Empowering women through value chain development - IPMS ...

Livestock: Men play a key rolein management of high valuelivestock enterprises such as cattle,small ruminants, apiculture andcamels. They are also responsiblefor tasks that require networkingand activities outside the home,such as accessing information,breeding, rearing and animalhealth, particularly in terms ofaccessing modern health services.They are also involved in heaviermanual activities like housing andslaughtering.Women in livestock productionare typically engaged in activitiesrelated to the safety and wellbeingof the livestock that are performedaround the homestead, such ascollecting dung and maintaininghygiene. They are also involvedwith activities closely related totheir household activities andare often responsible for storing,processing and adding value to thelivestock products. The tasks offeeding and watering livestock areoften shared and other householdmembers may also participate.Perennial crops: With regardto perennial crops (such as coffeeor fruit trees), men tend to domost of the heavy manual labour,including land clearance, tillage,nursery, weeding and pruning.Wives assist with manuring, soilconservation, harvesting andmanagement, depending on theregion. Women’s participation isgreater when the trees are plantedclose to the home.Gender roles in marketingand sharing the benefits ofcrop and livestock productionControl over the benefits ofproduction also varies betweenwomen and men, partly reflectingtheir labour input, but alsoreflecting the use of produce athome or for sale, cultural normsregarding ‘women’s’ and ‘men’s’enterprises, and also influencedby the wealth of the household.Generally there is an imbalancebetween workloads and sharein the benefits of production.Men tend to control the incomefrom many crop and livestockcommodities where they dominateor share the workload such as fieldcrops, vegetables, tree crops andlarge ruminants.There are also enterprises in whichwomen and men share both theworkloads and the benefits likepulses, fruit trees, butter, cattleand poultry depending on theworeda. In contrast, there are veryfew enterprises in which womendominate both the workloads andthe control of the benefits; theexceptions are pepper in Fogeraand poultry in several sites.However, women control theincome from few commoditiesarising from joint endeavors, suchas fruit trees in Alamata, anddairy products in Atsbi-Wemberta,Fogera, Ada’a Liben, Dale andAlaba.Gender based differences inaccessing agricultural servicesEven though women play asignificant role in agriculturalproductivity, carrying out anestimated 40% to 60% of allagricultural labour (WorldBank 2008a), they suffer fromunequal access to resources andcapacity-building opportunitieson a number of levels. With noregular updates about new farmingpractices and few opportunities todevelop their skills base, they haveto rely on information being passedon to them from their husbands,other men, or ideas gleanedthrough their informal networkswhich marginalizesThe analysis of men and women’ssocial and information networksalso clearly demonstrates thatwomen have limited access toinformation, technologies andopportunities for knowledge andskills development. This hasserious implications for promotingagricultural development as thisreflects on their knowledge andskill acquisition and decisionmaking to produce and marketagricultural commodities.Adoption of technologies amongpoorer households, includingfemale headed, is also inhibitedby an inability to afford thetechnology coupled with limitedavailability of credit or savings,and low levels of awareness.Only in female-headed householdsdo women control the decisionsregarding use of agriculturaltechnologies; yet this still tends tobe in consultation with their malerelatives.Based on the gender analysis,IPMS designed strategies toinvolve women in the projectactivities with the aim ofincreasing their access toknowledge and information;enhancing their capacity, bothtechnical and non-technical; andincrease their participation in theselected value chains. While someof the strategies were commodityspecific, some were more general.The following sections highlightthe strategies employed by theproject.3

Non commodity specific strategiesThe findings of the genderanalysis were developed intogender commodity fact sheets 1 andcirculated widely. Ideas sheets 2were developed providing a menuof options to address the identifiedconstraints in increasing women’sparticipation in market-orientedagricultural production.Realising that the awarenessand skills of woreda and kebelelevel MoARD staff was criticalfor integrating gender in theseefforts, a series of woreda levelworkshops were held to highlightthe issues from the genderanalysis as a prelude to taking upgendered PLW action plans. Itwas observed that the front levelworkers (Development Agents)had minimal exposure to theskills required for effectivelyintegrating gender into theirwork, training was designedand delivered to enhance theircapacity in this aspect, focusing onpractical tools that they could usefor this purpose, including somemonitoring tools.Increase women’s access toknowledge and skills aboutmarket-oriented agriculturalproduction, services andinputsAs mentioned, before