Exploring the gender dimensions in managing Fall Armyworm

June 11, 2024

The Crawford Fund’s highly sought after Student Awards are one way we support and encourage the next generation of Australians into study, careers and volunteering in international agricultural research.

The awards are funded by our State and Territory Committees and made possible by organisations including ACIAR, international centres, Australian and overseas universities and NGOs who host our awardees.

Sixteen talented university students from around Australia were awarded our 2023 Student Awards. As part of this cohort, we would like to share the experience of Leandra Fernandes, a PhD student at the Centre of Planetary Health and Food Security, Griffith University, who travelled to Timor-Leste and the Solomon Islands as part of her PhD research into understanding the gender dimensions in managing Spodoptera frugiperda or the Fall Armyworm (FAW).

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“The Crawford Fund Student Award helped me address a very important objective of my study, that is, identifying opportunities for promoting the empowerment of women and their inclusion in the implementation of Integrated Pest Management (IPM) measures, which would otherwise not be possible,” said Leandra.

Although the project already had a gender component included in the proposal, the award helped me target a wider audience. For example, in the Solomon Islands, I was able to interview women farmers who have been trained to use IPM for other pests, such as the Coconut Rhinoceros Beetle (CRB) and Giant African Snail (GAS), and this helped me further understand the farmer’s attitudes towards the adoption of sustainable plant pest and disease management through a gender lens she explained.

Inspecting FAW damage in maize crops with women farmers.

“The research conducted in Timor-Leste and the Solomon Islands has provided valuable insights into gender roles and decision-making in maize production and FAW management,” said Leandra.

“Further, this information will also feed into other projects, including the ASEAN FAW Action Plan which, in part, aims to empower women in IPM across Southeast Asia,” she said.

The FAW is a notorious pest of maize and it is recognised as a significant threat to food security. It is native to the Americas and has rapidly made its way worldwide. It was first detected in Australia in March/February of 2020. Around the same time, it was detected in Timor-Leste and Papua New Guinea making its mark in the Pacific. Since then, detections have been made in the Solomon Islands in 2021 and New Zealand in 2022. It is evident from other countries’ experiences that it is hard to eradicate once the pest arrives, and successful management is the only way to live with it. IPM has been identified as a sustainable way to manage FAW, however this requires proactive monitoring and management.

Since its first incursion in 2020, the FAW has been a serious food security threat to Timor- Leste’s smallholder farmers. An agricultural survey of the Solomons in 2017 reported that FAW could impact crops more commonly grown in the Solomons as it is known to have 350 different hosts. Among the important staple and food crops grown in the Solomon Islands, sweet potato, pumpkin, citrus, banana, and papaya are susceptible to FAW.

Leandra used two data collection tools in both countries:

1. A household socio-economic survey was conducted in four municipalities of Timor-Leste (Dili, Ermera, Manufahi and Covalima) and the Guadalcanal province of the Solomon Islands. The survey was administered to the household head, spouse or any member of the family who was actively involved in making farming decisions. Both men and women were surveyed.
2. After conducting the surveys, Leandra identified farmers involved in farming and pest and disease management and asked them if they would be willing to participate in a structured interview.

The surveys asked questions on maize production, FAW management and various household activities, and these questions were asked to both men and women farmers on who performs the role, who makes the decision and how much influence the individual had in making that decision.

“The interviews helped me further understand control strategies used to manage the FAW in more detail and the role of women in managing FAW in Timor-Leste and the Solomon Islands. In the structured interviews, I specifically asked questions about the challenges that farmers faced with the management of the FAW and other plant pests and diseases, other problems that farmers faced with crop production, identifying groups to target for farmer training, pesticide use and the community’s ability to cope with emerging plant pests and diseases and the role of women in plant pest and disease management including decision making,” she said.

“In both countries, particularly the Solomon Islands, I found that men in quite a few households still considered women just to be housewives. However, on further exploring their roles and responsibilities, I found that these women were involved in farming and pest and disease management, in addition to their household responsibilities, much more than men,” she said.

Key findings from Leandra’s research include:

• clear gender differences exist in access to training, preference for pest management methods, and participation in decision-making. For example, in both countries, women farmers have strongly preferred sustainable and non-chemical pest management practices, highlighting the need for more communication and training programs tailored to gender preferences.
• a lack of recognition for the contribution of women farmers who are often overlooked in roles in pest and disease management and household activities. Acknowledging women’s contributions can lead to more inclusive and sustainable farming practices that benefit both target countries.
• limited access to formal training opportunities and technology, such as mobile phones, poses challenges for women farmers, stressing the importance of gender-sensitive approaches in disseminating information.

“When aiming to close the gender gap in farming, it is important to keep in mind that men and women play different roles, have different responsibilities, and different levels of knowledge and involvement in agriculture and pest and disease management. Information and training in pest and disease management typically targeted towards ‘farmers’ does not address the specific informational and contextual needs and constraints of male and female farmers,” explained Leandra.

“Furthermore, the influence of decision-making at the household level is also not considered when designing and implementing pest and disease management strategies. Increased participation of women in household decision-making has been linked to improved household food security,” she said.

“Insights from the study can help inform similar research initiatives that focus on improving the role of women in participation and decision-making along the agricultural value chain in Queensland. Additionally, developing more gender-sensitive training programs and initiatives could help address gender gaps in pay and employability in the agricultural sector here,” she concluded.