Annexe 1: Country report - Burkina Faso
Annexe 2: Country report - Senegal
Annexe 3: Country report - Uganda
Annex 5: Country report - Zambia
Burkina Faso
1 The introductory and descriptive opening sections of this report are based on information gathered during training sessions in qualitative research methods with the national staff who were to conduct the study (all of whom had deep knowledge of the rural situation), on information collected during individual interviews, and on available literature. Some general information has also been lifted from the results of the Focus Group Discussions with rural people when it was considered that it would best fit in these opening sections.
Context for the Study, its Scope, and Methods
The study was conducted within the context of the IFAD Special Programme for Soil and Water Conservation and Agro-forestry which is operating over a broad area (seven Provinces) of the Central Plateau of the country. This is the most densely populated part of Burkina Faso, and much of the land has suffered, and is continuing to suffer, severe degradation as a result.
The area is extremely poor; according to the IFAD Project document for the Phase II, dated December 1994, per capita income is about US$ 75 per annum, about half of the level of US$ 147 normally considered to be the threshold of poverty.
Soils in the Central Plateau are problematic. They are mainly lateritic, of complex gravely texture, and of generally low fertility, and when dry, they harden and become difficult to work.
The field research for the study was conducted with a team of eight people - five women and three men - made available by the IFAD Project. They received two days of formal workshop-type training and two days of supervised work in the field, after which the team divided into two groups of four. One group remained in the area around Yako, Province of Passoré, while the other went to work in the area around Koudougou, Province of Boulkmiende.
Although the maximum number of participants in a Focus Group Discussion should not normally exceed 12 people, this proved difficult to maintain in the area around Koudougou where, despite having asked the development agent responsible for each village to limit the numbers to 20, who would be divided into two groups of 10 for the discussions, many more women turned up. When they did, groups were further divided, and on some occasions, the facilitator had to double as the observer, which is certainly not ideal. However, it was the only solution in the circumstances and it appears not to have influenced the results of the discussions. For these showed a remarkable degree of homogeneity in, and between, both areas where the research was carried out.
A total of 41 group discussions were conducted, 35 with women, and 6 with men. A total of about 370 people were involved The participants in the group discussions were always asked to bring their production tools to the meeting.
After the training and supervision of the field researchers, the Consultant and the APO held detailed discussions with groups of blacksmiths in Zougoungou, Ouahigonya, and Kombissiri They also had interviews with various people in Government concerned with planning, research, farm mechanization, women's extension services, and credit. A meeting was also held with a women's NGO. Finally, a round-up meeting with the field researchers was held to review, discuss, and note the results of their work.
The Agricultural Production System and Women's Role in it.
Agricultural production is essentially at subsistence level, with significant quantities of produce for sale only in years of favourable rainfall. The situation, and the pressure on the land, are such that there is an increase of migration towards more fertile areas, especially in the east of the country.
The land resources used by each family in the Central Plateau are divided into different plots. The family plot, is where the principle crops are grown, usually staples such as millet, sorghum or maize for consumption "d sale. Part of the family plot is close to the village (champs de case -house plot) while the rest of it may be some distance away (champs de brousse - bush plot) This total area of the family plot averages about 3 ha in the Central Plateau. It is almost invariably under the complete control and management of the head of the family, who is usually male.
Each woman is allocated an individual plot, usually some 500-1,000 sq. m. on which she grows various crops, mostly to provide ingredients for sauces to accompany the family's cereals and also for sale. The women's plots are usually adjacent to the family plots.
Formally reognized women's groups may be allocated a collective plot to work
'Women work their individual plots very early in me moming or late in the afternoon when they don't have other tasks such as cooking and when they are freed by their husbands.'. Conclusion by field research team. |
Many women walk 1-2 hours to reach their family or individual plots. Seen in this context, a bicycle virtually becomes a 'production tool' in the sense that it could save women many hours of walking time in a typical cropping season. But bicycle ownership is very rare among women in the poorer areas. Indeed, whenever a discussion group was held with men, almost all of them rolled up on their bicycles, whereas women almost invariably turned up on foot.
'Women do the work men are in charge.' Statement by extension worker. |
The women are involved in all of the family's agricultural wore The priority is work on the family plot, and women help their husband with all of the operations on this plot, before turnip_ to their own mot. Furthermore. it is usually the women who transport any produce to be sold to market. They are also responsible for the poultry and small ruminants normally kept by the family. In addition, of course, they look after the children and do the household chores. It is generally accepted, and by the men too, that women work much harder than men do.
According to a Ministry of Agriculture and Animal Resources paper of May, 1994, entitled Femmes, Agriculture, et Devéloppement Rural, women make up 86 per cent of the adult rural population. However, within a typical rural family, the men control the financial resources, and women's only direct income comes from the possible sales of surplus from their individual plots.
It is difficult to obtain figures for the use of animal traction in the Central Plateau. Field staff of the IFAD Project estimate that about 5 percent of families own animal draft equipment and animals, while according to a Government spokesman, about 20 percent of the land in the Central Plateau is cultivated with animal traction. The above-mentioned 1994 paper on women and agriculture estimates that, nationwide, some 27 percent of farm families own animal traction equipment. However, this figure includes agricultural areas that are much richer than the Central Plateau.
When animal traction is available, it is controlled by the men, and it is used mainly for primary tillage and inter-row cultivation. When it is not available, direct planting without primary tillage is the norm, except in the case of maize and groundnuts which need a loose and deep seedbed for water retention ant growth. Once the annual rains start, there is great urgency to complete planting for the short cropping season. There is seldom time for land preparation, hence the common practice of direct planting.
The Production Tools Encountered and their Use
The tools found in every group were basically the same. (Details and photographs are provided in Annexe 6)
The tools found everywhere were:
· The daba, (hoe) made by local blacksmiths from scrap metal. The handles of the dabas are invariably short to medium in length compelling their user to bend deeply to use them. In most cases, the handles are cut from trees by the farmers themselves, but in some areas where the blade of the daba is fixed to the handle by a tang that is heated and driven through the wood, dabas are sold by blacksmiths as complete tools. The daba is used for cultivating, bund building, and weeding
· The pioche (pick), also produced by local blacksmiths, has a narrow, chisel point, made from old vehicle leaf springs. The handle is always short. It is used for planting, when it is held in one hand, while a gourd or calabash containing the seed is held in the other. Bent double, the user drives a hole in the soil with the pioche, flicks a seed from the gourd into the hole with the fingers of the other hand, and then presses his/her foot over the hole to fill it.
Harvesting Tools, a variety of knives, sickles, and machetes, most made locally, though machetes were usually imported from Ghana and the Ivory Coast.
Other tools found, but by no means in all groups, were:
· Animal draft implements, produced by local blacksmith and fitted with a duckfoot tine for inter-row work. Plough and ridger bodies are also manufactured locally, but at the time of the study, only duckfoot tines were seen mounted. The design and apparent quality of these animal draft implements varied considerably. Only implements built by blacksmiths were encountered in the field, despite the availability of industrially-produced or imported models. However, these generally cost about twice as much.
· Row markers, to be pulled by hand. Most of these are made of timber cut from trees and left as roundwood. They have three steel spikes driven through the cross member at the desired row spacing, so that when dragged across the field they mark the lines for seeding, thus enabling inter-row weeding using animal traction. Other row markers seen were made of steel and had the marking spikes set at different distances on the top and bottom of the cross member. Thus, by fuming the whole marker over, different line spacings can be marked in the soil.
According to verbal reports, only in one part of Burkina Faso - Manga in the south - are these row markers just beginning to be used to mark, firstly, up and down, and secondly, across the plot at right angles, so that planting can be done on the square. This allows inter-row cultivating with animal traction in both directions and virtually eliminates the considerable work with a daba that is still required for weeding between the plants in the rows when lines are marked in one direction only.
In the 41 groups that participated in the research, only three groups mentioned that they owned an animal-drawn seeder, and one had been broken down for a long time.
Additional items that were mentioned by groups were: wheelbarrows, donkey carts, two-wheeled hand-carts known as pouses-pouses, and bicycles for transport. These items were secondary to the main emphasis of the study and no special attention was given to them.
New Production Techniques that Require New Tools
In quite recent years it has been shown that local placement of farm yard manure and compost, and planting in that mixture before the rains arrive, gives far better results - in terms of plant survival and yield - than traditional planting methods. Known locally as the practice of zaï, it involves digging a hole about 10 cm deep, by 10 cm square, filling it with well-rotted manure and compost, and planting the seed to await the rain. The results are so dramatically visible that the practice is being increasingly adopted in the Central Plateau.
However, according to opinions expressed by mechanization specialists, to practice zaï more efficiently would require some tools that are not yet generally available. Firstly, rakes would be useful for gathering the crop residues that are added to the manure in the pits where it is placed to mature and rot; secondly, forks, preferably with steel tines, for extracting the manure from those pits would facilitate the task. Thirdly, wider use of the existing and available donkey carts would help in the transport of the manure to the planting holes in the field; and finally, it would be easier to dig the planting holes speedily, and to the appropriate shape, depth, and size, with a spade, rather than with a daba. With the exception of the donkey cart, which costs some CFA 200,000 (about US$ 330) the other tools are not generally available in Burkina Faso.
It should be stressed that these ideas did not come from the discussion groups with farming women and men in Burkina Faso, but rather from government and specialist staff.
Cultural and Socio-Economic Considerations
Working posture
'If a woman has not worn out her daba during one season, her husband will think she is lazy.' Comment from a group of blacksmiths. |
The cultural tradition of the Mossi people of the Central Plateau is to cultivate. plant. and weed with short-handled tools that cause them to bend double. No doubt, the short-handled tools of the Plateau Central have evolved to meet the general needs of working the difficult and often hard soils in the area, especially for weeding when sowing has taken place with no seedbed preparation. However, the people recognize that they work in an uncomfortable posture and complain of the back pin it causes.
In some parts of the country, people work standing up with long-handled hoes. This is particularly the case of the Peul people in the north, where the soil is lighter. While soil conditions have certainly affected the evolution of tools and related working posture in the Central Plateau, it is also true that there is today an established cultural attitude that work in the field can only be done properly while bent double. Anything less is laziness.
According to one interviewee, the fact that the Peul people, who work standing up, are primarily herders may add to the perception that it is lazy to work upright, for it is common for fanners in many parts of Africa to think of herdsman as being work-shy.
