Posted July 1997
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Fact sheet: Women, Agriculture and Rural Development
El Salvador
Population: 5.4
Growth rate: 1.8%
Fertility rate: 4
IMR: 46/1,000 births
GNP/head: US$1,090
Source: "World Bank Atlas", 1994
Importance of agriculture to the economy
El Salvador is predominantly an agricultural country, although agriculture accounted for only 9.3% of the GDP and employed 35.5% of the economically active population in 1992. Approximately 57% of the country's population lives in rural areas and about 75% of the country's basic grains are produced on family farms. The main food crops are maize, rice and beans. The main cash crops are coffee, which accounted for 25.7% of exports in 1992, sugar cane and cotton. Shrimps were also an important export. About 21% of the agricultural land belongs to the agrarian reform sector. The country's agricultural strategy aims to increase rural income through improved productivity and to increase export and foreign exchange earnings from agriculture.
Role of women in agriculture
According to statistics, 45.2% of the rural population was economically active in 1992 and women accounted for 24% of this labour force. Women's contribution to agriculture is greater, however, as statistics do not take into account women's unpaid family labour. Rural women are primarily engaged in food production and livestock raising for household use. They also work in agro-industries, and spend an average of 14 to 16 hours a day in agricultural and household tasks. Overall, about 42% of rural households are headed by women and in some zones as many as 60%, as a result of the armed conflict in the country.
Division of Labour by Gender
The gender division of labour differs according to crop and type of activity. In general, men are more active in cash crop production, and women in food production, especially basic grains, vegetables and fruits. Women are active in planting, fertilizing, harvesting, processing, storage and marketing. Women are mainly responsible for the transport and marketing of vegetables, and men of basic grains. Women and children are responsible for all household tasks, including water collection. Both women and men participate in the collection of wood.
Gender Relations in Decision-making in Farming Activities
While decision-making is dominated by men, women have greater decision-making power over the sale of vegetables and poultry and in the use of income for the basic needs of the family.
Sharing of power and decision-making
Members and Officers of Agricultural/Rural Organizations
In the agrarian reform sector, women comprise about 22% of the membership and about 10% of the leadership of agricultural and rural organizations.
Women in Decision-making Positions in Ministries and Government Bodies
Although data collection is needed on women in decision-making positions in ministries and Government bodies, as of 1994 the following positions were held by women: Minister and Vice-Minister, Education; Vice-Minister, Economic and Social Development Planning and Coordination; Vice-Minister, Public Health; Secretary, National Secretariat for the Family; President, Social Investment Fund; Attorney General, Office for the Defense of Human Rights; and, President, Legislative Assembly. In addition, there were seven congresswomen and two women magistrates of the Supreme Court of Justice.
Mechanisms to promote the advancment of women
National Machinery
Created in 1989, the National Secretariat for the Family attached to the Office of the President has a women's unit which aims to incorporate the concept of gender in government institutions dealing with agriculture, and to change discriminatory legislation.
WID Units or Focal Points in Technical Ministries
The Department of International Technical Cooperation, in the Ministry for Economic and Social Development Planning and Coordination, began implementing a project in 1993 for the Introduction of the Concept of Gender in Development Projects within the Ministry.
Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs)
A directory recently issued by UNIFEM lists approximately 30 NGOs which target their activities toward women in a variety of fields, including agriculture.
Women's rights
The country ratified the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW), with reservations, in 1981. The Legal Office for the Defense of Human Rights has a women's unit. Agrarian Reform programme which began in 1980, as well as the Agrarian Code, consider women as collaborating with or supporting male producers, rather than as producers in their own right.
Dimensions and determinants of rural poverty
Civil armed conflict in the 1980s had a severe negative effect on the economy and rural areas causing neglect of the agricultural sector. Displacement of large numbers of rural people, refugees, recruitment of males into the armed forces of both sides, and male migration to urban areas and abroad, have had the result that 40 to 60% of the rural households are headed by women. As a consequence of the economic crisis, employment and incomes have fallen and more than 80% of the rural population lives below the absolute poverty line. About 45% of the children in rural areas work in agricultural activities. Structural adjustment and economic stabilization programmes have required cuts in social spending. The Government has tried to compensate for this by directing its social strategy to the neediest and by better planning and coordination of resources. Lack of access to land, credit, agricultural and marketing information and services are serious constraints on the rural population, and especially on women.