access toinformation for women is limitedand therefore the project designedvarious strategies which openup options to increase women’saccess to information, knowledgeand specific skills in commoditydevelopment chains. Becausethe project strongly believed that1 http://www.ipms-ethiopia.org/Focus-Area/Gender/Fact-Sheet/adaa-Liben.asp2 http://www.ipms-ethiopia.org/content/files/Documents/publications/Gender/IPMS%20ideas%20sheet%20for%20gender%20mainstreaming%20in%20PLW%20activities_English%20Nov%202007.docprovision of the necessaryknowledge and skills is a centralcomponent for increasingproductivity and effectivemarketing.The basic strategy used by IPMSto increase women’s participationin knowledge sharing and capacitybuilding activities like training,field visits and other interventionsin value chain development wasto set a target of 50% for theirparticipation. During the projectimplementation (2006-2010), about36% of women farmers from FHHand MHH were reached throughthe capacity building activities inproject sites. Targeting womenmeans empowering them fortheir economic independence andenhancement of their participationin social and economicdevelopment of their communities.Importance of venue and timingof trainingWomen are not only the majorsource of labour in the agriculturalsector and contributor forcommunity related activities butthey are also responsible for thevital household tasks such as caringof children, cooking, fetching waterand fuelwood and cleaning thehouse as part of their householdresponsibilities. The genderbaseline survey revealed also thatwomen are responsible for manytasks and they work for 10-12hours per day both in the wet anddry seasons. So it is very importantto consider their daily calendar toidentify the most convenient timeand place while organizing thetraining.Unlike the conventional extensionapproaches, the project deliveredthe trainings in a place near totheir village selected by the womenthemselves, in the case of Dale,Goma, Ada, Atsbi, Alamata,Fogera and Bure. This strategyenabled a larger number of womento attend trainings comfortably.Most trainings were also hands-onincluding practical demonstrations,rather than theoretical orconceptual exposures, which washighly appreciated by the trainees.Couples trainingIt is often assumed that there isa trickle down of information,ideas, skills and knowledge fromhusbands to wives. This led towomen, particularly the marriedones, not being invited to trainings,meetings and other similar fora.Considering this problem, theproject adopted an innovativetraining approach called ‘couplestraining’.‘Couples’ training’ is an approachwhere both husbands and wivesare trained together. It widensopportunities for women to getthe necessary information, skillsand knowledge for the productionand marketing of agriculturalcommodities. Partners alsounderstand, assist and appreciateeach other technically so that theygradually build up their knowledgetogether, thereby overcoming theweakness of relying on husbandsto pass information to their wivesafter training. It helps womenstrengthen their role in decisionmakingin the household regardingwhich technologies to use andwhich marketable commoditiesto produce. It also helps breakingtaboos about the traditional genderdivision of labour and contributesto bringing about gender equality(N. Alemayehu, RDO and H.Gudeta, RDA, Ada’a Liben PLW).4

Experience SharingExperience sharing events arepowerful tools to spread newtechnologies among farmers andeffective ways of demonstratingnew ways of producing andmarketing of certain commoditiesand, inspiring women to adoptnew ways of working. IPMSexperiences showed that studytours and field days enabled manywomen to become aware of,adopt, manage and master newtechnologies successfully.Access to other inputs andservicesAccess to capital is one of the majorconstraints that hinders womenentrepreneurs from adopting newenterprises and technologies whichrequire investments. Though anumber of affirmative policiesare in place in the micro-financeorganizations to provide creditservices to women, but in practicemany women could not be benefitfrom the opportunity as the microfinancedemands feasible andviable project proposals which canensure repayment by the women.IPMS project together with therespective OoARD in the PLWsassisted the community includingwomen in the preparation of thecredit proposals that could helpthe women access loans to engagein the business. In addition, manywomen refrain from taking loansas they feel their knowledge andskills will not enable them tocommercialise their productionand earn profit. Recognizing theseissues, IPMS tried to reach out towomen through innovative creditscheme 3 , which was administeredthrough the existing microfinanceorganizations in the area toinstitutionalize the innovativecredit scheme to ensure thesustainability of the approaches;Kassu, Bure: Visiting IPMS sitesThrough IPMS I have attended training infruit nursery grafting (along with 10 men)and have received fruit scions and pepperseedlings for demonstration purposes. I alsohad the chance to join an experience sharingvisit when 10 of us (three women and sevenmen) travelled for 14 days through Ethiopia,visitingIPMS sites in Tigray, Amhara, Oromia andSNNPR. The trip was