The Influence of Polygamy
'Sowing is not a problem for me. I have two wives and seven children'. Farmer replying to mechanization specialist talking about the advantages of a hand seeder. |
Polygamy is very common in rural areas of Burkina Faso, and it has an effect on the production technology available to women. For example, when a man has only one wife, and uses animal traction, it is very common for him to work his wife's plot for her But if he has several wives, he seldom works the plots of any of them, fearing that if he does not finish all of them, there would be family strife. Only if the wife of a polygamous husband is going to grow groundnuts on her plot is there any significant chance that he will plough it for her.
To what extent polygamy has an influence on the willingness of a farmer to invest in new technologies is a very interesting - but so far unanswered - question. In simple words, will a farmer 'invest' in another wife or in animal traction, if given the choice? In one scenario, he would marry another wife a a cheap source of labour; in another scenario, he would only marry another wife when he had the real means to do so; and if those means derived from his successful farming, say through using animal traction, more women might benefit from this technology.
Credit
CNCA - National Bank of Agricultural Credit was founded In the mid-1970's as part of an FAO-supported project for animal traction, which had three components: the manufacture of implements, training, and credit. Thus, CNCA began life as part of the Ministry of Agriculture and devoted its main attention to credit for animal traction. However, it was later moved to the Ministry of Finance, since when it has virtually abandoned credit for agricultural production, mainly confining its activities to financing commercial operations. In 1996, only about 1 percent of its total loan portfolio was for activities by women's groups. Overall, according the above-mentioned 1994 Ministry paper on women in agriculture and rural development, less man 5 percent of rural women had benefited from credit, compared to more than 95 percent of men. |
With agriculture mainly at subsistence level, and low cash income, credit is a crucial issue for improving production technology. But credit is only granted to a farmer when he or she has cultivation rights on a reasonably-sized plot of land. In this, women are at a disadvantage: they are seldom recognized as having cultivation rights because the land chief in a village apportions these rights only to men
In general, unless women have grouped together for a cash crop activity - as they have for horticultural produce in a few areas -or for some commercial activity, such as the processing of farm produce for commercial sale, they have no chance of securing credit. Furthermore unless women have formed a group for an activity, they have virtually no say in financial matters of their family, with the result that individual women will almost never seek credit, for they know that they would have no control over reimbursing the loan. In fact, if their husbands needed cash when a credit repayment was due, they would be forced to default.
However, there is a broader issue of credit to farmers in the Central Plateau, whether they are men or women in such a subsistence-based economy, in difficult soil conditions, seriously aggravated by erratic rainfall, there is insufficient regular cash generated to be able to service and pay back loans. Indeed, a spokesman for the Caisse National de Credit Agricole (CNCA) -National Bank of Agricultural Credit - reported that loans for such things as animal traction in the Central Plateau were not economically viable.
Mechanization Policy and Institutional Factors
In general, the area of manually-operated tools for agricultural production has not attracted significant attention in Burkina Faso. The Agricultural Mechanization Service of the Plant Production Division (Ministry of Agriculture and Animal Resources) is working in the areas of motor-powered mechanization and animal traction, but it has never worked in the area of manually-operated equipment, and has no plans to do so.
In connection with animal traction, the Service is developing a cheap seeder - copied from a Bolivian model - that can be attached to the plough beam. It is also working to introduce a single-point ripper - copied from Zambia - which, the staff believe, could bring significant benefits in the difficult soil conditions of the Central Plateau. For example, working a plot up and down and across, at the appropriate planting distance between runs, would create a deep planting hole at each intersection. Manure or fertilizer could be locally applied at each planting point.
The emphasis on animal traction is understandable in the country's circumstances. However, as already mentioned, there are serious constraints to its expansion in the poorer regions due to physical, economic and credit conditions. Indeed, staff of the Agricultural Mechanization Service confirmed the view of the credit services to the effect that, generally, animal traction in the Central Plateau is not viable in strict economic terms. Although it may reduce drudgery, the returns in terms of reliable increased production are insufficient to pay for the investment.
The CNEA made available 1,000 hand-operated plunger-type planters to fanners, and had to take back 840 of them. When asked why this was so, the Director speculated that it might have been because the planter was not suitable for the soil conditions, or that perhaps it was because it could be used standing upright, and that this was contrary to the work tradition of the Mossi people. |
Although there may be other experiences. notably among the numerous NGOs at work in Burkina Faso, the only institution encountered by the Consultant and the APO that has attempted to do anything about manually-operated equipment was the National Centre for Agricultural Equipment (CNEA). This is a State-run operation that produces animal draft implements, carts, pumps, and other tools. Its several attempts to introduce manual seeders and plunger type-planters have not succeeded.
Nor were attempts to introduce foot-operated water pumps successful.. In neither case was there an investigation into the real reasons for the rejections, though it seems from anecdotal evidence that the foot-operated pumps were considered dangerous to women's health during pregnancy, and the force required on the pedal made its use impossible for small children.
There are no institutions in the country with capacity in fields such as ergonomics that could assist the mechanization specialists in developing improved manually-operated tools
Producers of Agricultural Production Tools
Burkina Faso has no industry producing tools on a significant scale. As already mentioned, the state-owned company, CNEA, produces animal traction implements, carts, etc. but sales are decreasing and none of their ploughs or cultivators were seen in the field. (Most in evidence were the donkey carts made by CNEA). As mentioned already, CNEA has also undertaken unsuccessful efforts to introduce manually-operated planters.
The sole providers of hand-tools are local blacksmiths. All of the hand tools that were encountered in the field were made by them. Blacksmiths are often concentrated in villages where clusters of them - up to twelve in number - work together.
Blacksmiths are now also the main producers of animal traction implements. All ploughs/weeders seen in the field were produced by blacksmiths, rather than by industrial producers. One imported plough from Tamale Implement Factory (TIF) in Ghana was seen at a roadside outlet in Yako, but again, none were seen in the hands of farmers.
The only group of hand-tools that are mainly imported are machetes from Ghana and the Ivory Coast and smaller knives from various countries, mostly China. The imported items were not common to all groups.
Quality and Technical Considerations
Blacksmiths use traditional techniques. They work kneeling or squatting on the ground, using a traditional forge and a heavy piece of metal - such as a truck crankshaft or half-shaft - driven into a heavy log in the ground to serve as an anvil. Using these traditional techniques, many blacksmiths manage to produce hand-tools that are quite well made and sell for a low price.
The build-quality of hand-tools varies from blacksmith to blacksmith and seems to depend more on their experience and skills than on the tools and technology available. Thus, the introduction of improved (raised) forges, and items such as Western anvils under a project does not ensure production of higher build-quality. One group of blacksmiths was working with such improved technology but was producing tools of a significantly poorer quality than those found in more traditional forges. The surfaces of their daba blades were rough and their thickness irregular. Greater skills were seen in other blacksmith groups who were producing better quality items, with a lower level of technology.
There are also design deficiencies in animal traction implements. One group of blacksmiths was making plough bodies, to be mounted on the same toolbar as the duckfoot tine. It was not evident how this could be done, but in any case, the toolbar clearly lacked the rigidity to be used for ploughing. The construction' dimensions and proportions of the plough bodies were not in accordance with basic requirements for efficient ploughing and would result in poor performance and high draft. There were cases too where the bolts used to mount the shares to the frog were not countersunk.
Even if the quality and durability of the tools depend partly on the skill with which they are made, the mild steel plate used for soil-engaging parts is bound to give them a relatively short life. Blacksmiths themselves consider the limited availability and accessibility of raw materials of appropriate quality to be their main constraint.
Overall, for the production of more complicated tools and implements, such as those for animal draft, the village blacksmiths' techniques, equipment, skills and knowledge are insufficient For instance, they depend on workshops in major towns/villages where welding can be done for production of the frame of animal traction implements. The blacksmiths themselves produce only the soil engaging parts, mostly duckfoot tines and even wheels.
In sum, if blacksmiths are to produce better animal traction implements, or tools that are more complicated than existing hand-tools, and on a large scale, upgrading of skills, knowledge and equipment is still needed. And even for the hand-tools that they are currently producing, improved skills could be beneficial. Past training programmes for village blacksmiths need to be improved, intensified and expanded.
However, the fact that animal traction implements are now being produced, used, and repaired without any external support, shows that the supply and repair chain is viable as it is now, even if the implements are of low quality.
The Practice and Perceptions of Rural People regarding Production Technology
Some of the factual information that came out of the Focus Group Discussions has been combined with information from interviews and available literature to provide the foregoing general descriptions concerning the agricultural production scene in Burkina Faso.
In addition, the following specific points emerged from the group discussions:
Time Spent by Women Working in the field
Days/year | |
Application of compost and manure |
15-30 |
Land preparation and planting |
20-30 |
Weeding |
60 |
Harvesting |
30 |
The point was made by many groups that they frequently needed to repeat their planting twice, and even three times, when early rains are not followed by full rains.
When groundnuts are grown, the harvest period can extend to as many as 60 days. No specialized groundnuts lifters were seen, but a few groups mentioned that they used a duckfoot tine for the purpose.
Renewal of Tools
The hand-tools are generally renewed annually in the case of the mild-steel daba, and in some cases even twice a year. The pioche, made from leaf springs, lasts 2-3 years. However, they are sharpened annually.
Locally-made plough shares are normally replaced every other year. Sickles last up to 10 years, but with several changes of the wooden handle. Knives often "get lost by the children", but if not, they will be replaced every 2-3 years.
Where Tools are Purchased and at what Cost
Tools are almost invariably bought from local blacksmiths. The figures in the table below provide an overview of the prices being paid by farmers for their tools, as well as prices obtained from dealers and industrial producers. Prices in the area around Koudougou were generally somewhat higher than those around Yako, though there were also differences associated with the particular type of implement. For example, the most expensive daba, ironically dubbed the 'deluxe model' by the research term, was more curved in the blade and was made from heavier-gauge material.
