Enige forskere: Der er kun én vej ud af sultens svøbe – at bistå millioner af fattige landbokvinder. Det tager en global konference op i næste uge i Indien.
TILLABERI (Niger), 8 March 2012 (IRIN): The UN theme for International Women’s Day – “Empower rural women – end poverty and hunger”, on Thursday probably does not mean much to people like Hani Issa, a woman in rural southwestern Niger trying single-handedly to feed her seven grandchildren.
Six months ago, when the rains failed, the able-bodied men in her extended family (farmers) headed for the nearest town, leaving her to figure out how to feed those left behind.
The men only rarely send money, forcing her to walk several kilometres most days to try and find wild leaves and fruits for her family. Other days she just begs.
Hundreds of thousands of impoverished rural people across the world like Issa are feeling the effects of increasingly erratic weather.
At a climate conference in the Rwandan capital Kigali recently, aid workers and disaster experts talked about the possibility of yet another drought in the Horn of Africa, and about empowering women like Issa.
Stories were recounted (genkaldt) of women left to fend for themselves and their children after a drought or floods in Rwanda, Kenya, Uganda and Ethiopia.
* What if a woman like Issa owned a piece of land or livestock, or had access to some credit?
* What if she were taught a skill which could help her earn an income?
* What if she knew about drip irrigation – could she use the water from the well in her village to grow some vegetables?
These were some of the issues raised.
Uma Lele, a former senior adviser to the World Bank due to take part in a “Global Conference on Women in Agriculture” in India, 13-15 March (http://www.gcwa.in/GCWAFinal.pdf), says such questions have been discussed many times:
“Men have been migrating from rural areas leaving women to tend to farming and the household for many, many years.”
Renewed interest
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http://www.irinnews.org/Report/95038/FOOD-Reduce-hunger-nurture-women-farmers
