CGIAR GENDER Platform science exchange 2022

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CGIAR GENDER Science Exchange 2022: Post-event report
(Report, 2022-12-16) CGIAR GENDER Impact Platform
TH1.1: Can I speak to the manager? Unpacking intrahousehold decision-making in maize production in Kenya
(Presentation, 2022-10) Voss, Rachel C.; Gitonga, Zachary; Donovan, Jason A.; Garcia Medina, Mariana; Muindi, Pauline
Research looking at the gender gap in uptake of agricultural technologies often assumes that men and women make farm management decisions as individuals. In fact, relatively little is understood about the dynamics of agricultural decision-making for plot management within dual-adult households. This study used vignettes to examine decision-making structures related to maize production in over 600 spousal-couple households in Kenya. The results indicate a high degree of joint management of maize plots (55%), although some management decisions—notably those related to purchased inputs—are more often controlled by men, while other decisions—including those related to hiring of labor and deciding how harvested maize will be used—are disproportionately controlled by women. The high prevalence of joint decision-making underscores the importance of ensuring that both men's and women's priorities, needs, and constraints are reflected in design and marketing of interventions to support maize production, including those related to breeding, seed systems, capacity building, and agricultural extension. Furthermore, evidence that men disproportionately control the decisions that most directly impact maize production potential, and that the rationales behind decision-making structures differ according to respondent gender, point to the relevance of gender-transformative approaches that increase respect for women's knowledge and build their influence over decisions that impact production potential directly.
FR2.1: Toward a Feminist Agroecology
(Presentation, 2022-10) Zaremba, Haley; Elias, Marlène; Rietveld, Anne M.; Bergamini, Nadia
Agroecology is gaining ground as a movement, science, and set of practices designed to advance a food systems transformation which subverts the patterns of farmer exploitation currently entrenched in dominant agricultural models. In order for agroecology to achieve its espoused twin aims of social and ecological wellbeing, women and other historically marginalized stakeholders must be empowered and centered as the movement's protagonists. The importance of gender and social considerations is not limited to patently social aspects of the agroecological agenda, but bears relevance in every dimension of agroecology. Yet, issues related to gender have commanded relatively little attention in the agroeocological literature. This presentation reviews HLPE's 13 defining principles of agroecology through a feminist lens to demonstrate the ways in which human dimensions and power dynamics are interwoven in every principle. Through this analysis, we demonstrate that a feminist approach is instrumental to establish a socially just and ecologically sustainable agroecological transition.
TH2.3: Smallholder Farmers Willingness to Pay for Crop Insurance Among Women and Men in Kenya
(Presentation, 2022-10) Waweru, Caroline; Kramer, Berber; Dejene Aredo, Samson
Because of increased incidences of drought due to climate change, it is vital that both men and women farmers can manage production risks. Agricultural insurance has been widely promoted to cushion farmers against adverse weather events, yet its uptake remains low, even more so among women. We therefore elicited incentivized measures of willingness to pay (WTP) for various agricultural insurance bundles offered to smallholder farmers within 7 counties in Kenya and analyze how WTP for the various bundles differs between women and men, and how it correlates with the Project-level Women's Empowerment in Agriculture Index (Pro-WEAI). We find that WTP is highest when the insurance product makes payouts in respondents' personal mobile money account, with significantly lower WTP when paid into their spouse's account, or into their savings group (ROSCA)'s account. This is consistent with the finding that control over use of income and autonomy in decision making are two of the main contributors to both men's and women's disempowerment. In conclusion, one of the ways to ensure that agricultural insurance supports women's empowerment is to ensure that insurance contracts purchased by women are registered under their names and payouts are subsequently paid to their accounts, so that they gain control over the use of income from insurance payouts.
