Hostname: page-component-cb9f654ff-fg9bn Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2025-08-07T18:33:27.063Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

From the field: Empowering women to improve family food security in Afghanistan

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  16 June 2014

Clair Sophia Wilcox ,
Stephanie Grutzmacher ,
Rebecca Ramsing ,
Amanda Rockler ,
Christie Balch ,
Marghuba Safi  and
James Hanson
Clair Sophia Wilcox
Affiliation:
University of Maryland, College Park, MD, USA.
Stephanie Grutzmacher*
Affiliation:
University of Maryland, College Park, MD, USA.
Rebecca Ramsing
Affiliation:
University of Maryland, College Park, MD, USA.
Amanda Rockler
Affiliation:
University of Maryland, College Park, MD, USA.
Christie Balch
Affiliation:
Crossroads Community Food Network, Takoma Park, MD, USA.
Marghuba Safi
Affiliation:
University of Maryland, College Park, MD, USA.
James Hanson
Affiliation:
University of Maryland, College Park, MD, USA.
*
* Corresponding author: grutz@umd.edu
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Kitchen gardens may improve family food security and nutrition. While these gardens are the domain of women in Afghanistan, women face unique challenges accessing training and resources to maximize small-scale agricultural output. The University of Maryland's Women in Agriculture Project builds capacity among female extension educators to work with vulnerable women to implement and maintain kitchen gardens. Extension educators use experiential methods to teach vegetable gardening, apiculture, small-scale poultry production, post-harvest handling and processing, nutrition and marketing through workshops, demonstration gardens and farmer field schools. This paper explores contextual factors related to women's food security and agricultural opportunities, describes key project activities and approaches and discusses project success and challenges, sustainability and implications for future programs.

Keywords

kitchen gardenfood securitycapacity-buildingwomenAfghanistandevelopmentfarmer field schools

Information

Type
From the Field
Information
Renewable Agriculture and Food Systems , Volume 30 , Special Issue 1: Innovations and Trends in Sustainable Urban Agriculture , February 2015 , pp. 15 - 21
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2014 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Article purchase

