This case study reports on two distinct livelihood systems where humans are the principal power source for all farming operations. One group comprises five communities in east and southern Africa that once derived most of their power from draught animals but have fallen back on family labour as the main source of power in recent decades. The second covers two communities in west Africa where there have traditionally been few opportunities for mechanization because of the nature of the crops grown (root and tree crops) and where hand power is an integral part of the farming system even among richer households. This case study reviews the asset base, livelihood strategies and outcomes of the different farm-power groups in these two distinct farm-power systems.

Livelihoods analysis of mixed hand power - DAP communities in eastern and southern Africa

Table 6 presents an overview of the farming and livelihood systems for the mixed hand power - DAP field sites. Four sites are located in the maize mixed farming system and generally experience one rainy season of more than 1 000 mm each year. The fifth site is situated in the more arid agropastoral millet/sorghum system and receives less than 500 mm per year.

TABLE 6
Summary of field site characteristics in mixed hand power - DAP communities

Note: Percentage distribution of households between farm-power groups not available for Nteme and Simupande, Zambia.

Source: Community estimates at field sites.

DAP was once much more important in these communities. However, its contribution has decreased significantly as a result of drought (Kokate Marachere, Ethiopia) or livestock disease (both field sites in Central Region, Malawi, and both field sites in Southern Province, Zambia). Following the loss of their own livestock, many households now hire DAP or, more usually, use family labour.

Today, at least 50 percent of households rely solely on their own family labour, with the balance using draught animals (Figure 2). Tractors are not used at present. These experiences would appear to be typical for many communities in east and southern Africa.

The relative poverty of the hand-power households is reflected in their low asset-based scores, ranging between 6 and 8.5 points out of a maximum of 25 points (Table 7). Households hiring DAP enjoy a moderate asset base (12 - 14.5 points) and DAP owners have the strongest base (16 - 19 points). The dominance of households relying on family labour resulted in these communities being among the poorest (in terms of asset-based wealth) encountered in the study (10 - 11 points).

The following section reports in detail on the livelihoods of the hand - DAP groups found in Nteme, Zambia. Differences between Nteme and the other mixed hand - DAP communities are highlighted in the subsequent section. Full details may be found in the relevant country reports for Ethiopia (Berhe et al., 2001), Malawi (Kumwenda and Nkhoma-Mbawa, 2002) and Zambia (Sichembe and Mukuka, 2001).

Livelihoods analysis of Nteme, Zambia

Context

Nteme in Southern Province, Zambia, is typical of many mixed hoe - DAP communities in southern Africa. Draught animals have long been a central part of the farming system. In the mid-1960s, the Government introduced tractor-hire schemes to promote the production of the country’s staple crop, maize. This was followed by the purchase of tractors by individuals. Both power sources subsequently collapsed - from the late 1970s draught animals succumbed to East Coast fever, exacerbated by a lack of animal health care, and by the late 1980s tractor services were proving to be financially unsustainable. In the early 1990s, the Government introduced donkeys to complement cattle but by the close of the decade the community was still experiencing critical shortages of DAP. Many of the animals fell victim to the severe droughts of the early 1990s. The loss of farm power since the late 1970s has contributed to the decline in the area cultivated, the decrease in maize production, and the increase in the incidence of poverty and hunger. Today, the death of household members, the care of orphans, and urban migration threaten the viability of all households in the community.

Livelihood assets

DAP owners have the best endowment of all types of resources, particularly human, physical and financial assets (Table 8). Their relative strength in terms of human assets is their large household size, with polygamy and extended families providing ways for spreading risks and mobilizing labour for either farming or non-farm activities. They also regularly hire labour for weeding. These households are typically headed by men, some of whom have attended junior secondary school. In contrast, the hand-power group is generally composed of small families, often headed by women. They are unable to afford to hire labour and regularly hire out their own labour to other households in order to sustain their livelihood. Although all households are vulnerable to illnesses prevalent in the community (in particular tuberculosis, HIV/AIDS-related illnesses and malaria), hand-power households are unable to afford health care. They also have higher dependency ratios, with a few household members working to support elderly or very young members (including orphans) and the sick.

TABLE 7
Livelihood asset base by site in mixed hand power - DAP communities

* Percentage distribution of HHs not available.

Female-headed households are usually reliant on hand power or hiring DAP. The loss of property, associated with either the prolonged illness and death of their husbands (often followed by property grabbing by relatives) or divorce, partly explains the lack of draught animals among this group. Nevertheless, some female-headed households do own draught animals (one woman had purchased draught animals using remittances from her children). Women heading households tend to be older, have smaller families, and cultivate smaller areas than male household heads. They also find it more difficult to secure credit because they rarely inherit land.

