One of the actions to be taken by the WID Specialist envisaged in the project ZIM/91/005 is the establishment of database on WID to facilitate compilation, retrieval and dissemination of data for the other subject matter specialists . A first step towards the development of this data base is the subject of this study which was made by way of a constraint analysis. The initial observations will help to establish the framework for a data base on gender related issues in agriculture.
When we consider that the major agency that informs, trains and provides advisory service to the rural people is AGRITEX there is a need to examine the extent to which women farmers are included in the extension audience. There is a need to review the experiences of AGRITEX programmes with rural farmers from a gender perspective, to gain some insight into the constraints and possible solutions to the identified problems.
During the UN Decade for Women, studies and reports confirmed the major contribution of women in food production and agricultural work. Gender barriers inhibiting women from benefiting from agricultural development programmes have also been documented (FAO 1987). This has been acknowledged by most of the development community, namely the World Bank, FAO and a host of others, and a number of projects now actively seek ways to include women in the extension process. This shift to a gender approach has been primarily due to the overiding attention by development agencies to the need for socio-economic policies to take into account the women's role and the impact of these policies on women.
The incorporation of gender issues and analysis in agricultural extension programmes is a fairly recent phenomena resulting largely from the interaction of two fields; farming systems development and women in development (Feldstein and Poats 1990). Throughout its development the WID component has always been seen as a critique to the mainstream approaches to development, with little or nothing to offer in the development of extension methodologies, except maybe in the creation of women's only projects. With the development of gender analysis methodologies, WID has become pan of the mainstream approaches to the development of extension. The point of departure for WID programme of action in ZIM 91/005 will be that of offering critical support role to the strengthening of AGRITEX extension methodologies through taking into account the gender perspective.
This approach focuses on gender differences (that is socially and culturally determined differences between men and women) primarily in the division of labour in production or income earning activities and their access to and control over resources and assets.
The overall objective of the consultative meeting with AGRITEX staff and its clientele was to have an overview of the agricultural extension programmes and its effectiveness in meeting the smallholder farmers' needs, from a gender perspective.
One of the immediate objectives was for the WID Specialist to initiate dialogue with field staff and begin to sensitise them on the need to take into account gender issues in their daily operations.
Secondly, to talk to male and female farmers and hear their views with regards to the extension delivery system, and its impact on their daily lives.
The study was largely a qualitative analysis designed to identify areas of concern from a gender and sociological perspectives. The identified areas of concern would in turn require follow up and detailed quantitative analysis.
The methodology for the study was unstructured and therefore not uniform. This was by design as the importance of the study was in the establishment of dialogue between the AGRITEX staff, the farmers and the WID specialist.
The discussion concentrated on the main areas of AGRITEX operations in terms of the services it offers; namely Crop Production, Animal Production, Conservation, Irrigation, Land Use Planning, Veld and Pastures, Farm Management, Agricultural Mechanisation, Horticulture and Forestry. Particular attention was paid with regards to gender issues as they relate to any of these specialist areas.
All the eight provinces were visited, and 309 farmers of which 170 were female and 139 were men and AGRITEX staff, (103 male and 37 female) were interviewed. For details on the AGRITEX staff that were interviewed see Appendix l below.
1.3.1 Review of other studies
Agriculture in the Small Scale Resettlement and Communal Areas is largely a female activity. Most women in Zimbabwe (86%) live in rural areas and it is estimated that women account for 70% of the total agricultural labour (World Bank 1991).
According to Zwart (1990), female-headed households account for approximately 40% of tote households in Communal Areas because of the extent of male migration. In addition to providing the bulk of the labour on the family plots women supplement household income with earnings from off-farm sources. Women provide 60% of casual labour within agriculture and the majority of labour in the rural informal sector (Zwart 1990). Women are largely responsible for food, crop production and labour intensive tasks on other crops as well as fuel collection, child care and other domestic tasks. Despite this central importance in the rural production system, women have limited access to many factors of production. Further, this reliance on female labour results in severe labour constraints during certain periods of agricultural season. Therefore development of technology systems that will relieve the burden of women would make a significant contribution to improving the productivity of the total farm system.
Recent etudes by World Bank (1991), Zwart (1990), and FAO (1990) indicate that the extension contact with women farmers is not in proportion to the contribution women make to the term production system. A sharper focus on women is needed in extension. The labour of women farmers may be statistically significant but their lack of access to resources, credit and training appears not to be visible (Mertens 1989, Truscott 1988, Zwart 1990 and World Bank Report 1991).
As farmers and farm managers, women face the constraints most producers in the Communal and Resettlement face including insufficient land, both quantitative and qualitative, and lack of farm implements lack of draft power and transport, and marketing problems. Women have a greater difficulty than men gaining access to land. Lack if access to land also inhibits women's access to institutional credit.
In addition, extension and research are often geared toward a male clientele. These policies tend to marginalise women as agricultural producers. Lack of resources and pressure on time and energies put enormous constraints on the ability of women to maintain their productivity, much less improve it (Zwart 1990; and Truscott 1988).
