The outcomes of ensuring women’s access to stress-tolerant variety (STV) seeds and seed preservation training: The cases of India and Bangladesh.
Abstract
In June 2013, the IRRI Gender Research Team, in collaboration with local partners in India and Bangladesh, carried out an experiment. The objectives of the experiment were (1) to assess the outcomes of providing women with access to stress tolerant (submergence, drought and salinity) seeds and seed preservation training and (2) to identify the constraints to women’s participation in seed distribution and training programs. The districts of Titabar and Lakhimpur in Assam, Canning Town and Chinsurah in West Bengal, and Satkhira in Bangladesh were selected to conduct the study. This study was implemented by national agricultural research and extension system (NARES) partners in Assam Agricultural University Rice Research Stations (AAU-RRS) in Titabar and Lakhimpur, Central Soil Salinity Research Institute (CSSRI)-Canning Town, Rice Research Station (RRS) in Chinsurah, and Bangladesh Institute of Nuclear Agriculture (BINA) in Mymensingh (Fig. 1). The experiment was extended to two districts of Eastern Uttar Pradesh (EUP) and one district of Bihar under the EC-IFAD funded project implemented by Grameen Development Services (GDS).