Agriculture in the developing world faces formidable challenges, which range from increased food
demand to climate change impacts, and whose scope and complexity are evolving rapidly. The
opportunities to address these challenges through collaborative research are also considerable,
however, and provide grounds for optimism that renewed efforts in agricultural science can succeed. Yet, one especially debilitating limitation of farming in developing countries – the absence
of gender equity – threatens to stifle the impacts of agricultural research on every level – from
seed delivery and livestock value chains to the management of whole rural landscapes.
According to estimates from the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United
Nations (FAO, 2011), roughly half the people engaged in smallholder farming are women
and, because of unequal control over assets and resources, they produce and preserve far
less than they could. Unless ways are found to change this situation, it is hard to imagine how
agriculture can rise fully to the challenges that lie ahea