IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/mth/jad888/v1y2015i1p1-22.html

Farmer Field Schools: Unexpected Outcomes of Gendered Empowerment in Wartime Nepal

Author

Listed:
  • Annemarie Westendorp
  • Leontine Visser

Abstract

This article is the outcome of an empirical study of technical training of women and men through Farmer Field Schools in rural Nepal during the last decade. When the Farmer Field Schools started in Nepal as part of the FAO Integrated Pest Management project in 1997, this was also the year that the Maoists declared the People’s Revolution. The article describes the increased participation of women in FFS and its positive effect on food security of their families. After initial failure of FFS to include gender in its policy and activities, the article discusses the gradual acceptance of gender issues in the training. Empowerment is seen as a developmental process rather than as a product somebody or a group can gain access to or own. Different forms and objectives of empowerment of both women and men are discussed, and the unintended outcomes of FFS intervention in the context of rapid social-economic and political change during the Maoist revolution in Nepal.

Suggested Citation

  • Annemarie Westendorp & Leontine Visser, 2015. "Farmer Field Schools: Unexpected Outcomes of Gendered Empowerment in Wartime Nepal," Journal of Asian Development, Macrothink Institute, vol. 1(1), pages 1-22, October.
    • Handle: RePEc:mth:jad888:v:1:y:2015:i:1:p:1-22
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.macrothink.org/journal/index.php/jad/article/view/7549/6480
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: http://www.macrothink.org/journal/index.php/jad/article/view/7549
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Shahra Razavi, 2012. "World Development Report 2012: Gender Equality and Development— A Commentary," Development and Change, International Institute of Social Studies, vol. 43(1), pages 423-437, January.
    2. Sonali Deraniyagala, 2005. "The Political Economy of Civil Conflict in Nepal," Oxford Development Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 33(1), pages 47-62.
    3. Naila Kabeer, 1999. "Resources, Agency, Achievements: Reflections on the Measurement of Women's Empowerment," Development and Change, International Institute of Social Studies, vol. 30(3), pages 435-464, July.
    4. Bina Agarwal, 1997. "''Bargaining'' and Gender Relations: Within and Beyond the Household," Feminist Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 3(1), pages 1-51.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Ichiro Sato & Hideyuki Kubo & Josiah Mwangi Ateka & Robert Mbeche & Ayaha Mochizuki, 2025. "Promoting livelihood diversification among rural farming households in Kenya: what role does farm forestry farmer field school play?," Agricultural and Food Economics, Springer;Italian Society of Agricultural Economics (SIDEA), vol. 13(1), pages 1-22, December.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Han, Wenjing & Zhang, Xiaoling & Zhang, Zhengfeng, 2019. "The role of land tenure security in promoting rural women’s empowerment: Empirical evidence from rural China," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 86(C), pages 280-289.
    2. Rama Lionel Ngenzebuke & Bram De Rock & Philip Verwimp, 2018. "The power of the family: kinship and intra-household decision making in rural Burundi," Review of Economics of the Household, Springer, vol. 16(2), pages 323-346, June.
    3. Boulier, Bryan & Emran, M. Shahe & Hoque, Nazmul, 2021. "Access to Credit, Education, and Women’s Say in the Household: Evidence from Bangladesh," MPRA Paper 109009, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    4. Alexandra Peralta, 2022. "The role of men and women in agriculture and agricultural decisions in Vanuatu," Asia and the Pacific Policy Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 9(1), pages 59-80, January.
    5. Susana Martínez-Restrepo & Laura Ramos-Jaimes & Alma Espino & Martin Valdivia & Johanna Yancari Cueva, 2017. "Measuring women’s economic empowerment: Critical lessons from South America," INFORMES DE INVESTIGACIÓN 015825, FEDESARROLLO.
    6. Sara Ratna Qanti & Alexandra Peralta & Di Zeng, 2022. "Social norms and perceptions drive women’s participation in agricultural decisions in West Java, Indonesia," Agriculture and Human Values, Springer;The Agriculture, Food, & Human Values Society (AFHVS), vol. 39(2), pages 645-662, June.