like a dream. I didnot imagine I would ever have the chance to visit these places, givenmy current status as a widow. I had been out of Bure woreda only oncebefore, to Bahir Dar. On this trip I saw many things that I want tofollow up: poultry, fruit and vegetables. I have already adopted some ofideas I have seen, such as urban agriculture techniques.examples are credit providedto women for pullet productionand marketing in Dale, smallruminant fattening in Miesso andGoma.Access to input and outputmarketsTechnology and inputs utilizationprovide an opportunity to improveenterprises led by women, leadingto increases in production, toproduce new or different productswith higher value added, or toproducts of higher quality (Everts1999). Such improvement couldlead to higher profits and to greatersecurity and autonomy for women.3The innovation credit fund finances innovations in production,input supply, technologies and services not normallycovered by the existing lending institutionsWomen generally faced a lot ofdifficulties with purchasing inputsand the negotiation processesthereof. IPMS tried to createlinkages amongst input suppliers(private or co-operatives) andwomen and men farmers in therespective PLWs, along with theprovisions of necessary trainingand credit. In Goma, womenengaged in sheep fattening werelinked with feed suppliers; inDale poultry rearing women werelinked with buyers; fruit seedlingproducers in Goma, Dale and Burewere linked with farmers, dairyfarmers in Alamata and Ada werelinked with dairy cooperatives,Miesso goat fattening groupslinked with market.Identification and promotionof technologies suitable forwomenCulturally, important households’resources such as land, tractionanimals and farm implementsare entitled to men. Women arealso traditionally prohibited toperform cultivation using animaltraction. As a consequence, femaleheaded households who ownfarm land with traction animalsto draw the plough have to eitherhire male labour for cash orexchange their oxen for labour toproduce agricultural products. Itis therefore important to tacklesuch cultural barriers through theidentification and promotion ofappropriate technologies.Conservation tillageAll land in Bure and Metemaworedas is ploughed three to fourtimes prior to planting, using apair of oxen, and followed by afinal ploughing to cover the sownseeds. Usually, the head of thehousehold ploughs and anotherman broadcasts the seed. Majorityof the female headed households5

2.25ha of land in 2009. Thisenabled them to produce 30q maize, 6 q wheat, and 12q pepper in 2009. In 2010,they produced 35 q maize, 15q wheat and 10 q of pepper.This produce has given a grossrevenue of 24,000 birr perannum.This increased income camefrom the integrated effort ofboth husband and wife. Shehelped him in oxen ploughing,sowing seed, going to market.On his side, he helped her inmanaging the child, making atraditional wot and collectingfuel wood, managing chickensin the evening and even washingcloths and utensils.Recognition of women’sachievementsApart from producing evidencebasedgender materials such asgender idea sheets and commodityfact sheets to raise the awarenessof development practitioners,the project recognized women’sachievements through variousevents in order to change peoplesmind set about the potential ofwomen farmers.Sheep fattening contestIn Goma, 120 farmers were to beengaged to start sheep fatteningbusiness, through promotingsupplementary feeding of sheepand providing loans to buy the feedconcentrates. It was aimed to have50 % women’s participation in thisintervention. However, the projectended up with only 32 % womenparticipants as the communityleaders who are in charge ofselecting farmers did not believe inthe capacity of women to managethe enterprise profitably and repaytheir loan.During the intervention, itwas observed that most of thewomen engaged in the fatteningprogram outshined the majorityof men who were participating.Recognizing this, the projectdecided to showcase this reality tothe community through organizinga sheep fattening contest.In a sheep fattening contestorganized by IPMS, weredaOoARD and women’s affairsoffice, out of 120 fatteners the firstand the second best performerschosen were women. They wereawarded 1 quintal of feed fortheir next round sheep fattening.This contest was an opportunityfor the community membersand leaders to recognize andunderstand women’s ability tomanage agricultural enterprises ascommercial and viable ventures.As a result, the proportion ofwomen participating in the 2ndand 3rd rounds of sheep fatteningexceeded 50 %.Misku: Sheep sale brings recognition in the communityMisku Abafaris, is a 42 year oldfarmer with high school educationwho lives in Goma woreda. When shewas in 9th grade, she was married toa farmer from the community and shenow has five children. Misku and hergroup members who are involved insheep fattening, received five sheepeach on credit and were trainedon sheep fattening and rearing byIPMS and woreda OoARD . In oneyear, she was able to sell 12 sheep in two cycles. Misku appreciated thesupplementary feeding technology used, because she was able to fattenher sheep in a much shorter time compared to the traditional practice.She played a key role in integrating the sheep