Integrating Gender In Agricultural Programs
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The document discusses integrating gender into agricultural programs by addressing constraints women face in agriculture. It outlines why focusing on gender is important, then discusses constraints women face in accessing key assets like land, water, livestock, soil fertility, new technologies, extension services, labor, markets, and support services. It provides strategies to alleviate these constraints, like strengthening women's land rights, increasing female extension agents, introducing labor-saving technologies, and investing in market interventions to improve women's access and asset base. Case studies show promising examples of projects that have successfully addressed gender.
Integrating Gender In Agricultural Programs
- 1. Integrating Gender into Agricultural Programs Ruth Meinzen-Dick and Agnes Quisumbing USAID Summer Seminar Series July 29, 2009 Wednesday, September 2, 2009
- 2. Outline of Presentation Why pay attention to gender in agriculture? What constraints do women working in agriculture face? How can they be alleviated? Focus on assets How do we make agriculture more gender-equitable? Implications for the project cycle Page
- 3. Why the concern about gender in agriculture? Simple answer: You cannot address poverty, especially in Africa and South Asia, without addressing gender issues Wednesday, September 2, 2009
- 4. Women, Agriculture & Poverty Reduction Women play key roles in agricultural production, processing & natural resource management Women’s assets and incomes are used to improve the health & food security of their children However, women face numerous constraints in accessing key assets Page
- 5. Women play a key role in agricultural production (FAO 1995) Benin : perform 60-80% of ag. work; 44% of work for HH subsistence Congo: represent 73% of ag. labor force; produce > 80% of food crops Namibia : constitute 59% of population engaged in skilled & subsistence agricultural work Sudan : constitute 80% of farmers in the traditional sector; 49% in the irrigated sector Morocco : 57% of participate in agriculture; 68% in livestock; 46% in vegetable production SE Asia : 90% of rice labor Page
- 6. Women Play Multiple Roles in Agriculture Focus on Africa 80% of Africa’s food is grown by Africa’s 100 million rural women 90% of the work to process Africa’s food (threshing, drying, winnowing, peeling, grating, sieving, etc.) Women do 60% of the work to market Africa’s food Women do 80% of the work to provide proper transport and storage of Africa’s food Page Sources: WB and IFPRI, 1998; 1999
- 7. As caretakers, women provide food and nutrition security to their families Page Research findings show that: Women, relative to men, spend more on food for the family Women’s incomes are more strongly associated with child health and nutrition Source: IFPRI (1995) Country Effect on Ratio of Effect of Women's Income to that of Men's income Kenya Household Calorie Level … Guatemala Food Expenditures 2 Brazil Child weight for height 4.2 Brazil Child Survival 18.2
- 8. While women play important roles in agriculture, they face constraints in access to key assets In Sub-Saharan Africa, women own only 1% of the land In 5 African countries, received < 10% of the credit received by male smallholders Kenya: women contribute 80% labor for food production; receive 7% agricultural extension 15% of the agricultural extension workers globally are women (FAO) Page
- 9. … and to human capital Lower education : 2/3 of illiterate people in the world are women Poor nutrition : ½ African women are anemic: physical productivity, reproductive performance Poor health : Maternal mortality in SSA highest in world (600-1,500/100,000 births) HIV/AIDs Page
- 10. Research has shown that: Households do not act as one when making decisions Improving women’s access to assets can agricultural productivity, food security, and children’s nutrition, health, and education Addressing gender in agricultural projects can sustainability by 16% Page
- 11. Contributions of Women’s Status and Education to Child Malnutrition (1970-95) Page Source: Smith and Haddad 2000 Equalizing women status in SSA would malnutrition in children by 3 % (1.7 million children) Equalizing women status in S Asia would malnutrition in children by 13 % (13.4 million children)
- 12. The Constraints to Women’s Access to Assets for Agriculture and Strategies to Alleviate Constraints Wednesday, September 2, 2009
- 13. Land
- 14. Land Constraint : Women’s weak property and contractual rights to land, both statutory and customary Key strategies : Strengthen property and contractual rights of women and increase knowledge of these rights; rental as well as ownership Promising examples : Knowing more about provisions of Uganda’s land for women’s rights increases the propensity to undertake soil conservation. Legal literacy campaigns can help increase agricultural productivity Land certification in Ethiopia carried out through a low-cost, rapid, and transparent process. Land administration committees at local level required to have at least one female member, and women’s photos on certificates.
- 15. Agricultural project effects on land Key Strategy : Identify key tenure patterns at the onset of projects so that women’s property rights are not inadvertently eroded. Examples from The Gambia Women’s rights to grow swamp rice on communal land disappeared when an irrigation project gave control of the land to male-headed hhs (Carney 1988). Women lost valuable income from communal garden plots when men were encouraged to plant orchards where women were already irrigating (Schroeder 1993). Project to reclaim individually-owned degraded land redistributed the land to those who had provided labor. Since the majority of workers were women, they were 90% of the land beneficiaries (IFAD).