Temporarily unavailable

References

1 Economic and Social Development Department. 1997. Gender Issues in Afghanistan. Available at Web site http://www.fao.org/docrep/X0256E/X0256E00.htm (retrieved July 7, 2013, from FAO Afghanistan).Google Scholar
2 Ashrafi, H. 2009. Gender Dimension of Agriculture and Rural Employment Special Focus on Afghan Rural Women's Access to Agriculture and Rural Development Sector. International Fund for Agricultural Development, Rome, Italy.Google Scholar
3 Lautze, S., Stites, E., Nojumi, N., and Najimi, F. 2002. Qaht-e-Pool ‘A Cash Famine’: Food Insecurity in Afghanistan 1999–2002. Tufts University Feinstein International Famine Center, Medford, MA.Google Scholar
4 Parto, S.R. and Mihran, R. 2010. Understanding Gender in Agricultural Production: An Annotated Bibliography for the Case of Afghanistan. Afghanistan Public Policy Research Organization, Kabul, Afghanistan.Google Scholar
5 Grace, J. 2004. Gender Roles in Agriculture: Case Studies of Five Villages in Afghanistan. Afghanistan Research and Evaluation Unit, Kabul, Afghanistan.Google Scholar
6 Wilcox, C. 2012. Avoiding the poverty trap in development with small holder poultry production. International Development Conference: Integrating Research, Policy and Practice, University of Aukland, Aukland, New Zealand.Google Scholar
7 Dixon, R.B. 1982. Women in agriculture: Counting the labor force in developing countries. Population and Development Review 8:539–566.Google Scholar
8 Quisumbing, A., Brown, L., Feldstein, H., Haddad, L., and Pene, C. 1995. Women: The Key to Food Security. The International Food Policy Research Institute, Washington, DC.Google Scholar
9 World Food Programme. 2012. Afghanistan Overview. Available at Web site http://www.wfp.org/countries/afghanistan/food-security (retrieved July 3, 2013, from WFP).Google Scholar
10 Dirorimwe, C. 2008. Happy Baby, Lively Family: Improved Feeding Practices and Recipes for Afghan Children and Mothers. UNICEF, New York, NY; FAO, Rome, Italy.Google Scholar
11 World Bank. 2012. Poverty and Food Security in Afghanistan: Analysis Based on the National Risk and Vulnerability Assessment of 2007–08. South Asia Region Economic Policy and Poverty Sector, Washington, DC.Google Scholar
12 Integrated Food Security Phase Classification. 2013. Fourth IPC Analysis Round: Summary of Findings, Acute Food Insecurity Current Situation Overview. FAO, Rome, Italy.Google Scholar
13 Johnecheck, W. and Holland, D.E. 2007. Nutritional status in postconflict Afghanistan: Evidence from the National Surveillance System Pilot and National Risk and Vulnerability Assessment. Food and Nutrition Bulletin 28:3–17.Google Scholar
14 D'Souza, A. and Jolliffe, D. 2012. The impact of food price increases on food security of the most vulnerable households: Evidence from Afghanistan. In Rosen, S., Meade, B., Shapouri, S., D'Souza, A., and Rada, N. (eds). International Food Security Assessment 2012-22/GFA-23. Economic Research Service, Washington, DC. p. 29–38.Google Scholar
15 Dufour, C. and Borrel, A. 2007. Towards a public nutrition response in Afghanistan: Evolutions in nutritional assessment and response. In Pain, A. and Sutton, J. (eds). Reconstructing Agriculture in Afghanistan. FAO and Practical Action Publishing, Warwickshire, UK.Google Scholar
16 Christopholos, I. 2004. Out of Step? Agricultural Policy and Rural Livelihoods. Afghan Research and Evaluation Unit, Kabul, Afghanistan.Google Scholar
17 Smith, L.A. 2000. The geography and causes of food insecurity in developing countries. Agricultural Economics 22:199–215.Google Scholar
18 Wispelwey, B. and Deckelbaum, R.J. 2010. Econutrition: Preventing malnutrition with agrodiversity interventions. In Wispelwey, B. and Deckelbaum, R.J. (eds). Preventive Nutrition: The Comprehensive Guide for Health Professionals. Humana Press, New York, NY. p. 51–78.Google Scholar
19 Helen Keller International. 2010. Homestead food production model contributes to improved household food security, nutrition and female empowerment—experience from scaling-up programs in Asia (Bangladesh, Cambodia, Nepal, and Philippines). Nutrition Bulletin 8(1):1–8.Google Scholar
20 Shahnaz, R. and Karim, R. 2008. Providing Microfinance and Social Space to Empower Adolescent Girls: An Evaluation of BRAC's ELA Centres. BRAC, Research & Evaluation Division, Dakha, Bangladesh.Google Scholar
21 Sifri, Z., Bendech, M.A., and Baker, S.K. 2003. School Health Programmes in Burkina Faso: The Helen Keller International Experience. Helen Keller International, New York, NY.Google Scholar
22 Miller, C., Sawyer, M., and Rowe, W.A. 2011. My Skills, My Money, My Brighter Future in Zimbabwe: An Assessment of Economic Strengthening Interventions for Adolescent Girls. Catholic Relief Services (CRS), Baltimore, MD.Google Scholar
23 Alam, S. 2012. The effect of gender-based returns to borrowing on intra-household resource allocation in rural Bangladesh. World Development 40(6):1164–1180.Google Scholar
24 Meinzen-Dick, R., Behrman, J., Menon, P., and Quisumbing, A.R. 2011. Gender: A Key Dimension Linking Agricultural Programs to Improved Nutrition and Health. International Food Policy Research Institute, Washington, DC.Google Scholar
25 Marsh, R. and Talukder, A. 1994. Production and consumption effects of the introduction of home gardening on target, interaction, and control groups: A case study. International Symposium on Systems-Oriented Research. Association for Farming Systems Research/Extension, Montpellier, France.Google Scholar
26 Fernandes, E. and Nair, P.K.R. 1986. An evaluation of the structure and function of tropical home gardens. Agricultural Systems 21:279–310.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
27 Waddington, H., Snilstveit, B., Garcia Hombrados, J., Vojtkova, M., Anderson, J., and White, H. 2012. Protocol: Farmer Field Schools for Improving Farming Practices and Farmer Outcome in Low- and Middle-Income Countries: A Systematic Review. The Campbell Collaborative, Oslo, Norway.Google Scholar
28 Berti, P.R., Krasevec, J., and FitzGerald, S. 2004. A review of the effectiveness of agriculture interventions in improving nutrition outcomes. Public Health Nutrition 7(5):599–609.Google Scholar
29 Peat, R. and Hartwick, E. 2009. Theories of Development: Contentions, Arguments, Alternatives. Guilford Press, New York, NY.Google Scholar
30 Collett, K. and Gale, C. 2009. Training for Rural Development: Agricultural and Enterprise Skills for Women Smallholders. City and Guilds Centre for Skills Development, West Smithfield, London, England.Google Scholar
Supplementary material: File

Wilcox Supplementary Material

Supplementary Material 1

Download Wilcox Supplementary Material(File)
File 49.2 KB
Supplementary material: PDF

Wilcox Supplementary Material

Supplementary Material 2

Download Wilcox Supplementary Material(PDF)
PDF 51.7 MB