fattening with otherfarming and domestic activities. She makes decisions in the house withher husband, and was able to control the income from sale. Misku said“I am not waiting for my husband to give me money for household orany other expenses, this is a big change for me “.Her success and the additional income have made her popular inher community; she was awarded for her good performance in sheepmanagement in a sheep fattening contest organized by woredasOoARD and IPMS. Misku was given one quintal of concentrate (feed).She was very delighted because her work brought her more than money,“recognition in her community”.Women’s field day in Ada’aIn Ada’a pilot learning woreda,women’s field day was organizedby woreda OoARD and IPMSwhere women farmers from allPAs in the woreda were invitedto visit champion women farmerswho engaged in dairy, vegetableand apiculture production andmarketing. This event providedopportunity for fellow womenfarmers in the woreda todemonstrate how women canbe successful if they utilizedthe knowledge and skills theyacquired.7

The commodity fact sheets 4developed for the prioritycommodities in all PLWs basedon the gender analysis provideddetailed information on therole of women and men in theproduction and marketing ofthese commodities. Based onan analysis of the tasks womenare responsible for in variouscommodities, their ability to makedecisions and control income/benefits from commodities andfactors influencing the same, theproject designed commodityspecific strategies to increase theirinvolvement in the productionand marketing of agriculturalcommodities.Strengthening enterprisestraditionally undertaken bywomenEven if men are generally thekey players in crop and livestockproduction, and are the principalbeneficiaries in terms of controlover the income generated fromthe sale of the commodities, thereare some deviations from thisgeneral trend in which womentake part in the production of somecommodities and earn benefitsfrom their sale.All across IPMS pilot learningworedas, the gender analysisrevealed that commodities likepoultry and dairy are some ofthe commodities where womeneither dominate the workload andincome or dominate the workloadbut share the income with men.In order to increasewomen’s engagement inthe commercialization ofagricultural commodities,IPMS in collaboration with theMinistry of Agriculture and4 http://www.ipms-ethiopia.org/Focus-Area/Gender/Fact-Sheet/adaa-Liben.aspCommodity specific strategiesRural development (MoARD)tried to increase the productivityand marketing of poultry anddairy production through theintroduction of new technologiesand creating market linkage. Theproject targeted women specificallyto make sure that they were notmarginalized.Introduction of technologies forpoultryPoultry production does notrequire much land and capital.Poultry is also a source of selfreliance,since poultry and eggsales are decided by women andprovide them with an immediatecash income to meet householdexpenses.The gender baseline surveyundertaken by IPMS revealedthat women are responsible formost of the production activitiessuch as hatching, rearing, hygiene,feeding, watering, protectionand egg collection. They alsocontrol the income from thesale of eggs and chicken, exceptin Bure and Alaba where boththe workload and the incomeare shared between men andwomen. Though in all PLWsmore than 50 % of the produce issold, chickens are produced on asmall scale and using traditionalmanagement practices. Producerstend to prefer low productivelocal breeds which require lowerlevels of management. As a result,women earn low income from theenterprise.Considering this, the projectstrived to improve the productivityand the marketing of poultrythrough the introduction of variouscontext specific technologies.Raising a day old chicks to twentyweeks was one of the technologiesintroduced in Dale woreda wherethe public poultry supply systemto urban and periurban farmers isproving to be inadequate to meetwith the ever growing demand forcommercial egg layers.An out growers’ scheme wasinitiated by IPMS and the woredaoffice of agriculture with theparticipation of 80 women. Eachwoman was provided on credit ahay brooder box with a runner, 50day old chickens and feed providedto last three months. Village leveltraining and continuous technicalsupport was provided by theworeda office of agriculture andIPMS. Women vaccinated theirchickens under the guidance andsupervision of regional and woredaveterinarians.Women organized in groups andbacked by a sound business plancould successfully become partof the poultry value chain assuppliers of pullets and knowledgefor sustainable market orientedagricultural development.These chickens were sold to 173periurban producers and 400 ruralhouseholds. On an average eachwoman/hh earned gross income ofBirr 1071.78 in three months.Identifying women in the valuechain as input suppliers, inthis case pullets, and womenthemselves vaccinating theirchickens was either thought tobe not possible or was not takenseriously. Unlike many projectsin the woreda, it is the first of itskind which mainly focused onwomen since they receive the loanand totally own the enterprise. Ithas improved their esteem andreceived attention from extensionservice.8