FR2.2: Understanding Gender-Specific Constraints to Agricultural Technology Adoption: Evidence from Cassava Farming in Kenya
(Presentation, 2022-10) Trachtman, Carly; Ligon, Ethan; Murigi, Michael; Ng'ang'a, Muthoni
Female subsistence farmers in developing countries often have lower levels of agricultural productivity than men, partially due to lower adoption rates of agricultural technologies. These lower adoption rates may be due to lack of physical access to new technologies or lack of access to information about new technologies, among other explanations. In this study, we consider these two classes of explanations of low technology use among females, and test the relative impacts of interventions designed to combat each. Specifically, we consider adoption of a climate-resistant, early maturing cassava variety by female farmers. Using a randomized control trial with a 2x2 matrix treatment design, we plan to test the effects on cassava adoption by female farmers of two interventions: delivering cassava seeds to female farmers at their homes (improved access), and hiring female "lead farmers," to diffuse information about cassava seeds (improved information access). Results from a small pilot in 6 villages suggest that 1) male lead farmers are less likely than female lead farmers to train female household members during a household visit (despite all lead farmers being explicitly instructed to train females), and 2) female farmers almost unanimously prefer receiving training from a female lead farmer. Pilot results also provide insights on ways that the treatments can be improved, such as lead farmers providing follow-up training visits. These preliminary findings support the viability and importance of employing female trainers in teaching female farmers about new agricultural technologies.
FR1.3: Coping with Stressors along the Cassava Value Chain in Nigeria: Evidence to Strengthen Gender-Responsive Breeding and Inform Resilience
(Presentation, 2022-10) Teeken, Béla; Olamide, Olaosebikan; Abolore, Bello; Utoblo, Obaiya; Okoye, Benjamin; Olutegbe, Nathaniel; Garner, Elisabeth L.P.; Cole, Steven M.; Forsythe, Lora; Kulakow, Peter A.; Egesi, Chiedozie N.; Tufan, Hale Ann; Madu, Tessy
This study investigates gender perspectives on climate change (CC) and conflict stressors surrounding the cassava value-chain (VC) in Nigeria. Research Question(s): A State of Knowledge review identified the need to inquire into coping strategies and the preferred stressor-related cassava traits by specifically asking, "In what ways do gender roles and norms influence these". Methodology: Data elicited from 187 cassava farmers, 15 Key Informants and 63 VC Focus Group participants were analysed using descriptive and inferential statistics. Key findings: The study validates CC as a key factor in increased conflicts. Farmer-herder clashes, communal clashes and land disputes exacerbate the emergence of farm burning, theft and influence the kind of cassava food product made. This shapes stressor-related trait preferences like ‘early re-emergence of leaves after grazing', ‘short stem', ‘ratooning potential', and ‘stem-longevity' among men and women farmers and ‘multi-purpose suitability of roots' among processors/marketers mainly women. Coping mechanisms include relocating farms, migration and fragmented farming among men, and choice of food with less processing steps, backyard farming, forcing daughter's premature marriage and dependence on remittances from husbands among women. Resilience capacity is generally low, but men have a higher overall resilience capacity (t = 5.45) and level of access to assets (t = 6.698) which facilitate coping strategies like ‘relocating farms', migration and ‘fragmented farming'. Relevance and Implication of findings: Results present gendered coping strategies, corresponding stressor-related traits, as additional aspects important when evaluating the gender impact of breeding strategies concerning the positive benefits for, and possible harm to cassava users and especially women engaged in the cassava VC activities.
FR2.2: A systems approach to sustainable and inclusive farmer-led irrigation development: A case analysis from Nepal
(Presentation, 2022-10) Uprety, Labisha; Khadka, Manohara; Shrestha, Gitta; Thai Thi Minh; Schmitter, Petra
Farmer-led irrigation development (FLID) in Nepal has been largely synonymous to farmer-managed surface irrigation, rather than a broader encompassing of all farmer-led decisions, including small-scale choices. Many of the elements that affect farmer's adoption of social, technological, or institutional innovations in irrigation and agriculture are interconnected and need to be systemically examined to present a thorough analysis. This paper thereby presents a systemic analysis to better understand opportunities and barriers to farmer-led irrigation development in Nepal, especially for smallholders and women farmers. This is done by characterizing systemic barriers and opportunities shaped by policy environments, agricultural value chains, irrigation supply chains, private-public interventions, gender equality and social inclusion, (GESI) and new drivers such as COVID-19. The focus is on their intrinsic connections and mapping the ecosystem in which FLID is embedded. This paper is based on extensive qualitative literature and policy review coupled with primary data obtained through telephone interviews on analysing socio-economic policies, institutions, markets, and GESI-related barriers and opportunities in Nepal. The outcome is a comprehensive framework for sustainable and inclusive FLID.
