4.1 Case study 1: Alley farming for improving small ruminant productivity in West Africa
Gender analysis is required to understand the various roles of men, women and children in farming systems and the way these roles are affected by new interventions. Particular attention is normally given to the roles of women because in many cases they undertake major responsibilities in agricultural production, processing and marketing in addition to performing household chores, and reproductive and child rearing activities. Research for technology generation, testing and adaptation often requires long periods and passes through several stages. When and how gender analysis is considered in the research process may depend a great deal on the nature of the technology being studied and the overall research approach used. Two case studies are presented below that critically examine how gender concerns were included in the two livestock research projects.
Small ruminants are the main types of livestock kept in the humid zone of West and central Africa. They form a minor part of the crop dominated farming systems in the zone, and are a frequent source of cash for special needs of poor families. Women own a significant proportion of these animals, obtained through inheritance, gifts or purchases. Small ruminants owned by different family members are jointly managed. Management ranges from free ranging where population density is low to year-round confinement and cut-and-carry feeding in densely populated areas. The rearing of small ruminants is mainly the responsibility of women and children, as this activity can generally be under-taken in the vicinity of the household. Men contribute to feed collection where cut-and-carry feeding is required, particularly if it involves travelling long distances. In addition to rearing small ruminants, women in most West African countries contribute a high percentage of total labour input in food production, processing and trade, as well as in domestic tasks.
Observations over time of village herds in southern Nigeria noted that disease and undernutrition were the main constraints to small ruminant production, especially with confined animals. This indicated the importance of better quality feed, as interaction between diseases and undernutrition was also noticed. With population growth and more intensive crop production, small ruminant management under confinement will increase requiring better quality cut-and-carry feed.
In 1978, the Humid Zone Programme (HZP) of the International Livestock Centre for Africa (ILCA, now the International Livestock Research Institute, ILRI), was established in Ibadan, Nigeria, to undertake research for developing low-cost interventions to improve animal nutrition and health as ways of increasing small ruminant productivity. Given that crops dominate the farming systems in the zone, it was envisaged that for better nutrition, a technology beneficial to both crop and livestock would have better prospects for adoption.
Before the establishment of the , the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA) in Ibadan had developed the alley cropping technology to improve soil fertility, control soil erosion, reduce fallow periods and increase crop yields. Alley cropping is an agroforestry system in which crops are grown in alleys formed by leguminous trees and shrubs. The hedgerows are pruned periodically and the pruning is used as mulch during the crop season. ILRI introduced the alley farming technology, which involved using the non-crop dry season and part of the crop season pruning as protein-rich feed supplements to traditional village diets to increase small ruminant productivity. ILRI undertook agronomic, on-station and on-farm studies to modify alley cropping, to use tree foliage as mulch and fodder. On-station and on-farm studies were also conducted to determine animal response to herbage supplementation and to develop appropriate feeding strategies for utilising limited feed supply. Socio-economic studies were conducted to assess the benefits of supplementation of small ruminants traditional village diet with tree foliage and identify factors related to the potential for adoption of alley farming. Alley farming necessitated the integration of crops and livestock based on household objectives, resources and production practices. A systems approach was therefore pursued in the research programme.
Between 1981 and 1983, some aspects of the technology (viability and performance of alley trees) were tested under real farm conditions with five volunteer farmers. Only male farmers were contacted. Though farmers used tree herbage from the feed gardens to feed animals, they expressed more interest in the mulching function of the trees. No extension services were provided with the on-farm trials, so involvement of the national extension service was deemed necessary, to assist in refining the technology on station and further test on farm for wider diffusion.
The second phase of the project started in 1984 in two villages (Owen-Ile and Iwo-Ate) in Oyo and Imo states. A baseline survey in the two villages showed that women made up 31% of the farming population. Twenty-nine per cent of the adult women indicated farming as their major occupation. Women owned over 50% of the small ruminants (Okali and Sumberg 1985, cited in Jabbar et al. 1996). The research team therefore expected a significant number of independent alley farms to be established by women. Both male and female members of the households were invited to the several village discussion meetings held, but attendance of women was fairly small. Benefits and operational procedures of alley farming were explained in these meetings. Volunteers were sought to participate in the on-farm testing programme. The ILRI team members were assisted at each site by extension staff from the Ministry of Agriculture and Natural Resources.
