rush to biofuel market bypasses female workers

[niyad]

Rush to Biofuel Market Bypasses Female Farmers

By Dominique Soguel


Women are most of the developing world's farmers. But they are being left out of the rush to grow lucrative petrol alternatives because of their limited access to land, capital and technology, according to a major study released this week.



(WOMENSENEWS)--The rising global demand for biofuel--one culprit in the global food crisis--would seem at first glance to be a boon to the developing world's female farmers.

After all, women represent between 40 percent and 80 percent of farmers in the developing world, where a rush is on to supply industrialized countries with an alternative to oil, which has spiked to $117 a barrel, up from $100 at the start of the year and under $10 a decade ago.

But a bundle of factors--from restrictive inheritance customs to the intense land pressures exerted by biofuel production--mean female farmers are likely to miss the biofuel bandwagon, according to a study released this week by the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization, based in Rome.

"Women might be limited in their ability to engage in and benefit from biofuel production due to their lack of access to land, capital and technology," says Andrea Rossi, co-author of the report.

In fact, female farmers may be hurt by biofuel trends. That's because governments often divert resources away from food production to expand bio-energy production and target marginal lands, which women more often than men depend on for food, fuel and livestock feed.

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http://www.womensenews.org/article.cfm/dyn/aid/3576/context/cover/