IFAD/FAO Study on Implements used by Women Farmers in Africa
FAO-AGSE and IFAD conducted a survey on the 'Agricultural Implements used by Women
Farmers in Africa'. The study was carried out in Burkina Faso, Senegal, Uganda, Zambia and
Zimbabwe using a series of focus group discussion sessions which involved 1.500 women and
men farmers. The results show that the low socio-economic status of women in the rural
areas is strongly reflected in the production tools and implements they use. The simple
hand-hoe is still the farm implement mostly used in all the countries reviewed.
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FAO-AGSE and IFAD have learned that there are no quick or simple solutions to improving
the quality of farming tools and implements. However, the report proposes a number of
meas-ures that could begin to improve the situation. First, a major communication effort
is needed to create greater awareness of the key role that women play in African farming
and of their special needs for production equipment. The report urges that private sector
producers and importers of tools and implements undertake market research with women, and
govern-ments to set tax and duty policies favourable to local production. Government
farming services should involve women farmers in training activities, promote consultation
between blacksmiths and female clients, and extension campaigns should include advice on
farm tools and implements. For more information please see AG21 homepage.
The study results are published and available from AGSE. Please go to Publications page or contact
us.
Bibliography on Gender and Agricultural Engineering
This bibliography was a joint research project executed underthe Academic Exchange
Programme between AGSE and the Department of Gender Studies in Agriculture of the
Wageningen Agricultural University (WAU).
Whilst the flow of publications on women and agriculture is substantial, the attention for
the gender aspects of agricultural equipment, tools, animal draught power and engineering
technology has been scanty. The need to search existing databases on such literature was
felt, both by FAO-AGSE and WAU. For technicians who are aware of gender relations in their
discipline it is often not easy to choose a strategy in research or design which is
beneficial for women farmers. On the other hand social gender scientists regularly have
little insight in technical and ergonomic demands on agricultural equipment. For both
groups this bibliography may be of use. The bibliography is available online
and also available as hard copy directly from AGSE. Please contact us.
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Making Each and Every Farm Count - Participation in
Agricultural Engineering Projects
As follow up to the Kadoma workshop in order to implement the workshop recommendations
AGSE has produced a book and poster under the headline "Making Each and Every Farmer
Count". It intends to sensitize those engineers who are not already convinced to the
need to incorporate gender issues in project planning, but who are motivated to be
effective in their work.
The book tries to encourage project practitioners and engineers not just to look further
at participatory techniques because gender experts say so, but because it is likely that
by doing so they will have more successful projects.
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In recognition of this the book avoids the use of the words 'gender' and
'participation' at first. Too often professionals have already heard these words and have
formed their own opinions of what they mean. They may think 'gender' means simply to get
more women involved, and 'participation' means to get more people to come to meetings, and
they may not see a use for either of these.
The book stresses the importance of the active engagement of farmers so that they will
recognize how their investment in time and knowledge in a project is going to benefit them
and their communities. This kind of engagement goes beyond participation. It implies that
the commitment from the farmer is based on the benefit that a project has to herself or
himself and not on the willingness to please the project field worker. This basis for
farmers' involvement is much more likely to lead to sustainability. The book aims to help
persuade the target audience not to flinch at the words 'gender' and 'participation' in
future, but to listen to what people are saying about them and to find out for themselves
if they provide clues for making their own projects better.
The book includes six practical examples of projects. Some have adopted a gender-aware
approach in project planning and implementation and some have not. It also includes an
introduction and overview narrative of its purpose; a summary of the reasons why gender is
an important issue in any development project; glossary of terms; bibliography; contacts
and a pull-out poster featuring cartoons.
The six case studies describe the implementation and the resultant impacts of projects
which have attempted to incorporate gender issues into their design, execution and
evaluation, as well as of projects which made not attempt to incorporate these needs.
