CELEBRATING THE ROLE OF WOMEN IN THE CONSERVATION OF PLANT GENETIC RESOURCES

If empowered appropriately, women hold the key to improving food and nutrition in Zambia. According to the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) women constitute 64% of the rural population in Zambia, and 80% of food producers.

The food sovereignty and plant genetic resources (PGRs) of a country is in the hands of women because of the role they play in the home primarily as ‘head chef’ and nutritionist. PGRs are an important component of agricultural biodiversity and are the foundation upon which food security rests.

Mr. Masiye Tembo from the National Plant Genetic Resource  Centre (NPGRC) located at the Zambia Agricultural Research Institute(ZARI), defines PGRs as the  raw material that are used in modern plant breeding which enables plant breeders to develop varieties that adapt to different environments and respond to emerging changes such as climate change.

“The success of the transformation agenda of the agricultural sector to play its role as one of the key drivers of economic growth is primarily dependent on how well plant genetic resources are managed and utilized,” Mr. Tembo said.

PGRs consist of a diversity of genetic material contained in traditional varieties and modern cultivars grown by farmers

as well as wild plant species that can be used as food, medicine fodder, forages, essential oils and fibres among many other uses.

A public lecture was held on the 19^th of March to highlight and celebrate the role that women play in conserving PGRs more especially in a time when changes in food preferences and climate change are threatening these resources.

The lecture was sponsored and facilitated by the SADC Plant Genetic Resources Centre (SPGRC) and attracted participants from different agricultural institutions.

In his opening remarks, Senior Programmes Officer for SPGRC, Mr. Justify Shava explained that the SPGRC was established out of a need to address various threats to the agricultural sector which included climate change, changes in food preferences and extensive capital developments which involved land clearance. Such threats are threatening the diversity of PGRs more especially in Africa and Asia.

 “When a natural disaster comes, you’ll find that there are some organisms that will survive and others that die. It’s because of variation. We have different capacities to withstand different pressures. In the same way, plants have different capacities to withstand different pressures…and these differences [are] due to inherent differences in different living organisms. So when we look after these different species, we are just trying to create some adaptation,” he said.

The SPGRC was established in 1989 to enhance food security and poverty reduction, by promoting the conservation and sustainable use of plant genetic resources (PGRs). Mr. Shava said that the SPGRC programme involved in collecting, conserve and making available PGRs using modern methods so as to contribute to the sustainable development of the environment and food security of the SADC region.

SPGRC programmes include: in-situ conservation which entail that conservation is down on the farms of farmers. These include field gene banks and community seed banks. The second programme is the ex-situ conservation which involves the management of regional gene banks and; germplasm handling and storage. Finally there is the aspect documentation and information which entails the development, installation, updating and monitoring of PGR databases.

As complex as their work sounds, SPGRC recognizes that small scale farmers – particularly women – play an important role in enhancing the success of the work of the SPGRC.

In a presentation made on behalf of Participatory Ecological Land Use Management (PELUM), Mr. Wilfred Miga - who is PELUM’s Agricultural and Rural Development Officer – broke down the different roles that women are playing in the conservation of Plant Genetic Resources (PGRs).

“Women are often responsible for ensuring household food security and family health although their roles their roles vary in different contexts. They often have greater knowledge and a more diversified perspective on PGR than men because they are responsible for producing and procuring a large number of plant resources and; for storing and transforming plants to meet household needs,” Mr. Miga said.

He added that data reveals that most wild plants are gathered and used by women for many purposes.

To begin with, the first role that women play in the conservation of PGRs is the role of the cook. The woman is naturally inclined to be concerned with whether the members of her household have eaten a meal and the nutritional content of that meal. Mr. Miga describes women as the “gate-keepers of food” that is in and outside of the home. In the rural set up, this entails that she is also concerned with what kinds of crops are grown and what seed is used to grow them. This translates into her second role as the gardner. Home gardening is one of the oldest cultivation systems which usually have a diversity of plant species and ecological complexity compared to cultivated fields.

A third role that women play in conserving PGRs is that of the herbalist. Though most people are biased towards processed pharmaceuticals, there are still many who prefer natural plant medicine which are seen as a pathway to halt the spread of various human diseases. Women tend to experiment more with medicinal plants and; their interest and work with such plants is critical to health care as well as genetic conservation.

Another role that women play is that of seed custodian. Most recognized seed custodians are large multinational corporations which manage gene banks and the world’s agriculture is dependent on them. However, a large amount of the germplasm that they rely on for their seed production is largely in the hands of small scale farmers. The plants and seed they depend on is in the hands of women. Informal seed exchange systems are in the hands of women who thoroughly select the seed to be replanted apart from the seed that is meant for food among other things. In some cultures, seed is even given as gifts during various ceremonies.

Finally, the woman plays the role of plant breeder. Women generally have a broader set of seed selection criteria as compared to men. They take into account production, processing, storage, preservation and culinary qualities because they are attuned to the food and nutrition security of the household. According to Mr. Miga, research has revealed that female headed households produce more seed varieties than women living in male-headed households. He believes that their ability to breed could be further enhanced if women were given access and allowed to participate more in plant breeding programmes.

Given these significant roles that women play in enhancing household food and nutrition security as well as the food sovereignty of a country as a whole, there is need for policy makers to respect and acknowledge the contributions of women to agricultural development