Hand-tools
Tool |
Francs CFA2 |
Tool |
Francs CFA |
Pioche |
250-500 |
Sickle |
600 |
Daba (hoe) |
500-1,000 |
Machete |
500-750 |
Knife |
100-150 |
Row Marker |
750-2,500 |
Animal Draft (donkey)
Type |
Source |
Francs CFA |
Plough/cultivator |
built by local blacksmith |
20-24,000 |
Plough/cultivator |
imported from Ghana |
28,000 |
Plough/cultivator |
built by national farm equipment centre (CNEA) |
54-56,000 |
Other Tools and Implements known by Groups but seldom owned by Group Members
Groups identified seeders, long-handled hoes for removing manure/compost from pits and for digging the holes for it in the fields (pioche de zaï), power-tillers, and tractors.
2 1US$ = CFA Francs 600 approx. (September 1997).
The only variation on a traditional implement - being used in a different part of the country and mentioned by groups - was the long-handled hoe of the Peul (Fulani) people in the north No value-judgement on this was expressed by the groups, but from numerous conversations with many people with intimate knowledge of the country, it seems that the Mossi people believe that it is impossible to work properly standing up. The same people also commented that the soil in the north is lighter, calling for less effort and not needing the purchase that is available through a short-handled hoe.
Who Decides what Tools to Buy
The groups invariably said that it is the man who decides on the tools to be bought, and in most cases that he buys them. Some women said that they might help with the purchase, especially if they had some income form their individual plots. However, it is quite possible that there were socio-cultural reasons for people saying that the full responsibility for decision-making lay with the men, for in many societies it would be indecorous for women to state openly that they played a role in decision-making with their husbands. This would be the case even when, behind closed doors with their husbands, they contributed significantly in the discussions leading to decisions.
Improvements that Women would Like for their Tools
The women stated that their hand-tools were heavy, fragile and tiring to use. They complained of pains in the back and rib-cage during and after their use, to the point where after a long day in the field, they had difficulty sleeping. One women's group only, among the 36, said they would like longer handles on their tools. When pressed as to why they did not have them, since they were made in the village, they replied that their husbands would think them lazy if they worked standing up straight.
The women also complained that hand-tools were slow and time-consuming compared to animal traction
'Animal fraction makes the difference between day and night!'. Statement during a women's discussion group. |
Overall, the women did not identify any practical improvements to their hand tools, or propose that improvements might be possible. Rather. they almost unanimously stated that the solution to their problems could only be achieved through widespread use of animal traction with donkeys. During several discussions, the women stated that they would need three animal-traction packages per group. With these, they would be able to service the needs of all their members.
Willingness to Pay More for Better Tools
There was a general willingness by groups to pay more for better tools, however, their were qualifying comments to the effect that they really must be better.
'Good things sell themselves.' Statement by men's discussion group. |
The Constraints and Opportunities
The determinant factors governing improved production technology for women in Burkina Faso fall under three main categories: socio-cultural, economic, and technical.
Socio-Cultural Factors
Women's lowly place in rural society brings with it many related problems. Especially important is women's lack of formal access to land rights: they do most of the work, but they are basically unpaid farm labour on the land assigned to their husbands. Thus, they have very limited access to cash or credit. In addition, they are seldom part of decision-making processes in the community, and even final decisions regarding the farm tools to be used by them seem to be taken by the men.
This situation seems to be so entrenched that it is beyond individual women to make any impact in changing it. Thus, empowering women through effective groups seems to be the only solution. Furthermore, recognized groups get access to land, even if it is not the best.
It is important to note, however, that men were found to be generally in favour of seeking improvements in the production technology available to women, so any attempts to do so would not necessarily be working in a hostile environment.
The work already being done by NGOs and various institutions in the area of women's groups must clearly be continued and expanded. Women's groups themselves recognize that access to resources, e.g. land and credit, is crucial for their success, as is education to mobilize and empower them, and also to sensitize men to women's capacities and needs.
Women see animal traction as the solution to their production problems. However, the only avenue for making it available to them is through the promotion of viable women's groups, especially when those groups have an activity in cash crops, such as horticulture in some parts of the Central Plateau. Some animal-traction packages could be made available to groups on credit. And following the group responsibility concept pioneered by the Grameen Bank in Bangladesh could give high probability of good loan-recovery rates. It would be worth carrying out a more detailed study on how, precisely, animal traction could be made more accessible to women in Burkina Faso.
Whatever the specific and independent access by women to animal traction in the future, the traditional priority of working the family field first will surely remain in force. This means that animal traction for weeding, even if used by men, could considerably reduce women's work load in the family plots. In general, farmers in Burkina Faso using animal traction cultivate up to four tunes more land than those using hand tools only, so unless animal draft weeding is part of the technology used, the hand weeding task for women is greatly increased The conditions in the Central Plateau may not lend themselves at all times and in all places to the use of animal drawn planters, but where they generally do, any promotion of animal traction should include them and inter-row cultivators. Where they do not, expansion of the existing practice of hand-planting along lines scratched by simple row markers should be energetically encouraged so that animal draft weeding can follow.
The issue of longer handles for hoes - often assumed by outsiders the key to improved posture and less fatigue - appears to be decided by cultural conditioning and tradition in the Central Plateau. The people seem to believe that work can only be effectively done when bent double with a short hoe. Given the relatively heavy and stony soil conditions. this may in fact be true.
Only practical experiments with women in the field could answer this question. A project such as the IFAD supported one that provided the field researchers for this study could easily bring in a few long-handed hoes from the Peul areas to the north, or long hantle-hantled push-pull hoes of the sort widely used in Senegal, and conduct some comparative field trials with women's groups. It seems possible that a long-handled hoe might be suitable for overall weeding and for weeding within the row after an animal-drawn cultivator had worked along it.
Hard Work but Effective Watching women weeding with dabas in crops not planted in rows showed that the short handle allows them to make circular, sweeping movements around individual plants. It would be more difficult to get this precise control with a longer handle. And since the user was already bent double, she could use her other hand to shake soil from the roots of the weeds pulled out by the daba or to remove any soil that had been piled on to the plants. |
Economic
At least in the Central Plateau, where most of the country's farmers live, the agricultural economy is so poor thee hardly any investments in production technology, other than traditional hand-tools can be envisaged. The situation may be different in the cash crop (mainly cotton) areas in the west of the country, but the general conclusion must be that extreme poverty, coupled with erratic rainfall, makes improvements extremely difficult, if they involve higher costs. This is especially so given the widespread opinion that even credit for animal traction is not economically viable in the Central Plateau, at least for individual farmers.
In such a situation of subsistence agriculture with almost no cash income, even when a farmer recognizes that a tool is of higher than normal quality and will perhaps last twice as long, he simply cannot afford the initial outlay. This could be the reason for the fact that virtually all of the animal traction implements seen in the field during the study were the relatively cheap ones built by blacksmiths, though it is not certain that farmers would buy higher quality even if they had the money available.
Technical
The request from women that their hand-tools be lighter does not seem practically possible, for blacksmiths already use as little steel as they can when making them. And higher-quality steel that could be forged into thinner, stronger blades is not available.
The potential for improving the design of hand-tools, in terms of their shape and form, appears limited However, the same is not true for their quality and their durability. Certainly, the lack of quality raw materials is a major constraint, but even without them, better production techniques by blacksmiths could improve working efficiency and durability of the tools.
With regard to the possible introduction, production, and maintenance of improved or more complicated tools, the skills and technology used by blacksmiths at present would be generally insufficient to support them. Hence, any attempt to introduce new tools would need to be entrusted, at least initially, to a semi-industrial concern such as CNEA, working closely with the Division of Mechanization of the Department of Crop Production.
Both for improved hand and animal traction tools, as well as for possible new tools and implements, past training programmes for village blacksmiths need to be improved, intensified and expanded
With regard to possible introduction of hand-operated implements such as planters, wheeled hoes, and the like, the Division of Mechanization could devote some resources to this. In the same way that they are testing and copying animal drawn equipment developed in other countries, they could do the same with manual equipment. Just to cite some examples, there are plunger or jab-type hand planters, manually drawn seeders and wheeled hand hoes in production and use in numerous countries, ranging from Thailand to Zimbabwe, India, and Brazil. However, for this approach to be successful, the tests in the field and possible modifications to the equipment would need to be done in the closest collaboration with the intended users. Participatory qualitative research techniques, such as those used for this study, would be essential.
Members of Field Research Team
The Coordinator for the Study was Mr Fimba Julian Lompo, the Director of the IFAD supported Special Programme for Water and Soil Conservation and Agro-forestry in the Central Plateau
The actual research team was made up of the following people, all of them field staff of the Special Programme.
Mr Mamadou Barry
Ms Noëlie Bauda
Mr Joseph Kiendrébéogo
Ms Sié Orokia
Ms Fousséïna Ouédraogo
Ms Rosalie Ouedraogo
Mr Jean Chrysostome Pizongo
Ms Blandine Tiemtoré
Senegal
Context for the Study, its Scope, and Methods
1 The introductory and descriptive opening sections of this report are based on information gathered during training sessions in qualitative research methods with the national staff who were to conduct the study (all of whom had deep knowledge of the rural situation), on information collected during individual interviews, and on available literature. Some general information has also been lifted from the results of the Focus Group Discussions with rural people when it was considered that it would best fit in these opening sections.
The study was conducted within the context of the two IFAD projects, the Projet de Organisation et Gestion Villagois, and the Projet de Devéloppement de l'Agroforesterie. Field work was conducted in the areas around Kaolack and Diourbel, to the south-east and east of Dakar respectively.
These areas are in the groundout basin of the country, where the soils are generally light and even sandy. According to IFAD-project documents, this is the part of the country most threatened by environmental degradation and desertification. It is densely populated and annual rainfall declined from 700 mm in 1956 to 400 mm in 1985.
The field research for the study was conducted with a team of eight people - four women and four men. The women were field workers from the agro-forestry project, and the men were field workers in the village organization and management project. They received two days of formal workshop-type training and two days of supervised work in the field around Kaolack, after which the team divided into two groups of two couples each. One group remained in the area around Kaolack, while the other went to Diourbel.
A total of 25 focus group discussions were conducted, 18 with women, and 7 with men. A total of over 250 people were involved. The participants in the group discussions were always asked to bring their production tools to the meeting.
After the training and supervision of the field researchers, the Consultant and the APO held detailed discussions with blacksmiths in Kaolack and with other blacksmiths encountered on the roadside. They also held interviews with the following: industrial producers of animal draft equipment and hand tools; NGO's, government staff concerned with agricultural development and women's interests, the Senegalese agricultural research institute, the national agricultural credit organization, and an importer of agricultural equipment.
