Gender mainstreaming in agriculture with special reference to Uganda:Challenges and prospects

F. OPIONamulonge Agricultural Animal Production Research Institute (NAARI) P. O. Box 7084, Kampala – Uganda

Abstract Gender refers to the social roles and relations between women and men. This includes the different responsibilitiesof women and men in a given culture or location unlike the sex of men or women which is biologically determined; genderroles of women and men are socially constructed and such roles can change overtime and vary according to geographicallocation. Over seventy-five percent of the population in developing countries live in rural areas where their main employmentis agriculture. Agriculture tasks have been found to be partly or wholly gender specific. In a given culture they aredefined as appropriate to one or the other sex. In most parts of Africa (for example) women have traditionally beenresponsible for producing food crops for the family on land to which they gain access upon marriage but do notnecessarily control. Their fundamental role is securing food for the family. Whereas men are generally responsible forbush clearing and land preparation. Access of resources such as land, credit, technical services and market outlets tendto differ for men and women. Moreover because societies are constantly evolving and adapting to new pressures theallocation of tasks between sexes within the community also undergoes changes. For example as some tasks are mechanizedmen are taking over the roles of women. Whereas women heads of households are taking on management responsibilitiesat home (as well) as men move to urban areas to seek for jobs. It is therefore imperative that when we are consideringagriculture (especially research and extension) that gender concerns be taken into considerations. This ensures that thetechnologies and information going out to the “person” involved in agriculture is relevant and targets the right person atthe right time and place. This paper therefore discusses the challenges and prospects of mainstreaming gender inagriculture (emphasizing research and extension in Uganda). Gender mainstreaming here refers to “the process ofassessing the implication of women and men of any planned action, including legislation, making women’s as well asmen’s concerns and experiences integral dimensions in the design, implementation monitoring evaluation of all agriculturalpolicies and programmes so that women and men benefit equally”. Women and men must be included at all stages of anyproject cycle related to agriculture. This should be done according to their local traditions, socio-economic conditionsand expressed needs.

Key words: Gender, Mainstreaming, Agriculture, Sex, Challenges and Prospects.

Introduction

We take agriculture to mean the production, processingand marketing of crops, livestock and fish from producerto consumer. Agriculture as defined is a major part ofoverall natural resource based activity. Other areas includeforestry and wild life. Agricultural enterprises range fromlarge capital intensive production and processing units tosmall scale activities forming only part of the people’slivelihood strategies in the developed or industrialisedcountries. In contrast the majority of agricultural productsin developing countries are grown, processed and marketedby small family - operated enterprises.

The Uganda economy is currently dominated by theagricultural sector. It accounts for 43 percent of the GrossDomestic Product (GDP), 85 percent of the export earnings,80% of employment and provides most of the raw materialsto the mainly agro-based industries. 85% of the Uganda’spopulation of about 22 million live in rural areas and dependmainly on agriculture for their livelihood. Whereas out of

54% of the world population that live in rural areas 80% aredependent on agriculture (FAO, 1999).

The division of labour between women and men inagricultural production varies considerably from region toregion community to community. However it is usually menwho are responsible for large-scale cash cropping, especiallywhen it is highly mechanized, while women take care ofhousehold food production and small-scale cultivation offood and cash crops, requiring low level technology. Inmost parts of Africa women have traditionally beenresponsible for producing food for the family on land towhich they gain access upon marriage but do not necessarilycontrol. Their fundamental role is in securing for the familyand therefore their role in national food security must bestressed. While men have generally been responsible forbush clearing and land preparation.

In Uganda 72% of all employed women and 90% all ruralwomen are engaged in agriculture compared to 53% for ruralmen (Women in Agriculture, 1985). The ratio of the male tofemale workers in agriculture is estimated at 1:1.5 with womencontributing 70-75% of agricultural labour. The roles that

African Crop Science Conference Proceedings, Vol. 6. 699-703Printed in Uganda. All rights reservedISSN 1023-070X $ 4.00© 2003, African Crop Science Society

700 F. OPIO

men and women play are however, location specific. Withinmain farming system men tend to concentrate on productionof cash crops, while women concentrate on production offood crops (70-80%) mainly for family consumption. Womenalso provide 50% of the labour in cash crop production.Men are mainly involved in livestock keeping (mainly cattle)and fishing, while women concentrate on poultry, fishprocessing and small ruminant management. In additionwomen are involved in reproductive activities particularlycare of the family whereas men are involved in communityactivities. Regarding specific farm operations, women onaverage contribute 55% of land preparation, 65% of planting,85-90% weeding, over 95% of food processing, and a highproportion of rural water and wood - fuel acquisition. It isworth noting that currently, these operations arepredominantly (up to 93%) accomplished using rudimentaryhand tools (the had hoe, axe, panga and machete). Whereproduction operations are mechanized, mainly based onanimal traction, men are the main beneficiaries. Marketingof the farm produce and access to market informationcontinue to be a domain of men, and this situationperpetuates women’s disadvantages in the agriculturalsector.

