Jose Graziano da Silva the 63 year old American-born Brazilian agronomist, writer and Director General of the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), has published an article on the IPS News Service titled ‘Guardians of Life and of the Earth’ stating “Around the world, but especially in the planet’s poorest regions, women represent a life force that renews itself daily, sometimes against all odds. Rural women, for instance, make up 43 percent of the agricultural labour force in developing countries. Fighting hunger is something they do every day. They are the faceless enlistees in the most devastating war of our times, one which – paradoxically – is the easiest to win: the war on hunger, that afflicts one in every eight inhabitants of our Earth, some 870 million human beings. …Putting food on a family’s table involves extending a woman’s reach beyond her maternal instincts. It means applying her energy and her life lessons to tilling the land and harvesting crops. …The double and sometimes triple burden of work in the field, at home and in the community is not always recognised, or shared by the men in the households. This frequently makes the empowerment of women more difficult. Paradoxically, everywhere in the world it is women who suffer most from restrictions on access to the legal ownership of land. This in turn limits their access to credit and to the inputs they need to maximise the utmost efforts they put into community wellbeing. Achieving those rights and that access, in order to close the gender gap in the most vulnerable countries’ farming systems, is one of the most important food security policies that governments and international cooperation agencies could ever implement. Making states aware of the core role women play in economic and social development and forging a political consensus to give them the tools and rights that their role demands will be vital steps in the fight against hunger.”  Inspired by Jose Graziano da Silva, IPS News Service ow.ly/j4tLB Image source Renato Araujo ow.ly/j4tIA Guardians of Life and Earth (April 5 2013)

 

Jose Graziano da Silva the 63 year old American-born Brazilian agronomist, writer and Director General of the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), has published an article on the IPS News Service titled ‘Guardians of Life and of the Earth’ stating “Around the world, but especially in the planet’s poorest regions, women represent a life force that renews itself daily, sometimes against all odds. Rural women, for instance, make up 43 percent of the agricultural labour force in developing countries. Fighting hunger is something they do every day. They are the faceless enlistees in the most devastating war of our times, one which – paradoxically – is the easiest to win: the war on hunger, that afflicts one in every eight inhabitants of our Earth, some 870 million human beings. …Putting food on a family’s table involves extending a woman’s reach beyond her maternal instincts. It means applying her energy and her life lessons to tilling the land and harvesting crops. …The double and sometimes triple burden of work in the field, at home and in the community is not always recognised, or shared by the men in the households. This frequently makes the empowerment of women more difficult. Paradoxically, everywhere in the world it is women who suffer most from restrictions on access to the legal ownership of land. This in turn limits their access to credit and to the inputs they need to maximise the utmost efforts they put into community wellbeing. Achieving those rights and that access, in order to close the gender gap in the most vulnerable countries’ farming systems, is one of the most important food security policies that governments and international cooperation agencies could ever implement. Making states aware of the core role women play in economic and social development and forging a political consensus to give them the tools and rights that their role demands will be vital steps in the fight against hunger.”

 

Inspired by Jose Graziano da Silva, IPS News Service ow.ly/j4tLB Image source Renato Araujo ow.ly/j4tIA