Radia Tomsisa: Goingforward with poultrymanagementRadia Tomsisa is one of the eightywomen involved in raising dayold chicks in Dale. One year agoIPMS trained women in her areaon poultry management which shewas part of and after eight monthsshe was provided with fifty sevendays old chicks. To take the chicksshe had to make 150 ETB initialpayment. Her husband, her olderson and her contributed 50 eachand took the chicks. After 90 daysshe sold the 49 chickens at 50 birrand paid back her 1300 birr loan.She made a net profit of 1150birr and she gave 200 birr eachto her husband and son becausethey helped her with the initialpayment and she took the rest ofthe money because she was theonly one who was taking care ofthe chickens. With her 200 birr shebought a goat and her son boughta ‘tiga’ (calf). The chicks whichwere provided to her grew fastercompared to the local chickens shewas used to raising.Supporting the development oftraditionally women-dominatedcommodities like poultry is a goodentry point.Improving the productivity ofdairyDemand for dairy productsappears to be rising in the recentyears across PLWs. Dairy isanother marketable commoditywhere women have closeengagement in the production andmarketing of products. It is thewomen who sell milk and butterand control the income from dairyproducts. However, the communityrears the indigenous breed thatproduces small amounts of milkin open grazing systems, probablybecause of very limited awarenessabout improved breeds and theiravailability. The introduction ofcrossbred or improved dairy breedRaso Usman, Feed farmer in Miessoand supplementary feed has thepotential to contribute to increasedproductivity of the dairy sector andwomen’s income.Encourage women in feed andforage developmentIntervention on feed in the ruralareas, like forage development,either in the backyard or ingrazing land has a significanteffect on women’s income. Mainlybecause at the household level thefeed produced is fed to lactatingcows which leads to an increasein the milk and butter production.The women churn the butter andsell it, and also control the incomefrom butter in all PLWs.Raso Usman from Miesso woreda has been involved in forageproduction for three years. She was approached by IPMS based onher past experience with local breed cattle and forage development.However, as the milk yield was quite low, she decided to switch to abetter breed called “Borena”, which require more feed to give betteryield. In 2009 Raso started planting forage in one hectare of landintercropped with sorghum, with the support of IPMS and MoARD.The main objective for adopting this technology was to be able to feedher animals well. As a result, the milk production increased from1 l/day to 3 lit/day.She was able to feed all her cattle throughout the dry season. With thehelp of IPMS, Raso also tried MUB (Mollases Urea Block) preparationat her back yard, but she did not continue, because of lack of molassesand Urea. She suggests that the materials required for adopting atechnology should be available and regular follow up should take placeto see the impact.Farmers in the neighbourhood come to visit her cattle and wonder howshe is able to feed the animals considering the cost of feed, but she tellsthem that if animals are well managed (fed properly, maintain hygieneand drench timely) they fetch a better price that would cover theirexpenses, and also allow her to make a profit.9

Promotion of technologiesand commodities requiringlower amount of resourcesWomen have no or limited accessto and control over the importantagricultural resources such asland and farm tools. It is theirhusbands who administer theland and decide how to use it andwhat to produce. The majorityof marketable commodities suchas cereals and pulses requirerelatively large size of land andit is difficult to engage womenfrom male headed householdsfor producing such agriculturalcommodities, while it is relativelyeasy to target women from femaleheaded households who have betteraccess to and control over theirland holdings.In order to increase women’sengagement in producingand marketing of agriculturalcommodities, it is important tofocus on commodities which donot require large size of land.Backyard fruit seedling productionwas identified as an enterprise thatdoes not demand large size of landand lumpy inputs, and thereforeis suitable for women given theirresource constraints.IPMS introduced improved fruitseedling production throughgrafting targeting women inGoma, Dale and Bure. Thegrafting technique is intended totackle one of the major bottlenecksof fruit production in the woredas- the different fruit varietiesintroduced to Goma PLW by thecommunity were from unknownsources and with no informationregarding their management.This resulted in failure to set fruit,extended periods for fruits setting(can take above seven years),unmanageable height, diseases,pests, etc.Fruit seedling productionIn Goma, six model farmers (3 female, 3 male) were trained and engagedin grafting avocado and produced 2,052 grafted avocado seedlings frominternationally known varieties such as Hass, Ettinger, and Fuerte whichwere sold to 163 households in 28 Peasant Associations (PAs) at Birr 25per seedling. The farmers earned Birr 42,000 amongst them in total.The three female farmers were