Women and Livestock: A Research Initiative

Jemimah Njuki

Presentation to USAID Washington DC, September 2009

The context: Livestock and Poverty

600 million of the poor in rural areas keep livestock----they have too few livestock and resources to sustain production

Livestock as an asset, as a form of saving, a source of income providing 6-63% of household income depending on system, as social capital, important source of household nutrition

Women are responsible for most of livestock

Role of livestock in reducing vulnerability due to HIV/AIDS

Why a Women and Livestock Research Initiative?

Why women? Women play important roles as producers of food,

managers of natural resources, income earners, and caretakers of household food and nutrition security

Women however face constraints different from men

The control of assets including livestock and income derived from these assets by women has positive consequences for their decision making within the household and for household well being (nutrition, education, food security)

Why a Women and Livestock Research Initiative?

Why livestock?Livestock, especially small stock, form a

critical rung on the asset ladder out of poverty Livestock are among the few assets women can

ownLivestock are “productive” assets; livestock

and their products contribute to food and income security

A targeted approach to livestock development programmes will improve overall impacts in terms of gender equity and poverty reduction

Existing knowledge, gaps and opportunities for a pro-poor, pro-

women R&D agenda• Women’s ownership of

livestock• Women’s role in livestock

keeping• Women’s participation in

livestock markets• Links between women,

livestock, nutrition and health

Women’s “ownership” of livestock

• Livestock are most important asset for women• Complexities / changes in livestock ownership• But most livestock are owned by men• How to close this gender-asset gap?

Gender of owner, Mozambique, Kenya, Uganda and Rwanda (% households)

  Cattle Poultry Goats

Mozambique 11 13

Kenya 12 80 11

Rwanda 15 38 41

Uganda 14 36 64

How do women gain and maintain control over livestock?

• Women are less likely than men to acquire animals in the marketplace.

• Threats:

– Drought and disease

– Dissolution of the household

– Commercialization?

Women’s role in livestock keeping

• Women often control products even where they don’t control animals

• For example, women often control some or all milk even if they can’t decide where the cow is grazed or whether it is sold.

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• Women provide a large share of the labor in livestock keeping, especially in mixed systems and poor households

• Women’s priorities and constraints are often, but not always, different from men’s

• Women have less access to inputs and services

Key messages

• Division of rights and responsibilities affects incentive and ability to adopt new technologies and practices to increase production and productivity.

• We need to understand this better to develop appropriate technologies and design more effective interventions.

Women’s participation in markets

• Sale of livestock and livestock products are often the most important source of income for women

• Women’s control of the income from sales is often challenged in the household

• Women are more likely to sell in informal, local markets

• Women’s marketing costs are often higher than men’s:– Information—women face higher costs, but

groups can help– Most often have to pay male intermediaries

Women, Livestock, and Nutrition

"Even small additional amounts of meat and milk can provide the same level of nutrients, protein, and calories to the poor that a large and diverse amount of vegetables and cereals could provide”

“The Cow Turns Green,” Newsweek, September 7, 2009

• Livestock ownership alone is not sufficient to ensure consumption of animal source foods (ASF)

• Women play a key role in household choices about food consumption, dietary quality, and intra-household allocation.

• Women’s status is key to making good choices here

Women, Livestock and Health

• Many important diseases are zoonotic, and food safety can be a major issue with animal source foods

• A gendered risk assessment found:– Women’s higher exposure to high-risk activities

such as feeding, milking, and cleaning of livestock– Women and men exposed to different diseases, by

species– Women much more exposed to food-borne diseases

because of role in food and by-product processing, food preparation, and selling ready to eat

.

Women and Livestock Challenge Dialogue: A participatory process for co-

developing and R&D agenda

• A global challenge dialogue initiated in 2008, with over 200 people invited to participate

Some outputs of the dialogue

• An informal partnership with R&D organizations working on livestock and

• Some initial areas of focus for a investments in women and livestock

• A video-clip to highlight the role of women in livestock development and potential impacts of investing on women and livestock Women and Livestock

Initial Areas of Focus for ILRI

• Mechanisms for securing women’s access and control of livestock and other assets

• Promoting women’s participation in formal and informal livestock and livestock product markets

• Analyzing intra-household dynamics, asset ownership, and nutritional and health outcomes

• Women, livestock and natural resource management

Mechanisms for securing women’s access

Objectives Co-develop and pilot test with development

partners different mechanisms for increasing and securing women’s livestock assets:

Index Based Livestock Insurance (IBLI) for women and women-owned livestock

A Women and Livestock Fund (e.g Bangladesh micro-credit and poultry development)

What institutional arrangements would be required to make these work?

Partnerships Insurance and micro-finance organizations, NGOs-PROLINOVA

2. Promoting women’s participation in formal and informal livestock and livestock product markets

Objectives What are the pro-poor, pro-women

livestock value chains? What segments of the value chains

have greatest benefits for women and their households?

Role of collective action for increasing market participation (e.g co-operative dairy development scheme in India)

Partnerships Heifer International (dairy cows),

Farm Africa (dairy goats), **** (pigs, poultry, other small ruminants)

Comparing income share to women across traditional and non-traditional

cash crops

• Women have higher income share from some crops and types of markets compared to others

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3. Intra-household dynamics, asset ownership and nutrition and health outcomes

Objectives Qualitative, quantitative and nutritional analysis of

the implications of livestock ownership, intra household dynamics and health and nutrition outcomes

Action research to test strategies that can improve health and nutrition outcomes of livestock keepers (e.g integrating nutrition education with dairy interventions)

Partners Emory University (development and public health

departments), NGO partners working on livestock, nutrition

4. Women, Livestock and NRMKey Issues• Managing NR to increase access by women to feed

and fodder resources (private and common property lands)

• Gendered impacts of climate change and the role of women in adaptation mechanisms

Objectives• Increasing livestock productivity and

competitiveness, as well as food security though dual purpose feed and feed resources

• Action oriented research to test different interventions and resources (including information) for men and women for dealing with climate variability/change

Partners• IDRC, Regional Universities (Sokoine), ICRAF?

Compiling empirical evidence of gender issues in livestock:

• Analysis of a gender implications of a decade of ILRI research on issues such as markets, food safety and health, NRM, poverty.

• Integrating gender and poverty indicators into the research process, monitoring and evaluation

Broadly:

• Mainstreaming gender into the project design and planning process, and gender analysis as an integral part of the research process

Other gender work in ILRI

Key methods and approaches

Action research and pilot testing of innovative approaches, technologies, services

Analysis of existing secondary data, especially gender-disaggregated data

Evaluation of livestock R4D projectsNew research to better understand

women and livestock issues

Thank You