TH2.1: Understanding femininities: Implications for women's Participation in Agricultural interventions in central Uganda
(Presentation, 2022-10) Shimali, Fred; Mangheni, Margaret Najjingo; Mwiine, A.A.; Businge, M.; Nakyewa, B.; Nanyonjo, G.; Angudubo, S.; Sanya, L.N.; Asiimwe, E.
Research has documented how men's behaviors in patriarchal settings affect women's economic empowerment outcomes, while less attention has been paid to how gender identity constructions around femininities influence these outcomes. We define femininities as gender based roles and expected behaviors of women in a given community and economic empowerment as women's decision-making regarding access and control of productive resources and management of income. This paper presents research on how female and male farmers in rural communities of central Uganda define what it means to be a woman and how those identity constructions influence women's economic empowerment. This qualitative case study is based on focus group discussions conducted with Sasakawa Africa Association intervention farmers (28 women and 25 men) of Kiboga District. Six focus group discussions were conducted, two with men only, women only, and both men and women respectively. Findings reveal co-existence of traditional and progressive femininities, dubbed "unruly" by men and some women. Traditional femininities were depicted as women complying to community values which deter them from financial decision making and owning productive resources. Progressive femininities on the other hand are noncompliant to these community values, and enjoy more economic empowerment. Men valued economically empowered women because they relieve men of financial responsibilities. Incorporating gender transformative approaches in women's economic empowerment interventions could decode traditional femininities and increase women's intrinsic agency within the context of economic empowerment.
TH2.2: Measuring empowerment across the value chain: The evolution of the project-level Women's Empowerment in Agriculture Index for Market Inclusion (pro-WEAI+MI)
(Presentation, 2022-10) Seymour, Greg
Many development agencies design and implement interventions that aim to reach, benefit, and empower rural women across the value chain, ranging from production, to processing, to marketing. Determining whether and how such interventions empower women, as well as the constraints faced by different value chain actors, requires quantitative and qualitative tools. We describe how we adapted the project-level Women's Empowerment in Agricultural Index (pro-WEAI), a mixed-methods tool for studying empowerment in development projects, to include aspects of agency relevant for multiple types of value chain actors. The resulting pro-WEAI for market inclusion (pro-WEAI+MI) includes quantitative and qualitative instruments developed during four studies. Studies in Bangladesh (2017), Philippines (2017), and Malawi (2019) were intended to diagnose areas of disempowerment to inform programming, whereas the Benin (2019) study was an impact assessment of an agricultural training program. The pro-WEAI+MI includes the quantitative core pro-WEAI plus a dashboard of complementary indicators, along with recommended qualitative instruments. These tools investigate the empowerment of women in different value chains and nodes and identify barriers to market access and inclusion that may restrict empowerment for different value chain actors. Our findings highlight three lessons. First, the sampling strategy needs to be designed to capture the key actors in a value chain. Second, the market inclusion indicators cannot stand alone; they must be interpreted alongside the core pro-WEAI indicators. Third, not all market inclusion indicators will be relevant for all value chains. Users should rely on contextual knowledge to select which market inclusion indicators to prioritize.
