• R&D  chain.  It also  monitors changes  in the  research environments at all levels for implications  on strategies and priorities  of different organizations.
• Carry  out  ex ante  and  ex post  research  evaluation for accountability and resource  allocation. This evaluation should  lead  to  developing  appropriate processes  and mechanisms  for allocating  research resources  for maxi- mum effectiveness.
• Improve incentives to generate, access and use new tech- nology. Investments in agricultural R&D can contribute significantly to feeding poor  people. The potential ben- efit can  be greatly  enhanced  if successful partnerships are further  developed.

2.6.3 Dynamics influencing the role of women in agriculture

2.6.3.1 Land and agrarian reforms
According to the first resolution of the United Nations Sub- commission  on  the  Prevention  of Discrimination and  the Protection of  Minorities “continued  discrimination faced by women  in all matters  [related]  to land  and  property is the single most critical factor  in the perpetuation of gender inequality  and poverty” (United Nations, 1995).  Laws and social norms  in many  CWANA  countries  restrict  women’s ability to buy or inherit  land,  particularly agricultural land and resources, negatively affecting women’s participation in agriculture.

In  Iraq,  land  and  agrarian reforms  assigned  plots  to men and women alike and the law guaranteed gender-equal inheritance rights. The state recognized and supported women’s roles as landowners and farmers. (Customary law, however,  often  prevails  over  state  law  and  ownership of land  continues  to  be predominantly exclusive  to  men.)  In Syria, on the contrary, land reform assigned plots only to the male heads of household. Women  became “helpers” rather than farmers in their own right. Their access to agricultural basics was limited and thus they lost independent access to food production and their control  over produce  revenue.

Since women  lack control  of the means for production and entitlement to what  they produce,  their access to loans and  social security  is often  restricted,  their  autonomy and decision-making power  are limited  and  consequently their ability to achieve food security is curtailed.  Women’s limited access to markets  also curtails their control  of farm income. As shown  in a study  on Jordan,  women  working  on land they own, rent or sharecrop, rather  than on household land, are much more likely to engage in marketing activities, con- trol the income earned  on the land and allocate  household expenditures. Agriculture, however, is mainly a male activity in Jordan  and  land  is predominantly owned  by men.  The percentage  of women  farming  their  own  land  is low,  ap- proximately 1%  of Jordanian population and  11%  of the female agricultural labor  force (Flynn and Oldham, 1999).

2.6.3.2 Migration

intensification trends  that  in  Jordan  as  in  Egypt  (Taylor, 1984),  Gaza  (Esim and  Kuttab,  2002),  Lebanon  and  Syria have  caused  an increasing  demand  for women’s  labour  in agriculture (World  Bank,  2005,  2006).  Women  more  and more work as unpaid  family laborers,  their agricultural du- ties added  to their domestic  ones. In some countries  female farmers  have  started  also  working  off-farm  in agriculture since revenue  sent  by migrated  relatives  is often  not  suf- ficient for  survival  and  plots  are  too  small  to  sustain  the family. These situations have led to growing feminization of agriculture with increasing  rates of women  working  in un- paid,  informal  systems. These systems are characterized by gender-based wage differentials, precariousness and lack of social services, all of which contribute to women’s economic vulnerability. The increase  in household workload also in- volves children,  affecting their school attendance, free time and health.

These changes  in the management of rural  households have  not  been  followed  by  adjustments to  legal  rights— such  as  property ownership, assets  entitlements   or  labor rights—or  to the agrarian systems—such  as distribution of agricultural basics, market  arrangements, technology  intro- duction—that generally assume farmers to be male, thus fa- voring their needs, preferences and rights. These inequalities negatively  affect  women’s  agricultural work  and  arguably their agricultural productivity.

Migration also influences intrahousehold dynamics. Women  may gain independence because  of men’s absence. They  participate in  decision  making  by  managing   small household budgets  and  their  mobility  is increased  as they sometimes  go to  the  market  to  sell their  products even if they still rely on male relatives for major  decisions such as the sale of an animal  (cow, calf, sheep) (CNEA, 1996).  Or women  may lose independence if a male relative  manages the  household during  the  absence  of the  migrant  man.  In Syria, women seem to perform most of the agricultural work but  do not  have management or decision-making control, which has remained in the hands of male relatives (Abdelali- Martini et al.,  2003).  A study  on  Egypt  in the  1980s  re- ported  that  only women  in independent households gained more  control  of their  own  lives if their  husband migrated. In extended  families,  their  autonomy was  reduced  by the increased  control  of the mother-in-law (Taylor,  1984).

2.6.3.3 Conflict
Women’s rights to property, access to land and entitlement to agricultural basics are not effectively protected by either legal structures or social norms.  In conflict and postconflict situations, when  the number  of female-headed  households increases, these rights are even more difficult to demand and women’s means for a sustainable livelihood are undermined. Women  thus often resort to working  in the informal  sector, despite  the constraints with  regard  to assets, markets, ser- vices, regulatory frameworks and  the  larger  gender-based wage differential  (Esim and Kuttab,  2002).

According to a study on the Palestinian  conflict, women face the repercussions of the occupation, the gender-based discrimination to property rights  and  the obstacles  due to traditional, patriarchal practices  (Esim and  Kuttab,  2002). Agriculture  is the second most important sector of employ- ment for women, and feminization of agriculture is a grow-