Transforming food systems: a gendered perspective on local agricultural innovation in Cuba

Urban Farm DB summary

A 2023 case study describing two decades of gender-equity work inside Cuba's Project to Strengthen a System of Innovation in Local Agricultural Development (PIAL). The authors note that although Cuba has made significant progress on women's rights and gender equity compared with many countries, women in rural communities and the agricultural sector still face barriers to equal participation and to recognition of the value of their work. PIAL began in 2001 as a participatory plant-breeding initiative to increase the genetic diversity of crops such as maize and beans, then widened its goals to increasing women's participation. Efforts first focused on including women in participatory plant breeding, which let them bring traits they cared about — grain texture, cooking speed, taste — into the selection process; over time women moved into seed bank management, leadership training and small-scale farm-based entrepreneurship. Reported results include economic improvement through diversified livelihoods and social change as women gained recognition as leaders in households and communities. It is a descriptive single-project case study with no control-group measurement of effects.