Women as researchers in raising multi-vegetable gardens in Malwah, Sindh, Pakistan and the potential to build and scale out knowledge.

Co-inquiry research led by women farmers assessed the difference in yields between mulched and non-mulched kitchen gardening plots used for growing multiple types of vegetable crops in Malwah, Sindh, Pakistan. This farmer-led research was part of a broader ‘Adapting to Salinity in the Southern Indus Basin’
(ASSIB) project, which used co-inquiry between researchers and farmers as part of a strategy for building and scaling out knowledge on how to ‘live with salinity’. An impact assessment of the ASSIB project found, among other things, that our approach of Stakeholder Engagement for Research and Learning (SERL)
enhanced the knowledge and capacity of rural women farmers, led to changes in their vegetable cultivation practices, and built confidence for them to share their knowledge with women within and beyond their villages. Here we present an example from the ASSIB project where the co-inquiry research was led by women
farmers living in a salinity-affected area at the tail end of the Malwah distributary. The women found that the highest production of vegetables was obtained from plots that had been mulched while minimum yields were
obtained from non-mulched plots. Bed mulching was beneficial in controlling weeds and conserving soil moisture. These benefits combined to enhance vegetable plant growth and development. The women’s use of mulching and production of organic food that is free from pests and diseases is part of a much-needed shift towards sustainable agriculture. The strategy of growing multiple types of vegetables encouraged and enabled their families to eat a range of fresh vegetables daily for a healthier life. The families also saved money by not
having to buy vegetables and by saving seeds from their crops for use in future cropping seasons. The results we present here demonstrate that farmers can indeed become researchers. We assert that enabling farmers to take a leading role in research can be an effective way to co-create knowledge for living more productively with salinity and has the potential to build and scale out knowledge.