against Women

Thirty-seventh session

* CEDAW/C/2007/I/1.

Item 7 of the provisional agenda*

15 January-2 February 2007

Implementation of article 21 of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women

Reports provided by specialized agencies of the United Nations on the implementation of the Convention in areas falling within the scope of their activities

Note by the Secretary-General

Addendum

Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations

Report of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations to the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women at its thirty-seventh session

I.Colombia

1.The population of Colombia was estimated to be approximately 44.9 million for 2004, of which 23 per cent were living in rural areas. Eighteen per cent of the economically active population were working in agriculture.

Women in agriculture

2.The total share of female participation in the labour force in 2004 was 40 per cent, of which 9 per cent was in agriculture. Of the total number of people economically active in agriculture, 20 per cent were women.

Activities of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations for the empowerment of rural women and gender equality

3.Through the Telefood Campaign, which seeks to promote an increased awareness of the need to combat hunger and gender inequality and the urgency of the issue, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) has supported 14 projects in Colombia focusing mainly on production and marketing small livestock and goat and poultry rearing.

4.Through the Dimitra project, FAO collects detailed information on organizations and projects concerning rural women, food security and sustainable development, mainly in Africa and the Near East. By making this information available, the project aims at increasing the visibility of rural women’s contribution to development using traditional means of communication and new information technologies. The Dimitra project seeks to increase gender awareness among development actors and to promote information exchange and dissemination. There are six projects, focusing mainly on community support and capacity-building in plant production, listed for Colombia in the Dimitra database.

5.Through the Socio-economic and Gender Analysis Programme, which seeks to raise awareness and build the capacity of development specialists to integrate socio-economic and gender issues in development policies, programmes and projects in order for all development strategies to take into account the different needs and priorities of men and women, a training workshop was held on monitoring and evaluation in August 2002. The workshop was held in collaboration with the International Service for National Agricultural Research under the FAO project Proyecto de desarrollo de la participación comunitaria en el sector forestal (PACOFOR). Twenty-four participants were trained from the PACOFOR project, Educación Ambiental Continua and the University of Manizales.

6.Through the FAO Regional Office for Latin America and the Caribbean, a fact sheet on women in agriculture, environment and rural production was developed after intensive research on the subject of women and agriculture.

II.Greece

7.The population of Greece was estimated to be approximately 10.98 million in 2004,1 of which 39 per cent were living in rural areas. Fifteen per cent of the economically active population were working in agriculture.

Women in agriculture

8.FAO estimates that the total share of female participation in the labour force in 2004 was 39 per cent, of which 19 per cent were working in agriculture. Of the total number of people economically active in agriculture, 49 per cent were women.

Activities of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations for the empowerment of rural women and gender equality

9.There is one organization — Women’s Study Centre — listed for Greece in the Dimitra database (see para. 4 above).

III.India

10.The population of India was estimated to be approximately 1,081.23 million for 2004,1 of which 71 per cent were living in rural areas. Fifty-eight per cent of the economically active population were working in agriculture.

Women in agriculture

11.The total share of female participation in the labour force in 2004 was 33 per cent, of which 66 per cent were working in agriculture. Of the total number of people economically active in agriculture, 37 per cent were women.

Activities of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations for the empowerment of rural women and gender equality

12.Through the Telefood Campaign, which seeks to promote increased awareness of the need to combat hunger and gender inequality and urgency of the issue, FAO has supported 23 projects in India that focus on fish culture, horticulture and vegetable gardens for food security, herbal gardening and medicinal plants.

13.Through the Dimitra project, FAO collects detailed information on organizations and projects concerning rural women, food security and sustainable development primarily in Africa and the Near East. By making this information available, the project aims to increase the visibility of rural women’s contribution to development using traditional means of communication and new information technologies. There are 39 projects listed for India in the Dimitra database that benefit rural women. The projects vary in scope and cover a broad set of issues ranging from education, health programmes and development of rural microenterprises to AIDS prevention and awareness.

