Women leaders in agri industry shares views on ‘Women Leadership Building Sustainable and Inclusive Food System’
On the occasion of International Women’s Day, Federation of Seed Industry of India (FSII) and Alliance for Agri Innovation held a webinar on ‘Women Leadership Building Sustainable and Inclusive Food System’. Eminent speakers from Asia Pacific included, Dr Usha Barwale Zehr, Director and Chief Technology Officer at Maharashtra Hybrid Seeds Company Private Limited (MAHYCO); Dr Purvi Mehta, Asia Lead – Agriculture, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and Dr Mary Ann Sayoc, Public Affairs Lead, East-West Seed Group.
Expressing views on the limited women leadership in agriculture, Dr Usha Barwale Zehr, said, “Efforts must be made to mentor young women in careers in agriculture. We have undertaken several activities such as outreach programmes, creating on-field demonstrations around the benefits of biotechnology. A lot of women are engaged in biotechnology and are engaged in a majority of lab-focused activities. Further biotechnology tools need to be applied for the benefit of small-holder farmers as they are crop, scale and gender neutral. The industry will have to push forward with a greater vigor for facilitating new products as it will help to reach out to more women farmers.”
Dr Purvi Mehta said, “Women play a crucial role in the food value system, but their participation varies in different sub-sectors. The fundamental factor for inequality in women’s participation in agriculture are lack of access to land, knowledge, market and technology. About 15 per cent of women farmers get access to any traditional extension service. Fundamental factor for this inequality is ownership of land as less than 10 percent of India’s farmland is owned by women. While property rights are equal for women, the challenges lie in social factors.” Seeking the right balance for the empowerment of women farmers”.
Dr Mary Ann Sayoc, said, “Women’s leadership is found to be better and sought a slew of measures for their empowerment in leadership. A study found that outcomes related to COVID-19 were systematically better in countries led by women. A sustainable and inclusive food system highlights the contributions of women in the value chain. Women in leadership in the traditionally male-dominated field such as agriculture are seldom properly recognised for their success. Education, and promoting diversity, inclusion, and equality besides strong family support, access to resources, representation and policy support are needed to address the inequality.” Expressing concern over limited representation of women in leadership despite being half the population, Ram Kaundinya, Director General, Federation of Seed Industry of India, said, “We want to change this in future. And when we talk about inclusiveness and sustainability, women are by nature more inclusive and sustainable in nature. As we bring and support more and more women in leadership positions, inclusiveness and sustainability get a boost. Women are involved in the production and consumption levels of food. Men have a huge role to play in supporting women to achieve what they are capable of achieving. This calls for a huge mindset change in men.”
