ANNEXES

Annex 1: Nepalese agriculture in brief

Historical and ecological factors · Restoration of democracy · Climate · Main farming systems	· 1990. · Sub-tropical country with three distinct and major ecological zones: the Mountains, the Middle-hills and the Terai. · Livestock dominated in the Mountains, horticulture based in the Mid-hills and crop based in the Terai.
Demography and livelihood Surface area Population: · Urban dwellers · Rural population	147,181 Sq.Km 18.5 million (1991 census) 9.2% 90.8%
Female headed households	13.18%
Population density	126 persons/Sq.Km (46.7% population the Terai- 253.6 persons/km2; 45.5% in the Hills 137.3- persons/km2; and 7.8% in the Mountain areas- 27.9 persons/km2.
Main sources of income	Agriculture
Agriculture
Total population involved in agriculture	81.1%
Cultivated land per person	0.14 ha
Average land holding size	0.96 ha/household (0.68 ha in the Mountains, 0.77 ha in the Hills and 1.26 ha in the Terai)
Agriculture/farming systems	Predominantly subsistence, almost 60% rainfed, mixed enterprise with crop, forestry and livestock interdependent
Agriculture Sector Contribution to national GDP (Average)	46.64%
Annual Growth Rate of AGDP	3.10 (Revised by NPD, 1994)
GDP Shares, 1991/92 Field crop Horticultural crop Livestock Forestry Fisheries	45.8% 12.9% 31.5% 8.8% 1.0%
Total export earning	60% through agriculture
Main exports:	Pulses, Animal and vegetable oils and fats, Large cardamom, Tea
% Female agricultural extension staff	Not available

Sources: CBS, 1995, APP 1995, NPC 1997

Annex 2: Summary of main PRA findings

· Women play a significant if not predominant role in agricultural production: The PRA research validated this general assumption. In the Terai, the research found that women work slightly fewer hours in a day in agriculture related activities than men; in the Mid-hills they work almost equal to or more hours than men, and in the Mountain regions they work more hours in agriculture than men.

· Rural women in Nepal work longer hours in a day and have a higher workload than men due to their double responsibility for reproductive and productive tasks. Even in the Terai where women work fewer hours in agriculture on a daily basis, their total workload over the year was found high vis-à-vis men's (i.e. 60 percent for women and 55 percent for men). Moreover, the seasonal calendars showed that they are over-stretched during the busy summer months but have generally more free time in the winter.

· Women carry out tedious and time consuming work. In all agro-ecological zones, in general, men perform those agricultural tasks which require heavy physical labour such as carrying loads and ploughing. (Although women all over Nepal are seen carrying heavy loads of firewood, water and fodder.) Women chiefly perform the tedious and time consuming work such as weeding, harvesting, threshing and milling.

· Women play a crucial role in decision-making over the use of land. Even if women lack inheritance rights and their ownership or entitlement to land is severely limited, one unexpected finding of the PRA research was that men are not likely to take any decision regarding land use and disposal without consulting their wives and taking a joint decision with them. This particularly applies to decision making on the sale or purchase of land and mortgaging land as collateral for credit or altering it current use. However, this does not dismiss men's final authority over the use and disposal land.

· There is a glaring discrepancy between women's role in agriculture and their access to extension services. Just as an example, the study in Ranichuri village in the Terai revealed that none of the women farmers had ever participated in agriculture and/or livestock training courses sponsored by the District Agricultural or Livestock Service Centres. Out of 20 randomly selected women interviewed for the household survey, 85 % said they did not know if a JT/JTA had ever come to the village, 10 percent said that one has not come.

· Rural women rarely approach any development office to seek any sort of support service. Apart from this, they have almost virtually no access to local political processes and they seldom participate in community affairs. In short, women are mostly confined to household chores and agricultural labour with little involvement in community planning or decision-making, community politics, or contacting official agencies at all levels.

· Women and men often held very disparate views on who has control over decision making on those farming activities which are generally performed by women. The most striking example of these differences had to do with decision making over seed selection, cleaning, processing and storing, which is almost exclusively a women's task. The women participating in the PRA generally said that they had 100 percent control over this issue. However, the men generally reported that there was joint decision making on this activity. The men might have been confused by the question because they have access to improved seeds and, of course, they make the decisions about how and when to obtain them.

Example of Community Action Plan Prepared by Villagers in Haku

S.N	Prioritized Problems	Reasons of Problems	Villagers Suggestions for Solving Problems
1	Lack of common effort for community development (CECD)	- Political division - Alcoholism - Loving other's wives - Lack of Education - Unclear Interests	- Limit politics up to the election time. - Control alcoholism through Ama Samuha. - Punish husbands who desert their wives. - Educate adults & send children to school. - Make community interests clear to all.
2	Lack of Irrigation	- Lack of participation - No govt. assistance	- Call joint meetings to educate villagers. - Ask govt. for material & technical help.
3	Lack of Forest Pro-tection Measures	- Jungle fire - Fuelwood collection - Cutting trees - Population pressure	- Educate villagers not to lit fire in the jungle. - Stop unwarranted fuelwood collection. - Mobilize community to stop cutting trees. - Provide family planning services to villagers
4	Lack of Agricultural Technicians	- Difficult to walk - Insufficient salary - No qualified JT/JTA	- Govt. should make trails and bridges. - Govt./ DDC provide attractive incentives. - Provide qualified JT/JTAs for Haku.
5	Lack of agricultural training	- No notice of training - Difficult to access	- District offices need to notify villagers about their training program. - Include Haku farmers in Ag. & Vet. training.
6	Lack of chemical fertilizer	- No cooperatives - No dealers	- Villagers need to establish a cooperative. - AIC need to promote local dealers.
7	Lack of improved breeds of livestock	- No livestock group - Lack of fund	- DLS need to form livestock group. - Supply improved bulls with subsidy.
8	Lack of improved veg. & cereals	- No timely supply of improved seeds.	- Contact DAO and AIC in the district and get improved seeds for distribution in village.
9	Lack of Vet. Service	- No technician - No medicine - No training	- DLS make JT/JTA stay in the village. - Supply veterinary medicines. - Provide training to villagers.