Women planted only 14% of the 86 alley plots established in the two villages in 1984. Most of these women were heads of their families. The research team postulated a number of hypotheses to explain the apparent low participation of women in alley farming:
To further understand why few women established alley farms and to further promote their participation, a female research-cum-extension worker was employed in 1985. Although she worked with the main on-farm research team, she contacted, organised and communicated with women members of the households separately. Women were reached through visits to their homes, via churches and co-operatives, and even through local school children who were taught and persuaded to take messages about alley farming to their mothers. The Humid Zone encouraged men to give women land to establish independent alley farms, since women owned a significant proportion of the small ruminant stocks. By the end of 1985, 27 women planted small alley plots on land given to them by their husbands.
Before the trees reached maturity and were ready for use, the female research-cum-extension worker finished her contract and left the team. The special status, facilities and advice given to women were replaced by a general advisory approach by the core ILRI on-farm research team. Women gradually lost interest and most gave up managing alley trees. In 1990, only 3 out of the 27 alley plots established by women with the assistance of the female research-cum-extension worker were functional. While all 15 alley plots belonging to women established under the general community approach during the first 2 years of the on-farm trial were still operational, their level of performance varied widely.
Several lessons were learnt about the involvement of women in alley farming.
Ethiopia accounts for 50% of the highland area of tropical Africa and has the highest livestock population in the region. The highlands with areas 1500 m or more above sea level, are favoured by good soils and climatic conditions allowing higher productivity of crops and livestock and higher population densities than elsewhere on the continent. Cattle, sheep and goats are the dominant types of livestock in the mixed smallholder farms. Here, livestock are very important as they provide subsistence, security and assets for households, and draft and manure for crop production; livestock also perform other social and cultural functions. Men, women and children participate in animal husbandry to varying degrees. Both men and women take part in harvesting, transportation and chaffing of fodder, feeding of animals, milking, cleaning of sheds and sale of milk. Processing of milk is solely the responsibility of women. Children of both sexes tether and graze animals.
Ethiopian agriculture has been using indigenous ox traction for centuries. An average household has a pair of oxen plus a follower herd of several head to replace older oxen and for other functions. With population pressure, cropping intensity has increased and marginal lands, including grazing areas, are being cultivated. These have created feed shortage in terms of quality and quantity, and contributed to low animal productivity and land degradation.
Given that the consequences of population pressure on cropland are irreversible in the near future, a possible avenue to solve the feed problem is to reduce the number of low productivity indigenous zebu cattle and replace them with better quality animals. Another possibility is to use the local cows for both draft and milk, as practised in some South and South-East Asian countries. But the effects of using local cows for dual purpose while feed is scarce will be to reduce their milk production and reproductive performance. A third possibility is to use crossbred cows for dual purpose—to produce milk and traction power. Crossbred cows are already adapted and used for dairy in the highlands of East Africa, including Ethiopia. Because of their larger size and strength and higher milk yielding potential, it may be possible to use them for dual purpose on smallholdings whose power requirement is modest. Any negative effect of draft on milk output and reproduction may be compensated for by the better feed to which they are already exposed as dairy animals. The use of crossbred dairy cows for traction, rather than oxen, would reduce the stocking rate and alleviate overgrazing, entailing better management of natural resources. Furthermore, a smaller, more productive herd will release capital and feed resources to achieve more sustainable production systems, higher incomes and better nutrition.
The Ethiopian Agricultural Research Organization (EARO) and ILRI started a research programme on crossbred cows for both milk production and draft in 1989. The project envisaged on-station and on-farm stages. Between 1989 and 1993 on-station studies were conducted to determine if there was a trade-off between traction and milk production. The aim was to develop strategies for feeding crossbred cows for both milk production and traction, to increase their efficiency in both areas. The results showed that with appropriate feeding regimes dairy cows could be used for draft purposes without any detrimental effects on lactation and reproduction, but the calving interval will be extended. High productivity indices for well-fed working crossbred cows indicated that the technology has the potential to reduce stocking rates, increase efficient use of on-farm resources and raise farm productivity (Zerbini et al. 1998).
The scope of the on-farm research was not detailed in the beginning, rather it evolved with experience. In 1993, and ILRI initiated on-farm testing of the technology in villages around EARO’s Holetta research station in a joint effort with 14 farmers, half using crossbred cows for milk production only and the other half using crossbred cows for both traction and milk production. The purpose was to establish whether and how crossbred cows requiring new feed production and feeding strategies could be managed for dual purpose in real farm conditions. Another objective was to evaluate the economic performances (investment returns) of crossbred dairy cows on smallholder farms and their impacts on total household resource use, including labour. Thus, biological and socio-economic data including labour by gender were collected. Whole farm analysis, based on the concept of the farm as a system, indicated that it was feasible and profitable to use crossbred cows for both milk production and traction (Mengistu Buta 1997). The analysis showed gender division of labour for various farming activities as currently practised and also revealed that total household labour input for farms with crossbred cows would increase, compared to local livestock rearing, but did not show what changes would occur by gender.