    7. Ebelechukwu Maduekwe & Gertrud Buchenrieder, 2023. "The effect of negative human recognition on farmland access and well‐being: Evidence from women farmers in Malawi," Review of Development Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 27(1), pages 112-133, February.
    8. Hazel Jean L. Malapit & Esha Sraboni & Agnes R. Quisumbing & Akhter U. Ahmed, 2019. "Intrahousehold empowerment gaps in agriculture and children's well‐being in Bangladesh," Development Policy Review, Overseas Development Institute, vol. 37(2), pages 176-203, March.
    9. Arugay,Aries & Donald, Aletheia Amalia & Jarvis, Forest Brach & Johnson, Hillary C. & Valenciano,Aletheia, 2024. "When Does Decision-Making Reflect Agency ? Evidence from the Rural Philippines," Policy Research Working Paper Series 10851, The World Bank.
    10. Arohi Anand & Animesh Karn & Avirup Mukherjee & Naboshree Bhattacharya, 2025. "Does earning money empower women? Evidence from India," Humanities and Social Sciences Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 12(1), pages 1-17, December.
    11. Almamy Sylla & Jummai Othniel Yila & Sory Diallo & Sékou Traoré, 2023. "Importance of the Social Structures in Cowpea Varietal Demands for Women and Men Farmers in Segou Region, Mali," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(4), pages 1-20, February.
    12. Mookerjee, Mehreen & Ojha, Manini, 2025. "Power Through Autonomy: How Women Gain Voice in Household Decisions," GLO Discussion Paper Series 1641, Global Labor Organization (GLO).
    13. Els Lecoutere & Lan Chu, 2024. "Supporting women's empowerment by changing intra‐household decision‐making: A mixed‐methods analysis of a field experiment in rural south‐west Tanzania," Development Policy Review, Overseas Development Institute, vol. 42(3), May.
    14. Cathy Rozel Farnworth & Tahseen Jafry & Preeti Bharati & Lone Badstue & Ashok Yadav, 2021. "From Working in the Fields to Taking Control. Towards a Typology of Women's Decision-Making in Wheat in India," The European Journal of Development Research, Palgrave Macmillan;European Association of Development Research and Training Institutes (EADI), vol. 33(3), pages 526-552, June.
    15. Mishra, Khushbu & Sam, Abdoul G., 2016. "Does Women’s Land Ownership Promote Their Empowerment? Empirical Evidence from Nepal," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 78(C), pages 360-371.
    16. Cathy Rozel Farnworth & Tahseen Jafry & Preeti Bharati & Lone Badstue & Ashok Yadav, 0. "From Working in the Fields to Taking Control. Towards a Typology of Women's Decision-Making in Wheat in India," The European Journal of Development Research, Palgrave Macmillan;European Association of Development Research and Training Institutes (EADI), vol. 0, pages 1-27.
    17. Choudhuri, Pallavi & Desai, Sonalde, 2020. "Gender inequalities and household fuel choice in India," MPRA Paper 110340, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    18. Sarah Hackfort & Christoph Kubitza & Arnold Opiyo & Anne Musotsi & Susanne Huyskens-Keil, 2024. "African indigenous vegetables, gender, and the political economy of commercialization in Kenya," Agriculture and Human Values, Springer;The Agriculture, Food, & Human Values Society (AFHVS), vol. 41(2), pages 541-559, June.
    19. Suma Scaria, 2014. "A Dictated Space? Women and Their Well-being in a Kerala Village," Indian Journal of Gender Studies, Centre for Women's Development Studies, vol. 21(3), pages 421-449, October.
    20. Birhanu Megersa Lenjiso & Jeroen Smits & Ruerd Ruben, 2016. "Smallholder Milk Market Participation and Intra-household Time Allocation in Ethiopia," The European Journal of Development Research, Palgrave Macmillan;European Association of Development Research and Training Institutes (EADI), vol. 28(5), pages 808-825, November.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:mth:jad888:v:1:y:2015:i:1:p:1-22. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Technical Support Office The email address of this maintainer does not seem to be valid anymore. Please ask Technical Support Office to update the entry or send us the correct address (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.macrothink.org/journal/index.php/jad .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.