Integrating Gender into Small-Scale

Cotton Development

Rekha Mehra, Ph.D. Workshop on Gender and Market-Oriented Agriculture

(AgriGender 2011)Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

January 31, 2011

ICRW: Who We Are

A non-profit organization dedicated to reducing poverty and promoting development with women’s full participation.

ICRW: Who We Are

• Established in 1976• Offices in Washington, D.C., New Delhi and

Kenya • Global technical staff >50% Ph.Ds • Economists, demographers, public health,

medical doctors, management experts, etc.

ICRW: What We Do

Develop practical, evidence-based solutions to empower women to control their own lives and shape the future of their societies;

Work with partners on research, advisory services, capacity building and advocacy

On issues affecting women’s economic, health and social status in low- and middle-income countries

The COMPACI cotton program

• Program of DEG/GTZ and private sector partners in 6 countries of West and East Africa: Benin, Burkina Faso, Côte d’Ivoire, Malawi, Uganda and Zambia

Socioeconomic and Gender Context

• Low Income: Ranging from 38 percent in Benin and Uganda to a staggering 70 percent in Zambia

• Gender-based violence and polygamous households affects household labor allocation and decision-making including cotton production

• Land is a critical asset: Legal remedies to address gender discrimination in accessing land often clash with traditional customary practices

• Women lag behind men in education and literacy rates, which limits a producer’s ability to read and understand contracts or materials relevant to agricultural production

The COMPACI cotton program

• Cotton is a major cash crop and main source of income for low-income producers

• But cotton facing problems: low yields, low returns, lack of access to inputs and credit and lack of market access for small-scale producers

• Goals of the program are to increase income and productivity of small-scale farmers on a large scale--250,000 farmers

Program Interventions

• COMPACI offers a “package” of inputs and services such as:

- Training in environmentally-sound farming practices

- Access to seeds, fertilizer, pesticides and other inputs

- Credit to buy equipment- Information on how to comply with “Cotton

made in Africa Initiative” (CmiA) criteria and the verification process.

Cotton Sector Program Challenges

• Challenges from privatization and decentralization:- Side-selling by producers and gin operators - Farmers are using cotton inputs for other

crops- In some cases, farmers have abandoned

cotton production altogether. - Cotton companies face problems such as

delivering sufficient seed to growers (Uganda).

Roles and responsibilitiesA common reality:

WOMEN• Women provide labor for all

aspects of cotton production: from planting to harvesting

• Also land preparation especially when done by hand (cases in Zambia Eastern Province where women also seen owing and plowing)

• Polygamous HHs: cases in which women cultivated cotton plots separately from husbands

MEN• Men control decisions

relating to crop management, marketing and cotton income

• Land preparation: done by men especially when using oxen

• Men dominate use of pesticides (women involved in hauling water for sprayers) + marketing and sale

Goals of Gender StudiesGoal:

• Devise gender strategies to ensure both women and men – participate in project activities and – benefit from improvements in productivity

and incomes.

Goals of Gender Studies • Understand gendered roles and responsibilities; constraints

and opportunities

• Identify entry points for interventions—remove constraints; tap opportunities

• Develop 6 gender strategies in tandem with COMPACI goals

• Develop a small well-targeted set of gender indicators that fits with the COMPACI indicators and M&E plan

Gender Assessment Methodology• ICRW conducted field research from Jun-Dec 2009 • Rapid assessments

• Document reviews; key informant interviews; focus group discussions

• Company and project staff; field staff (e.g. distributors), ginnery staff (employees and managers); farmers (women and men)

Female-headed Households (FHH)A special case:

– Wives in MHH are the norm– FHH of all types—widows, divorced, single, polygamous– Have higher labor costs and less equipment than MHH– Credit constraints have a larger impact on their capacity to

expand cotton production– Conflict and world financial crisis have driven # of FHHs up

in many locations (e.g., Cote d’Ivoire, Uganda)

“Single women grow just a little cotton below yields, because we have no rotations. We cannot buy (seed to plant) for rotations. So we remain beggared” (Widow from a focus group in Mumbwa)

Gender Study: Findings

Women are underrepresented – as outgrowers and on project staff– on contracts – in access to inputs– in attendance at trainings– in farmer group membership

Sex distribution of farmers:Zambia and Uganda

* estimates based on names of contractees - 57% unambiguous – 43% missing values ** data provided only for farmers with 2009 contracts => proxy for sex ratio of farmers

