Impact of Women Farmers: Recognized by ASA Presidential Award

Abstract

(L to r): Fatou Gueye, Ozzie Abaye, and Bineta Guisse received the ASA Presidential Award as representatives of “all women farmers” at the ASA Annual Meeting in Tampa, FL last year. Photos courtesy of Ozzie Abaye. Women collecting forage for silage. Photo courtesy of Dr. Ozzie Abaye. The ASA Presidential Award is given to an individual or group that has had a lasting impact on the agronomic sciences. Last year, 2017 ASA President Jessica Davis presented the award to “All Women Farmers” and honored three women, Ozzie Abaye (Virginia Tech), Fatou Gueye (USAID), and Bineta Guisse (USAID), as representatives to receive the award. Abaye, Gueye, and Guisse were chosen because of their work with women farmers in Senegal through a USAID-funded project (USAID-ERA), which has focused on animal feed and the introduction of mung bean (Vigna radiata) as a new crop. Davis says this award not only highlights the work being done by Abaye, Gueye, and Guisse but is also a way to “bring attention to women farmers all over the world.” Globally, 43% of farmers are women, so outreach, technological advances, and aid should take into account the role of women in their communities. Davis also commented that by focusing on women farmers in Senegal, the recipients had a “direct impact on women and children's health” by not just growing the crop, but impacting their communities. Women are typically responsible for the small ruminants that provide milk, meat, and wool. In Senegal, food for these animals can be scarce during the dry season. Teaching women grassland conservation methods, like silage making, provides them with a way to save the feed readily available in the wet season for the dry season. The team has introduced ways to collect and store feed as hay or silage to women, so they have more food available for their animals during the dry season. Mung bean is a source of important nutrients like protein and minerals and can be used in a variety of cooking methods. Cowpea is the typical legume crop grown in Senegal, but mung bean has the advantage over cowpea in Senegal. Mung bean has a shorter growing season; can be harvested multiple times in a growing season; and most of all, as indicated by the dietary diversity survey, it is especially popular among women and children. “Due to its relatively short season, mung bean can also shorten the lean, hunger season, which is key to fighting chronic malnutrition,” Abaye says. Also, when families diversify their farm, they may have an opportunity to generate additional income. Before encouraging women in Senegal to grow this new crop, Abaye and her colleagues had to take time to get to know the communities they were working with. Through meetings with community leaders and members, they were able to identify the unique needs and production gaps of each village. In interviews with women in Senegal, they spoke of mung bean giving them energy, increasing their milk production, and improving the health of their children. “In societies where women eat last and least, it is of interest to focus on a particular crop women prefer to consume and feed their children,” Abaye says. The original USAID-ERA project, started in February 2011, will end this year. Abaye hopes to find new partners and continue the work. Currently, she and her colleagues are developing mung bean varieties for Senegal. “The selection of the mung bean lines we are currently screening are based on specific criteria that women requested,” she says, “such as multi-purpose varieties that can be used as vegetables… [or] as livestock feed and cover crops.” Reflecting on being a representative to receive this award, Abaye says, “It was a tremendous honor, for sure. I have been empowered and honored by the women I have been working with for the last seven plus years in Senegal. I have received by far more than I ever contributed to the community.”