- 16. Water Page
- 17. Water Constraints : Women are the main users of water; but have restricted rights Irrigation typically targets male farmers Strategies: Develop & disseminate small scale water management technologies Look at integration between irrigation and domestic water use Need to increase water rights of women Case Studies: Africa and India: small irrigation schemes successfully managed by women’s groups Page Source: van Koppen 2001
- 18. Livestock Page
- 19. Livestock Constraints : Demand for livestock products expected to double in developing countries in next 20 years Promising Points: Women often choose to invest in livestock Animals under female control more likely to family nutrition than those under male control Strategies : Policies and programs should Protect female ownership and user rights Favor small-scale operations Promote small animals Provide training in group development, production, processing & marketing of animals and animal products Page Source: Miller 2001
- 20. Soil fertility
- 21. Soil fertility Constraint : Gender inequality in access to, or ability to adopt, methods of improving soil fertility Key strategy : Improve poor women’s access to soil fertility improving inputs and technologies Fertilizer and improved seed vouchers Fertilizer-for-work program Microcredit for fertilizer, smaller bag sizes Introduce a cash crop into women’s cropping systems so they can pay for fertilizer use (Gladwin 2002, ed.) Develop and disseminate soil fertility replenishment techniques like biological nitrogen fixation, grain legumes, biomass transfer
- 22. New varieties and technologies
- 23. New varieties and technologies Constraint : Improved varieties and technologies do not take into account women’s needs, preferences, resources. Key Strategy : Involve women at all levels in priority-setting and research In Rwanda, bean varieties selected by women farmers had production increases of up to 38% over breeder–selected varieties and outperformed local mixtures 64-89% of the time (Sperling and Berkowitz 1994). Requires interdisciplinary approaches, station researchers and farmers learn to think of women farmers as experts. See ASTI data on women involvement in agricultural research
- 24. Extension
- 25. Gender composition of extension staff (% of sample) Gender and Governance Author Team, 2009
- 26. Access to agricultural extension and livestock services (% hholds with contract in past year) India Gender and Governance Author Team, 2009
- 27. Page Access to agricultural extension services in Ghana Gender and Governance Author Team, 2009
- 28. Men and women participants in Farmer Field Schools in East Africa Page
- 29. Extension Constraints : Lack of attention to gender in agricultural extension systems and lack of recognition of how women receive, process information Key Strategies: Increase # female extension workers (and adapt practices so they can function) Train male extension agents to work with women Make extension messages easier to understand Farmer field schools, experiential learning ICTs extension directly to women Understand how social networks spread information, link with church groups or other networks that women trust
- 30. Impact of participation in FFS on crop productivity across gender of household head Page
- 31. Labor
- 32. Labor Constraint : Low productivity of women’s labor in agriculture and home production, including food processing and preparation Key Strategy : Introduce labor-saving technologies that reduce women’s time and energy burdens, but design should respect and enhance women’s roles
- 33. Markets
- 34. Markets Constraint : Lack of access to markets and infrastructure High transportation costs or culturally inappropriate transportation (e.g. bicycles); High cost of permits to market goods; Harassment of women by market/health officials; Time burdens that constrain women from seeking best prices Erratic prices leading to marital conflict if husband thinks wife is withholding money Key Strategy : Invest in market-oriented interventions that facilitate women’s market access, strengthen their asset base and address gender norms
- 35. Services and support infrastructure
- 36. Services and Support Infrastructure Constraint : Exclusion of women from community-level service provision and resource distribution Key Strategies : Organize women to increase their control of project benefits and their ability to contribute to their own well-being Forming mixed-sex groups can lead to greater group effectiveness, but promote institutional mechanisms that foster women’s active participation in groups. Provide technical and leadership training to women so that they can perform their roles effectively in groups Time meetings to accommodate women’s workloads; Ensure that all women have opportunities to voice concerns in group meetings, solicit women in project M&E
- 37. How to Make Agriculture Research and Development More Gender-Equitable Implications for the Project Cycle Wednesday, September 2, 2009
- 38. Include Gender at all Stages of the Project Cycle Page Review and analyze information and key indicators, consult stakeholders, identify needs and priorities at national/local level Identify project elements, resources, targeting methods, personnel, budget, formulate implementation plan Identify process and outcome indicators of performance M&E feeds back into design and implementation Establish MIS in line with project activities
- 39. Integrating Gender in Needs Assessment Collect and analyze information about: The status of women and men (broader socio-economic context) Women’s and men’s roles in the project activity Women’s and men’s participation in groups involved in the activity/decision-making about the activity Identify constraints and opportunities for both women and men, which can help in designing an intervention that can address the needs of both. Page
- 40. Address Gender in Project Design Gender considerations will affect choice of : Main approaches/interventions Complementary approaches to specifically address constraints faced by women Targeting mechanism Gender balance of project staff Training of staff Involvement of different stakeholders Partnerships, etc. Page
