Farming at the subsistence level can affect food supplies worldwide, said Kitty Cardwell, a research plant pathologist whose work has taken her to areas throughout Africa.

In a speech delivered Tuesday night at the Memorial Union, Cardwell focused on gender and working in agriculture, particularly in Nigeria and Cameroon.

Cardwell works for the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA) in Ibadan, Nigeria, and is a project leader for the Maize IPM Project.

During her lecture, Cardwell spoke of farming practices in different areas within Africa, and explained that gender differences do not affect agriculture significantly.

She said as many women as men farm in Nigeria, and that each person takes care of a different stage of development; for example, men do most of the heavy work, while women do work by hand.

Cardwell also was on a team of pathologists and entomologists who studied fields in Cameroon. She said the team stopped every 20 kilometers within the fields to take samples of soil pH, soil moisture and type, and to check plant growth.

She said the team took surveys to decide which diseases were causing problems in the fields, and also thought of ways to prevent or treat the situation.

Cardwell said she was cautious about using Western technology in Africa. She said fertilizers and chemicals used in the United States, for example, are expensive, and that African farmers have very limited experience with developed technology.

Cardwell said her research shows farming in different regions can affect people around the world.

“We have to understand what our role is. We share the same oceans, the same forests, the same soil; we share those [areas], and we are starting to realize that more and more,” she said.