engaged in the fruit nursery operationbut all activities were shared with their spouses. One of them was usedto farming activities in addition to household chores, but two of themwere not involved in farming activities before. Since their engagement infruits seedling production, these women started to work directly in farmactivities, such as collecting soil, filling polybags and making shades withtheir spouses. Despite the additional workload, all the female operatorsexpressed their satisfaction due to the intervention.Kedija Yasin: the fruit seedlings producerW/o Kedija Yasin fromGoma is a 36 years oldmarried woman who has6 children. Her husbandwas an accountant with amonthly salary of 350 Birrbut lost his job in 2006.While she was exploringpossible income generationactivities, she wasapproached in 2008 byIPMS and woredas OoARD for grafted fruit seedling production. Shegot a 5 days training in grafting techniques by Melkassa agriculturalresearch experts along with other farmers. Immediately after thetraining she engaged in theseedling production and plantedthe root stock using the knowledgeshe obtained from the training.In the following year, she grafted300 avocado seedlings using thescion supplied from Melkassa butonly 50% of the grafted seedlingssurvived.‘The knowledge and the skillsI got make me and my familyconfident enough to make moneyand secure our livelihood.Everyone in the village was awareof our situation when my husbandlost his job. That is why manyfarmers, both men and women,are interested in my achievement’According to Kedija, the sciontaken from Melkassa lost itsmoisture on the way, which explains the mortality. She also mentionedthat it will not happen again as she has planted 4 mother trees (onefrom each variety-Hass, Fruitte, Eteger and Bakan) that can be usedas her own source of scion for the future. After two and a half years,she got 10 kg of avocado from one of the mother trees and used thefruit for consumption. In December 2010 she sold about 300 improvedgrafted avocado seedlings at 25 Birr per seedling and earned 7500Birr. With this money, she bought a heifer at 600 Birr. She now coversher children school expenses, clothes and other household expenses.10

Increase women’sparticipation in commoditieswhere they shareresponsibilities but not rewardThe IPMS gender analysisindicated that women play asignificant role in the production ofsmall ruminants; however womenhave little or no involvement inmarketing and do not generallycontrol the income from their sale.IPMS targeted women to providethem with the required technicalknowledge, credit and increasedtheir access to inputs and market toensure that they are able to engagein the business and control incomethey earn.Small ruminant fatteningIn Miesso, women along withtheir husbands engage in sheepand goat rearing, feeding andday to day management andare also solely responsible formaintaining hygiene and dungcollection. But in most cases,they are either excluded fromselling and controlling the incomefrom their sales or, they jointlycontrol the sales and incomewith their husbands. IPMSattempted to devise ways thatwould help women benefit fromgoat development and targeted189 women in three groups. Theproject channeled credit throughOromia Credit and Saving Sharecompany (OCSSCo) and eachwoman received 450 birr topurchase 2 to 4 goats and fattenin 3 cycles per year and, repaythe loan after a year. In additionto the credit, they were trainedin business skills, saving, and goatfattening. They fed their goatsgreen stover, wheat bran, roastedsorghum and maize flour in orderto shorten the fattening period.Kedija Yayo,Sada Huso,Alia Mohamed,Meka Huso,Zahra Abulemitand Dahab aremembers of‘Hawi Gudian’group in Miessoand each got aloan of 450 birreach for goatfattening inOctober 2009from the IPMS credit fund channeled through OCSSCo. Using thecredit fund and the technical training they got, they fattened 6 to 8goats each in 2 cycles in the first 6 months and got a net profit of 1000to 1600 Birr per household. Because of the training, credit and groupformation these women became independent goat fatteners who controlthe decision regarding the purchase and sales of goats and, utilization ofincome from the sale of goats. By doing that they increased their capital(450 birr) to 2500 to 4000 birr in a year and managed to repay theirloan on time.Explore opportunities forwomen’s participation inmen-dominated commoditiesMany historical, cultural, physicaland other reasons strictly keep outwomen in either the production ormarketing of certain commodities.Examples of these are bee keepingand cattle fattening. It is importantto understand the reasons andexplore possibilities for breakingsuch barriers, where desirable.The introduction of modernbeehives changes the scenarioTraditionally women wereexcluded from the production andmarketing of honey in many partsof the country. One of the reasonsfor this is that in the traditionalbeekeeping system, the beehiveshave to be hanged on the tips oftree branches. Men are perceivedto be physically fit to climb thetree and put the beehives at theright place. Secondly, in thetraditional bee keeping system thebeehives are preferably kept inthe forest which is not safe for thewomen to cross alone.However, in the