FR2.3: What influences women's participation in water governance? Preliminary findings from Bangladesh
(Presentation, 2022-10) Singaraju, Niyati; Sarker, Mou Rani; Batas, Mary Ann; Akther, Rima; Dash, Mahanam; Mondal, Manoranjan K.; Puskur, Ranjitha; Yadav, Sudhir
The Bangladesh polder zones cover 1.2 million hectares of agricultural land and are home to around eight million people with women playing a critical role in agriculture and food systems. With limited access to and control over productive resources and incomes, women are disproportionately vulnerable to climatic risks. Their ability to make important decisions can have positive outcomes on the governance of natural resources, agricultural productivity, and livelihoods. Using a mixed-methods approach, this study aims to examine the extent and level of women's participation in water management groups (WMGs) and analyze the socio-cultural, political, economic, and biophysical contexts that influence participation. A structured-questionnaire survey of 720 households was conducted during April-June 2022 in four polders of the Khulna division. Focus group discussions with women and men members were conducted to reflect on the factors that influence women's participation in WMGs. Results reveal that while men contributed mostly to decisions on structure/equipment investment and the release and distribution of water that directly affected agriculture production, women were more involved in enlisting participants for training on homestead gardening, livestock and poultry, as well as leadership development. Both men and women highlighted that participation in WMGs resulted in access to innovations that improved crop productivity and incomes. Women members opined that participation gave them social recognition in the community. Despite these perceived benefits, more than 60% of women respondents believed that their participation in meetings and decisions in WMGs is constrained by unpaid domestic work and restrictive social norms. The preliminary findings highlight that tackling restrictive gender norms to redistribute the unpaid domestic work burden of women is one way of enabling effective participation in water governance.
WE3.2: GenderUp: A conversational method for responsible Scaling
(Presentation, 2022-10) Rietveld, Anne M.; Teeken, Béla
GenderUp is a conversational method for designing responsible scaling strategies in a particular context. It is intended to be used by project teams who want to scale the use of an agricultural innovation in a socially inclusive way and who want to prevent undesirable outcomes. GenderUp supports users to identify gender and other relevant diversity among innovation users and to improve the scaling strategy by optimizing the inclusion of relevant social groups and by anticipating unintended negative consequences for different social groups. GenderUp is a web-based tool that takes project teams on a journey through the stages of developing or improving a scaling strategy. The journey is facilitated by someone with a background in gender studies who is familiar with the tool. The objective of this capacity building session is to familiarize CGIAR gender researchers with GenderUp. Participants will learn about the objectives and functioning of the tool. The session is relevant to gender researchers who want to use GenderUp with project teams to embark on a socially inclusive scaling journey. The session will enable them to discover the potential of GenderUp. Participants might become full-fledged GenderUp facilitators themselves. This session is a first step in that direction*. GenderUp is a conversational method, designed to evoke discussion on relevant social issues that pertain to scaling. The session will discuss and lead participants through the web-based tool. * To facilitate a GenderUp journey independently we envisage prospective facilitators, apart from this session, to join in on a real application journey and listen in and learn from the facilitator.
FR1.3: Gender-responsive investments and policies in response to the crisis brought about by Russia's war on Ukraine
(Presentation, 2022-10) Ringler, Claudia; Bryan, Elizabeth
Following on the heels of the COVID-19 pandemic, the global food crisis resulting from Russia's war on Ukraine is exacerbating existing challenges in many low-income countries, including rising food, fuel, and fertilizer costs. These price shocks threaten food security, access to healthy diets, and people's ability to rebound from multiple crises, including rebuilding savings and assets that were depleted to cope with the protracted COVID-19 pandemic. Evidence suggests that the impacts of these compounding crises are likely to have differential effects on men and women. To reduce the gender gap in resources to confront these crises and the resulting welfare outcomes will require pro-active, gender-responsive approaches. Previous research shows that women are more likely to experience food insecurity following food price shocks, as reflected by their reducing diversity of diets, or abstaining from food consumption to make more food available to others in the family. Women also face greater challenges accessing agricultural inputs and resources—higher fertilizer and energy input prices can further constrain women's access to inputs, exacerbating the gender productivity gap. At the same time, changes in production practices due to rising input costs may add to women's already high labor and time burden, for example, when agro-chemicals are replaced by weeding or motorized irrigation is replaced by manual water lifting. This study is using data from phone surveys on the impacts of the Ukraine crisis as well as evidence from other recent food price crisis and a roundtable to identify key gender impacts and measures that can reduce adverse gendered impacts.