The Agricultural Production System and Women's Role in it. 2
2 The information provided here is only an outline. For a more detailed account, see the Senegal case study in Gondor and Agricuttural Engineering, FAO/AGSE occasional paper, December 1996.
The basis of the agricultural economy in the area where the research was conducted is groundnut production as a cash crop, with millet, sorghum, and maize as the staple grain crops. Minor cash crops are water melon and sesame.
Typically, there is a family plot of land, controlled by the head of the household, on which all the members of the family contribute their labour. In addition, women normally have smaller individual plots allocated to them by their husbands on which they grow produce for home consumption and sale. They may also have small vegetable gardens for year round cropping when water is available. In some cases, it is the male head of the household who determines what the women grow on their plots.
The whole family must give priority to working on the family plot, and if there is then another male member of the household, say an adult son, his plot is second in line. And it is only after this that the women's plots receive attention. The men prepare and seed these plots with animal traction, beginning with the plot of the first wife when there is more than one. This system means that, in effect and with timeliness is so important in the short cropping cycle, the women's plots may be worked later than would be ideal.
Formally recognized women's groups may be allocated a collective plot to work. However, they are normally assigned poor land, that may be distant from the village; and it is only allocated to them for a season or so at a time, for were they to cultivate the same plot for three seasons, they would acquire the right to do so permanently.
More than half of the farming families cultivate land holdings in excess of 6 ha and on average, there are 10 people in each family. The size of family holdings is decreasing because of population pressure. In recent years, farm incomes have been declining because of poor and irregular rains.
Concerning the contribution of women in farm production, according to several interviewees, there are 'two Senegals': in the south, the women are far more active than the men, whereas in the centre/north, men play the predominant role. In the south, rice growing is the exclusive domain of women. However, even in the centre of the country where the field research took place, women were also very much involved, and their role is constantly increasing as a result of an accelerating male exodus from rural areas. Some 15 per cent of rural families are estimated to be headed by women.
There is generally a division of labour between the sexes. Land clearing is carried out by the men, for it is seen to call for greater strength. Seedbed preparation - which normally involves a single pass with a cultivator to scratch the surface - and seeding are done by the men using animal traction. Inter-row cultivation is done by men or male children, while the hand hoeing that follows is done by both men and women. However, from general observation in the central part of the country, men appear to predominate in this work.
Women play a particularly important part in the harvest, especially of groundnuts. After a man passes an animal-drawn groundnut lifter, the women gather the crop into small piles for collection by the men. Once it has been left to dry for some time, the women thrash and winnow it by hand. a particularly arduous task which also depends on there being a suitable wind. In addition, the women spend further time gleaning in the soil with their hands for any groundnuts still left. These gleaned groundnuts are theirs to consume or sell.
As is usual in Africa, women are also responsible for the poultry and small ruminants normally kept by the family.
Within a typical rural family, the men control the financial resources, and women's only direct income comes from the possible sales of surplus from their individual plots, or from groundnut gleanings.
As an example of unexpected and unwanted reaction to the introduction of new technologies, there is the Senegal case of an improved groundnut litter that left less groundnuts in the soil. This implement was resisted by the women because it would reduce their Income from gleaned groundnuts. |
The Production Tools Encountered and their Use
The tools encountered in each group were basically the same. (Photographs are provided in Annex 6).
Animal Traction
All groups had animal traction implements that included hoes, seeders, and groundnut lifters. In the main, unless they had been built by blacksmiths, they were extremely old, for reasons that will be explained in the next section.
Two basic types of cultivators are the commonest: a spring-tine cultivator, known as the houe sine, and fitted with either chisel points or duckfoot sweeps; a rigid-tine cultivator fitted with duckfoot sweeps, known as the houe occidentals. In the area where the study was conducted, only horses and donkeys are used as draft animals, whereas in the south, oxen are also used
Hand Tools
Among the hand tools, three types of hoe were encountered.
Hilaire. 3 This is by far the commonest hoe. It has a kidney- or heart-shaped blade attached to a very long handle. It is used standing upright and with a horizontal pushing and pulling movement. It is exclusively used for weeding in light sandy soils; it is seldom used in the heavier soil conditions of the south. According to verbal reports, the hilaire was introduced to Senegal some 55-60 years ago. Before that, all weeding was done, bent double or squatting, with short-handled tools.
3 It was not possible to determine the origin of this name. One might speculate that it is a French spelling of the English hiller which is used to describe a certain type of tine fitted to cultivators. The other local names provided in this report are in Wolof.
The handle for the hilaire is the only one that is made by the farmer by cutting it from a suitable tree. Virtually all of the other hand-tools have crafted wooden handles that are made by the country's carpenter caste, known as the Laobé. Tools, apart from the hilaire, are therefore bought by farmers complete with their handles.
Soth-sokh. This hoe is used in a deep squatting position or bent double. It has a horizontal action like a hilaire but is has a very short handle with a crafted pistol-like grip at the end. The flat blade is oval. This hoe is used by men exclusively, particularly the weaker and the elderly. The squatting position is not considered suitable for women. The sokh-sokh is considered to be effective when there is dense weed growth. Today, it is a far less common hoe than the hilaire; in fact, while travelling around the countryside, only one person was seen using one, whereas hundreds of people were seen using hilaires.
Ngos-ngos is a small hoe in the form of a traditional African hoe but with a very short handle, which is usually made of wood The blade of the ngos-ngos is fixed to the handle by a spike (tang) that is heated and driven through the wood. Some ngos-ngos are made with handles of steel tube welded to the blade. There is a tendency to fit longer handles to the ngos-ngos so that it can be used in a more upright position. It is then usually called a daba or a larmet, and it is also used for building bunds
Axes/Cuffing Tools
Traditional axes (khep) in varying sizes are used for cutting shrubs and clearing fields before planting. Machetes (coupe-coupe) were also found. These are imported, generally from Brazil.
Harvesting Tools
A variety of knives and sickles, most made locally.
Rakes and Five-tined Forks
These have come into use in recent years with the expansion in the practice of compost making, though they are also used for raking groundnut haulms during harvest. They are produced by local blacksmiths. The rakes are made from a piece of mild-steel plate from which the gaps between the teeth are cut with a hammer and chisel. The forks are made from round-steel rod duly worked into points. According to some reports, the rakes are especially prone to breakage, though during the group discussions it was said that they could last up to ten years.
Miscellaneous
In one village, an imported European scoop shovel with a D-shaped handle, like that used in Northern Europe for coal, was found. There were also an imported digging hoe and a pick-axe, but none of these appeared to have been used much. Similar implements were not seen in any other villages.
An animal-draft rake, to be mounted on the frame of the spring-timed cultivator, was seen in one village. It was 75 cm wide, with teeth 45 cm long. It was made by a local blacksmith, from steel reinforcing rod, at the request of the farmer.
Mechanization in Senegal - Past and Present Developments
Animal traction was introduced in the early 1960s and is the basis for agricultural production in the country. A state company, Siscomar, was created in 1963 to manufacture implements under licence from a French company. Three sizes and weights of frame were produced for use with horses/donkeys on the one hand, and oxen on the other. They mounted up to three or five tines for cultivating, and various sizes of mouldboard ploughs and ridgers. Seeders were also produced.
This range of equipment was made available to farmers under a credit programme launched by the Government of President Senghor in 1970. About 800,000 units were produced and sold before the credit scheme was abandoned in 1980, by when there were unpaid farmers' debts reportedly in excess of CFA 20 billion. At that time, Siscomar had a production capacity of up to 150,000 units a year.
Siscomar was sold to a group of private entrepreneurs and changed its name to Sismar in 1981. The Government assured it that there would be credit for further purchases of equipment by farmers, but this did not materialize. Thus, from 1980 onwards, virtually no implements built by Sismar were sold in Senegal, except through externally-funded development programmes. The company survived through exports, mainly to the Ivory Coast, and through diversification into other fields, such as manufacture of school furniture.
Meanwhile, blacksmiths began to repair and renovate existing Siscomar implements, so most of them seen in the field were ancient and had been repeatedly patched up. In rarer cases, blacksmiths also build complete implements. Those encountered showed considerable variation; they tended to be copies of copies and mixtures of different models, all produced from scrap metal.
However, at the time of this study, there were prospects for a considerable improvement in the mechanization scene, for in 1997, after some 16 years with practically no credit available, the Government launched its 'Agricultural Programme'. This aims to re-vitalize this seriously depressed sector, which occupies over 70 percent of the population and provides about 30 per cent of export earnings.
With support from World Bank and other lending institutions such as the West African Development Bank, credit and other farming support services are to be regenerated. In the specific field of farm equipment, credit for 5 years at 7½ per cent interest is being introduced. This should open new horizons for updating and improving the implement park, and for making animal traction more available to women.
However, the situation is still complicated by several factors, which in essence are as follows:
· The credit system is based on CNCA providing coupons to farmers who then give them to the manufacturer in exchange for new implements. The manufacturer, once he has delivered the implement to the farmer, presents the coupon with the invoice to CNCA who pay him directly. This is a satisfactory system for the very few industrial manufacturers, but it is not yet clear how blacksmiths, who seldom become involved in paperwork and invoices, can be included in the scheme. According to one interviewee among the manufacturers, CNCA may also be reluctant to provide credit for equipment made by blacksmiths, usually using scrap materials, and for which there is no guarantee of quality.
· Implements are invariably purchased just before the rainy season, and at no other time. This means that manufacturers have to build the implements over a period of several months earlier, say between January and June, and have them ready for delivery in a very concentrated period around July. In 1997, there was a delay in announcing the funds that would be available, and Sismar and another major manufacturer, URPATA Sahel, could not start building implements in time to have sufficient available in stock to meet demand.
· For 1998, there was a further problem. Sismar believed, from a market survey it had conducted, that it could sell 30 - 40,000 animal draft units for the cropping season, worth about CFA 1.5 billion. However, to produce these implements, Sismar needed to order the raw materials in Europe, to a value of about CFA 500 million, in October-November 1997, for delivery in December. CNCA does not begin paying manufacturers on the basis of their coupons for sold implements until about 2 months into the cropping season, i.e. around September. Thus, even with 90-day terms of payment to the European suppliers of the steel, there would be a credit gap of several months. In September 1997, Sismar was looking for the CFA 500 million it needed to buy its raw materials, and it seemed that this aspect has not been taken into account in the Governments plans. Unless a solution were found, the potential market for new implements might not be satisfied; credit would be available to farmers, but the implements would not be.