modern beekeeping system, the modern andthe transitional beehives can bekept around the homestead nearthe ground, under shade. Hencewomen can potentially managethe day to day management ofbees and engage in the businessas long as they have the necessaryknowledge, skills and resources forthe production and marketing ofhoney.In Fogera woreda, to improvewomen’s participation in apicultureproduction and marketing, IPMSproject, together with partners,initiated a couple training. Coupletraining was very important in thiscase as it improves the householdlevel decision making process. Asa result, women’s participationincreased following the training.The field assessment also showsthat, though there are still culturalinfluences, the trend of women’sinvolvement in beekeeping hasbeen increasing gradually witheffective back up from field workersin the village.11

According to many beekeepers, thenew beekeeping technologies canbe very easily handled by womencompared to traditional hives. Incase of top-bar hive, plastering ofthe hive, fumigation, protectingthe colonies from ants and spiders;internal inspection, etc. can beeasily done by women. Even in theabsence of their husbands, insteadof asking neighboring men forhelp, they can easily harvest thehoney.So far, however, the marketingchannel for honey from modernhives is poorly developed, resultingin a price differential. Betterlinkages for honey need to bedeveloped.Elfnesh, model beekeeper inAdaEncourage women to producelarge ruminantsCattle are reared mainly for salein all pilot learning woredas andis typically a male dominatedenterprise. Though someactivities are shared by men andwomen in some sites, such as haymaking in Metema and Fogera,fodder collection in Miesso,breeding, feeding and day-to-daymanagement in Ada’a, it is menwho sell the fattened cattle andcontrol the income from the sale.In Metema where IPMSintroduced credit and stall feedinginterventions, a group of men andwomen were trained in fatteninglarge ruminants. Women involvedwere mostly widows and stallfeeding seemed to be attractiveto them because the animals(zebus which are preferred by theneighboring Sudanese) were closeto home to be fed. After 3 monthsfattening, the animals gain weightand sell better. However, eventhough the process of engagementW/ro Elfnesh Dermeji from Ada district who got married at a youngage, learnt bee-keeping from her father in-law who worked as a beekeeperfor land owners in the area. Four years ago when Developmentagents (DA) approached her she got trained on modern and transitionalbeehives, bee forage and supplementary feeding. She also learnt howto keep the beehives clean and how to keep the bees from leaving byproviding them water near their hives.She was provided with credit and paid off her loan. Apart fromapiculture, W/ro Elfnesh works on the field, holds 4 ha of land and hasrented 3 more and cultivates beans, teff, wheat and peas. She has 2cows, 6 sheep, 2 chickens and 4 donkeys.She started with 3 traditional beehives, but now has 9 transitional , 3modern and 4 traditional beehives. She produces honey twice a year.Last year she has produced 210 kg and sold it at 40 birr per kg. She saysapiculture is very easy, one has to watch the beehives carefully, keepthem clean, prepare supplementary feeding in the dry season and haveplants around so that the bees do not have to navigate a long distance insearch of feed and water and get lost in the process.She is planning to broaden her modern apiery because she would wantto continue with this work in her older days. She is a model farmer andreceived various equipments as awards.with farmers and traders seemedto be established and there weremarket opportunities, manychallenges were faced: lack of skillsand knowledge, livestock diseases,difficulties with quarantine, feedshortage during dry season (despitethe available vast communal rangelands), weak export market andlimited credit availability to supportthe business.Raising cattle closer to home inMetemaW/ro Enanye engaged in cattlefattening, after inheriting cattlefrom her late husband. A 35 yearold widow and mother of four,Enanye was first approached forcattle fattening business through theworeda OoARD staff.She first started with two bulls andwas successful in the first cyclebecause she and the other farmersinvolved were linked to the market.She sold her fattened cattle with aprofit of 3000 birr. She then boughttwo bulls to continue the business,but this time the market price waslower and her linkage with themarket was weak. So she had togo on her own to sell the fattenedanimals, and made less profit. Theincome from this enterprise enabledher to buy a house in Gonder town.She increased her livestock numberand now has 4 cows, 6 oxen and fewgoats. Enanye also processes milkand sells 42 kg of butter every 4months.After they saw her success, manywomen followed her footsteps. Sheclaims the reason for her successis “ hope and motivation”. Whenher first husband passed away sherealised that she was the only one forher children and started to shoulderall responsibilities in the houseand on the field. Currently she hasacquired additional land, so with hernew husband they bought a waterpump and are involved in vegetableproduction12