The World Bank (1991 p3) review into the agricultural sector list the following constraints as hindering agricultural growth in Zimbabwe: land policy, pricing and marketing policy and technology, credit availability, forestry, household food security, and wildlife. The above constraints have an impact on both male and female farmers, but the women's problems are compounded by the socio-cultural environment in which women operate.
In the Zimbabwean agricultural sector, development; projects have not taken adequate account of women's responsibilities, participation and priorities in their specific local conditions to determine factors constraining them in the achievement of the objectives of the programmes. In addition women's access to development projects is more limited owing to cultural traditional and sociological factors (Truscott 1988 and Zwart 1990). In particular, the "head of the family" concept which is used as the basis for allocation of resources in the rural area has historically ignored both the existence of female-headed households and the rights of married women to a joint share of resources (Munro 1988).
In general available FAO (1990) and World Bank (1990), studies show that the improvement of household food security and nutritional levels is associated with women's access to income and their role in households decisions on expenditure.
The creation of the Ministry of Community Development and Women's Affairs in 1982, according to Chengu 1992* (personal communication), may have had a negative impact on the development of an integrated or mainstream approach to gender issues in the various other government departments. Most of the highly technical department such as AGRITEX remained conservative dealing only with technical issues and assuming that gender issues were being dealt with by the Ministry of Community Development and Women's Affairs. Though, one can attribute the isolation of women's projects to the approach in the women in development at that point in time which advocated mostly for a design of projects exclusively for women (or a WID project in jargon) or to include a WID component in a larger project. Contrary to the new approach now of designing a gender-sensitive mainstream project which integrates women throughout all relevant components. After examining the matter for 16 years, most development people who address gender issues feel that the latter approach is more effective (FAO 1990).
[ *Chengu is a former deputy secretary in the Ministry of Lands Agriculture and Water development. ]
An attempt at strengthening the role of women in agriculture was made through an FAO project ZIM/007 (1984-1991) entitled "Strengthening Women's role and Work in Rural Development" In its terminal report (1991) the project highlighted the following. "There was a lack of capacity within the development services which had prevented the provision of adequate and appropriate services to re-organise women's groups and led to women having poor access to technical advice, management systems and funds. In parallel to this rural women were poorly equipped with tools, suffered because of inadequate transport and access to inputs and lacked security of tenure to land" (FAO 1991).
The project ZIM/007 "Strengthening Women's Role and Work in Rural Development" was a pilot project in Mashonaland West started in 1984 under the Ministry of Community and Cooperative Development and Women's Affairs . The aim of the project was to investigate ways of removing constraints and gaining more effective participation of women in agriculture. The revised project (1986) emphasised the development of market-oriented field agriculture, as a way of providing the necessary experience for women and groups to advance into income generating activities and micro-enterprise of various kinds.
The training component of the project was relevant in terms of training women on how to plan, budget, keep records, and having an appreciation of group dynamics. The project, however had the inherent weakness of creating unnecessary hostilities at both the household and professional level because it treated women's issues as if they were separate from the rest of the community. A visit to the Mashonaland West province, the pilot area for the project revealed no evidence of the continuity of the programme .
AGRITEX is currently implementing a Norad funded programme, with the objective of "Strengthening AGRITEX capacity to reach women farmers", in eight districts with eight control districts. The project started operation in July 1992. An implementing planning workshop was held and AGRITEX staff involved in the project participated. A baseline study was undertaken and the results indicated that, " 10% of women cultivators regularly attend extension meetings hence AGRITEX extension is only reaching 5.3% of women agricultural active population" (Hakutangwi 1993, p3).
At the inception of the project, it was realised that AGRITEX lacked personnel who were conversant with gender and agricultural development approaches. Following this, four officers were sent for a three- month training in women and agricultural development. (Hakutangwi 1993, p1)
The project ZIM/91/005, a programme approach to strengthen AGRITEX extension programmes has a WID section, and this study is part of its action programme. Past and present experiences of AGRITEX with respect to WID issues will be incorporated in the WID programme of action.
1.3.2 AGRITEX Policy
AGRITEX objective is, "to implement the agricultural policy of government through the revision of agricultural technical and extension services, which stimulates the adoption of proven agricultural practices leading to increased, sustained and profitable production." (AGRITEX 1982). The target for AGRITEX is all farmers and their agencies. The rationale behind AGRITEX service being to feed the nation, generate foreign currency, and improve the quality of life of the rural population.
The Government Agricultural Policy advocates for the following:
- growth with equity
- fair distribution of land ownership
- reduction in poverty
- increase in both land and labour in all forms of agriculture
- increase in employment
- self-sufficiency and food security
- integration of the two agricultural sectors commercial and peasant
- promotion of regional and agricultural development
- development of human resources in the rural areas to the full potential (MLARR 1986)
The policy statements seem to cover all issues but what becomes an issue is the approach offered by AGRITEX, in translating these policy statements into practice.
The review which follows is made against the background of Government's Agricultural policy and AGRITEX objectives.
