A feminist political ecology of agricultural innovations in smallholder farming systems: Experiences from wheat production in Morocco and Uzbekistan.

A clear consensus has emerged that innovations are important for adapting to drought and overcoming other biophysical limitations in smallholder farming systems; however, women are notably marginalized from agricultural innovations. We examine whether and how gendered roles and responsibilities shape the adoption and usage of improved wheat varieties and simultaneously uncover opportunities to address and lessen gender-based differences in agricultural innovations. The field data were collected using snowball sampling from seven communities (three in Morocco and four in Uzbekistan) among 574 farmers (half men and half women) of different generations, genders, social statuses, and social classes. Our findings demonstrate how the complex interactions of biophysical constraints, intra-household (spousal and kinship) relations, and the broader macro-level political economy of agriculture converge to influence different identities of women and men farmers' wheat production and processing practices. We argue that without focusing on the socio-cultural factors affecting agriculture, new seed varieties alone cannot address the multifaceted problems confronting farmers in all parts of the world.

Feminization, rural transformation, and wheat systems in post-soviet Uzbekistan.

This paper examines how rural transformation in Uzbekistan alters gender norms and roles and, consequently, affects women's involvement in agriculture. We focus on the role that contextual factors, particularly kinship relations, government goals, and institutional structures each contribute to rural transformation and male out-migration, and how these, in turn, increase women's work in wheat production and processing. The wheat is the most important crop in the country which has the highest area coverage (35%) in Uzbekistan. We begin by highlighting the post-Soviet transition in Uzbekistan and its effects on the agricultural sector, including how households respond to opportunities for innovation. We then move to a discussion of our methodological approach drawing on insights from the GENNOVATE project, a collaborative initiative across 11 CGIAR centres that explored the relationship between changing gender norms in relation to women's roles in agricultural production and processing. Next, we examine an understudied topic in migration research i.e., how the transformation of agriculture contributes to increased dependence on unpaid female agricultural labour. We conclude with an analysis of how the feminization of agriculture alters household relations and women's participation in the public sphere. Significantly, we close with a reflection on what these changes mean for gender and innovation studies.