14.FAO has been supporting three projects in the two southern Indian states of Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka. The projects focus on water management, promoting livelihood improvement in dry land farming on the Deccan Plateau and farmers’ managed groundwater systems. The project addressing water management envisages improvement of the water use efficiency in agriculture with the active participation of various stakeholders. The livelihood promotion in dry land farming project aims to improve and promote alternative farming practices to bolster food security, strengthen livelihoods while addressing environmental issues and promoting more sustainable agricultural practices. In order to maintain and stabilize the groundwater sanitation in the drought-prone regions of Andhra Pradesh, the project addressing farmers’ managed groundwater systems combines agronomic and water balances measures to foster judicious use of water through collective initiatives. All three projects have water and livelihood issues as key components, and have integrated gender issues as well.

15.The Kerala Agricultural University established the Centre for Studies on Gender Concerns in Agriculture during the period from 1999 to 2000. The scope of this programme is to bring about gender sensitivity and a gender perspective in research, extension and agricultural education in natural resource management. The Centre, with the support from the Indian Council of Agricultural Research, has a networking project on incorporating gender perspectives in agricultural research and extension in India. A component of this project is training in gender analysis for University faculty and staff from collaborating institutions such as the National Research Centre for Women in Agriculture, Orissa State and the CCS Haryana Agricultural University. To support the training, a FAO socio-economic and gender analysis training workshop was held in September 2004 for 21 participants. Another FAO socio-economic and gender analysis workshop followed in October 2006, focusing on gender-disaggregated data.

16.The FAO Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific collaborated with the Commonwealth Educational Media Centre for Asia of the Commonwealth of Learning in developing information and communication technologies based on the learning resource packages on “Gender and women in agriculture and rural development in Asia”. The resources continue to be used for capacity-building for organizations and for distance learning.

17.The FAO Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific held two gender mainstreaming training workshops — one for 25 participants of the non‑governmental organization network linked to the Green Foundation and the other for 25 technical professionals in the M.S. Swaminathan Research Foundation, the National Research Centre for Women in Agriculture, the National Institute of Agriculture Extension Management and Action for Food Production.

18.In collaboration with the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) and the International Land Coalition, FAO has produced a publication entitled “Rural women’s access to land and property in selected countries: progress towards achieving the aims of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women”. One of the selected countries was India. The publication presents some of the national instruments that promote gender equality and some of the obstacles rural women face in achieving equality. The FAO Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific collected information on women and agriculture in India and produced a fact sheet on women in agriculture, environment and rural production.

19.FAO provided technical support to the international workshop on gender equity and microenterprise development, held in August 2005. The workshop, organized by the International Institute for Entrepreneurship Education and Development and the International Institute of Development Management Technology, presented a training manual on Gender equity and microenterprise development, which will be used to support FAO training activities and technical advice related to income-generating activities and microenterprise development. In addition, the training manual will be adapted to support the FAO Socio-economic and Gender Analysis Programme training material on microfinance, adding a gender and HIV/AIDS perspective.

20.FAO carried out a research project in India, Mozambique and Mexico. The focus of the project was on rural household income strategies for poverty alleviation and interactions with the local institutional environment. The study highlighted the importance of local institutions, especially for rural women.

IV.Maldives

21.The population of the Maldives was estimated to be approximately 328,000 in 2004,1 of which 71 per cent were living in rural areas. Nineteen per cent of the economically active population were working in agriculture.

Women in agriculture

22.The total share of female participation in the labour force in 2004 was 43 per cent, of which 16 per cent were working in agriculture. Of the total number of people economically active in agriculture, 37 per cent were women.

Activities of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations for the empowerment of rural women and gender equality

23.Through the FAO Telefood Campaign, which seeks to promote increased awareness of the need to combat hunger and gender inequality and the urgency of the issue, FAO has supported eight projects in the Maldives, focusing mainly on crop production and poultry development.

24.Following intensive research on rural women and agriculture in the Maldives, the FAO Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific produced a fact sheet on women in agriculture, environment and rural production in the Maldives.

25.In collaboration with IFAD and the International Land Coalition, FAO has produced a publication on “Rural women’s access to land and property in selected countries: Progress towards achieving the aims of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women”. One of the selected countries was the Maldives. The publication presents some of the national instruments that promote gender equality, as well as some of the obstacles rural women face in achieving equality.

V.Namibia

26.The population of Namibia was estimated to be approximately 2.01 million in 2004,1 of which 67 per cent were living in rural areas. Thirty-eight per cent of the economically active population were working in agriculture.

Women in agriculture

27.The total share of female participation in the labour force in 2004 was 42 per cent, of which 38 per cent were working in agriculture. Of the total number of people economically active in agriculture, 42 per cent were women.