Access to agricultural resources and services
Land
Lack of access to land is a serious constraint on both men and women. About three-fifths of farmers hold little or no land. Over 62% of farmers have land holdings of less than 2 ha, and together hold only little more than 8% of cultivable land. Moreover, these holdings are characterized by degraded soils, arid and semi-arid locations and intensive cultivation. A large percent of middle farmers are in debt and no longer qualify for credit. As a result, about 30 to 40% of the good agricultural land in the country is idle. The Agrarian Reform programme, begun in 1980, was constrained by civil war and, by 1991, had benefitted only 3% of the rural population and 11% of the economically active rural population, of which only 11.7% were women. Women's access to agrarian reform has been hindered by definitions of head of household and agricultural work. The peace agreement references to agrarian reform make no mention of women.
Livestock
Women are generally responsible for the raising and care of poultry and small livestock for the household.
Forestry
The tropical forests have been reduced to about 1% of their original coverage. Women use forests to obtain food products and fuelwood and men to obtain wood for construction.
Water
About 70% of rural women lack access to direct water supply. Being responsible for obtaining water, women often have to walk great distances (on average 0.5 km, but sometimes as much as 4 km) to a water source. Most rural women use rivers for washing clothes and bathing.
Credit
Women have limited access to credit. When rural women are able to obtain credit, terms of repayment often force them to sell their harvest at low prices, rather than storing it until prices are higher. In the agrarian reform sector, women comprise only 18% of those obtaining credit. While women have little access to formal credit, many women have been able to access credit through informal community banks and savings groups, and donor-supported credit projects and programmes. A field survey indicated that lack of collateral and lack of information were the two major obstacles to women's access to credit.
Extension services and agricultural training
Until recently, few women have been able to benefit from agricultural research, training or services. With the establishment in 1993 of the National Centre for Agriculture, Livestock and Forestry Technology (CENTA), it is expected that this situation will improve as the Centre is targeting small and medium-sized farmers for the transfer of technology to improve productivity. CENTA has adopted a gender policy to ensure that women as well as men will benefit. The percentage of women extensionists remains low and this constitutes an obstacle to contact with women farmers. In 1994, women comprised 16% of farmers reached by the national extension programme, greater than the 10% that had been projected.
Selected programmes in support of women in agriculture, forestry
and fisheries
Policy Planning and Research
CENTA has adopted a gender policy that includes the following components: use of gender analysis in initial research; use of a gender focus by all staff; development and use of gender indicators in the process of monitoring and evaluation; encourage the participation of women professionals and technicians within CENTA; direct research priorities to women's needs; and, include subsistence agricultural and livestock production in calculations of productivity.
Access to Agricultural Resources and Services
Rural women are expected to benefit from the strategies adopted by the Ministry of Agriculture and Grains (MAG) and the National Centre for Agriculture, Livestock and Forestry Technology (CENTA) to improve the production and productivity of small and medium-sized farmers.
Areas to be strengthened
Policy Planning and Research
- WID and gender issues need to be placed in the mainstream of technical ministries and institutions and not isolated as social issues. For this purpose, WID or gender units should be established and gender sensitivity programmes carried out for development policy- and decision-makers.
- A gender perspective should be integrated into environmental issues in order to permit women to have access to the use and control of natural resources.
- Agricultural and national statistics should integrate a gender perspective. Methodologies and indicators should be developed in collaboration with government, non-governmental and international bodies to collect information and data on women.
- Research needs to be undertaken on the needs of rural farmers, particularly those of women.
- Efficiency should not be the only criteria against which to measure the impact of policies and programmes; the improvement of the quality of life and the elimination of discrimination should also be taken into consideration.
- Efforts should be made to enable women to participate in the planning and implementation phases of projects.
Legal and Policy Reform
- The Agrarian Reform policy and law should be modified to: eliminate discrimination against women, recognize women as agricultural producers, permit women equal rights in access to and ownership of land, and ensure inclusion of the neediest sectors of the rural population.
- Information on agrarian reform needs to be disseminated and discussion and dialogue on it promoted.
Access to Agricultural Resources and Services
Women's access to agricultural technology and services should be promoted through: more diverse, flexible and efficient credit channels and adjustment of loan repayment to the production and marketing cycles of the rural poor; the formation of formal and informal marketing organizations for small producers and the provision of information and training in marketing; improved infrastructure and the provision of services, such as childcare facilities, to alleviate women's agricultural and household work burdens; and, the formation of farmers organizations to discuss, analyze and find solutions to problems, including gender issues, related to agricultural and household work.
Prepared by Women in Development Service (SDWW)
FAO Women and Population Division
Source: "National Sectoral Report on Women, Agriculture and Rural
Development", 1995.