TH1.1: Intra-household decision-making and sustained use of agricultural crop technologies: Evidence from smallholder women farmers in rural Uganda
(Presentation, 2022-10) Sanya, Losira N.; Kyazze, Florence Birungi; Kakuru, Medard; Nchanji, Eileen Bogweh
This research used a mixed method approach to examine how intra-household decision-making patterns shape sustained use of crop technologies among agricultural rural households in eastern Uganda. We estimate how empowerment in decision making, measured using indicators drawn from the project level Women's Empowerment in Agriculture Index mediates sustained use of improved crop varieties. Further, spousal differences in decision-making power and technology use are examined. The results indicate that both men and women use diverse improved crop varieties for different purposes. Overall, we observe differential patterns of use of improved crop varieties with a high proportion of women reporting sustained use of food-related crops while a high proportion of men report income crops. There was a significant association between level of decision making power and sustained use of improved crops by men and women. Women with higher level of participation in decision making power have more sustained use of improved varieties for the main crops grown. Note to be taken that a gender gap still exists in access to improved varieties with men having 6years of use on average as compared to 5 years for women. We also find significant differences between men and women in the same household in their rating of the distribution and extent of involvement in key decisions with less agreement (and mis-attribution) observed among men and women in decision-making scores. Women decision makers tend to allocate themselves higher scores than was assigned to them by their counterparts. We conclude that women's empowerment in decision making has potential to contribute to closing the gender gap in sustained use of agricultural technologies. We therefore need to be more intentional about women's participation, decision making and agency in development interventions if we are to achieve greater impacts in sustained use of agricultural technologies towards better livelihoods.
TH2.3: A gender-responsive approach to designing agricultural risk management bundles
(Presentation, 2022-10) Pattnaik, Subhransu; Kramer, Berber; Ward, Patrick S.; Foster, Tim; Adhikari, Roshan; Gaur, Pushkar; Mansabdar, Sanjay
Smallholder farmers are exposed to various risks, and because of their large risk exposure, agricultural insurance premiums are often too expensive to be affordable to smallholder farmers. In our study context, for instance, commercially viable insurance premiums are so high that the average farmer would be willing to pay only about 8 percent of the premium. Reducing farmers' risk exposure by incentivizing the adoption of risk-reducing practices and technologies, for instance through discounts to low-risk farmers, could offer a significant breakthrough in lowering insurance premiums. At the same time, in the presence of gender differences in existing cultivation practices, there is a chance that women farmers may find these practices and technologies more inaccessible or costly to afford than men, and in that case, incentivizing adoption of risk-reducing practices and technologies could disadvantage women more than men. We therefore quantify gender gaps by interviewing 462 male and 447 female farmers in the state of Odisha, India, on barriers to adopting risk-reducing technologies and cultivation practices. We find that women are more exposed to flood and post-harvest losses than men, and that they face more challenges hiring labour, increasing their labour costs. We conclude that in this context, gender-responsive insurance policies should promote access to and adoption of risk-reducing practices and technologies that not only minimize exposure to floods and post-harvest losses but also are less labour intensive. The findings of this study will directly inform financial institutions involved in the implementation of an agricultural insurance scheme.
TH1.2: Gender in Livestock Agripreneurship: Implications for Inclusive Dairy Value Chain Development in Tanzania
(Presentation, 2022-10) Omondi, Immaculate A.; Omore, Amos O.; Galiè, Alessandra; Teufel, Nils; Baltenweck, Isabelle
Sub-Saharan Africa has the highest rate of entrepreneurship in the world with more women in entrepreneurship. However, women profit about 30 percent less compared to men and are usually less present in profitable non-producer livestock value chain nodes. To inform policy and strategic intervention for inclusive dairy value chain development, it is imperative to understand how men and women and youths thrive as agripreneurs. To assess both economic and non-economic outcomes (mainly empowerment) of men, women and youth's involvement in dairy-related businesses, we use data collected from 92 dairy agripreneurs from Kilimanjaro and Tanga regions of Tanzania. We use partial least-squares – structural equilibrium model (PLS-SEM), a non-parametric approach that places fewer limitations on sample size and data distribution, to build hypotheses around cause–effect relationships between the outcomes. Though no significant difference was observed in terms of profitability, our results, revealed that women and comparatively lowly educated agripreneurs scored significantly lower in business sustainability. Our PLS-SEM results revealed significant relationship between indicators that define business structure and empowerment. Moreover, men and women differed in terms of the indicators that significantly defined empowerment in its relationship with indicators of structure and business performance. For instance, ‘work-balance' was significant for both men and women, but ‘autonomy in income' was only significant for men, implying the need for varying approaches for supporting the empowerment of men and women agripreneurs. The evidence of the relative importance and interdependence of the indicators serves to inform further causal-link research and initial recommendations for designing inclusive interventions.