Importance of gender mainstreaming in agriculture

In this paper Gender Mainstreaming means examining theimplications of gender differences for the success of allplanned actions in agriculture and ensuring that they aretaken into account in all aspects in any project, programmedesign, implementation, monitoring and evaluation so thatresources are targeted to women for activities performed bywomen and to men for activities undertaken by men.

As mentioned above the gender roles of men and womenin different communities vary. Therefore to be able to alleviaterural poverty, promote household food security and increaseproductivity in the agricultural sector, a concerted effort inneeded to gain accurate understanding of the situationsand roles of women and men in agriculture in a givencommunity. This will enable accurate targeting oftechnology, resources and information. This will increasethe relevancy, efficiency and profitability of agriculture. Ifthis is not done we will continue to address the wrongaudience and at wrong time which undermines agriculturaldevelopment.

Prospects of Gender Mainstreaming in Agriculture

Prospects for gender mainstreaming in agriculture have beengood and encouraging in the recent past both internationallyand nationally. These may generally be grouped into threeareas namely: policies, political will and international agenda.In order to effectively mainstream gender in agriculture theremust be policies that support gender. Planners and policymakers are increasingly becoming mindful of the majoraspects of socially ascribed gender function and specificneeds of men and women in agriculture and other areas. In

Uganda, the government has long been committed toimproving the Ugandan women and narrowing “gendergaps” in their lives. The Uganda National Gender Policywas formulated in 1997 under the auspices of Ministry ofGender, Labour and Social Development (MOLGSD). Thispolicy places emphasis on the need for different sectorsand institutions to address gender issues relevant to theirown specific situations. As a result of the overall genderpolicy framework, a gender policy on agriculture wasdeveloped with the help of MOLGSD to support the gendermainstreaming efforts within the sector (MAAIF 1993). ThePoverty Eradication Action Plan (PEAP) as well as the Planof Modernization of Agricultrue (PMA) (MAAIF/MFPED,2000) in compliance with the overall policy framework ofgender mainstreaming, recognize that persistent genderdisparities hamper agricultural productivity, economicefficiency and growth. Hence the National AgriculturalAdvisory Services (NAADS) and NARO (NARO, 2000) intheir plans have recognized the need for addressing genderconcerns in all their activities. The paramount driving forceis the desire to increase relevance, efficiency andeffectiveness in addressing the needs and objectives of allstakeholders.

Integration of gender and social concerns into micro-level policy has now come on the agenda of most bilateraland multilateral donor agencies and international leaders.The World Bank (1992, 2001, Caroline et al 1989), Food andAgriculture Orgnization; (FAO, 1984, 1992, 1999), IFAD,United Nations (UNDP, 1997) to mention but a few. Theinternational research centres (now referred to as “Futureharvest1) have adopted a policy of incorporating of genderconcerns in their activities (Joan and Merrcll Sands, 1998).This means that technologies developed by the centres willbe gender sensitive hence more relevant and effective.

For several years now governments and developmentagencies have given top priority to gender issues indevelopment planning and policies. Gender equity,concerning resource access and allocation as well asopportunities for social and economic advancement, hasbeen a prominent item on the agenda of recent internationalmeetings, which have also investigated the basic linkbetween gender equity and sustainable developmentdefining specific mechanisms and objectives of internationalcooperation. Agriculture has not been neutral to thesepolicies.

International conferences have done a lot to increaseworld awareness of the problems and potential and to pointtowards possible solutions of policy action. Examples whichwere focusing on agriculture include the world conferenceon the Agrarian Reform and Rural Development (WCARRD)in 1979, the first African Crop Science Conference, Uganda(1993), the recently concluded World Food Summit (Rome2002). Of course there have been conference focusing mainlyon women e.g. the 1992 UN conference on environment anddevelopment (UNCED in Rio de Janeiro known as the earthsummit) included gender issues in agenda 21. The worldconference on Human Rights in Vienna in 1993; the

701

Gender mainstreaming in agriculture

international conference on population and development inCairo in 1994, the world summit for social development(Copenhagen 1995) and the 1995 world conference on womenin Beijing.

There have been enabling political environment from mostparts of the world. Gender awareness has been created,building capacity for gender mainstreaming policies, plansand programs both national lower levels. The 2002 WorldFood Summit Declaration and Plan of Action includeimportant commitments for the advancement of rural womenand for gender equality and equity in the agricultural andrural development.

