The Gender Dimension in Agricultural Research: Examples of Participatory Plant Breeding

1. The Gender Dimension in Agricultural Research:Examples of Participatory Plant Breeding Dr. Malika A. Martini

2. What is participatory research? It involves the approaches that involve clients in the process of inquiry

3. The Problem Must ComeBeforeThe Solution • Adopting a User Perspective increases the efficiency, effectiveness of agricultural research through better targeting and impact • Ag. Res. broadened from a focus on biological componentstounderstanding the user perspective

4. Appropriateness of a technology is oftenGender Specific, based on the social context of who within the household actually uses it Agricultural research occurs in a social context and requires looking at the different roles performed by men and women. These social distinctions are what we call gender differences

5. What is the difference between Gender and Women/Men?

6. How Did The Gender Concept Emerge In Development Programs?

7. Gender Analysis It is a system for analyzing gender roles and intra- and inter--household dynamics within farming systems and applying that analysis to decisions about agricultural research and development activities

8. Why Do We Need To Do Gender Analysis? • Efficiency • Equity from Ag. Res. benefits • Relevance – identifies most relevant participants in res. • Ensures Social Sustainability of Development

9. Participatory research • PA are usually used with groups • Usually consensus woven by the most powerful group • Voices, knowledge, and choices of other members of the community are not heard • This may create losses in research efficiency – needs and preferences of silent groups are not addressed at all

10. Four challenges To ensure that all relevant stakeholders are heard and considered in technology development • Identify distinct & relevant stakeholders or users • Find ways to include each group or category in articulating its knowledge and priorities • Determine priorities among stakeholders or stakeholders’ choices • Measure the contribution to research outcomes by including stakeholders, and assessing the value of this

11. Gender Disaggregation • Different crops/livestock/enterprises • Different fields • Different tasks • Women headed household: de facto, de jure women in joint households cultivators/hired labor • Other variables: age, class, life cycle

12. Basic Tools of Gender Analysis

13. Activity Analysis • Who does what? Whose labor affected by changes – who has knowledge of current practices & why • When? • Seasonal calendar • Where? • Paid or unpaid? • Taking into account on-farm, off-farm, and domestic production

14. Table 1:Gender Disaggregated Activities for Wheat * Irrigation in March if no rainfall 1 Operation might be repeated every 15 days

15. Table 2:Gender Disaggregated Activities for Lentil

16. GERMPLASM IMPROVEMENT • ISSUES RAISED BY GENDER ANALYSIS • Activities Analysis: • Different management practices for the same crops? • Seasonality of the traditional labor patterns? • Timing of the new variety affected? • RESEARCH AND DESIGN IMPLICATIONS • Trials on both men’s and women’s fields • Ex-ante analysis • Monitor actual labor by gender to determine whether it fits existing system

17. Crop Production • RESEARCH AND DESIGN IMPLICATIONS • Involvement of people concerned in determining feasibility and in learning the proposed innovation. • If opportunity costs are different, are different costs being applied to the economic evaluation? • ISSUES RAISED BY GENDER ANALYSIS • Activities Analysis: • Responsibility for the task in question? • Flexibility in task assignment? • Alternative uses of labor, are they different for men and women?

18. RESOURCE ANALYSIS • Who has access? • Who makes decisions? • Who has control? • Can use but may be conditional • Can decide about use

19. GERMPLASM IMPROVEMENT • RESEARCH AND DESIGN IMPLICATIONS • Both sets of cultivars should be used as farmer checks • Seek men & women’s opinion about desirable characteristics • Interview them in evaluating the experimental varieties • ISSUES RAISED BY GENDER ANALYSIS • Resource Analysis: • Do men and women have different traditional cultivars? • Who keeps the knowledge of traditional varieties?

20. CROP PRODUCTION • ISSUES RAISED BY GENDER ANALYSIS • Resource Analysis: • Equal access to implements needed for new practices? • Owning separate crops in a field? • RESEARCH AND DESIGN IMPLICATIONS • If researchers make the implements available, are they also investigating long term availability? • Trials on practices designed to increase productivity of one crop should include monitoring the effect on associated crops

21. BENEFITS ANALYSIS • Once the crop is harvested, • Who determines whether the product or important by-products are sold or used for home consumption? • Who gets the proceeds from sales? • Who determines whether the products are acceptable? • What are the criteria? • From enterprises • From proposed changes • Preferences for final product (or by-product) characteristics • INCLUSION:In decision-making processes

22. GERMPLASM IMPROVEMENT • RESEARCH AND DESIGN IMPLICATIONS • Are all criteria included in specifying desirable characteristics? • Are they all involved in evaluating varieties after harvest? • Are tests which include their end use included in the trial? • ISSUES RAISED BY GENDER ANALYSIS • Benefits Analysis: • What are all the end products • Who are the users? • Who are the beneficiaries?

23. CROP PRODUCTION • ISSUES RAISED BY GENDER ANALYSIS • Benefits Analysis: • Who harvests from plantings in “unused” or semi-public lands? • Who benefits from productivity increases? • RESEARCH AND DESIGN IMPLICATIONS • Can the opening up of new land with land extending mechanization safeguard the most important plants? • Trial design should incorporate means of identifying and compensating for tradeoffs

24. Example from the Karak region in Jordan • Selection of barley varieties – example • Benefits analysis from barley

27. Example from the KuhLan Affar and Dhamar in Yemen • Selection of barley varieties • In Yemen: farmers from the same village select the same varieties because of the particularity of the mountains: they want to plant at the same time in order to harvest at the same time to avoid animals grazing of crop residues after harvest. • Men farmers mainly base their selection on market prices: grain size is the most important selection criteria • Women think more about their food and the their animals’ feed: both grain and straw were important in their selection

28. Reasons behind selection criteria • Breeders: prioritize high productivity • Farmers: • In Kuhlan Affar: prioritize early planting because of children problem • In Dhamar they prioritize early planting to get advantage of the early rainfall

29. Benefits analysis from barley Particularity of Yemen: make bread from barley and lentil grains mixed together • Barley is also used for animal feeding and for other purposes • Thus women’s as well as men’s opinions are very important in the selection of new varieties

30. Thank You