The empowerment of women farmers in the context of participatory plant breeding in Syria: towards equitable development for food security

This study explored changes in the empowerment of 12 women farmers from ten Syrian rural households as affected by their participation in a participatory plant breeding (PPB) programme, and by multi-level institutions regulating the governance of seed at ground level. The study aimed to i. provide in-depth information on the involvement of the respondent women in the barley value chain and in farming in selected PPB programme villages ii. examine the inter-relation between the respondent women’s roles in farming and seed governance and iii. analyse the potential and actual contribution of PPB in these villages to supporting and enhancing the respondent women’s roles, and to providing empowering opportunities for them. This study is framed within the overarching concepts of social justice and gender equity, and analysed through the frame of reference of food-related rights and empowerment. It interlocks issues of empowerment, participatory plant breeding, gender analysis, and governance of seed based on in-depth and empirical exploration of the issues and their interconnections. The study was designed as exploratory small-N research with 12 women farmers and 24 male farmers from three villages involved in the PPB programme. It provides qualitative findings that can be further explored and tested across a wider population. The findings show that the respondent women farmers have key roles in food provision, production and in food cultures related to both manual and mechanised, and food and feed crops. These roles vary depending on household as well as individual circumstances. However, the respondent women were also shown to have disadvantaged access to and control of productive resources such as land, water and seed in particular, and limited decision-making power about farm management. The study argues that the access of Syrian women farmers to relevant seed is vital for them to successfully perform their food-related roles, and to have equal access to development opportunities towards food security enhancement. The study shows how gender-sensitive PPB can provide participating women with seed relevant to their needs. It can also provide them with opportunities for empowerment by increasing their recognition as farmers, by supporting their access to relevant seed varieties and information, by providing access to opportunities (e.g. variety selection, income-generating activities, exposure to new contexts and life-paths) and also by enhancing their decision-making in agriculture. It also shows three events that had negative impacts on the respondents. Finally, the study discusses the impact that gender-biased contextual and institutional circumstances might have on the empowerment of the respondents. It analyses the interface between governance regimes regulating the right to access and control genetic resources at international and national levels, and the actual ability of the respondent women to access and control the seed varieties they had developed under the PPB programme. Acknowledgments I would like to acknowledge the continuous and inspiring support of my supervisors Prof. Janice Jiggins, Prof. Paul Struik, Dr. Stefania Grando and Prof. Salvatore Ceccarelli throughout this research. I would like to thank the ICARDA team for their support and Micheal Micheal and Kasem Al-Ahmad in particular. I would also like to thank Justin Rhodes for his contribution to exploring the views of the respondent men of this study, and Esraa Alwan, Maria Saade and Talar Koushian for their support with translation. I thank all the reviewers of the chapters who contributed to improving them; Silvia Macchi and her team at Universita la Sapienza for the discussions about empowerment; Aden Aw-Hassan, Cathy Farnworth, Niels Roling and others at ICARDA and Wageningen University for their support with the research and input over the years. I am especially grateful to the respondent women farmers, men farmers and extension agents for their time and commitment to collaborating with this research and with the PPB programme. This thesis owes also many thanks to my family and to Bernhard who have supported me in my choice to do a PhD, and in the many ups and downs experienced while undertaking the research. This research would not have been possible without the generous support of the CGIAR Participatory Research and Gender Analysis (PRGA) Programme and of Wageningen University. To all Syrian friends and colleagues with the hope that peace will soon return