Corinne Valdivia
Department of Agricultural Economics
Social Sciences Unit
University of Missouri-Columbia
valdiviac@missouri.edu
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Contents
SMALL RUMINANTS AND THE DEVELOPMENT AGENDA: THE SR-CRSP
GENDER AND LIVESTOCK
IN THE SR-CRSP
PERU
INDONESIA
KENYA
BOLIVIA
Abstract
North Sumatra and West Java in Indonesia, the Andes
of Bolivia and Peru, Western Kenya, the Coast and Machakos in Kenya, were
Small Ruminant Collaborative Research Support Program sites in which the
role of small ruminants was studied and where technological interventions
were designed. In all cases the target groups were poor rural households
that could maintain sheep, goats, or South American camelids. The objective
was to increase the welfare of families through the use small ruminant
technologies. Access and control of resources, and intrahousehold dynamics
were analyzed to understand if, how, and when, technological interventions
help achieve this objective.
The way in which the villages studied integrate to the market, the specific role that livestock and other productive enterprises play in the household economy, the risks faced by families in rural areas condition the role of livestock and other resource management technologies. As an asset, small and large stock are gendered, but this is qualified by the alternatives that household members have. Lessons from the SR-CRSP are presented, and we elaborate on the relationship between resource management and the ability to build livestock assets and security.
INTRODUCTION
This paper reviews the research findings of the Small
Ruminant-Collaborative Research Support Program in Peru, Bolivia, Indonesia,
and Kenya on livestock technologies and gender, in order to identify the
lessons that this research program provides about how livestock interacts
with gender, resource management, markets, and welfare. It addresses why
and how gender becomes one of the layers that is relevant to understanding
the possibilities and impacts of small ruminants on household production
systems, specially focusing on food security.
We first look at the projects in Indonesia, Peru, Bolivia and Kenya. We then summarize the findings on the role of gender in these projects. We discuss these, their commonalities and differences, and propose a "framework for analysis of gender, livestock, and security in development."
SMALL RUMINANTS AND THE DEVELOPMENT
AGENDA: THE SR-CRSP
The Small Ruminant Collaborative Research Support
Program (SR-CRSP), was funded under Title XII, "Famine Prevention and Freedom
from Hunger" in 1979. For 18 years this program developed research and
training projects in Indonesia, Peru, Bolivia, Kenya, Brazil and Morocco.
The long term goal of this program was to contribute to the welfare of the poor in rural areas of low income countries, through the development of small ruminant technologies that would increase the food supply and their income. The focus on small ruminants was not an accident. These were animals often in the hands of resource poor farmers in agropastoral, pastoral, and crop-livestock systems, or had the potential to be included in high densely populated areas. These were species often not researched by the national programs nor universities because of their secondary economic importance. Therefore in many, if not all, cases the SR-CRSP filled a research vacuum, as government programs often focused on technologies favoring commercial farmers and cash products, such as cattle and dairy in the case of livestock.
The research program combined both on-station and farming
systems research. As the programs evolved, farming systems research became
a central focus of the program. Because markets were limited and the farmers
were small holder peasants and resource poor, and because the reality of
production in the Tropics was so different from temperate regions, research
took a farming systems approach, and a production systems focus became
part of this CRSP almost from the start. Kenya in 1982, and Peru in 1983,
had on-farm research programs; Indonesia in 1985 started the Outreach Pilot
Program to demonstrate and test technologies; Bolivia's focus from the
start was the agropastoral system and interdisciplinary on-farm research.
This component was specifically designed as an on-farm and community program.
Table 1 summarizes the research components and approaches mentioned in
this study. These were multidisciplinary components from the start, and
became more interdisciplinary in Kenya, Bolivia and Peru.