The six examples are from five different Sub-Saharan African countries and from six
different fields of agricultural engineering. They are the following:
- The Kebkabeiya Smallholder Project, the Sudan: a plough for every household
Conservation Tillage Project, Zimbabwe: water for live
- On-farm storage structures for agricultural produce, Kenya: the ventilated maize crib
- Shea butter production, Ghana: space to listen, in order to learn
- Biogas digesters, Tanzania: small is beautiful
- The Mbeya Oxenization Project, Tanzania: introducing animal traction
The book plus poster is available from AGSE. Please go to Publications
page or contact us.
Workshop on Gender and Agricultural Engineering, Kadoma, 4-8
March 1996
In March 1996 a workshop on 'Gender and Agricultural Engineering' was held in Kadoma,
Zimbabwe. It was organized by FAO/AGSE and AGROTEC (FAO field programme which was
amalgamated into FARMESA).
The workshop was attended by thirty-five participants, about two thirds of whom were
engineers involved in equipment design and formulation and implementation of practical
development projects, while the others were persons with a gender or WID background. The
workshop was, on the one hand, designed to increase awareness of gender among its
participants, but on the other hand, and more importantly, it was a place and occasion
where social scientists could learn from engineers who were strongly involved in
agricultural engineering. For example, they could see how engineers currently considered
and dealt with social and gender issues. The workshop was therefore an occasion to
generate ideas on how FAO and other organizations should deal with gender in agricultural
engineering.
The workshop methodology was a combination of presentations (keynote papers and country
case studies), plenary discussions and working group sessions. The keynote papers
addressed issues such as the gender aspects of draft animal power and of market-driven
technology promotion, and presented gender-sensitive versions of participatory techniques
such Participatory Rural Appraisal (PRA) and Participatory Technology Development (PTD).
Most important perhaps was the last day, in which the participants were asked to make
recommendations based on the following question: 'What an organisation like FAO and others
should do to convince agricultural engineers of the importance of integrating gender in
their work? Below, a summary of the recommendations is presented.
- Whisper, don't shout!
- Don't patronize
- Don't use confrontational strategies: or begin with 'gender workshops' or statistics
which put men on the defensive.
- Don't assume that traditional cultures are automatically negative
- Gender-sensitization should be approached through participatory methods
- Don't feminize the process: use women and men.
- Focus on the family and not just on women: illustrate that the gender approach and
gender equality have economic and social benefits for the family as a whole
- Recognize and respect cultural norms and existing bonds within the community
- Gender policies should be developed within the organization rather then imposed from
above
- Persuade through personal experiences
- Acknowledge people who are already making an effort to include gender in their work
(give credit where it's due).
The workshop proceedings are available directly from AGSE.
Gender and Agricultural Engineering; An Overview of current
Theory and Praxis, focusing on Sub-Saharan Africa with Case Studies from Zimbabwe and
Senegal AGSE Occasional Paper
This AGSE Occasional Paper is a second outcome of the joint AGSE / WAU research project.
It is divided in three parts. The first part provides a general description of issues and
backgrounds on gender and agricultural technology. Part II presents the results of a
qualitative micro level sociological research in a poor communal area in Zimbabwe
with women farmers groups who year after year cultivate their fields and gardens, taking
the risk of little or no yields. Emphasis is put on their tools and equipment, as seen
from their own view as well as from the researcher's perspective and placed in a context
of technological change.
Part III presents a case from a region in Senegal called the 'groundnut basin',
where new agricultural technologies based on animal draft power have been introduced in
the 1960s and 1970s, and where deteriorating agricultural conditions have been forcing
people more and more into searching for incomes outside agriculture. The Occasional Paper is available directly from AGSE.
