ifoam'96 Book of Abstracts 11th IFOAM Scientific Conference 11-15 August 1996, Copenhagen, Denmark

ECOWEB FRONT PAGE SUBJECT INDEX AUTHOR INDEX

Workshop

Women and Organic Farming W15

South-Africa

This paper considers the role of women within the evolving democratic society in South-Africa with specific reference to organic agriculture and its role in environmental preservation. It argues against developmental methods based on a modernist paradigm and contends that such approaches to development fail to achieve even a minimal »trickle down« developmental effects for rual populations in general and for rual woman in particular. The paper considers the importance of organic agricultural development as opposed to conventional agricultural development and takes as its point of departure, that: 1) development in Africa needs to be approached holistically 2) development should be redefined to ensure that development practices address 3) people's problems including the problems of malnutrition, unemployment and poverty 4) development cannot be considered independently from the need to rejuvenate the 5) environment and to sustain the food supply on the African continent. For this, earth 6) healing farming methods need to be utilised 7) the role of women in ensuring a culture which is in harmony with nature must be recognised.