Gender Inclusive Policy approaches in Agroforestry Management: Some Insights

Abstract

Agroforestry primarily provides several benefits by growing sustainability, by providing food, wood energy, shelter, fodder and fibre; generating economic gains to allow communities and societies to flourish; and promoting ecosystems. Various literature has shown that in the agroforestry system in connection to gender, policies have been ignored. Discrepancies are addressed in this particular section with few case studies, such as on the lack of clear statistics on the women and men participants engaged in different livelihoods in the agroforestry sector; gender-responsive project activities and policy action plan for sustainable development; commercial agenda of policy-making bodies in agroforestry system; gender blindness of policymakers about women and energy transformation, the right of women to access land; women in the value chain and extension service and concerning forestry associations and forest users' groups; etc. The invisibility of women in the workforce, more particularly in agroforestry scenario is undeniable. Unfortunately, the department of each concerning state have no detailed database on women in agroforestry to increase the job participation of women in the forestry sector and it is also true in the case of agriculture database of women. It is simply not possible to get a true picture for some academic purpose or because of curiosity if anyone checks data from women who work in the agroforestry sector. In the case of the agriculture scenario, documents of agricultural statistics and planning in the state also do not provide any information on the number of farmers or families engaged in the sector.