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| Country | Component | Production System | Objective | Approach |
| Indonesia
1981-1995 |
I. High Prolific Sheep
II. Hair Sheep Production Systems |
I. Crop-livestock
II. Rubber and Sheep |
I. Income Increase
II. Production under Rubber Plantations |
I. On Station Research
II. Demonstration testing on-farm |
| Peru
1980-1989 |
I. Breeding Nutrition Range and Health
II. Community Systems Project |
I. Pastoral Systems
II. Agropastoral Systems |
I. Increasing productivity in Sheep and camelids
II. Peasant Welfare |
I. Disciplinary on-station and on-farm research
II. Systems Research |
| Kenya
1980-1997 |
I. Kenya Dual Purpose Goats
II. Animal Health-Biotech |
I. Crop-livestock Systems
II. Agro-pastoral |
I. Milk and meat increase in small holder farms
II. Vaccines |
I.Disciplinary &
Systems Research II. Biotech. |
| Bolivia
1991-1995 |
Sustainable Agropastoral Systems on Marginal Lands | Agropastoral semi arid highlands | Sustainable systems, understand the role of livestock | Systems research with Social Sciences
Range Ecology, and Animal Nutrition |
Peru
The SR-CRSP started in Peru at the beginning of the 1980s.
The initial purpose was to learn about the production of sheep and alpacas
in the Andean region, with a heavy emphasis on rangelands, nutrition and
animal health. Although a large part of the research was conducted off
station, it took place mostly under large ranch conditions, such as production
cooperatives with large extensions of unimproved range lands and numbers
of animals. This focus reflected the government's reliance on this form
of production as a strategy for development. Research on a typology of
producers (Jamtgaard, 1992) showed that a large part of the population
of small ruminants resided with the peasant communities. Research in the
project incorporated Comunidades during the early 1980's, and focused on
understanding the labor allocation and decision domains in peasant households,
as well as indigenous veterinary practices. The research program found
in the case of the Peruvian Highlands of Junín (Fernández
1986 and 1992, Martínez and Barrera, 1989) and Cuzco (Mc Corkle
1992), that peasant household production systems consisted of subeconomies,
a livestock one dominated by a small ruminant sub economy where the production
and resource allocation decisions, as well as the knowledge, were in the
hands of the female head of household. The author indicates that her finding
are corroborated by those of Deere in Cajamarca (North Andes of Peru) regarding
labor and livestock. The male head of household was in charge of a second
sub economy, with crop products that were mostly marketed. In some cases
(Martínez and Barrera 1989) cattle marketing activities would be
the domain of men, as these were important tools in crop production (Martínez
and Barrera 1989). Understanding the rationale for peasant production,
which includes consumption and marketing, and the decision domains, were
lessons to the research programs and to extension. The way technological
interventions are designed, and extension programs are formulated shows
men as the target. Studies in Peru found sheep especially important as
a cash generating activity for the household in order to purchase products
from the market.
Fernández (1992), as well as McCorkle(1992), highlight the importance of community based decisions, and community-interhousehold relations for resource management decisions. They find that peasant communities, as others had in the past (Alberti and Mayer, 1974), use their institutions to assign and manage land and labor resources, and formulate grazing rules for the community. These authors find that interhousehold relations and community organization are essential to the ability of households to produce, as access to labor and land are done through these institutions. The non-capitalist social institutions are means that substitute for the market, to which these farmers link opportunistically.
Indonesia
The project in Indonesia focused on the search of the
prolific sheep gene. Indigenous sheep, the East Java Thin Tail sheep has
a high prolificacy trait. Research in West Java concentrated on the identification
of the gene. Other activities focused on nutrition, animal health and animal
production, as well as measurement of the impacts of the designed interventions.
Several studies were conducted to understand the production systems in
Java, and later in North Sumatra. Among them understanding the role of
gender in production was a research activity that was pursued through different
methods. Studies on women and small ruminant production were carried in
Java Indonesia, site of the first SR-CRSP project in this country. Along
with the search of the high prolific gene in sheep, several management
practices were introduced into small holder production, especially in rice
based production systems. The studies carried out by Sabrani (Handayani
et al 1993), Priyanti and Bilinsky (Handayani et al. 1993) and Wahyuni
and Gatenby (ibid), showed that small ruminant production was a secondary
economic activity, after the primary activity, often rice production, and
that women and children were heavily involved in small ruminant production.
The approach of this study was to determine who was doing what.
Research in Java focused on a different production system and market integration. In the case of the Outreach Pilot Project, 88% of the wives interviewed reported working in this enterprise, as did a study of woman's involvement in the improvement of small ruminant production (Priyanti and Bilinsky, ) showed. The authors found that women are involved, the main reasoning was that their husbands suggested this, the second was savings, the third extra income. Women were more involved in collecting grasses, while less in marketing, which is the husband's responsibility. Women were involved in other cropping activities, along with the husband. Wahyuni et al (1990) in the same sites finds that decisions regarding use the money and marketing the animals were joint. Other activities were mostly the responsibility of men. They also found that women's participation was greater in feeding and watering, while other areas such as breeding was the domain of men.