Safety, Ergonomics and Health
Human working conditions in agriculture regarding operator's safety, health hazards and
comfort give, particularly in developing countries, reason for concern. While some
industrialized countries have adopted national safety standards, regional approaches like
the CEN codes of the European Union are still incomplete and not adopted by all member
countries. However, compliance with safety rules involves usually higher costs and
requires a certain level of literacy which is usually not available within the rural
population of low income developing countries. AGSE raised the issue during the 12th
session of the FAO Panel of Experts on Agricultural engineering in October 1994. A
recommendation of that panel was to create more awareness about this topic. As a first
step AGSE is formulating standards, applicable for all FAO member countries, to make
pesticide application equipment safer.
Publications and Papers related to Gender and papers
- Unpublished: First draft of project proposal on "Improving Farm Power
Resource Constraints at Household Level in Uganda", NARO-Kampala / FAO-Rome 1999
- IFAD/FAO; Agricultural Implements used by Women Farmers in Africa, 1998 (129p) (ISBN
92-9072-008-5)
- Kienzle Josef, Florence Lubwama and Samuel Okurut; Women Farmers, the invisible
Customers for Agricultural Tools: A Case Study from Uganda; Paper presented at the
International Farming Systems Conference, Pretoria, December 1998
- Lloyd-Laney, Megan (ed.); Making Each and Every Farmer Count - Participation in
Agri-cultural Engineering Projects FAO, 1997 (54p); ISBN 92-5-104069-9
- Kienzle, Josef and Megan Lloyd-Laney; Making each and Every Farmer count, Gender and
Participation in Agricultural Engineering Projects; Paper presented at the Tool-Consult
Conference on "Technology and Development: Strategies for the Integration of
Gender", Amsterdam, June 6 1997
- Muylwijk Joke and Maria Smetsers; Gender and Agricultural Engineering; FAO-AGSE
Occasional Paper I, 1996 (68 pages)
- Muylwijk, Joke; Bibliography on Gender and Agricultural Engineering for small Farms in
Developing Countries, FAO-AGSE Occasional Paper II, 1996 (66 pages)
- Schoemaker, Annemieke and Katja Jassey; Proceedings from the AGROTEC/FAO Workshop on
Gender and Agricultural Engineering, Kadoma, Zimbabwe 4-8 March, 1996 (91 pages)
- Schoemaker, Annemieke; Checklist for the Preparation of a Feasibility Study and
Implementation of a Grain Processing Project, FAO-AGSE Occasional Paper, 1995,
Future AGSE Plans in the field of Gender and Ergonomics
Follow-up Project on the Study on Women and Farmtools
AGSE and SDWW of FAO together with NARO of Uganda are currently working on the design
of a project to improve the tools and implements used mainly by women at the household
level. The proposed project will also consider the production and usage of improved
handtools, and the utilisation of animal traction. FAO and NARO are looking for
collaborating funding organizations The first draft of the proposal is attached. Zimbabwe,
Zambia and South Africa have indicated interest in follow-up projects to the IFAD/FAO
study as well. AGSE is in the process of initiating similar follow-up as in Uganda.
SEAGA Guide on Gender and Agricultural Engineering
SEAGA stands
for Socio-Economic and Gender Analysis. It is an approach to development based on an
analysis of the socio-economic factors and participatory identification of women's and
men's priorities and potentials. The objective of the SEAGA approach is to close the gaps
between what people need and what whatever development delivers. For that purpose three
different levels are distinguished: field (household and community), intermediate (private
sector, manufacturers, dealers, distributors, researchers,) and macro (legal and national
and international policy level). AGSE and SDWW of FAO are currently designing a SEAGA
Technical Guideline for farm power / agricultural production technologies.
FAO-CIGR Handbook/Compendium on Evolving and Extending Technological Tools to
Rural Women in Developing Countries
This envisaged publication (as a handbook or compendium) is aimed at presenting all the
important issues related to agricultural engineering and gender. It will be targeted at
Universities, Education, International Organizations etc. as a reference to reflect the
issues on a world-wide level CIGR, the International Commission of Agricultural
Engineering is envisaged to be a potential co-publisher.
