Social research has provided critical insights into understanding gender and generational gaps and the ways that power relations create differentiated access to agricultural and livestock technologies and services. Many of these technologies and services, such as improved feed options (grass-legume associations, silvo-pastoral systems), improved animal genetics, health and welfare, grazing management and associated water and soil health, and manure management, have the potential to improve livelihoods, sustainability, food security, and generational transfer dynamics. Their adoption contributes to mitigating many of the impacts the livestock sector has on the environment through, for example, reducing greenhouse gas emissions and deforestation, increasing biodiversity, restoration, and land sparing. Likewise, their adoption helps producers adapt to climate change.
Rural women and youth play a pivotal role in the livestock sector, but inequalities restrict decision making to adopt new technologies and reduce the innovation potential related to sustainable livestock farming (including land management) and marketing. Inequalities also put both women and youth into greater risks of food and nutrition insecurity compared to men. We must therefore ensure that interventions to transform the livestock sector do not reinforce inequality and, rather, support progress towards more equitable opportunities for men and women across generations.
In order to bring better technologies and practices to livestock production and improve the quality of life for livestock-oriented communities, we must also understand youth opportunities and constraints in the livestock sector, stemming from and exacerbated by changes in generational transfer, migration to urban centers, and gender and age-based norms. It is important to comprehend how young farmers’ perceptions and values influence land and livestock management and how their social networks, and means to transfer and exchange knowledge can amplify negative, neutral, or positive actions related to (sustainable) land and livestock management.
The overall goal of this collection is to contribute to interdisciplinary research on gender, youth, and social networks, and develop evidence-based practical lessons about how to support the sustainable and inclusive transformation of the livestock sector in the tropics and subtropics. In particular, this Research Topic will focus on:
a) the interlinked roles of social norms, practices, and empowerment, considering intersecting gender and age-based power relations that shape access to and benefit from asset transfers and services within families and communities
b) the ways in which differential access to education, resources, and technologies contribute to the development of sustainable livestock practices
c) practical measures to address young women’s and men’s engagement and aspirations in the livestock sector and sustainable intensification, and the role of research to inform better youth-oriented development, participatory programs, and civic platforms that strengthen their empowerment and voice in decision-making processes
For this Research Topic, we encourage the submission of original empirical research, systematic reviews or reviews, methods, policy and practice reviews, and perspective papers based on current gender and youth research that contributes to the inclusive development of sustainable livestock systems.
The regional focus is on the global tropics and subtropics, in particular Africa, the Americas, and Asia.
We welcome contributions related to:
- Historical perspectives that integrate primary-source readings on the topic that can help map and trace inequality dynamics
– Case studies on the successful integration of gender and youth inclusion approaches that provide clear evidence-based policy lessons and/or improvements of sustainable land management and livestock farming practices
- The generational and generation-based power dynamics that create both opportunities and constraints in (sustainable) livestock systems
- Gender dynamics in the sustainable intensification of the livestock sector: root causes, effects, influence, and opportunities
- - Market-based approaches that aim at closing gender gaps, such as inclusive and sustainable livestock business models and value chains
- Youth and women as agents of change in the transformation towards a more sustainable livestock sector, including land management
- Societal dynamics that play a determinant role in the development of an inclusive and sustainable livestock sector
Social research has provided critical insights into understanding gender and generational gaps and the ways that power relations create differentiated access to agricultural and livestock technologies and services. Many of these technologies and services, such as improved feed options (grass-legume associations, silvo-pastoral systems), improved animal genetics, health and welfare, grazing management and associated water and soil health, and manure management, have the potential to improve livelihoods, sustainability, food security, and generational transfer dynamics. Their adoption contributes to mitigating many of the impacts the livestock sector has on the environment through, for example, reducing greenhouse gas emissions and deforestation, increasing biodiversity, restoration, and land sparing. Likewise, their adoption helps producers adapt to climate change.
Rural women and youth play a pivotal role in the livestock sector, but inequalities restrict decision making to adopt new technologies and reduce the innovation potential related to sustainable livestock farming (including land management) and marketing. Inequalities also put both women and youth into greater risks of food and nutrition insecurity compared to men. We must therefore ensure that interventions to transform the livestock sector do not reinforce inequality and, rather, support progress towards more equitable opportunities for men and women across generations.
In order to bring better technologies and practices to livestock production and improve the quality of life for livestock-oriented communities, we must also understand youth opportunities and constraints in the livestock sector, stemming from and exacerbated by changes in generational transfer, migration to urban centers, and gender and age-based norms. It is important to comprehend how young farmers’ perceptions and values influence land and livestock management and how their social networks, and means to transfer and exchange knowledge can amplify negative, neutral, or positive actions related to (sustainable) land and livestock management.
The overall goal of this collection is to contribute to interdisciplinary research on gender, youth, and social networks, and develop evidence-based practical lessons about how to support the sustainable and inclusive transformation of the livestock sector in the tropics and subtropics. In particular, this Research Topic will focus on:
a) the interlinked roles of social norms, practices, and empowerment, considering intersecting gender and age-based power relations that shape access to and benefit from asset transfers and services within families and communities
b) the ways in which differential access to education, resources, and technologies contribute to the development of sustainable livestock practices
c) practical measures to address young women’s and men’s engagement and aspirations in the livestock sector and sustainable intensification, and the role of research to inform better youth-oriented development, participatory programs, and civic platforms that strengthen their empowerment and voice in decision-making processes
For this Research Topic, we encourage the submission of original empirical research, systematic reviews or reviews, methods, policy and practice reviews, and perspective papers based on current gender and youth research that contributes to the inclusive development of sustainable livestock systems.
The regional focus is on the global tropics and subtropics, in particular Africa, the Americas, and Asia.
We welcome contributions related to:
- Historical perspectives that integrate primary-source readings on the topic that can help map and trace inequality dynamics
– Case studies on the successful integration of gender and youth inclusion approaches that provide clear evidence-based policy lessons and/or improvements of sustainable land management and livestock farming practices
- The generational and generation-based power dynamics that create both opportunities and constraints in (sustainable) livestock systems
- Gender dynamics in the sustainable intensification of the livestock sector: root causes, effects, influence, and opportunities
- - Market-based approaches that aim at closing gender gaps, such as inclusive and sustainable livestock business models and value chains
- Youth and women as agents of change in the transformation towards a more sustainable livestock sector, including land management
- Societal dynamics that play a determinant role in the development of an inclusive and sustainable livestock sector