1. Voluntary guidance tool for the sustainable enhancement of small-scale livestock productivity – Need, scope, nature, and development process is a welcome step
2. Considering samll scale livestock production,particularly small ruminaants & backyard poulty production is mostly in the hands of women-the tasks like cleaning of sheds, feeding/tending of animals including fodder gahtering but limited access to marketing opportunities.Women often dont own the livestock resources with limited rights on earnings from livestock.
3. Social norms in many developing countries often limit their reach to formal sources of information like extension & advisory services.Women have less access to rural advisory and extension services, and those they can access are often not well adapted to their needs and realities reducing their productivity and associated incomes.
I am currently working on a CGIAR Gender Platform supported HER+ project, Bundling socio-technical innovations to empower women as partners and drivers of climate change solutions.The CGIAR Initiative on Gender Equality (HER+: Harnessing Gender and Social Equality for Resilience in Agri-food systems) aims to achieve climate resilience by strengthening gender equality and social inclusion across food systems in the Global South. Under this, we are trying to bundle social innovations alongside technical innovation while communicating livestock innovations to women groups belonging to marginalized sections of society in India.
Various such initiatives can help develop Voluntary guidance tool for the sustainable enhancement of small-scale livestock productivity.
Dr. Mahesh Chander