Dr. P. Mataure

Call for Research Grant Proposals

Determinants of access to Agricultural land, Finance and Pfumvudza (Conservation Agriculture) inputs by rural women: Exploring threats and Opportunities

Although women’s access to education and skills development has steadily improved thus paving way to vast career opportunities, they remain under-represented in positions of management and leadership. Women make essential contributions to agriculture and rural enterprises across the developing world. They constitute 61% of the farmers and provide 70% of the labour in most rural areas. Thus, the work of women farmers is essential for food security. Most women are unpaid family workers. Rural women work 16 to 18 hours a day, spending at least 49% of their time on agricultural activities and about 25% on domestic activities. In female-headed households (60% of households in the communal areas), women are responsible for farm management decisions. Thus, the majority of women make decisions on how to spend the income generated from their own activities such as market gardening, crafts and poultry keeping.

Barriers to Self-Development

Gender-specific obstacles—such as lack of access to land, financing, markets, agricultural training and education, suitable working conditions, and equal treatment—put female farmers at a significant disadvantage. The biggest hindrance is land rights. In developing countries, only 10 to 20 percent of landholders are women, and in some parts of Zimbabwe, women still cannot “legally” own or control land due to cultural reasons. When a female farmer isn’t empowered to make decisions about the land she works, it is impossible for her to enter contract farming agreements that could provide higher earnings and reliable sources of income. For smallholder female farmers in developing countries, cultural norms and lack of collateral often prevent women from borrowing money. Without adequate funds for capital investments, female farmers are less likely than men to buy and use fertilizer, drought-resistant seeds, sustainable agricultural practices, and other advanced farming tools and techniques that increase crop yields.

Empowering Women in Agriculture living in Rural Areas

Empowering women in agriculture is of paramount importance. Empowering women to achieve their highest economic potential through access to land and agribusiness finance is critical, could help feed a hungry world. According to the FAO, most of the approximately 820 million people worldwide who are currently undernourished live in developing countries—the same places where women are key to food production. Giving females access to the same resources and education as males could increase food production by women. The same could be achieved for Zimbabwean women. Earning extra income would enable women to spend more money on health care, nutrition, and education for their children - investments that could produce long-term positive results. Women’s University in Africa is embarking on a nation-wide empowerment drive that seeks to educate and train women with agricultural skills. With this in mind, it has engaged experts in agriculture to lead this exercise across all 10 provinces. It will work with other government departments and partners to ensure effective delivery and capacity building in Zimbabwean women.

The closing date for submitting a research grant proposal is 9^th of July 2021.

OBJECTIVES:

• Identify solutions that are applicable to rural women in agriculture
• Determine strategies and ways of empowering women in agriculture

Original research articles, rigorous commentaries, first-hand accounts, and case studies are welcome for this call for research. Evidence-based, applied, theoretical, rhetorical, and critical cultural scholarship are all welcome. Submissions can be made in teams and each team can submit a maximum of 2 proposals. The running thematic area focuses on women in agriculture. However, proposals from an interdisciplinary approach shall be welcome on a wide range of perspectives that can be explored through:

• Agricultural access to land for conservation agriculture and women empowerment
• Access to agribusiness finance by rural women
• Access to Conservation (Pfumvudza) inputs by women in agriculture
• Reduced access to sexual and reproductive health services as a result of COVID-19
• Threats for women in Agriculture on access to land
• Opportunities for women in Agriculture on access to agribusiness finance

Expected Outputs

As a final output of the conducted research, each grant recipient is required to produce and submit a high-quality publishable manuscript (6000 to 8000 words) by 29^th of October 2021 for publication in TAJWAGID. All manuscripts shall undergo rigorous internal and external peer reviewing with authors expected to address all the comments given by the reviewers.

Application Procedure

Please attach and e-mail the following documents by 9^th of July 2021 to: institutional email address that shall be availed in due course.

1. Research proposal (2000-3000 words) –The research proposal should contain:

• Title of Project
• Introduction and Background of the study
• Statement of the problem
• Research objectives/questions or hypothesis
• Justification of the study
• Research Methodology

1. Research plan – Briefly outline when and where the different components of the research project shall be carried out.
2. Simplified budget – Please provide a budget outlining each cost associated with carrying out the research project and a rationale for each expenditure.

Timelines

1. Closing date for submitting a research grant proposal: 9^th of July 2021
2. Notification to applicants of the Selection Committee’s decision: on or before 16^th of July 2021
3. Submission of a complete paper: on or before 24^th of September 2021