Challenge for Gender Mainstreaming in Agriculture

The challenges of gender mainstreaming in agriculturehave their roots in everyday family life. If pertains to themisconception that gender work relates to women and thatthis poses intrusion in private lives. There is therefore needto change mindset or attitude. The change of peoples’ mindson gender not only taking women to champion gender.There is therefore need to breakdown of male chauvinismso that they too take active participation in gender. Forexample in many cases the leaders champion gendermainstreaming but the grass root still take it as womenissues.

Socio-cultural prejudices and stereotyping are still mainconstraints to women’s participation in the spheres ofpolitical and economic empowerment. For example genderroles related to drought animal power (DAP) are specializedwithout taking into consideration other households rolesthat take up time and overburden women. There are alsotaboos e.g. that food should not be transported by donkeys.Most husbands do not allow their wives to meet/work withmale extension agents. Therefore they may be need to fightcultural practices that directly or indirectly encouragegender inequality.

Despite the increased awareness and the availability ofinformation on existing gender disparities in agriculture, thecurrent extension services have not successfully addressedgender in the design and implementation of the services.Women in particular have limited access to extensionservices due to a number of factors. These include lack ofawareness of different gender roles and needs in thecurricular and training of extension workers. There has alsobeen inadequate gender attention in the development oftechnologies for crops, livestock, fisheries and forestry. Theprovision of agricultural services is male dominated and yetno efforts have been made to train men to work with womenand be aware of the strategic and practical needs of womenwithin agriculture.

Studies have shown that female continue to have limitedaccess to training opportunities because gender insensitivetraining programs. Similarly the planning andimplementation of such programs have largely ignored themultiple roles of women. The assumption that training and

information provided to men will be transferred to womenfarmers in their households does not hold true in most cases.There is need for the new advisory and delivery approachesto take into account the important aspects related toaccessing the poor and vulnerable segments within thefarming communities.

Building adequate confidence among female folk toembrace initiatives towards gender equality so that theycan participate in activities of gender integration. Theproblems with most of the communities in the rural areaswho practice agriculture are predominately uneducated andpoor whose attitude sometimes is hard to change. Therewould need to take a proactive action on adult literacy. Inmost cases you find the women are the least educated in thecommunities and tend to suffer more from lack of information.

Despite the pivoted role-played by women in agriculture,very few of them own/control productive resources. Suchresources are land, credit, technical services, market outlets,information etc. This coupled with their long-term low socio-economic status, renders them generally unable to take keydecisions over use of such resources and benefits accruingfrom farm production. They have therefore not receivedequitable decision making privileges. Hence for women andmen, to have a positive effect on their productivity incomeand food security, agricultural research and extension willhave to take into account gender needs and constraints.

There is scarce attention paid to the roles andresponsibilities men and women when formulatingagricultural and rural development plans and policies. Forexample when extension staff plan to work in a particular arethe time set in most cases is not convenient for women.Therefore you end up having only men attending certainmeetings and the message may not reach the women whoactually may be the right target.

Conclusion

The gender perspective looks at the impact of gender onpeople’s opportunities, social roles and interactions.Successful implementation of the policy, programme andproject goals of international and national organization isdirectly affected by the impact of gender in turn, influencesthe process of social development. Gender being an integralcomponent of every aspect of the economic, social, dailyand private lives of individuals and societies and of thedifferent roles ascribed by society to men and women.

Therefore in order to enhance agricultural developmentthere is need to take into consideration the gender roles ofwomen and men in the different communities to ensure thatpersistent gender disparities are not perpetuated. Theprospects for gender mainstreaming in agriculture have beenshown to be good. However it has been also indicatedthere are challenges that still need to be overcome in orderto effectively mainstream gender in agriculture. The realprogress can only be made if these challenges receive

702 F. OPIO

attention at national and local levels as an intergral part ofthe regular activities ministry officials, developmentplanners, law makers and enforces, project managers,agricultural leaders, local leaders and key groups in the ruralareas.

Definitions

Gender: in this paper refers to the relation between men andwomen both perceptual and material. It does not refer towomen or men per se. Gender is not biologically determinedas a result of sexual characteristics of either women or men,but is constructed socially. It is a central organizing principleof societies and often governs the process of productionand reproduction, consumption and distribution.

Gender roles: are socially ascribed roles of women andmen which vary among different societies and cultures, andages, and during different periods of history. Gender specificroles and responsibilities are often conditional by householdstructure, access to resources, specific impacts of the globaleconomy, and other locally relevant factors such asecological conditions.

