IICA and CORTEVA promote public discussion in Colombia to improve the situation of Rural Women
San Jose, November 19, 2019 (IICA). – The Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture (IICA) and Corteva Agriscience held a round table in Bogotá entitled “Challenges and Opportunities for Rural Women in Colombia. Everyone’s Responsibility.” The aim of the activity was to identify contributions by the main actors in the agriculture sector designed to improve the situation of rural women in Colombia.
The event was also used to commemorate Colombian Women’s Day, and to launch the second edition of the book “Warriors - Rural women around the world” within the country, a publication that has become a benchmark on the subject of the situation of rural women across the world’s five continents. The book’s co-authors include the Vice President of Colombia, Marta Lucía Ramírez de Rincón.
“Warriors - Rural women around the world” also contains articles by the President of the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), Luis Alberto Moreno; the Co-chair of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Melinda Gates; the Vice President for External Affairs and Sustainability of Corteva Agriscience, Dana Bolden; Germany’s Minister of Food and Agriculture, Julia Klöckner; and Brazil’s Minister of Agriculture, Tereza Cristina. The round table and book launch brought together senior Colombian government officials, representatives of agricultural organizations, executives of private companies and members of the media.
The participants in the event included Colombia’s Deputy Minister of Agricultural Affairs, Marcela Ureña; the Head of Rural Women’s Affairs at the Office for Women’s Equity, María del Campo; the Leader in rural women’s issues at the Office for Women’s Equity, Sara Bonilla; President of the Nilo Proasogrago Association of Agroecological Producers (representing Colombia’s women farmers), Liliana Jiménez; Corteva Agriscience’s Operations Manager in Colombia, Carlos Rebolledo; the IICA Representative in Colombia, Humberto Oliveira; Jens Mesa Dishington, Executive President of the National Federation of Oil Palm Growers (Fedepalma) and IICA Goodwill Ambassador; and Azucena Liévano, Chief Editor of Caracol Noticias.
“The Vice President of Colombia, Marta Lucía Ramírez de Rincón makes an important contribution to the book “Warriors - Rural women around the world”. This government is working to close the gaps that exist with Colombia’s rural women warriors,” said Deputy Minister Ureña.
The representatives of both Corteva Agriscience and IICA stressed the importance of empowering women farmers and encouraging more young women to train to work in agriculture, which is called upon to achieve a balance between food production and sustainability, in order to guarantee the supply and preserve the environment.
"Despite being key players in food security, rural women still face widespread discrimination. All of us - private institutions, government agencies, industry, academia and civil society - are duty bound to collaborate with them and become more aware of the important job they do and the challenges they face every day,” observed Rebolledo.
Oliveira pointed out that “the objective of this publication launched by IICA and Corteva is to pay tribute to a key player in food security and the economic and social progress of our continent; and, equally importantly, to promote a public discussion to encourage the implementation of quality policies that will improve the situation of women living in the countryside.”
“Warriors: Rural women around the world” – Download the e-book at: http://ruralwomen.iica.int/