Cultural and Socio-Economic Considerations
Working posture
Senegal does not have the cultural conditioning found in some countries to the effect that work can only be properly done with a short-handled implement and while bent double. The introduction within living memory of the long-handled hilaire, and its almost total adoption in the areas of the centre and north - where it is particularly suitable because the soils are relatively light - testifies to this openness. In addition, the study team noted while travelling in the countryside that the very short-handled and traditional sokh-sokh was hardly being used for hoeing today, and this was confirmed in the discussion groups, another change that testifies to a level of flexibility and interest in adopting less tiring tools. Animal traction was also adopted very readily and widely in the years after its introduction.
The Senegalese have been consistent travellers for decades, even if only as members of the French army, and perhaps this helped to develop an openness to the outside world, and a readiness for change, even if it happened under duress.
The System of Groupement d'Interêt Economique
Senegal has a system of Economic Interest Groups, known is GIEs. Under this, two or more people can get together to create a GE, and once formed, this gives them formal status, access to credit, and the like. The capital required to create a GE is about CFA 45,000. Women's groups normally form themselves into a GE.
Access to Land and Credit
As already mentioned, credit for agricultural production was basically unavailable in the years 1980-97. But even now, obtaining it depends on being able to provide certain guarantees. the most usual of which is being able to show access to a reasonable area of cropland. Unless they are heads of households or form a GIE, women's lack of access to land automatically debars them from obtaining credit. For this reason, as in many other African countries, women have benefited from credit to a much lesser extent than men.
There is not much point trying to improve production technology for women if they don't have access to/and' Memer of field research team during Focus Group Discussion training. |
Although women's lack of access to land is the main reason for their not being eligible for loans, it was also pointed out by one interviewee that, compared to men, they have less availability of time and other resources that would permit them to embark on the long bureaucratic procedure involved in obtaining credit. For example, a woman living in a rural area will have to make trips to the nearest major town, and possibly spend one or more nights there. This involves costs that she may be unable to meet, as well as an absence from her home and children that may be difficult to organize. Thus, it is extremely difficult for an individual women to obtain credit; only by working through a GE, sharing costs, and relying on group support, can a member of the group undertake the procedures on behalf of the rest and provide the necessary guarantees.
The Caste Systems
Certain occupations in countries of West Africa are subject to a caste system. For example, castes exist for blacksmiths, carpenters (the Laobé mentioned earlier), leather workers, story-tellers/singers, and jewellers. Blacksmiths are on the lowest rung of the social ladder.
That blacksmiths are a caste has importance in a village context, for in effect, their caste is a group with a certain solidarity and commonality of interests. For example, they often share forges and seem to set common prices for the tools they produce. This gives them a degree of power in their relationships with villagers, who depend mainly on them for the tools they need. And it also affects tool-buying habits, in that farmers prefer to buy from the blacksmiths - rather than buying industrially-produced tools - in the interests of harmonious relationships in the village and in order to obtain follow-up repairs and maintenance more easily.
Draft Animals for Women
Horses are the most commonly used draft animals in the central part of the country where the study was conducted. A horse costs from CFA 80 -120,000, whereas a donkey can be bought for CFA 12-30,000. Prices are influenced by the time of year, for no one will sell any draft animal during the cropping season and when fodder is abundant.
Unlike donkeys that manage to survive by browsing on almost any available vegetation, horses are less hardy and are generally fed peanut straw. :This makes it very difficult for women to own horses, for peanut straw belongs to the men, and it is expensive to buy. Thus, if a women manages to acquire a horse, when she needs peanut straw for it, she has to rely on her husband provide it, thereby effectively relinquishing much of her ownership rights in the horse. For this reason, as well as for their lower initial price, donkeys are generally considered to be more suitable for women.
Institutional Aspects
Government Research
ISRA, the Senegalese Institute for Agricultural Research, has a Mechanization Section at its headquarters in Bambey. However, at the time of the visit by the study team, the Section had no professional staff. The head of the Unit had been posted elsewhere, and there was no indication of when he might be replaced.
For this reason, it was difficult to obtain precise information, but it seems that the area of manually-operated or animal traction tools for agricultural production has not attracted significant attention. On the other hand, considerable attention seems to have been given to post-harvest technology. This was also confirmed by URPATA Sahel, initially a manufacturer of grain mills before becoming involved in animal-drawn implements, who stated that they worked closely with ISRA's Mechanization Section in developing their products.
There are no institutions in the country with capacity in fields such as ergonomics that could assist the mechanization specialists in developing improved manually-operated tools
Blacksmith Development and Training
A project called Projet Artisans Metal et Cuir (P.A.M.E.C) is supported by French bilateral aid and is located in Thies.
Government Programmes for Women
The Ministry for Women, Children, and Family is very much interested in technology for women, but so far its programmes and projects in the rural sector have concentrated on postharvest operations and reducing women's work and drudgery on the domestic front, for example through devices to lift water from wells and pumps.
Producers of Tools and Implements
Sismar
This company has already been mentioned in connection with the new credit situation. It has the largest production potential in the country and employs about 100 workers. At its peak in the 1970s, it employed about 1,000.
URPATA/SAHEL
This organization, which produces animal draft implements, mills, thrashers, and the like, merits a short description; for unlike Sismar, which is a commercial operation only, URPATA is also a development organization. Its name is an acronym for the French version of 'Unit for Research, Production and Assistance for Appropriate Technology Adapted to the Sahel'.
It was founded in the early 1990s as a GE by a group of people who had worked in local NGOs. In addition to manufacturing and selling equipment, it provides training and follow-up services. It has received financial support from a number of international NGO donors. This enabled it to set up its production plant and create a revolving fund that provides 3-year credit to purchasers of its products. The plant was deliberately established in a village - N'guekhokh, about an hour's drive from Dakar - where it has created about a hundred jobs. The operation is now commercially viable, with a turnover of CFA Francs 418 million in 1995,496 million in 1996, and an estimated 600 million in 1997.
Sorex-Chim
This is one of two or three small companies in and around Dakar that manufactures and sells hand implements such as hoes, shovels, pick-axes, and manure forks copied from European models.
The hoes seen at Sorex-Chim's sales outlet were long-handled, but instead of having the flat blade for a horizontal pushing-pulling action like the hilaire, they had a blade set more or less at right angles to the handle. The user chops downwards into the soil and pulls the hoe towards him/herself. They were lightweight hoes and made of quality, new materials, but they cost more than twice as much as a hilaire produced by a blacksmith.
According to a Sorex-Chim interviewee, these hoes have only been on the market in quite recent years, and so far they have not been bought by farmers directly; most sales have been to NGOs who then distribute them. However, none of these hoes were encountered during the field work for the study.
Blacksmiths
Blacksmiths in Senegal fall into two broad categories: those working where electricity is available and who have been able to buy an arc welder, and those in remoter villages who have only a forge and hand-tools. The former can and do produce animal traction implements, as well as forging hand-tools, but the latter are confined to making hand-tools.
The blacksmiths generally use scrap for the implements, though some, working within the context of the French supported project based in Thies, are reportedly using new materials.
The animal-draft implements are generally copies of the ones built by Sismar, but with considerable variation.
The Practice and Perceptions of Rural People regarding Production Technology
Some of the factual information that came out of the Focus Group Discussions has been combined with information from interviews and available literature to provide the foregoing general descriptions of the agricultural production and social scene in rural Senegal.
In addition, the following specific points emerged from the group discussions:
Time Spent by Women Working in the field |
Days/year |
Weeding |
60 |
Harvesting, including hand thrashing and winnowing |
90-120 |
Differences in Tools used by Women and Men
The only tool used generally by women in the fields is the hilaire hoe, though a few may use the ngos-ngos, the traditional type of African hoe. A few men still use the sokh-sokh, but the squatting position needed for it is generally seen as being uncomfortable and tiring, hence its tendency to disappear.
It was difficult to obtain a coherent picture of the situation with regard to the use of animal traction by women. Some interviewees among government staff stated that women made extensive use of animal traction, but in the group discussions with the women and men farmers, the contrary was stated. Indeed, those discussions showed that animal traction was the exclusive preserve of men, but with boys also using it for inter-row weeding. It is possible, however, that the situation varies in different regions of the country.
Discussion groups with men revealed the opinion that animal traction tools were too heavy for women, and that they were not trained to use animal traction. However, the commonest hoe, the rigid-tine houe occidentale, is in fact quite light. And if boy children use it, as the consultant and the APO saw for themselves, why not women too?
A possible interpretation of the opinions expressed by the men is that they want to continue to monopolize animal traction, and/or that for historic and cultural reasons it is seen to be their preserve.
A few group discussions with women showed that they wanted access to animal traction, but they repeated the view of the men that the implements were heavy and that they were not trained to use animal traction. A spokeswoman in the Ministry for Women, Children, and Family, when asked for her views on the issue of animal traction for women, said that she thought that women almost certainly would like to use it, if given the chance.
Time and resources only allowed a short period of orientation and training for the research team in the objectives of the study and in the qualitative research method to be used. Overall, they did a truly outstanding job, but they did not delve sufficiently into this issue of women and the use of animal traction during the Focus Group Discussions.
Renewal of Tools
The hand-tools are generally renewed annually, although handles may break and need replacing more frequently. Rakes were said to last up to ten years
Where Tools are Purchased and at what Cost
Tools are almost invariably bought from local blacksmiths. The figures on the next page provide an overview of the prices being paid by farmers for their tools, as well as prices obtained from dealers and industrial producers.
Preference for Industrially- or Blacksmith-Produced Tools
The groups all recognized that the quality of industrially-produced tools was superior, that they performed better and lasted longer. However, they were much more expensive.
Furthermore, as mentioned in the earlier section on the social relationships surrounding the blacksmith caste, farmers prefer to buy from blacksmiths in the interests of harmony in the community and follow up repair and maintenance.
Changes that have taken Place in Hand-Tools and Implements in Past Decades
The only spontaneous change mentioned by the groups was the tendency to fit longer-handles to the ngos-ngos, and the issue of handle-length was evidently recognized as being of importance for comfort and reduced fatigue.