The distinction between DAP hirers and DAP owners is less marked with regard to natural resources. They cultivate up to 2 ha or 4 ha of rainfed land per household, respectively, using hybrid seeds and fertilizer. Both also have access to small irrigated gardens in dambos (valley bottoms or depressions that retain moisture and form natural drainage systems), which they utilize during the dry season. The main distinction is in terms of livestock, with DAP owners rearing a variety of animals (goats, pigs, guinea fowl, ducks and chicken) in addition to cattle and donkeys.

TABLE 8
Livelihoods analysis for Nteme, Zambia

Notes: Asset scores: each group of assets scored out of a maximum of 5 points (numbers in bold).
Total asset scores: hand-power group = 7.5; DAP hirers = 12.5; and DAP owners = 17.
Source: Sichembe and Mukuka (2001).

Cattle ownership is a symbol of wealth, providing a source of draught power, a buffer against famine, an opportunity for earning income, an asset which can be realized in cash, and a source of food at important ceremonies. DAP-owning households also have a much stronger physical asset base, owning hand tools, DAP implements (ploughs, cultivators and ox carts) and granaries. A very few also own treadle pumps, rippers and hammer mills. They enjoy a range of household assets, including brick-built houses, furniture, radios and bicycles. Many of the DAP-hiring households were formerly DAP owners and still have some implements. Households relying solely on hand power usually cultivate a small area of rainfed land (about 1 ha), using local seed and no fertilizer, and only rear chickens. They have an extremely limited financial base, with no access to credit and no savings; a few households receive remittances.

DAP hirers and DAP owners tend to be the most active members and leaders of community-based groups. The farmers’ cooperative society (for accessing inputs and marketing) has a membership fee and sizeable share requirement, and consequently draws its members from the wealthier households. In contrast, a women’s group, which is engaged in various productive activities, attracts many of its members from among the hoe cultivators. Households relying on family labour often belong to reciprocal labour groups within family clans whereby three or four households come together and accomplish tasks in rotation.

Livelihood strategies and outcomes

Subsistence agriculture (producing maize, sweet potatoes and groundnuts for home consumption) supplemented by cash sales (maize, sunflower, cotton and some irrigated crops) forms the mainstay of the local economy. The proximity of a good market makes gardening on the dambos an important source of cash income, as well contributing towards food security. The range of non-farm activities is broadly similar between the three power groups. However, DAP owners have an additional source of income through hiring out their animals, especially for transport.

Although there is little difference in the range of livelihood activities undertaken, it is the scale of activity that determines the outcome. Thus, DAP owners and hirers are usually food secure throughout the year. They can afford to purchase farm inputs (in particular, fertilizer) and medicines, and are able to meet sundry expenses and send their children to school (most importantly, to secondary school). Households relying on hand power mainly grow food for home consumption, with occasional sales of chicken to raise cash for subsistence needs. They experience significant periods of food insecurity, usually for six months (but sometimes up to ten months) per year. Although they try to make ends meet by working as casual labourers for other farmers, some rely on food relief and remittances, or resort to begging for food from neighbouring food-surplus households.

Coping strategies

In order to cope with power shortages, seasonal labour peaks and timeliness constraints caused by frequent late-season drought, a number of farmers have adopted minimum-tillage practices. Rather than ploughing, some households use the DAP ripper and others plant in basins, which may be dug before the rains start. These initiatives have been promoted by the SCAFE project.

In the face of a household crisis, many resort to selling livestock, including their draught animals. This has two impacts: first, it creates farm-power shortages in subsequent seasons for the household selling the animals; and second, it also reduces the availability of DAP for hire within the community.

Livelihood experiences in other mixed hand power - DAP communities

The experiences described above for Nteme are broadly similar to those at Simupande, the other Zambian field site, and both sites in Malawi. In these communities, a shortage of farm power is a major limiting factor in agricultural production. In contrast, a shortage of land caused by intense population pressure is a major limiting factor in Kokate Marachere (Ethiopia). Moreover, all suffer from the lack of profitability in the agriculture sector.

Simupande, Zambia

Simupande is located in the valley next to Lake Kariba and fishing is a major economic activity in addition to farming. Draught animals were introduced in the mid-1960s and tractors in the early 1970s. The new sources of power enabled farmers to increase their cultivated area and grow different crops, including tobacco. Tractor-hire services closed in the early 1980s. Following the effects of market liberalization, serious droughts and cattle theft in the early 1990s, there has been a reduction in the number of draught animals. However, the area has not been so devastated by East Coast fever as Nteme, and cattle remain a significant source of farm power. However, for those households reverting to hand power for primary tillage, labour bottlenecks have increased, the area cultivated reduced, and total output has fallen. Some farmers now practise minimum tillage and plant in basins.

