Policy cycle in agriculture and rural development

Agricultural statistics were designed to monitor the main objectives of the common agricultural policy, e.g. the production and supply of agricultural products and income in the agricultural sector. Data are collected through the farm structure survey(s) (FSS). The FSS is the only harmonised source for a wide range of structural data of EU farms. FSS are carried out in the form of a sample survey every 2 or 3 years, and as a census every 10 years. FSS provides some insights about the role of women in the agricultural sector and, more specifically, on farms, but limitations exist which must be considered. Firstly, even if household work is explicitly excluded from the survey, many women engaged in farming do so within a household production unit. Therefore, their activities are not easily separable from those of the household as a whole. Secondly, according to FSS, the legal person representing the holding (the ‘farm holder’) can only be one person. Thus, if a couple has shared responsibility of the farm, this is not evident, as only one person – more often the husband – is surveyed as farm holder. A ‘sub’ or ‘shared-holder’ concept would allow for a better assessment of the division of labour and decision-making practice among household members. However, harmonised information on this topic is not available for all EU Member States.

The most recent data available stem from the FSS 2013. For the farm structure survey in the survey year 2016, Member States should transmit validated survey data to the Commission within the period  2017 – 2018. FSS provide harmonised data on agricultural holdings in the EU, including:

• number of agricultural holdings
• land use and area (crops)
• livestock
• main crops
• farm labour force (including age, sex and relationship to the holder)
• economic size of the holdings
• type of activity
• other gainful activity on the farm
• system of farming
• machinery
• organic farming.

FSS have been used to produce sex-disaggregated statistics. Given that gender statistics are often compiled from data sources conceived for other purposes, the scope of the analysis is somehow limited by data availability. This is exemplified by the lack of sex-disaggregated statistics on agricultural income.

Rural development statistics aim to measure economic, social and environmental issues related to rural areas. They give an insight into the specific features of the regions (NUTS3) in the context of their rural/urban types. It provides data and demographics statistics (population by sex and age) and labour market statistics (employment and unemployment by sex and age) by urban-rural typology.

Labour market statistics are collected through the European Union labour force survey (EU-LFS) which provides the main aggregated statistics on labour market outcomes in the European Union. The EU-LFS is the main data source for employment and unemployment. Tables on population, employment, working hours, permanency of the job, professional status etc. are included. It provides disaggregated statistics by sex, age groups, economic activity, education attainment and field of education. From this, it is possible to measure the characteristics of the labour force of women, by age and economic activity.

CAP context indicators. A set of 45 indicators has been identified to describe the general context in which policy measures are designed, planned and implemented. They form part of the monitoring and evaluation framework for the CAP 2014 – 2020 and are used in rural development programmes for a comprehensive overall description of the current situation of the programming area. The European Commission provides an annual update of data (subject to availability) for these indicators. Indicator 22 (farm labour force) presents gender-disaggregated data.

Study on employment, growth and innovation in rural areas (SEGIRA). Main report, final. Publications Office of the European Union, Luxembourg.

It aims to provide “a thorough assessment of employment and growth in rural areas with particular attention paid to women and young people, agriculture and the agri-food industry; the key conditions for stimulating economic growth in rural areas; and providing a classification of major drivers of employment and socioeconomic development in rural areas”. Access it here.

The impact of place and culture on gender mainstreaming in European rural development programme. Gender, place and culture: a Journal of Feminist Geography.

The report focuses on the ability of gender mainstreaming to advance gender equality through the EU rural development programme – the single most expensive European policy. It consider space and culture as key factors in this process, and how women’s identity is constructed in rural areas of Europe.

Engaging with rural development and agricultural policy processes. Future agricultures, working paper 026.

The paper details the way in which gender has been incorporated, or not, into agricultural research and development (R&D) activities. The paper also presents some indications as to how more nuanced understandings of gender and social relations can be usefully brought into agricultural research and policy processes.

These guidelines provide practical guidance to support programme and operations staff in UN country teams to integrate gender equality concerns into joint programmes (JP) for food security, agriculture and rural development. The guidelines outline opportunities to incorporate gender into both the JP process (formulation, implementation, monitoring and evaluation) and project documents. They include a general gender equality checklist as well as thematic checklists to mainstream gender in areas of cross-cutting importance for agriculture and rural development.

This jointly produced publication on good practices and lessons learned guides practitioners in integrating gender dimensions in agricultural projects and programmes.

This gender impact assessment was carried out to evaluate project performance in terms of gender for the Ghana agricultural development and value chain enhancement (ADVANCE) project. The goal of ADVANCE is to facilitate a transformation of Ghana’s agricultural sector in selected agricultural staples (maize, rice and soybean). This should achieve a greater degree of food security among the rural population in the northern region while increasing competitiveness in the domestic markets. The programme adopts a value chain approach where smallholder farmers are linked to markets, finance, inputs and equipment services. Information is available through relatively larger nucleus farmers and aggregators who have the capacity to invest in these chains. ADVANCE’s gender approach has been to mainstream gender within the project to ensure that stakeholders were given equitable access to project resources and capacity-building along the target value chains.

Women organising for change in agriculture and natural resource management (WOCAN) is a women-led international membership network of women and men professionals. It provides expertise to assist agriculture and natural resource management organisations to strengthen women’s leadership and mainstream gender into their internal structures, programmes, projects and policies.

The committee is made up of representatives of socioeconomic organisations (agricultural producers, trade, consumers, the European women lobby and workers). The groups enable the Commission to be aware of the range of views these organisations hold on individual agricultural production sectors, rural development etc.

ENWRA is a partnership between lead organisations in Cyprus, Germany, Hungary, Spain, Poland, Turkey and the UK, funded through the Grundgtvig Life Long Learning Programme. The aim of the partnership is to share the experiences of women across these regions to look at the problems they face and how to overcome them. ENWRA’s objectives are to:

• explore different aspects of women in rural areas such as culture and traditions
• explore working conditions and entrepreneurship opportunities for women
• improve access to information technologies and educational opportunities
• promote social and civic participation of women in local communities
• promote volunteering and other opportunities.

COPA and the General Confederation of Agricultural Cooperatives in the European Union (COGECA) are the organisations that represent the vast majority of farmers – both men and women – and their cooperatives in the EU. They represent 15 million people working either full-time or part-time on EU farm holdings and more than 40,000 cooperatives. They have 76 member organisations from the EU Member States. Their aim is to defend the general interests of agriculture. COPA-COGECA have a Women’s Committee. In 2014 the COPA Innovation Prize for Women Farmers was awarded for the third time.

The Network, and its constituent national networks in the EU-28 Member States, can be used to identify and exchange further examples of measures, data, schemes, local strategies or individual projects promoting gender equality in rural areas. Projects, including women-specific projects, are promoted in the EU Rural Review magazine and in the RDP project database, including projects focusing on women. It is also supports the development of the rural development network in the IPA countries.

FAO works extensively on gender issues in agriculture and rural development worldwide; its website includes relevant resources and databases, including the gender and land rights database.