CGIAR, MANAGE join forces to bridge gender gap in agriculture

Hyderabad: CGIAR GENDER Impact Platform will collaborate with the National Institute of Agricultural Extension Management (MANAGE) in designing activities that support women farmers to form producer groups and also provide them with training on improved, climate-resilient agricultural practices.

A Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was signed on Tuesday to facilitate collaboration on research, knowledge exchange and capacity building to help close the global gender gap in agriculture.

CGIAR’s director, Dr Nicoline de Haan, and director general of MANAGE Dr P Chandra Shekar signed the MoU at an event in Hyderabad on Tuesday.

The aim is to support women farmers to increase their earnings, maximize the benefits they gain from their work and enable them to be successful agents of agricultural transformation.

The CGIAR platform synthesizes and amplifies research, fills gaps, builds capacity, and sets directions to improve gender equality, foster social inclusion and create opportunities for youth in agri-food systems.

MANAGE is an autonomous organization of the Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare, Government of India.

“Part of our work is to gather evidence on what works, and we know that supporting women to enter into groups and social networks can improve their access to resources, improve their links with markets and boost their productivity,” said Nicoline de Haan.

“Partnering with MANAGE will allow us to engage with one of the world’s largest agricultural extension systems, supplying it with a wealth of proven solutions, evidence and knowledge that can ultimately reach and benefit India’s women farmers,” added Nicoline.

Dr P Chandra Shekara in his address, stated that collaborating with CGIAR would help share Indian innovations in agricultural extension thereby providing solutions to gender mainstreaming issues at the global level.

Evidence module leader under CGIAR, Ranjitha Puskur said, “By bringing together the researchers that generate evidence and the institutions that can ensure that this evidence is put into use.”