- 41. Integrating Gender in Implementation Phase Plan to build gender expertise necessary for the project All staff should take ownership of the project’s gender equity goals (don’t leave it to the women) Partnerships with local organizations that have in-depth knowledge of gender issues in the intervention communities Gain support of community gatekeepers (village elders, chiefs, etc.) for the project, including gendered components Gender considerations in staffing can be critical for project acceptability (e.g. Progresa ) Budget adequate resources for gender specific activities Incorporate mechanisms to monitor and address gender backlash/conflict in households and communities Page
- 42. Integrating Gender in Monitoring and Evaluation Develop a rigorous monitoring and evaluation framework that will record and track gender differences in project implementation and results Include all actors—men and women—who can influence or be affected by project performance Page
- 43. Basic Questions for Gender Integration in Programs What different roles/stakes do women and men have in XXX? How might the program affect them differently? Will both men and women realistically be able to participate and to benefit? (look at time, assets) How might differential participation of men, women affect program activities and impact? How could the program contribute to gender equity? Page
- 44. Resources IFPRI Gender tool box: www.ifpri.org/themes/gender/gendertools.asp Gender & Agriculture Sourcebook www.worldbank.org/genderinag FAO website www.fao.org/sd/seaga ADB website: http://www.adb.org/Gender/checklists.asp Page
Editor's Notes
- #7: Note: There is a lot of diversity in farming systems across Africa. Food for Subsistence + market : 3 metric tons/woman/year : 3 metric tons/woman/year
- #9: Despite women’s central role in agricultural production and food security, Women’s access to inputs such as improved seeds, fertilizers, pesticides is limited since they are rarely reached by extension services. Men also choose the tools used for farming including those used by women; women are often denied the use of animal traction due to cultural constraints or men’s doubt that they can handle these tools. Limited access to benefits of research and innovation; women’s roles often ignored in creation of new technologies, etc.
- #10: Despite women’s central role in agricultural production and food security, Women’s access to inputs such as improved seeds, fertilizers, pesticides is limited since they are rarely reached by extension services. Men also choose the tools used for farming including those used by women; women are often denied the use of animal traction due to cultural constraints or men’s doubt that they can handle these tools. Limited access to benefits of research and innovation; women’s roles often ignored in creation of new technologies, etc.
- #11: Natural capital: land, water, trees, livestock, other natural resources Physical capital: infrastructure, buildings, houses, roads, electricity, transportation
- #12: IF STATUS OF MEN AND WOMEN WERE EQUALIZED IN SOUTH ASIA, UNDERWEIGHT RATE AMONG CHILDREN < 3 Y WOULD DROP BY 13 PERCENTAGE POINTS, A REDUCTION OF 13.4 MILLION MALNOURISHED CHILDREN
- #16: In first example, although women benefited from increased economic prosperity as a result of the irrigation project, they became more dependent on male heads of households, providing labor for their land whereas in the past women had usufruct rights of their own. In the second example, the garden plots earned women more income than their husbands earned from the sale of groundnuts (men’s main source of income in the Gambia). However, the shade from the tree canopies blocked the vegetable crops exposure to the sun, thus undermining women’s productivity and usufruct rights to the land. Emphasize that when women lose control of land rights, they withdraw their labor.
- #18: Women use water for domestic uses, irrigation, home gardens, livestock, aquaculture, and forestry Irrigation initiatives – NGOs and others have repeatedly ignored the gendered organization of agriculture, interacting almost exclusively with male farmers
- #19: Women who have access to cash or microcredit often chose to invest in livestock Livestock provides food, micronutrients, cash, draft power, fertilizer, value through reproduction, and status Small animals more likely to be controlled by women than larger animals Last point: these training programs should be either gender-equal or focus on women
- #30: Untargeted dissemination is more likely to benefit men and better-off households; Diffusion of information takes place only in part through formal extension services; social networks play an important role, esp. for women.
- #31: Female participation in FFS was 50% FFS had a significant increase in crop productivity for female headed households in Tanzania, Uganda and all three countries combined Women participants benefited more than men from livestock technologies as well Overall, FFS were more beneficial to women than men participants
- #33: Innovations that increase the productivity of women’s labor can benefit women, but the benefits depend on what activities will replace the hours formerly spent processing and cooking food.
- #36: The picture on the left is tobacco extension session, note that there is only one woman farmer. The picture on the right shows a women’s livestock group with their (female) extension agent. Both pictures are from Malawi in the early 1990s.
- #37: Working through groups is a major mechanism through which outside programs and women themselves can improve the status of women and increase their control of assets/productivity. In fact, the social capital that groups generate is being recognized as an asset in itself.
- #38: How can praticioners and policymakers pay more attention to gender issuesin designing programs and policies And making them more effective in reaching development objectives?