Handayani et al (1993) questioned some of the findings, because she believed that the methodology used by those studies, a formal interview process, was flawed in the context of Indonesian culture, because of the difficulty of obtaining unbiased answers.. She also points out that the lack of a theoretical framework does not allow the authors to understand why sheep are the domain of women in this environment. Using participant observation and a peasant household form of production approach, believing that external forces shape the production decisions (Friedman, 1980, Handayani et al 1993), small ruminant production was confirmed as a secondary economic activity in the rice and rubber production systems of North Sumatra, with adult males and females dedicating a small amount of time to this activity. The idea that other economic activities absorb adult labor was brought to the front. Labor from children was essential in small ruminant production, the labor domain was confirmed with boys allocating more time than girls near the rubber plantations, and in the case of children over 14, the decision domains were not determined. They found that the peasant household framework was essential to explain labor allocation, and that participant observation yielded results that were less biased in terms of under and over reporting. In the context of Sumatra where there are employment opportunities for women in rubber plantations, small ruminant production became an attractive activity because the opportunity cost is very high. Webb et al. (1995) analyzed the contribution of women to rural income in a transmigration area of North Sumatra. Using a survey approach, and interviewing primarily women, they found that women contribute labor to sheep production. When decision making was evaluated apparently joint decisions were the most common approach regarding livestock, although when income from livestock was reported this is recorded was generated by the men. This situation seems to negate the income domain. They found that income from sheep is growing and that repayment of credit to introduce sheep (in kind) is being successful.
Kenya
Eighteen years of research in Kenya have resulted in
a variety of experiences relating to the role of women in livestock production.
As the program started, in 1980, Noble studied the experiences of The Samia
Women's Dairy Goat Project. Other studies had shown that goats, like poultry,
were the women's animal (Noble 1992). This project, in western Kenya was
specifically targeted to benefit women, with participation from various
donor agencies. Her study found that a well intentioned project to counteract
the effects of the development burden on women, focused on the wrong commodity
and approach for that setting. In an area where livestock production, specifically
goats, were identified as the domain of men, and where the resources generated
were also identified with men, a project that focused on women and livestock
was doomed for failure.
Through participant observation, essays by children on family lives, and structured open ended interviews, she found that the socio, economic and cultural realities in this area made it difficult for a livestock-women project to really benefit women (Noble 1992, P 143). She concludes by saying that although this project did not result in the intended objectives with respect to women, ignoring women and not specifically targeting them would result in a greater invisibility. In this context, and given the reality of this area, probably a focus on poultry (housed in a woman's kitchen), would have had more chance of success. Her study is important because it is in western Kenya, where the first crosses of the Dual Purpose Goat were tested on farm.
Between 1989 and 1992 first crosses of the dual purpose goat were on-farm in Hamisi, Masumbi, Muhanda, Rabour and Lela (Ospina, 1991 Annual Report). Results from a study that looked at the adoption of elements of a technological package to manage and integrate a Kenya Dual Purpose Goat into the household production systems, found differences in the preferences by men and women. An economic study of adoption identified capital intensive technologies as those preferred by men, while women chose those that were extensive, and related to food crops such as tethering and feeding sweet potato vines (Sheikh, 1992).
Research in the same area, conducted by Conelly and Chaiken (1993), looked at inequality and gender in the control of resources in agropastoral systems, in this case focusing on the Luo (Masumbi) and Luhya (Hamisi) people. Through their case studies, four general assumptions are questioned. These were:
A. Labor allocation is divided by gender with men responsible
for livestock and cash crops and women responsible for food crops. They
found that women allocate their labor to cash crop production. In livestock
production women from Hamisi contribute 50 percent, which is not the case
in Masumbi.
B. Control of livestock, decisions of selling and buying
and the income generated from their sales, including milk was in the hands
of men. Though men are perceived to be the owners of livestock at both
sites, milk which if often sold is controlled by women.