New tools that were identified as having been brought in from outside were the hilaire hoe and animal draft. The animal-draft seeder was mentioned as having made the greatest difference to the production systems. Some women got up from their groups to demonstrate how, prior to the arrival of the seeders, they had planted by making each hole by hand. They showed the action with a ngos-ngos, but mentioned that there had been a special small planting tool, even smaller than the ngos-ngos and known as a konko, which had disappeared with the advent and spread of the seeder.
'When animal-draft planters arrived, and some people started to use them, the others laughed at them and said that they were throwing their precious seed away. But it was not long before everybody wanted one." Statement by participant in a discussion group. |
Other Tools and Implements known by Groups but seldom owned by Group Members
No other hand or animal draft implements were known by the groups, but some mentioned tractors, and ploughs and seed-drills for them, that they had seen elsewhere.
Who Decides what Tools to Buy
According to group discussions and to the research team, it is invariably the man who decides on the tools to be bought, and in most cases he buys them. It was said that he may consult his eldest son, but the women are not involved in the decision-making, though they may contribute to the cost if they have income from their plots. However, the study team thinks it is quite possible that people said this for socio-cultural reasons; for it could well be unseemly in their society to state openly that women play a role in decision-making, whereas behind closed doors with their husbands, they may well contribute significantly to the decisions taken. This was declared to be the case in most of the other countries of the study.
Improvements that Women would like for their Tools
'We had never really thought about trying to improve the tools that we and our women use, and we have no dialogue about this with technicians or blacksmiths.' Mens discussion group near Kaolack |
Longer handles for the ngos-ngos was a common request. These tools are generally bought complete with their handles, and therefore, to obtain longer ones would call for more dialogue between the producers and their clients.
Some groups said that they would like to have wider blades on them, and also on their hilaires.
With regard to animal traction, both men and women's groups identified an improvement they would like in the cultivators/weeders: they would like to be able to alter the working width on the move, as and when the space between the rows becomes narrower or wider, and they would like to be able to do this by simply opening or closing the handles on the implement.
Willingness to Pay More for Better Tools
There was a general willingness by groups to pay more for better tools, provided they in fact performed better. Some men's groups said that they would like women to have access to credit so they could buy better tools.
The Constraints and Opportunities
The determining factors governing improved production technology for women in Senegal fall under two main categories: socio-economic and technical.
Socio-Economic Factors
Women's lack of access to land title, and the fact that most of their work is not remunerated, gives them very limited cash or possibilities for obtaining credit. In addition, they are seldom part of decision-making processes in the community, and even decisions regarding the farm tools to be used by them seem to be taken mainly by the men.
'We would like our women not to have to work in the fields at a/l. We would like to be mechanized so that we can do an the field work and come home in the evening to our wives who only have to look after our homes and children. In that way they would not get old so quickly. Comment during a men's discussion group |
This situation seems to be so entrenched that it is beyond individual women to make any impact in changing it. Thus, empowering women through effective groups and GIEs seems to be the only solution. Furthermore, recognized groups get access to land, even if it is not the best, and even if it is not granted for more than a year at a time. found to be in favour of seeking improvements in the production technology available to women, so any attempts to do so would be working in a favourable environment.
The work already being done by projects, NGOs and various institutions in the area of women's groups must clearly be continued and expanded. Women's groups themselves recognize that access to resources, e.g. land and credit, is crucial for their success, as is education to mobilize and empower them, and also to sensitize men to women's needs and capacities.
Technical
The only opportunity for improving hand-tools lies in the area of quality and handle-length. For reasons explained earlier, people prefer to buy their tools from their local blacksmiths, and therefore these artisans are the key to improvements.
In addition to the obvious area of blacksmith training and development, which needs further reinforcement, it would certainly be worth trying to create more technical dialogue between blacksmiths and their customers. (The case of the customer, cited earlier, who had asked a blacksmith to make him an animal-drawn rake was a rarity, for normally there is no significant consultation).
Development projects - such as the two IFAD ones worked with in Senegal - and government extension services could quite easily organize forums in which blacksmiths, farmers, and technicians could meet and discuss tools, handle length, and the like. And women's groups being formed by NGOs and development programmes could be encouraged to enter into discussion with the blacksmiths supplying their tools. This would be the most obvious way to meet the requests made for longer handles and wider blades in the discussion groups.
For women who grow vegetables, lifting water from wells by hand and carrying it in buckets to the plots is time-consuming and tiring. AnimaI-powered pulley lifts and simple pumps are made in Senegal under the aegis of the French-supported artisan development programme (P.A..M.E.C.). It would also be possible to install a pipe or channel system to take the lifted water by gravity to the plots. However, the introduction of these improvements reverts us to the underlying issue of women's access to credit. Once again, it is only women's groups that have formed GlE's that have any opportunities in this direction. And even then there may be serious problems, for it is not uncommon to find a group of 100 women who have been allocated one hectare of land. Again, the economic viability is so low that credit would not be granted.
Credit is also the factor that limits women's access to animal traction, though for reasons explained earlier in connection with peanut straw, women would in practice not be able to use horses independently. They would, however, be able to use donkeys.
The groundnut harvest is certainly labour intensive and tiring for women, and so are their gleaning operations by hand. One interviewee stated that he had seen women gleaning in the soil with a tablespoon. The issue was not specifically raised by the groups, but one is forced to wonder whether it would not be possible to develop a hand tool that would make this task easier and quicker.
Furthermore, even if threshing and winnowing is technically a post-harvest activity, and therefore beyond the scope of this study, this operation is considered to be gruelling for women and enormously time-consuming. Some years ago, a Brazilian machine was imported which was similar in some ways to a combine harvester. After the groundnuts had been lifted in the normal way and allowed to dry, the machine moved along the row, gathering up the groundnuts and their haulms, thrashing and winnowing them, and depositing the haulms or straw back on the field. Quite apart from the cost of such a machine, it was not suitable because the peanut straw is so valuable as fodder in Senegal.
What is really needed, but what does not exist in Senegal, is a stationary groundnut thrasher that could be bought by groups or contractors.
Members of Field Research Team
The Coordinator for the study was Mr Wally Ndiaye, the Technical Director of the IFAD-supported project for Village Organization and Management based in Kaolack The field researchers named below were drawn from this Project and from the IFAD-supported Agro-Forestry Development Project based in Diourbel. All of the men in the team were from the project based in Kaolack, while the women were from the one in Diourbel.
Mr Balla Moussa Dabo
Ms Arame Fall Dieng
Ms Thioro Ba Fall
Ms Aminata Ndiaye Ka
Mr Babacar Seck Mbaye
Mr Baba Mboup
Ms Fatou Kane Ndiaye
Mr Mamadou Sane
Uganda
1 The introductory and descriptive opening sections of this report are based on information gathered during training sessions in qualitative research methods with the national staff who were to conduct the study (all of whom had deep knowledge of the rural situation), on information collected during individual interviews, and on available literature. Some general information has also been lifted from the results of the Focus Group Discussions with rural people when it was considered that it would best fit in these sections.
Context for the Study, its Scope, and Methods
The field work for the study was coordinated by the Agricultural Engineering and Appropriate Technology Research Institute (AEATRI), which is part of the National Agricultural Research Organization and is also the government facilitating body for the SIDA/FAO FARMESA programme.
The field work for the study in Uganda was conducted in two different parts of the country: the District of Mubende in Central Uganda (to the west of Kampala) and the District of Soroti, in the north-eastern part of the country.
There are distinct differences in the farming systems in these two areas. Mubende is favoured by rainfall throughout most of the year, and by heavy rains in the periods March-April and September-November. The high altitude near the Equator provides a favourable climate with temperatures in the 23-29°C. range. About three-quarters of the population of 580,000 are involved in agriculture, which is mainly at the subsistence level.
The main food crops in Mubende District are plantains (for the staple matoke), finger millet, maize, sweet potatoes, Irish potatoes, and groundouts. The main cash crops are coffee and tea, though some cotton, vanilla, sunflowers and soya beans are also grown. Although livestock exists, it is not an integral part of the farming system.
The soils are generally of medium texture but also stony in some areas. The morphology of the District is varied: much of it is hilly, with small sloping plots, but other areas are flat. The average size of holding is about 3 ha.
The District of Soroti is larger in area than Mubende, but has a smaller population (about 431,000 according to the 1991 survey). It is generally drier than Mubende, but it also has two rainy seasons, in the periods March-May and August-October. The main crops include sorghum, cassava, sweet potatoes, groundnuts, and cow peas, with rice and maize as minor crops. Until the late 1970s, cotton was a very important cash crop in the area, but its role has declined drastically due to its high cost of production and poor marketing infrastructure. In recent years, sunflower, soya beans and a number of what used to be traditional food crops have been assuming increasing cash-earning roles.
The average size of land holding is about 8-12 ha, but the amount of land actually under cultivation has declined significantly as a result of a period of internal strife in the area in the years 1986-1992. More than 80 per cent of households depend on agriculture, usually at subsistence level, for their livelihood. Livestock has always formed a strong part of the farming system in Soroti District, though during the insurgency of recent years in the north, the cattle population has been seriously depleted through rustling by marauding tribes from neighbouring areas. However, there are still an estimated 77,000 head of cattle in the District.
The field research for the study was conducted with a team of eight people - five women and three men. Two of the team were from AEATRI, two were from the Department of Women Studies of Makerere University, and the other four were from the extension services in Mubende and Soroti.
Care was taken to chose people who were fluent in the main local languages of the Districts in which the study was to be conducted. However, given the number of languages in Uganda, and the fact that several may be used in one community, problems could have been expected. Fortunately, only two facilitators reported some language difficulties in one group in Mubende and in one in Soroti.
A total of 26 focus group discussions were conducted, and of these 17 were with women, and 9 with men. A total of about 245 people were involved. The participants in the group discussions were always asked to bring their production tools to the meeting.
The Agricultural Production System and Women's Role in it.
The agricultural production system varies considerably across Uganda's different regions. For example, animal traction first introduced in Tororo Dictrict in the eastern part of the country in 1909, spread from there into the northern regions around Soroti. However, it was then blocked from spreading further west by the tsetse fly and by the shortage of bovines, which were not part of the farming system further west. In the extreme south-west of the country, cattle are so highly prized and regarded that to use them for draft tillage would be unseemly.