TH1.2: Boosting women's participation and empowerment in aquaculture: Evidence from Ghana
(Presentation, 2022-10) Ragasa, Catherine; Torbi, Eva; Kruijssen, Froukje; Amewu, Sena
This paper provides empirical evidence on the processes and strategies of encouraging women's entrepreneurship and the impact of women's entrepreneurship on their empowerment in the context of emerging aquaculture value chains in Sub-Saharan Africa. We do this by analyzing two survey rounds with 500 fish-producing household, A-WEAI, 11 in-depth interviews, and 7 FGDs of women in six major producing regions in Ghana. Baseline data show that 9% of fish farm managers/owners were women; and women contributed 16% of labor days. Gender norms persist around aquaculture as men's job; only few women entered aquaculture. Once women entered aquaculture, they were at least as productive and profitable as men on average. Women aqua-entrepreneurs were at least as empowered as the men aqua-entrepreneurs. Being able to break the popular perspective and gender norm that "aquaculture is a men's job" and still started and operated aquafarms, these women were empowered to begin with. Their engagement in aquaculture had benefited them and empowered them more. The majority of the spouses of men aqua-entrepreneurs were not involved in aquaculture, and had lower empowerment score and were less likely to be empowered than the women and men aqua-entrepreneurs. Most of them indicated that they would like to get involved in aquaculture as it will generate more income. We discuss in this paper opportunities and strategies to involve more women in fish-producing households and to encourage new female farmers to enter aquaculture and other aspects of the value chains.
TH3.1: Analysis of Dietary Diversity and Determinants of Fish Consumption among Women, Children and Households in Bangladesh
(Presentation, 2022-10) Njogu, Lucy
Malnutrition in Bangladesh is still a challenge, especially among women and children, partly due to low dietary diversity and discrimination in intra-household food allocation. Given the high levels of malnutrition in Bangladesh, and the importance of fish in providing micro-nutrients, we sought to understand the dietary diversity levels, patterns and fish consumption determinants in households, and among women and children. We collected data from 2669 households in Rangpur and Rajshahi divisions. The study employs a Household Dietary Diversity (HDD), Individual Dietary Diversity – Women (IDD-W) and Minimum Dietary Diversity (MDD) to analyze the diversity of diets in general households, among women and children, respectively. Results indicate that although the average HDD was relatively high (8.22), the mean IDD _W for women and children was much lower at 4.99 and 4.90, respectively. Dietary diversity scores increased with consumption of fish and number of fish species consumed. Intra-household discrimination and substitution of fish and other types of meat in the households, was evident from the results. Households consumed an average of two species and the most commonly consumed fish species were not necessarily the most affordable. Increase in level of education and pond ownership were among the factors that were found to increase fish consumption. Counterintuitively, distance to the market and the price of fish were found to increase fish consumption. We recommend promotion of policies that encourage consumption of nutritious foods; such as fish, among women and children. In addition, we recommend that development organizations consider tastes and preferences in implementing fish related projects.