C. Men are the legal owners of the cash crops and control
their income. While men are the ones to decide on the planting, and legally
own the crops, the study found that managing, selling and controlling income
was in more than 60% of the cases, in the woman's domain. This implied
that women are not only responsible for cash crops, such as tea, coffee
and french beans. They also found that control over income was not only
due to male migration. In Masumbi where the husband is in residence, women
claimed to be the farm managers.
D. Income from men is used in investments in housing,
schooling and livestock. In both communities income was mostly allocated
by women to food and schooling, and by men. This indicates according to
the authors that food security is a primary concern.
As food security is a central concern the authors explored the relationship between socioeconomic characteristics and protein consumption. They found an inverse correlation between meat and socioeconomic status in Masumbi regarding meat consumption. In the case of fish, poorer households consumed it most often. They concluded that while socioeconomic status does correlate with food security, it does not correlate with gender, households with female managers tended to consume meat milk and fish more frequently. Socioeconomic inequality, they argued, may be a more pervasive problem linked to food insecurity than gender. Their results confirm that providing more access to resources in the hands of women will have more impact on nutrition.
Further testing of the four way cross took place in two new sites of Kenya, The Coast (Kwale and Kilifi) and Machakos (Kitanga and Kimutwa). A survey in 1995 was applied to understand the resource allocation and management decisions carried out by men and women in these peasant households, as well as the benefits of the technology. The study found that although the heads of households at both sites were mostly men (94% in Machakos and 96% at the Coast), male migration in Machakos resulted in women becoming the primary farm operators, 86% (Njeru et al. 1997). At the Coast 61% of the men were farm operators, the remaining 39% were headed by women operators. Lack of official land titling was prevalent, 71 % in Machakos and 52% in t he Coast.
Both at the Coast and Machakos land titles were mostly in the hands of men. Unlike other areas, at both the Coast and Machakos women sold livestock, mostly small ruminants and poultry. Cattle, other studies have found, is not usually sold by women. In most cases, income was perceived to belong to the male head of household, but decisions to spend income on consumption was the domain of women. Credit was accessed by women through women groups in Machakos. Thirty three of the forty farmers in this area borrowed money. At the Coast, the credit market was more fragmented for small holder producers. Most of the credit was in kind. Only seven of the forty farmers interviewed accessed credit, two through women groups. All the credit was used to purchase food. Almost all the credit in Machakos was used for home consumption, and school supplies (70%).
Migration influences female participation in decision making positively. In the Machakos area, of the 35 household 48 men and 5 females worked outside the farm. At the Coast 12 households, 18 males and 2 couples worked off the farm. The majority of work was non permanent (72% and 87% were part time in Machakos and the Coast respectively). The income generated was mostly for consumption. Decisions that were the domain of women consisted of milking animals, fetching water, cut and carry of grasses, planting and caring for fodder. Men on the other hand kept records, herded, sprayed and dipped, women tethered and assisted during kidding. As men were most of the time present in the homestead at the Coast, women were not as involved in the decisions as were those in Machakos.
In the framework of peasant household production, farmers at the Coast were poorer (Annual Report 1996), with less alternatives, where investment in goat activities would increase income, as well as facilitate access to credit. In the case of Machakos, the absence of men contribute to the participation of women in the decision making process (Njeru 1997, Boserup 1970). Ten of the eighteen livestock sales in Machakos were done by women, where goats and chicken were the species transacted. Only 4 of the 18 were sold in the market. Noted by Njeru et al (1997) was the fact that no women in this area sold cattle. At the Coast 9 of the12 livestock transactions were done by men. At this site six transactions were carried out by men at the market; the authors also report on the sales of crops, and buying and selling inputs and outputs. They looked at food purchase decisions, as well as inputs. Results show that men in Machakos and the Coast mostly bought inputs, while women bought food. The source of money, regardless of the decision belongs to the male head of household. An important source of credit at both sites were the women groups.
Social capital and gender (de Haan et al) were integral to the success of goat projects like the evaluated one. Women in most cases were the managers of the goats. When interviewed the most appreciated benefit was access to milk. Women were also the decision makers regarding household reproductive activities. In a context where food insecurity is prevalent, livestock can improve security. Access to information was a constraint, identified in the Coast as men were the participants in meetings where information on the management of the goats is provided. The focus on groups is important to facilitate access to this information. As women groups exist in the area, they should be sought as a mechanism to facilitate access to the technology. Success of the pass on of goats in the Coast was explained by the high degree of cohesion in the group. The lack of cohesion in Machakos, may explain the lack of success. Another reason in the lack of adoption of the complete package, may be other economic opportunities competing with the goats in this area, a lower degree of poverty, and other economic opportunities (de Haan et al. 1996). Interhousehold relations and access to information were suggested as areas of further research.
