Dinamiche di genere nella gestione della crisi alimentare. Un’ipotesi di sviluppo dal basso nella filiera del riso lungo la Valle del fiume Senegal

Abstract

Crises, whatever they are, express an unease but at the same time they may provide opportunities to respond to the problems in an alternative and effective way. The analysis of a typically local event, such as that offered by the rice sector developed along the Senegal River Valley, which responded against an external stress of global entity, as the global food prices rising, was the central element of this work. In the investigation of a typical form of family farming, as that represented by farmers organisations, a specific attention to the gender dimension, especially in terms of decision-making power, productivity, and access to productive inputs was given.
In early 2008, the so-called "Global Food Crisis", although it was not the first case of food scarcity in human history, reached its peak. In this context Senegal represents an interesting case study for two reasons: first because is a food import dependent country (especially of Thai rice), particularly exposed to fluctuations in international markets and secondly because at the same time in Senegal there is a local rice production, widespread since colonial times.
It is commonly shared how particularly women and children suffer the most negative effects of food shortages, caused by the price increase of basic goods. The starting point of the research was therefore to investigate changes, in terms of habits and food consumption, which occurred within the sample organisations (and respective households), according to a gender approach. In addition, we analysed if the precautionary and short-term measures arranged at government level were adequate to the inconsiderate increase of the prices. In other words it was investigated if these initiatives really contrasted the phenomenon, or rather if they caused negative consequences, especially for women.

Keywords: gender, food crisis, farmer organisations, Senegal
Parole chiave: genere, crisi alimentare, organizzazioni contadine, Senegal