Outgrower networks (Z)* Men WomenFarmers 52% 5%Distributor/buyer-agents 95% 5%

Outgrower networks (U) Male WomenRegistered Farmers 76% 24%PO members 68% 32%Farm acres inspected** 80% 20%

Sex distribution of staff in operations

** based on all nine regions. *** based on 4 regions **** Few women in full time positions are data entry clerks and office cleaners

Outgrower operations (Z) Men WomenAgricultural operations managers** 100% 0%Shed managers** 92% 8%Shed workers*** 95% 5%

Outgrower operations (U) **** Men WomenManagement positions in Kitgum/Kampala/Pader 100% 0%Field agents (29 area managers, 170 site coordinators) 100% 0%Buyer/agents 100% 0%

Attendance in trainings Shire Valley (Malawi)

Block Male Female %Female Male Female %FemaleEastbank 570 328 37% 258 168 39%Westbank 252 50 17% 184 80 30%Westbank 2 167 19 10% 64 13 17%Bereu 181 137 43% 204 76 27%Therere 355 150 30% 283 144 34%Ngabu 457 164 26% 144 34 19%Miseu 4 417 114 22% 151 19 11%Thendo 514 83 14% 358 45 11%Nsanje 256 147 37% 67 81 55%Total 3169 1192 27% 1713 660 28%

Planting Spraying

Access to inputs provided on credit(Malawi)

Region Female Male Total % FemaleBangula 802 4097 4899 16%Balaka 1367 4339 5706 24%Salima 222 1364 1586 14%Total 2391 9800 12191 20%

Returns to cotton farming

• Accrue directly and, in some cases, exclusively to men

• Men reported sharing with wives 10-20% of income earned from cotton (e.g., )

• Men and women reported that women provide the bulk of the labor (all countries)

Why do returns to women matter?Vis-à-vis COMPACI project objective to increase yields,

incentives matter:

• Reports that women adjust their labor on cotton in response to incentives (e.g., Zambia)

– Women reduce labor on cotton when they are not able to access income and participate in decision-making

– Women reduce their own cotton production and focus on other crops when price is low, payments come late, or returns are not shared from their work on “men’s” cotton plots

Why do returns to women matter?Women need income and find ways to earn it:

– Where cotton related income and decision-making are more shared: women dedicate some of their own plots to cotton and also perform waged day labor for cotton harvests (e.g., Mossi women farmers in Burkina Faso)

– Where cotton related income and decision-making are less shared: women reduce their labor on cotton and concentrate on other crop production, and related micro-producer groups (e.g., Katchéma women farmers in Burkina Faso)

Key Findings: Summary

• Women farmers have critical roles in production; limited role in marketing

• FHH face different challenges from women in male headed households—must be considered separately

• Women have limited role in allocation of project resources, input access and trainings

• Women farmers have limited access to returns from cotton

• Limited or no gender disaggregated data available

Gender Action Areas

4 key areas for gender integration: • Access to project inputs—farm input delivery,

credit, training• Contracting or producer group membership • Payments to women farmers• M&E to show results

Win-win Gender Strategies

Entry points based on emerging changes in farmer norms & project practices

1. Addressing returns to women farmers

• Contract with married women farmers– growing acceptance in Katete (Zambia); – may be helpful to limit side-sellingMobile

banking

Win-Win Gender Strategies

1. Returns to women farmers:

• Separate plots for women--some men willing (Zambia)

• Transparency in payments—right to information/equality in decision-makingclauses in Uganda organizations/sanctions

• Gender dynamics training—build into training curriculums—already happening

Win-Win Gender Strategies

2. Access to farm tools and training• Lease arrangements; could engage NGOs on

contract• Enroll couples in training or organize separate

trainings for women• Women lead farmer demonstration plots

Win-Win Gender Strategies

3. Monitoring and evaluating results

• Sex-disaggregated systematic data collection—improves tracking and management/easy to do

• Baseline gendered understanding—input provided

Adopt gender indicators and set targets

Win-Win Gender Strategies

Indicators: No. of W/M:

at cotton trainings

lead farmers

members in producer groups

leaders in producer groups

credit recipients

receiving payments

in CMiA trainings

Set targets• % women for all indicators?

Next Steps

• Transform gender strategies into gender action plans

• Officially adopt policies-strategies-plans; communicate to project staff

• Designate resources– Gender resource person – Budget allocations