Activities of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations for the empowerment of rural women and gender equality

28.Through the Telefood Campaign, which seeks to promote an increased awareness of the need to combat hunger and gender inequality and the urgency of the issue, FAO has supported 12 projects in Namibia, focusing mainly on poultry farming and vegetable gardening.

29.There are six organizations in Namibia listed in the Dimitra database (see para. 4 above), and these organizations are engaged in 13 projects that benefit rural women. The projects vary in scope and cover a broad set of issues ranging from education and community-based programmes to water development.

30.The FAO Regional Office for Africa produced a publication entitled “Agricultural censuses and gender: Lessons learned in Africa” which resulted from a case study carried out on the integration of gender concerns in agricultural censuses and surveys.

31.Under the Integrated Support to Sustainable Development and Food Security Programme, activities such as training workshops, awareness-raising campaigns, seminars and case studies focusing on gender equality were implemented. In May 2000, in collaboration with the University of Namibia, a Socio-economic and Gender Analysis workshop was held to develop the skills of approximately 20 trainers. The second workshop focused on gender and statistical data and sought to improve the skills of approximately 20 participants in the management and analysis of gender-disaggregated statistics for agriculture and rural development. The third workshop took place in September 2003 and sought to build the capacity of approximately 25 Programme stakeholders in the Ohangwena region. This workshop focused on four strategies for mitigating the impact of HIV/AIDS on agriculture, food security and nutrition. A seminar was held in June 2004 on property, inheritance rights, gender and livelihood strategies in Namibia in the context of the HIV/AIDS pandemic. The seminar brought together resource persons, officials and stakeholders from the local, regional, national and international level, to discuss ideas and experiences on key issues of productive asset stripping and property rights in the context of HIV/AIDS. The seminar was closely linked to a study on the interactions between gender, rural livelihoods and HIV/AIDS. In collaboration with the Namibian Ministry of Women’s Affairs and Child Welfare, the Legal Assistance Centre, local authorities and rural communities, FAO carried out awareness-raising campaigns on women’s rights to productive resources. Traditional leaders, church leaders, councillors and senior figures in three pilot communities were made aware of the effects of land and property grabbing on families already struggling after the loss of a household member to AIDS. In addition, paralegals were trained on a voluntary basis to assist women in writing wills and to inform them of their inheritance rights in relevant legislation. Two studies were carried out in the Ohangwena region to gather disaggregated statistical information on the impact of HIV/AIDS on agricultural production and food. Both surveys focused in particular on gender and youth issues and used an interdisciplinary approach to define precisely how the impact of the HIV/AIDS pandemic contributes to poverty.

32.FAO, in collaboration with the World Food Programme (WFP) and other partners, launched several Junior and Adult Farmer Field and Life Schools in Ohangwena, northern region. The Junior Farmer Field and Life Schools are designed specifically for orphans and other vulnerable children, especially those resulting from the HIV/AIDS pandemic. The Schools aim at imparting agricultural knowledge, entrepreneurial skills and life skills to orphans and vulnerable children between 12 and 18 years of age to enable them to grow up as independent, conscientious and enterprising citizens. Such knowledge and skills are intended to bring economic empowerment to the youth and help them become responsible citizens with positive values with respect to gender and human rights. In addition, the Junior Farmer Field and Life Schools address issues such as HIV/AIDS awareness and prevention, gender sensitivity, child protection, psychosocial support, nutritional education and business skills. Every effort is made to ensure that the different needs of boys and girls are identified and met. The Adult Farmer Field and Life Schools target poor households affected by HIV/AIDS, with a special emphasis on women-headed households. These Schools aim at imparting knowledge and skills to groups of male and female farmers that will enhance their agricultural production, household food security and income. In addition, the Schools are intended to strengthen rural men’s and women’s understanding of how their socio-economic vulnerability leads to risk-taking behaviour; to prevent adverse social and economic effects from HIV/AIDS and other threats in the communities; and to establish a farmer network that addresses local issues in the interest of sustainable livelihoods. The Adult Farmer Field and Life Schools also address issues related to property and inheritance rights of women and girls, cultural norms about masculinity and femininity and power relationships among men and women.

