they inhabit - have a much brighter future ahead.