Is the globalization of agriculture changing the role of women? cases of turkey and spain
| Autor | Zeynep Karal Önder, Teresa Rojo, Selda Dudu, Daniel Coq Huelva |
| Páginas | 672-703 |
CAPÍTULO 34
IS THE GLOBALIZATION OF AGRICULTURE
CHANGING THE ROLE OF WOMEN? CASES OF
TURKEY AND SPAIN
ZEYNEP KARAL ÖNDER
Anadolu University
TERESA ROJO
University of Seville
SELDA DUDU
University of Seville
DANIEL COQ HUELVA
University of Seville
1. INTRODUCTION
The globalization of agriculture is referred to as the process of struc-
tural change in agri-food production and marketing systems following
the generalized liberalization of international capital movements and
world agricultural trade in the mid-1990s (WTO Agreements), within
the framework of the information society. In particular, the dynamics
of investment in export-oriented agricultural production, which
emerged with globalization, tended to displace family farming units.
Indirectly, does globalization change the role of women in agriculture
and rural development?
The following pages review the theoretical framework related to the
issues referred to above: agricultural globalization, its impact on family
farms and rural women, and the differences between countries. The fact
that globalization of agriculture tends to displace small farming is a
trend widely studied. There are some studies that focus on the impact
on political elements with food sovereignty (Barry et al., 2020; Turner
et al., 2020) or even resistance through consumption. (Som Castellano,
2017). There is less available research on the specific impact of global-
ization on the employment of women in agriculture, considering
women as the weak part of the small farm family crisis. And very few
studies compare the trends of countries in agrarian globalization in cor-
respondence with women's agricultural employment.
1.1. GENERAL FEATURES OF AGRARIAN GLOBALIZATION
Globalization of agriculture consists of several characteristics, such as
a transition from small family-run farms to an increase in the prevalence
of larger and capitalized farms, a change in food consumption patterns
due to the dominance of transnational agro-food capital in the market
by the increasing role of trade liberalization, an increase in the stand-
ardization of agricultural products, a wider variety of agricultural prod-
ucts, a reduction in the role of governments as a result of open economy,
an increase in the availability of the data on the taste of consumers with
price information, a growth in the interaction between technology, ag-
ricultural production and science, a great increase in agricultural
productivity, and a fervent discussion on the manipulation of living ma-
terials in laboratories (genetically modified organisms (GMOs)
(Coclanis, 2003; Klein & Kerr, 1995; Robinson, 2018; Tanaka, Juska
& Busch, 1999; Ufkes, 1993; Whigham & Acker, 2003).
Technological advances and globalization have enhanced agricultural
productivity and changed the agricultural production system (Alston &
Pardey, 2014; Coclanis, 2003; Pingali, 2007). Thus, an indicator of the
period of agricultural globalization in the countries is the sharp increase
in agri-food production and foreign trade.
Pressure and displacement in small farmers have historical antecedents,
although recent globalization may have accentuated them in an alarm-
ing way, both in terms of the reduction of peasant farms and the esti-
mated impact on the food sovereignty of affected countries.
Since the nineteeth century, researchers have associated the develop-
ment of capitalist relations of agrarian production with a regression of
the position of peasants and small settlers and the strengthening of large
properties (Chayanov, 1986; Kautsky, 1970). And it seems that such
displacement has been aggravated in the last phase of globalized expan-
sion starting in the 1990’s to the extent that it resulted in a recurrent
situation of agrarian profitability crisis that has especially affected
small producers, generating their ruin, and increasing land grab phe-
nomena (McMichael, 2006; Otero, 2012).
Besides, the processes of agricultural modernization that took place
worldwide from the 1950s onwards, based on the so-called Green Rev-
olution, were associated with increasing environmental degradation re-
sulting from the growing use of industrial inputs (fertilizers, pesticides,
etc.), energy and water (Naredo, 2004; Altieri, 1999). Since the 1970s,
there has also been a growing orientation of some middle-income coun-
tries towards exports to global markets (Bureau et al., 2006). This was
accompanied by a new round of agricultural investments aimed at in-
creasing yields based on new developments such as those derived from
biotechnology (Bonnano, 1994).
But the 1990s, with the liberalization of markets, ushered in a new era
of transformation of agricultural systems and employment in rural ar-
eas. Globalization of agriculture involves the worldwide demand and
consumption of agricultural products. As a result, the number of inter-
mediary businesses, the trade volume increased, and consequently,
complex trade networks were born.
Global modernization of agriculture is far from sustainable and has had
strong environmental and socio-economic impacts. In particular, it
globalized agricultural markets, concentrated land property, oriented
crops to export, led to cultivation with genetically modified seeds, and
resorted to the use of abundant chemical nutrients and toxic treatments
(Bello, 2012).
In the case of Spain, the process of agrarian globalization has been as-
sociated with the concentration of agricultural properties and the de-
cline of small farms. Between 2008 and 2019, small farms decreased
from 344 thousand to 278.4 thousand (EPA, INE); that is, they de-
creased at an average rate of 7.5 thousand fewer family farms per year
(Rojo et al., 2021).
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