Bolivia
The objective of the SR-CRSP in semi-arid systems was
to understand the role of livestock and people in sustainable agropastoral
systems in marginal lands. An interdisciplinary team of range ecologists,
animal nutrition, agronomists, economists, sociologists, and anthropologists
studied a peasant community in the Central Altiplano of Bolivia between
1992 and 1995. The approach in social sciences included the understanding
of the macro economic forces, biotic forces, economic and political history
in shaping the production systems and strategies of social reproduction
in the region, community, the families and individuals. The research spans
the macro and micro domains. In the micro context production, consumption,
and nutrition are studied. A synthesis of the research is currently being
prepared (Coppock Valdivia and Alzerreca).
Migration, population growth and agrarian reforms have shaped the household production system. The major agricultural subeconomies were identified food crops, forages and dairy, and sheep production (Valdivia et al. 1993,1996). Off farm employment and temporal migration affect families at different stages of the life cycle and with differential access to resources and wealth (Markowitz and Jetté 1994, Cala and Jetté 1994, Espejo 1994, Valdivia and Jetté 1997). The nature of production in a semi-arid environment requires careful planning, ex-ante, of crop production, with diversification found as an essential strategy to maximize use of the resources available and minimize production and market risk (Valdivia et al. 1996, Valdivia and Jetté 1997, Cespedes 1993, Coppock Valdivia and Alzerreca, forthcoming).
Household reproductive activities are the responsibility of the female head of household (Markowitz 1995). There was division of labor and decision domains in productive activities (Sherbourne et al. 1995, Valdivia et al. 1996). Men were mostly responsible for dairying a new cash crop activity, women were responsible for sheep production and marketing, and both shared responsibilities in cropping (food and forages). Women were responsible for part of the herding and all the milking, when the male head of household was present, and responsible for all when men worked off the farm. An inverse correlation between off farm employment and dairying (Dunn et al. 1994) was found. Households with dairy tended to have the two heads of household present. The income from sheep was consistently spent by the female head of household in consumption goods and school supplies. Sheep was the source of protein for the family (milk and meat) according to a study by Marila and Markowitz (1995). Valdivia found that sheep assets were positive and significant coefficient in explaining household consumption. Fender (1997) with a household economic portfolio approach found that women controlled the sheep enterprise and were the ones investing in welfare expenditures.
Innovations such as alfalfa planting, and dairy benefitted sheep production by facilitating the improvement of sheep, which remain in the females control. Women inherit livestock, and when they marry they receive both sheep and cattle. Only men inherit land. Women in household with dairy had access to the alfalfa and barley plots, allowing them to improve animals and therefore income generated form the sales of sheep (SR-CRSP Annual Report 1994, 1995).
Interhousehold relations were crucial in this community to access labor, land and animals, especially for resource poor families (Cala 1994, Espejo 1994). The existence of a strong community with leadership, facilitated access to non governmental institutions that assisted in potable water, electricity and irrigation projects. Social capital, non capitalist institutions, have allowed families in San Jose to reproduce. Livestock are the domain of Amara and Quechua women. Studies in the area found sheep to be performing very well under semi-arid conditions, while degradation was taking place in the cropping areas.
Women were in charge of welfare expenditures. Their role in food security, and the role of livestock as assets to be used in consumption were clearly identified in this research program.
Women in this community clearly managed the land resources, within the patterns set by the community, in terms of daily decision on where to graze and what to use, marketed the sheep and spent on the household members (Fender 1997).
Life cycle, gender and age, quality of resources, number
of heads of household, livestock species improved and criollo, were all
significant in identifying the strategies and production systems in this
community. Major characteristics were the diversification of the economic
portfolio, women clearly in charge of livestock-sheep production activities,
a livestock operation that buffers losses in cropping, off-farm employment
as a strategy for resource poor farmers, and women as the main actors securing
food for the household. Collaboration in several productive and reproductive
activities were identified. Social institutions were important in access
and control of productive activities.