Figure 1 : Mobility of Women - Haku Village.

Figure 2 : Mobility of Men - Haku Village

Figure 3: Seasonal Calendar Indicating Gender Disaggregated Workload, Maize

Figure 4: Seasonal Calendar Indicating Gender Disaggregated Workload

Annex 3: Tables on key gender issues in agriculture

Despite the prominent role of women in agriculture, they have remained largely invisible in national statistics. The problem is not only the lack of gender-specific data, but also underestimating and under-reporting of women's contribution in national statistics and other studies. For example, in Nepal, a large number of rural households would fall into the women-headed category, had the national statistics used the de facto definition of household head. When it used the de jure definition women head of household (i.e., widows, single mothers, divorcees and separated women), the number of such households became obviously low. Disaggregating data along gender lines is yet to become a common practice and policy in Nepal. With this background, this annex presents some of the available key data on gender issues in agriculture.

Table 1: The number of female head of households and its percentage to the total head of households, 1991

S.N	Household head	Number	Percentage
1.	Men	28,90,104	86.82
2.	Women	4,38,617	13.18
Total		33,28,721	100.00

Source: Central Bureau of Statistics (CSB), 1995

Note: As stated earlier, the number of female headed households is low as it included only de jure female headed households, and overlooked females as de facto household heads.

Table 2: Economically Active Population by Major Occupation and Sex (10 years and above) (percent)

S.N	Occupation	Men	Women	Overall (Total)	Women as percentage of total
1.	Farm/Fish Workers	74.8	90.5	81.1	45.0
2.	Service Workers	3.9	1.7	3.0	25.1
3.	Production Labour Workers	5.8	2.0	4.2	18.8
4.	Sales Workers	3.9	1.7	3.0	22.6
5.	Professional/Technical Workers	2.5	0.7	1.8	15.1
6.	Clerical Workers	1.6	0.3	1.1	10.0
7.	Administrative Workers	0.5	0.1	0.3	9.3
8.	Others	3.0	0.8	2.1	15.8
9.	Not Stated	0.3	0.3	0.3	9.3
Total		100.0	100.0	100.0	40.4

Source: HMG, CBS, 1993 Population Census-1991 Vol.I Part XIII, Table 51, Kathmandu, Nepal.

Table 3: Women's Role in Decision Making within the Household, 1992

S.N	Details	Women as Percent of Total
1.	Management of Money 1.1 Who keeps Money 1.2 Who goes to Bazaar	48.6 43.7
2.	Role in Household Decision Making (Decisions either made solely by women or where both men and women participated)
	2.1 Farm Management	32.7
	2.2 Domestic Expenditure (includes food items, clothing and durable)	39.0
	2.3 Education of Children	28.6
	2.4 Gifts, Religious/Social Travel	37.7
	2.5 Disposal of Household Products and Capital Transactions	23.1

Source: Women, Development and Democracy, Shtri Shakti, 1995.

Table 4: Gender Involvement in Various Cereal Crop Production: Involvement in percent (average)

Crop/Activities	Rice		Maize		Wheat		Millet
	Men	Women	Men	Women	Men	Women	Men	Women
Land preparation	68	32	6*	94*	52	48	nd	nd
Transplanting/sowing	38	62	18	82	22	78	12	88
Applying manure	48	52	27	73	19	81	nd	nd
Harvesting	43	57	30	70	21	79	17	83
Threshing	67	33	nd	nd	46	54	48	52
Drying	nd	nd	nd	nd	28	72	50	50

* indicates data from a mountain district only.

nd: no data available

Source: Bajracharya, Bijaya "Gender Issues in Nepali Agriculture: A Review", HMG Ministry of Agriculture/Winrock International, Research Report Series No. 25 (1994)

Table 5: Involvement in Livestock Activities by Gender

SN	Activities	Percentage involvement
		Male	Female	Child
1.	Collect - Grass cutting - Fodder lopping	30 25	60 75	10 -
2.	Feeding (Concentrate)	20	80	-
3.	Watering	30	60	10
4	Grazing the animals	50	40	10
4.	Shed cleaning	40	40	20
5.	Milking	40	60	-
6.	Selling livestock products (Milk, Ghee)	70	30	-

Source: WFDD 1994

Table 6: Contribution of Men and Women's Labour to High-Value Commodities (percent)

Commodities	Men's Contribution	Women's Contribution
Fruits Apple group Citrus group Mango group	54 46 42 67	46 54 48 33
Vegetables	33	67
Vegetable seeds	42	58
Sericulture	21	79
Ginger	94	6

Source: Agricultural Perspective Plan 1995

Table7: Literacy Rate, 1991 (percent)

S.N.	Indicators	Urban		Rural		Overall
		Male	Female	Male	Female	Male	Female
1	Literate (6 years+)	78.0	54.8	51.9	22.0	54.5	25.0
2	Illiterate	22.0	45.2	48.1	78.0	45.5	75.0

Source: Population Monograph of Nepal CBS, 1995.

Note: In spite of significant gains in female literacy rates from a mere 4 percent in 1971 to 25 percent in 1991, women still lag far behind men in literacy and education levels.