4 Economic and Social Considerations
4.1 Gender aspects
Role of the men and women in post harvest operations
A study of the role of women in postharvest handling and marketing of banana
and pawpaw was conducted in Lampung, West Java and Jakarta provinces of Indonesia
from Aug. to Sept. 1992. 52 farmer families, 20 fruit traders and 5 processing
companies were selected using purposive stratified random sampling. The study
observed the contribution of women in decision making, farming and gathering
income. Women played no major role in postharvest handling and marketing but
a significant role in processing companies. Daily wages for women labourers
were lower than those for men due to differences in jobs and productivity. There
were no differences between male and female permanent staff monthly salaries.
The main constraints women faced were lack of appropriate technology, knowledge
and skills. Women's roles could change if they developed skills in the use of
new technology.
Cottage agro-industries in Dominica are based on citrus, bananas, soya beans, sorrel, spices, cocoa beans, herbs Spices and fruits like pawpaw. The total numbers of industries have declined over the past five years due to migration of persons involved. However, the operating industries are functioning satisfactorily. Cottage industries are created in different ways: private entrepreneurs with processing ideas and capital; cooperative groups initiated by governments departments, e.g Youth Development Division and Women's Bureau. Marketing is usually done directly by the processors to retail outlets all over the island. The products like crystalized pawpaw fruit processed by a male cooperative group, are sold in supermarkets, small shops and stores (in various parts of Dominica), and in tourist stalls and booths. (FAO, 1992).
The Government of El Salvador it called on the principal public agricultural research organization, the National Center for Agricultural Technology (Spanish acronym: CENTA), and CENTA worked on establish a gender program at headquarters to review proposed projects from a gender perspective. The gender program was very successful in bringing woman farmers closer to CENTA's work, specially in marketing pawpaw and banana (sold in town). (ISNAR, 2002).