33.In collaboration with IFAD and the International Land Coalition, FAO produced a publication entitled “Rural women’s access to land and property in selected countries: progress towards achieving the aims of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women”. One of the countries selected was Namibia.

VI.Nicaragua

34.The population of Nicaragua was estimated to be approximately 5.6 million in 2004,1 of which 42 per cent were living in rural areas. Seventeen per cent of the economically active population were working in agriculture.

Women in agriculture

35.The total share of female participation in the labour force in 2004 was 38 per cent, of which 5 per cent were working in agriculture. Of the total number of people economically active in agriculture, 10 per cent were women.

Activities of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations for the empowerment of rural women and gender equality

36.Through the Telefood Campaign, which seeks to promote an increased awareness of the need to combat hunger and gender inequality and the urgency of the issue, FAO has supported 23 projects in Nicaragua that provide support to women and men farmers for the cultivation of basic grains, horticulture, sheep rearing and the establishment of orchards.

37.There are 16 projects in Nicaragua listed in the Dimitra database that benefit rural women (see para. 4 above). The projects vary in scope and focus on capacity-building, nutrition and support to women’s cooperatives.

38.In collaboration with IFAD and the International Land Coalition, FAO has produced a publication on “Rural women’s access to land and property in selected countries: Progress towards achieving the aims of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women”. One of the selected countries was Nicaragua. The publication presents some of the national instruments that promote gender equality and some of the obstacles rural women face in achieving equality. FAO has carried out two studies on gender, farming systems and land issues, which resulted in two publications: “Gender and farming systems: Lessons from Nicaragua” and “Gender and land compendium of country studies: Women’s access to land in Nicaragua”.

39.A fact sheet on women in agriculture, environment and rural production was developed through the FAO Regional Office for Latin America and the Caribbean, following a study on Nicaraguan women and agriculture.

40.FAO produced an additional fact sheet on gender analysis of agricultural production systems.

VII.Peru

41.The population of Peru was estimated to be approximately 27.57 million in 2004,1 of which 26 per cent were living in rural areas. Twenty-eight per cent of the economically active population were working in agriculture.

Women in agriculture

42.The total share of female participation in the labour force in 2004 was 31 per cent, of which 18 per cent were working in agriculture. Of the total number of people economically active in agriculture, 20 per cent were women.

Activities of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations for the empowerment of rural women and gender equality

43.Through the Telefood Campaign, which seeks to promote an increased awareness of the need to combat hunger and gender inequality and the urgency of the issue, FAO has supported 16 projects in Peru, focusing mainly on organic agriculture, sustainable vegetable and fruit production and chicken and pig rearing.

44.There are 15 projects that benefit rural women listed in the Dimitra database (see para. 4 above). The projects vary in scope and cover a broad set of issues ranging from education and mother and childcare to cattle development.

45.In collaboration with the IFAD and the International Land Coalition, FAO has produced a publication entitled “Rural women’s access to land and property in selected countries: progress towards achieving the aims of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women”. One of the selected countries was Peru. The publication presents some of the national instruments that promote gender equality, as well as some of the obstacles rural women face in achieving equality.

46.Through the FAO Regional Office for Latin America and the Caribbean, a fact sheet on women in agriculture, environment and rural production was developed after intensive research on women and agriculture in Peru.

47.FAO, in collaboration with the International Plant Genetics Resources Institute, carried out a case study entitled “Women farmers, Andean seeds”. The case study shows the importance of women farmer’s knowledge related to the conservation and use of plant genetic resources, especially potatoes.

48.In Peru, Mexico, Indonesia and Italy, case studies were made exploring in situ conservation and sustainable use of centres of diversity, highlighting the role of women farmers and their specific local knowledge in organic agriculture and the management of genetic resources for food and agriculture.

VIII.Poland

49.The population of Poland was estimated to be approximately 38.55 million in 2004,1 of which 38 per cent were living in rural areas. Twenty per cent of the economically active population were working in agriculture.

Women in agriculture

50.The total share of female participation in the labour force in 2004 was 47 per cent, of which 17 per cent were working in agriculture. Of the total number of people economically active in agriculture, 40 per cent were women.

Activities of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations for the empowerment of rural women and gender equality

51.Through the main FAO capacity-building programme in gender analysis, which also addresses socio-economic issues, a subregional training of trainers’ workshop was held in Warsaw in July 2000. The workshop was held in collaboration with the Warsaw Agricultural University and the Ministry of Agriculture and sought to build the capacity of a core group of regional and national trainers.