Before cow traction was introduced, only oxen were used for traction in the study area. and ILRI felt the need to find out whether farmers would be willing to use cows for traction, this not being a traditional practice. Thus in 1993 a consultant carried out an anthropological study at the on-farm testing site among 52 farmers without prior experience with crossbred cows. The aim of the study was to understand the farmer’s attitude toward the use of crossbred cows for both milk production and traction. The study was conducted in the period just before and after most of the 14 selected farmers received their crossbred cows. Nineteen per cent of the farmers surveyed thought it was feasible to use cows for ploughing (Pankhurst 1993). For a complex new capital-intensive technology about which farmers did not have previous experience, a 19% approval rate was encouraging. However, this survey did not solicit household members’ attitudes and perceptions about the technology on their welfare though the technology would have implications for their workload, income, and food and nutrition security. Whether discussions with all members of a household about their perceptions of the potential benefits and costs would have changed the household’s decisions about dual use of cows was not known.
In 1995, the on-farm research programme was expanded to another 60 households with crossbred cows and 60 with indigenous cattle. To select farmers to participate, volunteers were sought from a number of villages; people showed a willingness to participate. The project then selected 60 farmers based on the following criteria:
Observation of the initial 14 farmers indicated that gender (age and sex) was an important variable in the adoption, use and performance of crossbred cows, according to the gender division of labour. Men contribute 90% of the time for hand feeding animals, and women and children 10%. Herding is mostly done by children between ages 10 and 16 years and requires 10 hours each day. Women contribute 50% of the labour for barn cleaning, children 33% and men 17%. Women account for 81% of the milking labour per day, men 16% and children 3% (Mengistu Buta 1997). So at this stage, along with biological data, on-farm monitoring also included data on intra-household resource allocation, task sharing, income generation and expenditure patterns.
While preparing for the expanded on-farm testing another anthropological survey was conducted in 1995, to assess the acceptability and potential diffusion of the new technology. The survey sought to understand the attitudes of the farmers selected by the project in 1993 and 1995, those who were rejected or withdrew from the project and neighbouring farmers who were not considered by the project. The study also intended to verify whether there had been any change in farmers’ attitude towards the use of crossbred cows for traction and milk production, since the previous survey of 1993. The survey also aimed at establishing the profile of likely innovators of the new technology and to predict which of the selected farmers were likely to be the most successful adopters. The results showed that 51% of the farmers believed that crossbred cows could plough and give milk simultaneously. Forty per cent of the farmers believed that using cows for ploughing would result in a decrease in milk yield. A few farmers even suggested that milk yields would increase after traction because the bodies of the cows would be relaxed. Some claimed that ploughing and milk production were complementary, since cows that plough eat more and hence give more milk. It was the younger, more educated and smaller landholders who believed crossbred cows could plough and produce milk (Pankhurst 1996).
During this phase of field work, the research team realised that the impact of the technology should be measured not only in terms of intra-household labour, income and expenditure allocation, but also in terms of human nutrition, particularly of women and children. Dairy with crossbred cows could have an impact on human nutrition both directly via consumption of increased milk and dairy products and indirectly via sale of increased output and purchase of more and better quality food. In traditional cattle production systems, local cows produce 2–3 litres of milk per day, part of which is consumed and part of which may be sold fresh or more commonly after processing into butter or cheese by women. Crossbred cows, however, produce 4–5 times as much milk per day (8–15 litres per day) as local cows. A higher proportion of this milk is sold fresh to the Dairy Development Enterprise (DDE), a government dairy marketing and processing parastatal that has collection centres for fresh milk. A smaller proportion of the milk, but higher in volume than with local cows, is used for home consumption, especially by children, and for processing into cheese and butter for sale by women. Since alleviating poverty and improving food security are ultimate goals of technology generation and diffusion, in 1996 and 1997 additional questions on food consumption, nutrition and health were added to the on-going survey. The objective was to assess the impact of dairy–draft technology on the welfare of household members, particularly women and children, and to identify policy options that could help ensure that the benefits are equitably shared by all. The 1997 survey is being repeated in 1999. Analysis of all the data is also in progress.
A few lessons can be learnt about gender issues from the dual-purpose cow project.
Experience with the project suggests that the involvement of men, women and children at the beginning of the project would have indicated the likely effects of the new technology on the farming and livelihood systems, identified expectations of the farmers about the project, and pointed out potential problems and remedies. This could have helped any modifications in the design of the technology or its testing process and eventual adoption.
