News: Gender Bias Holds Back Africa Women Agricultural Researchers, Business Daily Africa, August 6

A report released in June 2010 by ActionAid International shows that small holder farmers, majority of whom are women, are responsible for 90 percent of food grown in Africa and produce about a half of the world’s food supply. Yet the women scientists are rarely involved in scientific agricultural research or leadership positions in that field.

See Also: Developing More Top African Women Research Scientists, Inter Press Service, August 2

In a tiny village near Kisumu city in Kenya, scientific researcher Mary Anyango Oyunga spends most of her time educating women about something they have always done – grow sweet potatoes. But Oyunga’s message to the female farmers in Kisian village is new, even though it is based on her scientific research findings published in 2009 in the refereed African Journal of Food, Agriculture, Nutrition and Development. For Oyunga this implementation of her research findings is just as important as conducting the research was: "Conducting a study is one important step. But making it real by using the findings as a tool to improve livelihoods of people on the ground is what makes it complete."  And how to go about doing this is one of the skills she acquired after winning a fellowship with the African Women in Agriculture Research and Development (AWARD)programme. The programme brings together African female agricultural research scientists based on intellectual merit from 20 different agricultural science disciplines.

http://www.ipsnews.net/africa/nota.asp?idnews=52353