'People in the south west look upon cattle like the Hindus in India. It would be an insult to use them to pull a plough!' Comment by member of field research team. |
There is a recent draft proposal to FAO to create an Animal Traction Development Centre in the country. This proposal identifies that only about 27 per cent of Uganda's arable land is under cultivation, and that almost 90 per cent of the land that is cultivated is worked by human labour with hand tools. Only 8 per cent is tilled with animal power and 2 per cent with tractor power.
In most parts of the country, the men play an active role in the clearing of land before primary tillage, and if they have draft animals, they usually do the ploughing. They also help out with most operations for labour-intensive crops such as potatoes. Although women may also participate in land clearing, it is usually after this operation that they become fully involved and indeed often take a leading role.
'For a man, a crop means Income. For a woman, a crop means food. Whenever cash Is involved, men also become involved' Comment by member of field research team. |
In Mubende District, planting in rows is not common. For example, groundnuts are planted randomly, and millet is broadcast. This naturally means that weeding can only be done with hand hoes. Nor is planting in rows universally applied in Soroti District, and where it is, inter-cropping is quite common' which again complicates the control of weeds.
Typically in Uganda, there is a family plot of land, controlled by the head of the household, on which all the members of the family contribute their labour, as a priority. In addition, women normally have smaller individual plots allocated to them by their husbands on which they grow produce for home consumption and some sale. Women are also responsible for most of the poultry and small ruminants normally kept by the family. They also assist with cutting and carrying forage for zero-grazing. The men generally take the responsibility for selling farm produce.
'Men only wait for the end results [of our work] - food at the dining table!.' Comment by a women's discussion group in Mubende. |
Women's groups have been forming in quite recent years. They may borrow land, but they have to pay for it. On occasion they are granted government land
A feature of women's groups in Uganda, and a difference compared with some other countries, is that they usually include a few men. This is generally a positive step because the men become involved in the group, know what is going on, and can mead its causes with other men in the community. And in addition, it may open the door to credit for the group in that men may be persuaded to put up their land as collateral.
The Production Tools Encountered and their Use
Photographs of the tools encountered are provided in Annexe 6.
Animal Traction Implements
In the Mubende District no animal traction implements were found whereas in Soroti they were fairly widespread. Some were imported from India or Brazil. The country's factory producing animal traction implements, the Soroti Agricultural Implements and Machinery Manufacturing Company (SAIMMCO), founded in 1990. is now the main source.
'In the days when we used an A-H 2 seeder for planting, weeding was easy and the yields were higher. ' Comment during a women's discussion group, Soroti |
2 A-H were the brand initials for an engineering company in Soroti which was mainly concerned with equipment for the cotton ginning industry but which also produced animal draft implements.
Animal traction is mainly limited to ploughing, with relatively little use of animal drawn planters, or cultivators/weeders. Some groups mentioned that there were broken down planters, weeders, and ploughs imported from Brazil in the area, and that no spare parts were available to repair them.
Hand Tools
The hoes encountered were all of basically the same, traditional, chop-downwards-and pull type. Curiously, there were few made by local artisans, for it seems that in Uganda, blacksmiths are relatively rare in the rural areas compared to other countries.
The majority of hoes seen had been imported from China, the Cock Brand. Some others seen -Crocodile Brand - were made in a plant at Jinja owned by Chillington of the UK.
The Cock Brand Chinese hoe has an industrially forged eye-ring fitting for the handle. The hoe comes in at least two different weights, 2½ and 3 pounds. There may be additional weights in the range, but these were the only variations actually found. People generally do not know that different weights exist: they simply buy what they find available in their local store or market. In general, the Cock Brand hoes were well thought of, though some damaged and broken ones were brought to the discussion groups.
It was stated by one interviewee that there were as many as five 'fake' Cock Brand hoes sold in Uganda and that these were not as good as the originals. One of these 'fakes', or 'duplicates' as they are more politely termed, is said also to be made in China, while another is said to be made in India The appearance of them all is identical, but the quality of their steel varies, according to the opinions heard
One particular type of hoe that was much praised in the Mubende area was known as the 'Finland hoe'. It is not clear exactly how it got this name, but according to one source it was brought into Uganda under an IFAD project and distributed at a subsidized price. This tool has a socket fitting for the handle, created by folding the same steel plate that forms the blade, and it does not look like the product of industrial production techniques, which mainly turn out hoes with forged ring fittings. However, the Finland hoe was particularly appreciated for the quality of its steel, and many groups commented that they were sorry it was no longer available. They particularly liked it because it was light yet robust, and maintained a sharp cutting edge over time.
Some tools that were shaped like a hoe but which had three or more teeth in place of the hoe blade were seen. These were said to be excellent for some weeding operations, particularly where there were infestations of couch grass, but they were also said to be expensive. Such 'fork-hoes' are quite often lent, or in effect hired out. from one family to another.
'We women often go out as hired labour to well-to-do neighbours in exchange for borrowed tools instead of cash.' Statement during women's discussion group in Mubende. |
Handles for tools are in some cases made by men in the family, or in other cases bought from specialist handle-makers. Tools are very seldom bought complete. Handle length is dictated by personal preference, but in general, handles tend to be medium in length
Small weeding hoes, with very short handles were found in some communities, especially in Soroti District. In addition, for the fine task of weeding millet, the commonly used tool is a strip of flexible steel normally used as a strap for fixing roofing timbers together. It is about 18-20 cm. long and about 2-3 cm. wide. It can be bent into whatever shape is required for scratching around the millet plants. Some groups mentioned that in the extreme north of Uganda, specially-shaped pointed sticks are used for this tedious and back-breaking task.
Axes/Cutting Tools
'The heavy axes have turned out to be tools only for men. Children, especially, cannot use them.' Women's group in Mubende |
Axes in varying sizes are used for cutting shrubs and clearing fields before planting. The axes tended to be very heavy and were used mainly by men. Pangas, or machetes, were also found. The best were said to be those imported from China. Those from India were considered to be of lower quality. The Chillington plant in Jinja also makes machetes but they cannot compete on price with the Chinese imports.
There were traditional curved knives and modem straight-bladed knives. The curved type is a multi-purpose tool that is used for various agriculture practices, as well as for basket-weaving. But today it is being replaced by modern straight-bladed knives, many of them made locally
'Our traditional curved knife used to be given to a girl when she got married, and a/so to any heir as a blessing. It was believed to increase our harvests.' Comment during women's discussion group in Mubende. |
Pruning Tools for Plantains
The tool for cutting old fronds from plantain and banana stems is usually improvised by cutting a small branch from a tree, making a slit through it near one end, pushing a knife through the slit so that the blade protrudes at a right angle to one side, and tying it in place. Reaching up with the stick, the worker places the blade of the knife on the top side of the frond, close to the main stem, and by pulling downwards, cuts it off. The tool can also be assembled so that it cuts when pushed upwards against the base of the frond. Locally-made special tools for this task do exist, but very few were seen.
Tools for Removing Suckers from Plantains and Bananas
Hoes are generally used for this task, which curiously was never mentioned a time-consuming and tiring chore during group discussions. It was only later, when the study had been completed in Uganda, that FAO's Sub-Regional Representative for Southern and Eastern Africa based in Harare, (Victoria Sekitoleko - a Ugandan) mentioned this operation as tedious and that a special hand tool existed for it in Australia.
Harvesting Tools
A variety of knives and sickles were seen. And for harvesting sweet potatoes and yams, a variety of pointed sticks and old spear points fixed to handles were encountered. The traditional hand hoe is also an important tool for the harvesting of tubers and root crops.
Miscellaneous
A few of the groups had rakes, but they were not common.
Cultural and Socio-Economic Considerations
Working posture
'The old hand hoes of the past were not wide enough, had short handles, and caused back pain. That is why most old people from those days have bent backs. Today, you can fit a comfortable handle, and the tools are wide' and more effective compared to the old ones. Comments during a women's discussion group in Soroti. |
Uganda does not have the deep cultural conditioning found in some countries to the effect that work can only be properly done with a short-handled implement and while bent double. Indeed, although no one actually works upright in the areas of the study, it was generally found that people do in fact chose handle lengths that they believe will be the most appropriate for them and for the task to be done. This has not always been so, for in the Soroti area, groups commented that in the past, hoes always had short handles.
Even so, there is a generalized feeling among men that women should work with shorter handles than men do, but there was no rational explanation of why this should be so and therefore the opinion is probably based on cultural conditioning.
In the north of Uganda, the Langi tribe are reported to use long-handled push-pull hoes. Opinions about these varied between the groups in the Soroti area. Some stated they would like to have them but they were not available in their area. Most were less positive, saying they were not used to such hoes and that the handles would be difficult to maintain.
Land Tenure and Credit
Women have virtually no access to land rights, though in theory they can inherit land. Since land rights are the usual collateral requested by credit institutions, the result is that individual women cannot obtain loans for investment in agricultural production technology. Once again, this confirms the importance of the women's group approach, and with the Ugandan practice of including some men in those groups, there does appear to be at least some opportunity for obtaining credit by offering the men's land rights as guarantees.
Draft Animals for Women
In much of Western Uganda, there are taboos against women working with cattle, and they would therefore be automatically debarred from using animal traction with oxen. In the Soroti area, where animal traction is relatively common but is mostly used by men, there is no bar against women using it. The main constraint here seems to be the weight of current animal drawn implements which are too heavy for the average woman. For this reason, AEATRI has initiated work on implements light enough for women, and with draft requirements that can be met by the small East African as well as by donkeys.
Institutional Aspects
AEATRI has been in operation for just over two years. Its overall work programme is determined by a task-force of nine people appointed by the Director General of the National Agricultural Research Organization. Staff of AEATRI have visited similar institutions in Eastern and Southern Africa, Egypt, India, and the Philippines to gain ideas for their own work. They have not, however, been to Senegal, which could provide some interesting examples of implements and of strategies for their development.
AEATRI is developing a range of new hand and animal-drawn tools for tilling, sowing, and for weeding in paddy fields. Staff state that their designs are adaptations from promising technologies seen during their visits to other countries. However, to an outside observer, it appears that quite a lot of original design work is in progress, involving time and effort that could probably be avoided by closer copying and subsequent modification, if necessary, of equipment from other countries.
The Institute has one lady engineer who is to initiate attention to gender matters in its designs. Initial field testing of equipment is conducted in conjunction with other institutions in the country, and if the results are positive, the equipment is then passed to farmers in different areas for their trail and appraisal. Limited resources often hamper the production and distribution of sufficient numbers of the prototypes for farmer evaluation.