Access: is defined as the possibility the capacity of usingthe resource, or its availability.

Control: ownership or the power to decide on the use ofa resource

Gender equity: means addressing the different needs ofwomen and men equity or fairly.

Equal opportunity: women and men should have equalconditions for realizing their full rights and potential tocontribute to national, political, economic social and culturaldevelopment and benefit from results.

References

Carolone O.N. Moser (1989), Gender planning in the thirdworld. Meeting practical and strategic gender needs.World development, Vol, 17, No. 11 pp 1799-1825.

Erika Seki and Sevalyn Sen (1994). Meeting informationneeds on gender issues in inland and small water bodyfisheries. Field document No. 32. Food and AgriculturalOrganization of the United Nations Field Document 1,Harare, Zimbabwe, December 1994.

FAO (1984). Women in Agriculture No. 4. Women inDeveloping Agriculture. In Women in AgricultureProduction and Rural Development Services. HumanResources Institutions and Agarian Reform Division. Pp51.

FAO (1999). Rural producers: Trends, issues and challengesfor socio-economic development. In “Filling the datagap gender-sensitive statistics for agriculturaldevelopment.

FAO (1999). The importance of sex-desegregated data foragricultural and rural development. In “Filling the datagap. Gender sensitive statistics for agriculturaldevelopment.”

FAO (1999). Readily available data at the global and regionallevels. “In filling the data gap. Gender-sensitivestatistics for agricultural development.

FAO/IFAD (2000). IFAD Gender Strengthening Programmefor East and Southern Africa; UGANDA: FieldDiagnostic Study. Pp 50.

FAO: Socio-economic and Gender Analysis Programme(SEAGA). Micro level handbook 189 pp.

Joan Joshi Deborah Merrill-Sands (1998). The Role of Boardsin Addressing Gender Staffing Issues. CGIAR GenderProgramme Working Paper No. 16.

Kathleen Staudt (1995). The impact of development policieson women. In “Africa Women South of the Sahara ed.Margaret Jean Hay and Sharon Stitcher, New YorkLongman. Pp 225-238.

Ministry of Agriculture, Animal Industry and Fisheries(MAAIF), Uganda (1993). Proposed gender orientedpolicy document. As revised by sectoral workshop ongender policies, June 193. Pp 35.

Ministry of Agriculture, Animal Industry and Fisheries(MAAIF), Uganda (1993). Proposed gender orientedpolicy document. As revised by sectoral workshop ongender policies, June 193. Pp 35.

Ministry of Agriculture, Animal Industry and Fisheries(MAAIF), Uganda (1993). Proposed gender orientedpolicy document. As revised by sectoral workshop ongender policies, June 193. Pp 35.

Ministry of Agriculture, Animal Industry and Fisheries(MAAIF); and Ministry of Finance, Planning andEconomic Development (MFPED 2000). Plan formodernization of Agriculture. Eradicating Poverty inUganda. A Government Strategy and OperationalFramework. 170 pp.

Ministry of Women and Youth (1994). A way forward forrural women. A strategy paper for advancement of ruralwomen in Uganda. Presented to a National Workshopat International Conferences Centre, Kampala 24 - 25February, 1994.

Nabasirye Margaret and Sicco Kolijn 1996. Gender inAgricultural Engineering Activities of the Post HarvestProgramme of Uganda. Paper prepared for the workshopon Gender and Agricultural Engineering for Southernand Eastern Africa, Kodoma, Zimbabwe 4-8 March, 1996pp 9.

NARO (2000). The National Agricultural ResearchOrganization. Facing the research challenges for themodernisation of Agriculture. NARO strategy for 200-2010. The National Agricultural Research Organization,Entebbe, Uganda.

Odogola W. and Henriksoon, R. (1991). Post harvestmanagement and storage of maize. Technical system foragriculture AGROTEC/UNDP/OPS.

Rwabeire - Baira J.M. 1995. Stategies for mobilizing andreaching rural communities towards equitabledevelopment. Paper presented to a workshop tointroduce gender oriented policy development to districtofficials.

703

Gender mainstreaming in agriculture

Sara C. Mvududu (1994). Gender issues, constraints andpotentials in Agritex - An overview. AGRITEX - UNDP -FAO.

Susan V. Poats, Marianne Schmunk, and Anita Spring (1988).Gender issues in farming systems, research andextension.

Uganda government. Poverty Eradication Action Plan. Anational challenge for Uganda Vol. 1 - Final Draft.

UNDP (1997). UNDP Gender Policy: Gender MainstreamingGuidance Note 1997.

United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) (1997).UNDP Gender Policy: Gender Mainstreaming Guidance