FR1.1: Gender mainstreaming from an institutional perspective: Cases of small and micro irrigation projects in Ethiopia
(Presentation, 2022-10) Nigussie, Likimyelesh; Thai Thi Minh; Schmmiter, Petra
Achieving gender equality in irrigation can result in greater production, income and job opportunity, whilst building climate resilience in the sub-Sahara Africa. To aid integration of gender in the planning and implementation of irrigation programs, national irrigation agencies, donors, and researchers have been assisting project implementers to formulate a gender mainstreaming strategy. However, as efforts to close gendered gaps in irrigation has been increasing, little is known about how interaction among institutions at different scales determine success of gender mainstreaming strategies. The study presents a qualitative analysis of how multi-level institutional context shape success of gender mainstreaming strategies by examining nine small and micro irrigation development projects in Ethiopia. Specifically, it analyzed how rules, roles and capacities shape gender mainstreaming strategy in different irrigation development projects. Results show that ‘rule-based' strategy adopted by small scheme-based irrigation projects, that emphasizes policies and rules to equal rights and opportunities to participate in development and decision making, and capacity development of individuals and institutions. Also, results show ‘role-based' strategy adopted by project promoting small and micro irrigation technologies that focus on challenging social norms to address the issue of power and workload imbalance and developing capacity of actors including farmers. Both strategies prescribe certain numbers for women and deploy participatory approaches to ensure gender equality. However, negative stereotypical perceptions about women by family, community, and the private sector militate against the success of gender mainstreaming. Further, institutional biases and limited capacities reproduce gender inequality by reinforcing stereotypical gender norms. This implies, enhancing the success of gender mainstreaming strategies call for a holistic approach that facilitate transformative change at different scale through broad based partnership between actors at scale.
FR2.2: Gender-based assessment of rice and rice seed production in Nioro hub, Senegal
(Presentation, 2022-10) Ndour, Maimouna
In the central part of Senegal, farmers are threatened by some abiotic stress including salinity and toxicity such that farmers abandoned rice farming in some areas. The pressures to sustain the farmers' livelihood sources are intense, involving land hire in the less-affected areas. From a gender perspective, these conditions are particulary worrying because they are compromising the essence of the role of the woman in the household: rice growing for food in the lowland fields is a traditional activity of the woman, the man is involved in cash crop production in upland ecology (groundnut and millet). Hence producing rice is essentially the woman's contribution to the household's food consumption, noting that men are becoming involved in growing upland rice, with the introduction of suitable varieties. This study targeted to investigate the women and men specific seed needs, challenges, and opportunities to make rice and rice seed production more beneficial to women, by providing them stress tolerant verities for lowlands and identifying sustainable business models adoption and dissemination. We conducted focus group in three villages with separate groups of men; women and young people and quantitative data collection with a sample of 60 farmers in each village, to identify the constraints to rice farming and to assess the producer's awareness of this improved varieties. The abiotic stressors decimate the crops and then the stress tolerant varieties and production of seeds sparked a new interest in rice cultivation in this region. Additional efforts are required to implement sustainable business models for seed production.
FR1.2: Women's Empowerment and Livestock Vaccination: evidence from PPR vaccination interventions in northern Ghana
(Presentation, 2022-10) Omondi, Immaculate A.; Galiè, Alessandra; Teufel, Nils; Loriba, Agnes; Kariuki, Eunice; Baltenweck, Isabelle
Healthy livestock provide meaningful opportunities to enhance women's empowerment in low- and middle-income countries. Animal vaccines are important to keep livestock healthy and productive. However, gender-based restrictions limit women's access to animal health services, thereby affecting the potential of livestock to enhance their empowerment. While growing empirical evidence reveals that women-controlled livestock (for instance, small ruminants) have important implications for women's empowerment and support better household nutrition outcomes, little empirical evidence exists from rigorous analyses of the relationship between women's empowerment and animal vaccines for women-controlled livestock species. Our analysis explores the relationship between women's empowerment and involvement with Peste des Petits Ruminants (PPR) vaccination in Ghana. Data collected using the Women's Empowerment in Livestock Index tool from 465 women and 92 men farmers (who keep goats) from northern Ghana, analyzed using Partial Least Squares Structural Equilibrium Model, revealed a significant direct positive association between knowledge about animal health and PPR vaccines and a significant indirect positive association between access to PPR vaccines and empowerment. A few, not all, indicators of empowerment, jointly and significantly explained empowerment of women goat farmers as far as the relationship between empowerment and vaccine facets is concerned. The significant indicators were "asset ownership" and "input into decisions" concerning livestock. These study results reveal important considerations in designing effective and equitable livestock vaccine systems.

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