A new publication from CIMMYT explores whether zero tillage (ZT) is ‘female friendly’ in South Asia.
Studies in Africa have highlighted the unequal gendered outcomes of conservation agriculture (CA)/ZT uptake, and while it has been assumed it is female friendly in South Asia , there was little literature to confirm this. We tried to do things differently in this study, using an in-depth approach based around a visual weed diary and follow up questions with sets of household spouses in SRFSI geographies.
The major findings were that in the locations we explored, there was no increased burden to females. In India and Nepal (but not Bangladesh) we also quantified huge time savings. To summarise – indications are that ZT is female friendly in South Asia. We are now finalising a follow up paper that explores how extra time (and financial resources) from ZT are prioritised and compounded for further benefits, in particularly how cereal intensification enables crop and livelihood diversification.
The full publication is available here, and for follow up information please contact Dr Brendan Brown ([email protected]).