Possibilities for Conducting Ergonomic Tests on Hand Tools
Uganda is the only country covered by the study that has the capacity to conduct some ergonomic tests on people while they are actually working. In the early 1980s, the Agricultural Engineering Department of Makerere University did precisely this to determine men and women's energy output in relation to their diet. Oxygen uptake was measured during hoeing in the field. The Department would be willing and able to resume such work, provided it were given the necessary resources - mainly equipment - to begin. Since it is a training institution, it would be able to continue the research, without further assistance, once it had been set up to begin. It would be extremely worthwhile to have data on, for example, the difference in energy expenditure with different weights of hoe, and relate them also to the job performance.
Mechanization Policy
An interviewee from the Agricultural Engineering Department of Makaere University stated that his Departmant had so far paid no specific attention to women's needs. However, he stressed the importance of having those needs taken into account, especially by manufacturers. He said that the national Agricultural Mechanization Strategy now in preparation did include gender issues, but that manufacturers would need to be influenced in the right direction. This might be done by the Ministry of Agriculture, or through such existing bodies as the National Council of Science and Technology, or by creating a national task force on agricultural mechanization that would include manufacturers.
The same interviewee mentioned that the Ministry of Agriculture and its extension services had hitherto downplayed mechanization, but when they had taken any initiatives in that area, it had been focused on tractors, rather than taking a broader perspective that included animal draft and hand tools. Since more than 80 percent of farming operations are still carried out with hand tools, this should be a priority area Research geared directly towards women's needs was also lacking. Current designs of implements and tools are not based on ergonomic principles, he said, and research in this area would be important.
Producers/lmporters of Agricultural Production Tools
Chillington of Jinia (Crocodile Brand)
The Chillington's plant in Jinja that makes Crocodile Brand hand tools is up for sale. It is possible that a consortium, which will include Zimplow of Zimbabwe and Magric Uganda Ltd. will buy it. The plant has closed down one of its production lines but the remaining one can produce 5-6,000 hoes a day in two shifts. Normal production, however, is about 3,000 per day.
The hoe range produced by the Chillington plant includes 1 ½, 2½, and 3 pound models. The staff of the plant state that there is no market for the smallest of these and that they intend to discontinue its production. This is curious because most women's groups said that they would like lighter hoes for weeding.
SAIMMCO (Soroti Agricultural Implements and Machinery Manufacturing Company)
This company was originally founded in 1990, and a full programme of rehabilitation and development of its plant was begun in 1993 with support from the UNDP/UN Capital Development Fund. It is at present owned by the Government and the UNCDF, but it is up for sale as part of the Government's privatization programme. A Dutch development project working in the Soroti area was potential buyer, but the Government would prefer a commercial venture to take it over.
SAIMMCO's production consists of ox-drawn ploughs, a tool bar system which allows the interchange of plough or cultivator bodies, ridgers, harrows, ox-carts, etc.
SAIMMCO has no system of direct contacts with farmers. Its distributors throughout the country and for export are Magric (Uganda) Ltd. The majority of implement sales are to NGOs, and development agencies and projects. These buyers pass them on to farmers, usually under special credit arrangements.
'Weight [of the cultivator] is not a major problem. People just hew to be trained properly to use it.' The Managing Director of SAIMMCO, an expatriate, shortly before a field trial that clearly demonstrated the difficulty, even for men, of lifting the implement to turn on the headland or to dear it of weeds. |
Many farmers complained that the SAIMMCO cultivator was too heavy, a view not shared by SAIMMCO's Managing Director. Nor did he agree that lighter implements were necessary for women, saying that it was only lack of training that prevented women from using them. When they were trained he added they were often better at steering them than men. (The authors wish to emphasize, however, that the main problem is turning the implement on the headland, not controlling it while it is working). Despite the complaints about the heaviness of SAIMMCO implements, they are highly regarded for their quality and performance. Indeed, when one project bought a batch of ploughs from SAIMMCO and imported a similar number from India, there was difficulty in selling the Indian ones.
In the past, the price of an ox plough was about the same as that of an ox, but the shortage of cattle in the area has increased the price of an ox well above that of a plough. Even so, the plough, costing about Uganda Shillings 115,000 (US$ 105), is beyond the reach of many farmers.
'If you have nothing, anything is expensive!' Managing Director of SAIMMCO |
The Practice and Perceptions of Rural People regarding Production Technology
In addition to the general foregoing information, the Focus Group Discussions produced the following specific information:
Time Spent by Women Working in the field
The two cropping cycles in both Mubende and Soroti made this information more difficult to obtain than in countries with a single rainy season. There were quite wide variations in the figures that groups came up with. The information provided below is based on an attempt to reach some sort of average indications, for which the more extreme figures - on one occasion totalling more days than there are in a year - have been discarded.
Mubende District - two cropping cycles |
Days/vear |
Land preparation 3 |
60-90 |
Planting/Sowing |
60-90 |
Weeding |
60-120 |
Harvesting |
40-100 |
3 It is possible that some of the days for land preparation and for sowing/planting overlap, in the sense that the two operations are conducted to a certain extent concurrently.
Soroti District
Figures provided by groups in Soroti were often for the number of days for a group of people, rather than individuals. For example, they stated, for cultivation, 'Group work (11 persons) - 7 days' and for 'Weeding millet - group (12 persons) - 7 days'. Extrapolating from this information shows that the figures do not vary significantly from those in the Mubende District, with the exception that when animal traction is available, there is a significant reduction in time taken for land preparation (primary tillage). For example, after considering the time taken for their land preparation, one group stated that it took one person 60 days and that she might 'even fail to finish and abandon part of the plot', whereas with an ox drawn plough 'it would take 3 days'.
Women's Hardest and most Tiring Tasks in the Field
The majority in both Mubende and Soroti Districts stated that land preparation before seeding, if using hand tools, was their hardest task, mainly because of the large and tough grasses, such as couch, to be removed. A commonly expressed opinion was that when animal traction was available, there was major relief in the drudgery of land preparation.
'It is weeding mat almost kills women!' Comment by men's discussion group in Soroti District |
Weeding the crops was identified as the next most arduous job, though harvesting, especially of cereals, was also rated by many groups as being about as tiring and time-consuming. Many men's groups mentioned weeding as being particularly hard on women.
Differences in Tools used by Women and Men
The men generally made greater use of axes and pangas (machetes) than women because of their responsibility for land clearing. In the Mubende District, there were no significant differences m the hoes used by men and women, though children generally use hoes that have become smaller through wear. In Soroti there was a marked tendency for women to use smaller lighter hoes than men and men generally stated that women should have lighter tools. An exception, and a minority opinion, appeared in one men's group which did not support the need for difference between women and men's tools, saying that it would double the expense for the men. who buy the tools.
'We buy the same hoes and tools and when they get worn, we pass them to the women.' Comments by men during discussion groups in Soroti 'Our men never know or learn of our [farm] needs." Women's group in Mubende. |
'We have seen pictures of animal traction in our children's' school books, but that is all we know about ft.' 'We do not know about draft animals. We have never seen them or the implements, and we cannot say how useful they might be to lighten our work.' Comments during women's discussion groups in Mubende District. 'Where animal draft power is available, there is food: there is no famine!' Comment by women's group in Soroti expense for me men, who buy the tools. |
With regard to animal traction, in the Mubende District people knew very little about it. However, there was much interest in learning more and in seeing it in practice. Some groups expressed doubts about the possible effectiveness of animal traction in their stony land.
In the Soroti area, a significant proportion of women are already involved with animal traction. All groups expressed positive views about it, saying for example, that it allowed larger areas to be opened up, that it is faster, that it reduces women's workload by transferring the effort to the animals, that it needs fewer people and therefore saves human labour, that it turns the soil well and deep, that it increases production, and so on.
Many groups reported on the shortage of suitable and trained oxen for animal traction, so making it necessary to carry out many farm operations by hand. People said they could not sit and wait to hire the few oxen available; they had to work by hand to catch the rainy seasons properly for their crops.
One women's group identified their fear of oxen as a limitation that they must overcome. Many groups expressed the need for planters and cultivators/weeders in addition to ploughs.
Overall, women want to become more involved with animal traction. This is supported by the men in the area who stress the need to train women in animal draft power. However, some men also felt that this proposal should not come directly from them, for the women might take it as an attempt to get them to do even more work. Men and women's groups also expressed the reservation that women should not use animal traction when they are pregnant, or when there are tree stumps in the ground, for they might be injured. Support for using donkeys as opposed to oxen was also expressed.
Renewal of Tools
In the Mubende area, about half of the groups stated that they bought new hoes every year. The other half said they did so every 1 ½ -3 years. New pangas were generally bought every 4-5 years. Smaller tools like knives tended to get lost and were replaced every 1-2 years.
The situation in Soroti district was very similar, but the groups were more specific in saying that after the 1-3 years initial use of a hand hoe it was worm to the point where it became a weeding hoe.
With regard to the animal traction implements, the soil engaging points of the ploughs have a relatively short life; shares and landsides may need to be replaced every 1-3 months, and even the land wheel may need replacing as frequently. Some groups said these items lasted a year or so, depending on soil type.
The ploughs have no rear wheel to assist transport to and from the field, which may be a considerable distance away. Farmers cannot hold the plough in a raised position for such long periods, so they lie the plough over to the right and it simply drags along. This rapidly wears out the right handle. Government extension agents have recently started to promote the transporting of ploughs on wooden sledges to avoid this problem.
Where Tools are Purchased and at what Cost
Tools are usually purchased at the stores or markets in the nearest town. Their costs are as set out in the table on the next page.
Preference for Industrially- or Blacksmith-Produced Tools
In most of the communities in Mubende there was no blacksmith, so all of the tools were industrially-produced or imported. In those that did have blacksmiths, it was stated that they only made knives and that they were inferior to imports. Only one group said they preferred locally-produced knives saying that imported ones were too expensive.
In the Soroti area there were more tools produced by blacksmiths, but people had a strong preference for imported ones. In the case of hoes, they said that those made by blacksmiths often had parts that were riveted together. The heads of rivets snagged grass, and in addition, they often broke.
Hand-tools
Tool |
Ugandan Shillings4 |
||