By Manorama Sunuwar, Gender Specialist UNDP Suriname
Women play a vital role in all three components of food security; which are food availability (production), food access (distribution) and food utilization. They are the one who normally engaged more in subsistence farming than in commercial farming so that they could first feed to their family. Usually, they are the one who brings food to the table for the whole family and they are the ones who eat less than other family members when there is food scarcity. FAO estimates around 60% of undernourished people worldwide are women.
Climate change impact and environmental pollution are the crucial factors which are causing challenges on food security particularly among the vulnerable communities including women and children from a rural area. On the other hand, studies on food security show a strong correlation between food security and women’s empowerment.
As a joint initiative of Ministry of Agriculture, Animal Husbandry and Fisheries, FAO; UNDP Suriname GCCA project and local NGO Kuluyawak Foundation, a food security project titled ‘sustainable poultry production a way to improve nutrition in Apetina’ was implemented to address food security issue in Apetina an indigenous people’s village of Suriname. Because of mercury contamination in many rivers of Sipaliwini by gold mining, fish their major source of protein diet was endangered, and the health of the villagers was seriously threatened. The indigenous village locating in isolation and surrounded by Amazon forest had many challenges to establish a poultry farm. The first challenge was being indigenous people they had no prior experience of rearing domestic animals and birds, and the second challenge – to transport the baby chicks from the city using only means of public transportation by boat with more than a week of travel period.
The project supported to transport around 1000 baby chicks and 77 adult chickens (by air), trained community on rearing chicken, transported equipment and materials to build chicken pens and provided materials for feed production, etc. According to project coordinator Ronny Kranenburg of MoA, both men and women from the community engaged in the project. Men took lead on the construction of the chicken pen while women played a supportive role for this. Similarly, women took lead on rearing chicken and its utilization – children also supported them to feed chicken and put it in the pen from outside. Though the whole community got benefited from the project, women seem to be happier than others.
Ennie Sontowirono of MoA said, “women of the village expressed their acknowledgment and happiness with the project during the Krutu (consultation meeting). One of the women told that they normally do not speak during the Krutu but she could not stay silent when the project was seeking their feedback about poultry farming project. She stressed that women had benefited most from the project as they don’t have to be anxious to manage protein diet like in past days as they were unable to utilize the mercury contaminated fishes from the river nearby.” The women of the village still want to operate the farm in a more systematic way. They are willing to build their capacity on slaughtering and processing method for poultry so that they could confidently serve food to the growing visitors in Apetina.