In this community, access to land is not a significant constraint on production but the capacity to cultivate is. Hoe cultivators farm 0.5 ha on average whereas DAP owners cultivate up to 5 ha. The majority of female-headed households (most of whom are widows) are found among the hoe cultivators. The death of a husband has a serious effect on the socioeconomic status of the widow: as a result of losing property to their husbands’ relatives, many female-headed households change from being DAP owners to surviving on family labour. The asset-based wealth of the three power groups is similar to that found in Nteme (Table 7). Some oxen owners have formed a club to improve their animal management skills (further details in Case Study D, Box 9).

Lodjwa and Mwansambo, Malawi

Draught animals were introduced into these two communities in Malawi in the middle of the twentieth century with assistance of government loans and DAP training. DAP is used for primary tillage and for ridging (maize and tobacco). The reversion to hand power occurred in the late 1990s following the loss of animals to disease and theft. The impact has been exacerbated by the demise of the supporting agricultural infrastructure (Box 2). With the lack of guaranteed markets and falling prices for farm produce, many farmers have resorted to selling their remaining animals and implements to cope with hunger and poverty.

The collapse of the DAP base in Mwansambo means that more than 50 percent of the households no longer use DAP, reducing the cultivated area per household from 2 - 3 ha to 1 ha. In both study communities in Malawi, land is left idle because farmers, and especially households headed by widows, are no longer able to afford improved seeds, fertilizer and the costs of hiring draught animals. Reciprocal labour groups, particularly among women, help ease the pressure of work. Many of the poorer hoe-cultivator households depend on food for work to survive but one-third of them rely on relatives or children working elsewhere to assist them when they are in calamity situations. In contrast, DAP owners have many more resources and livelihood strategies to draw upon in times of need (Table 7).

Kokate Marachere, Ethiopia

This site, lying in the southern highlands of Ethiopia, is characterized by high population density (with more than 350 inhabitants per km2) and extreme poverty. Indicators of the severity of poverty experienced in this community are that no farmers own more than two oxen, many families do not even own poultry, and the average landholding is less than 0.5 ha. Hand power has always been used for cultivating steep slopes and enset (the false banana, which is the local staple) but its use increased following the 1984 - 86 drought that killed many livestock. The hoe cultivators in Kokate Marachere are among the poorest in the whole study with a total asset base of only 6 points (Table 7) and are extremely vulnerable to food insecurity. They are sometimes able to borrow oxen in return for straw but, more usually, they have to sharecrop with the oxen owner. They mobilize labour through individual arrangements or reciprocal labour groups (see Case Study D, Box 8). Non-farm employment (for example, daily labouring, petty trading in vegetables, and selling local beverages) is a major source of income for this group.

Source: Kumwenda and Nkhoma-Mbawa (2002).

Households owning one ox are in a much more secure position as they are able to make reciprocal arrangements with other farmers to share oxen and implements. Farmers owning two oxen have a reasonable asset base and are well respected in the community. Despite the pressure on land, they are able to make an acceptable living through cultivating their own land and sharecropping with other households, and some cultivate up to 2 ha. The major constraints on DAP ownership are poverty and a shortage of grazing land.

Livelihoods analysis of predominantly handpower communities using hired labour in West Africa

Two communities in West Africa make extensive use of hired labour for land preparation: Gyangyanadze, Ghana, and Ojo, Nigeria (Table 9). In contrast with the mixed hand - DAP communities described above, the reliance on hand power is largely determined by the farming system (dominated by root crops and tree crops), tradition, and the absence of tractor-hire services, rather than by poverty. This is demonstrated by the high proportion of households that hire labour rather than use family labour (Figure 3) and their relative wealth. Even households relying on family labour have moderate asset base scores of 10.5 - 12.5 points (Table 10). There is little difference in the asset-based wealth of households hiring labour and those hiring tractors (14 - 16.5 points).

TABLE 9
Summary of field-site characteristics in hoe-cultivation communities using hired labour

Source: Community estimates at field sites.

Tractors used to be a significant source of power but the majority of households switched to hiring labour as tractor-hire services became less readily available. Neither community has any tradition of draught animals owing to thick vegetation, tsetse fly and cropping patterns interplanting tree crops with arable crops until the trees become established). Highlights of this farm-power system are described below and further details are available in the country reports: Ghana (Twum and Drafor, 2002), and Nigeria (Ajibola and Sinkaiye, 2002).

Livelihoods analysis in Ojo, Nigeria

This community, located in a humid forest zone in southern Nigeria, has recently faced challenges to all three sources of farm power:

• tractors have been difficult to access in the last five years as private owners have found it expensive to maintain their tractors and abandoned their hire services;

• family labour is under pressure as young people migrate to urban centres as a result of a lack of social amenities, lack of opportunities for post-primary education and employment, and a preference for less strenuous work than farming;

• hired labour has become more difficult to find as migrant labourers prefer to farm land themselves rather than hire out their labour.