52.Through its Regional Office for Europe, FAO has been collaborating with the European Commission on Agriculture Working Party on Women and the Family in Rural Development. The Working Party seeks to promote the role of rural women and their families in development processes. In September 2005, the Government of Poland hosted the 18th Working Party expert meeting on gender and rural development. The meeting focused on the theme “Sustainable rural tourism: a gender and community perspective”. The objective of this meeting was to exchange experiences and lessons learned on gender-related issues and other constraints and opportunities for the development of rural tourism. Forty-six participants attended, of whom 34 were from countries within the European Union.

IX.Suriname

53.The population of Suriname was estimated to be approximately 439,000 in 2004,1 of which 23 per cent were living in rural areas. Eighteen per cent of the economically active population were working in agriculture.

Women in agriculture

54.The total share of female participation in the labour force in 2004 was 35 per cent, of which 13 per cent were working in agriculture. Of the total number of people economically active in agriculture, 26 per cent were women.

Activities of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations for the empowerment of rural women and gender equality

55.Through the Telefood Campaign, which seeks to promote an increased awareness of the need to combat hunger and gender inequality and the urgency of the issue, FAO has supported three income-generating projects in Suriname.

56.The FAO Technical Cooperation Programme addresses pressing development problems in the agriculture, fisheries and forestry sectors and rural development. Under this programme, a project is being implemented, in coordination with the Ministry of Agriculture, Animal Health and Fisheries, which provides support to the retabulation and analysis of census data from a gender perspective for the preparation of the 2006 agricultural census. In addition, support is being given to develop a country gender profile using the retabulated census data. This profile will assist Suriname in reporting progress made in achieving gender equality to international bodies and conventions such as the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women. In collaboration with IFAD and the International Land Coalition, FAO has produced a publication entitled “Rural women’s access to land and property in selected countries: progress towards achieving the aims of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women”. One of the selected countries was Suriname. The publication presents some of the national instruments that promote gender equality and some of the obstacles rural women face in achieving equality.

X.Tajikistan

57.The population of Tajikistan was estimated to be approximately 6.3 million for 2004,1 of which 76 per cent were living in rural areas. Thirty-one per cent of the economically active population were working in agriculture.

Women in agriculture

58.The total share of female participation in the labour force in 2004 was 46 per cent, of which 35 per cent were working in agriculture. Of the total number of people economically active in agriculture, 51 per cent were women.

Activities of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations for the empowerment of rural women and gender equality

59.A FAO project funded by Sweden and Norway targeted about 1,000 female-headed households, as well as private farmers, smallholders and landless farmers in at-risk areas where agriculture and livestock production is an important source of food and income. The goal of the project was (a) to improve food security among vulnerable female-headed households in at-risk areas and (b) to establish favourable conditions for rehabilitation and development of the country’s agriculture sector by enabling vulnerable rural households to resume and increase agricultural production. Activities focused on providing support to income-generating activities and advocacy campaigns on land right claims and farm restructuring. The project empowered rural women by building their capacity for collective action, self-help and economic advancement, while strengthening their leadership skills and increasing their activism in claiming their land tenure rights.

60.Under the Canadian-funded project on emergency agricultural assistance to food-insecure female-headed households, FAO is implementing several activities that will seek to improve food security among vulnerable female-headed households in at-risk areas and establish favourable conditions for rehabilitation and development of the country’s agriculture sector by enabling vulnerable rural households to resume and increase agricultural production. Some of the activities support income-generating activities through training and loans disbursement and will target 20 women’s groups in five districts (Vakhsh, Pyanj, Kulyab, Farhor and Matcha) in two regions (Khatlon and Sogd). A module on awareness-creation on land reform in Tajikistan was designed for a one-day training of trainers’ workshop for rural farmers and women. Twelve awareness campaigns on land use rights and farm restructuring were conducted in Vakhsh, Kabadian and Pyanj districts and four radio programmes for specific women’s groups were prepared and broadcast. Training workshops on activity/income-generation planning, marketing, processing and implementation have taken place in selected female-headed households.

61.There are two projects in Tajikistan that benefit rural women listed in the Dimitra database (see para. 4 above). The projects are on women’s health and microfinance.