Until five years ago, about 10 percent of the households in the community were able to hire privately-owned tractors to prepare their land for maize production. Whereas households relying solely on family labour cultivated 0.5 ha, households hiring tractors were cultivating 10 - 20 ha, purchasing fertilizers, and hiring labour for weeding and harvesting. Tractor users tended to be incomers to the community who treated farming as a business and produced crops and livestock for sale. They also grew a wide range of tree crops (cashew and citrus as well as oil-palm and cocoa) and reared improved breeds of livestock indoors. They were usually the elite, educated, and had experience of non-farm employment (for example, the civil service) or were involved in small-scale industries such as bakeries and palm oil processing centres. They received advice about farming and land acquisition from the traditional farming households in the community and, in return, gave them improved seeds and fertilizer.

With the demise of private tractor-hire services, former tractor-hiring households now rely heavily on hired labour. Farming has become very labour intensive and time consuming. Unlike the large families who characterize many hoe-cultivation households (with several wives and 13 - 25 family members), tractor-hiring households tend to be smaller (with one wife and 12 - 16 members in their household). Hence, hired labour is crucial yet it has become more difficult to find. Migrant labourers have been given farmland and prefer to work this land than hire out their services as labourers. As a consequence, former tractor hirers have reduced the area they cultivate to about 2 ha in order to match the available labour, and they use a three-year fallow in an attempt to replenish soil nutrients naturally in place of purchased fertilizers.

For the majority of households in the community, fadama farming is an important source of food security enabling "all year round" harvesting. Arable crops are usually grown for household food security, and tree crops are used to generate income. All households in the community own land that they are not able to cultivate owing to a shortage of farm power. The outlook for the households of Ojo is generally optimistic, although some households are having to cope with the effects of sickness and death among household members.

Livelihoods analysis in Gyangyanadze, Ghana

Gyangyanadze, situated in the coastal savannah of southern Ghana, has also suffered from reduced access to tractor services, although not to the same extent as Ojo. Tractors are still hired by 9 percent of the households but many are unable to afford the hire charges. The ability to hire either tractors or labour is dependent upon having money, generated either by selling farm produce or, more usually, by non-farm income. Members of tractor-hiring households tend to work in formal employment, such as teaching and retailing, while other households engage in petty trading, charcoal burning, collecting fuelwood for sale, and casual labouring.

TABLE 10
Livelihood asset base in hand power communities using hired labour

Differences in the asset-based wealth are not marked in this community (Table 10). On average, households cultivate 2 - 3 ha (with additional land under fallow), growing maize and cassava as food crops, and cashews and vegetables as cash crops. Livestock are rare and usually kept for home consumption.

Source: Twum and Drafor (2002).

Labour shortages among the hoe cultivators are most pronounced during land clearance (especially in female-headed households), weeding, and harvesting maize. They cope with peak labour requirements by joining reciprocal labour groups (see Case Study D, Box 8) or hiring labour. However, the task of weeding is more onerous where the land has not been prepared by tractor (Box 3).

Hirers of farm power sometimes experience delays in securing tractor services and difficulties in hiring labourers (particularly at weeding time when the labourers are busy on their own farms). Such delays have adverse effects on crop growth and yield. Excessive tractor ploughing in the past is cited as a cause of land degradation.

Outlook for predominantly hoe-cultivation communities

There is a sharp contrast between the poverty and general depression associated with the predominantly hoe systems of eastern and southern Africa where DAP was once more important, and the hoe communities in west Africa that are quite vibrant and optimistic in outlook. In the former, the loss of cattle through disease, drought, distress sale and theft undermines the livelihood strategies for the whole community. The ability to at least hire DAP to till a larger area and the opportunity to draw on a large pool of labour to assist with subsequent farm operations appear crucial to achieving food security in a normal year. Households that rely solely on their own limited family labour appear destined to experience significant periods of food insecurity. The gravity of the situation is exacerbated in communities where the labour base is also under pressure from schooling, migration, ill health or death (particularly due to HIV/AIDS). In the study communities in Malawi and Zambia, the capacity to cultivate land by whatever means, rather than access to land, is a significant constraint on production. At Kokate Marachere (Ethiopia), intense population pressure means that land availability is also a constraint.

In the west African communities, the loss of tractor-hire services has also had a significant impact on agricultural activities but this has been tempered by substituting hired labour for tractors. The sustainability of this response strategy is dependent on the continued availability of hired labour at affordable prices. There are indications that shortages of hired labour may compromise agricultural production in the future. Again, most households in these communities have access to land that they are unable to cultivate because of shortages of farm power.