‘Farmers like me appreciate a lotthe support given on market linkageand we need the support for thefuture’.Encourage women to producehigh value cropsVegetable production is anothermale dominated enterprise inthe project PLWs, as land andirrigation are usually controlled bymen in male headed households.Even the female headed householdsusually have small land holdingsand tend not to produce vegetablesas they give priority for staplecereal crops. The majority of thefemale headed households givetheir land for share cropping inexchange for labour or oxen. Insuch cases, the type of crop tobe grown is decided by the sharecropper who is generally notinterested to grow high value cropslike vegetable with such kind ofland arrangement where irrigationis also required.W/ro Asesu: Selling onions in AlamataW/ro Asesu is a single mom of a daughter. She is 35 and lives inAlamata. She used to grow cereals ( mazie and tef ) and eked out aliving from one hectare. After seeing some male farmers who cultivatedonion on a river side, she decided to use the irrigable land, which wasgifted to her by relatives. She became a member of farmers cooperative.She received training on onion production and irrigation systemorganised by IPMS and used the knowledge she gained to increaseproduction of onion from her land.Once, W/ro Asesu has faced a challenge while she was working withthe cooperative over onion price while she was trying to sell her onionwith other members. Onion brokers from Mekele came to their villageand wanted to buy all products from members at a cheaper price andmake profit out of it. But Asesu, who had the knowledge of the priceat that time, telephoned to Mekele to confirm the price they proposed.She was told that the price of onion was different from what thesemen proposed: it was birr 160.00 not birr 100.00 per quintal. So sheshared this with her colleagues and they agreed not to sell the onionto the brokers. In the mean time she started discussing with anotherpurchasing source with out the knowledge of the brokers, and finishedthe deal. Accordingly the new buyers arrived with their vehicle to loadthe product but the brokers and the local onion traders banned themfrom loading so they returned back. The broker and the local wholesellers were crossed with her, and tried to force her colleagues includingher to sell their onion to them, but Asesu refused and went to Alamata,hired a car and sold her onion out of Gerjele with a better price.In one harvest she earned a lot, so she bought a house which cost her8,000.00 in Gerjele town, and household utensils including bed andmattress. She saved birr 8,000.00 in the Bank. She was also responsibleto covers all expenses of the family.Moving up the ladder- fromsmall to large enterprisesIPMS recognized that it is easierto target women for interventionsin women dominated commoditiessuch as poultry and dairyand shared commodities likesmall ruminants. Women feelconfident about engaging inenterprises in which they haveexperience and have developedskills and knowledge regardingproduction and marketing ofthese commodities over time.Nevertheless, the project observedthat when the women’s capacityin business skills is developed,they tend to develop interestand confidence to diversify andstart engaging in other newenterprises, often involving highervalue commodities which areoften dominated by men. Forexample, many women in Daleentered sheep fattening businessright after selling the first round ofpullets they produced. In Gomasome women bought heifers withthe revenue from the sale of fruitseedlings. In Miesso, half thewomen involved in goat fatteningmoved into cattle trading,investing the profits they madefrom goat fattening.Realising this trend andresponding to provide thesupport they require to make thistransition, the project raised theamount of loan provided throughthe credit fund from 450 Birr to1200 birr.13

Alia Mohamed: Moving into cattle tradingAlia Mohamed is a 41 year old married woman with 6 children who lives in Miesso. As part of the IPMSinterventions, she obtained a loan of 450 birr and a 7 day business skill and technical training on goat fatteningjointly organized by IPMS, OCSSCo and OoPRD. Using the loan, she bought 2 goats for 430 birr from Bekamarket. She dewormed the goats and started to feed them maize flour, roasted sorghum and sorghum straw. Afterthree months she sold the two goats for 800 birr. She then bought 4 goats for 900 birr and kept them for 3 monthsand sold four of them at 1600 birr. In the 3rd cycle, she decided to try cattle trading when she realized there wasa high demand for cattle in the market. In addition, the price of goats she used to buy for fattening increased andshe decided that her profit margin would decrease. Then she bought a bull and a goat for 1200 birr and 400 birrrespectively. On the next market day (after a week) shesold the bull for 1500 birr in another market and got anet profit of 300 birr in a week. By doing that repeatedlyshe purchased and sold cattle 4 times in 2 months andmade a net profit of 200-250 in each sale and got a totalprofit of 1100 Birr in 9 weeks. Motivated by her success,she purchased an ox for 3500 birr and fattened it for amonth and sold it at 4500 Birr. After she repaid her loanin time, she obtained another loan of 1200 birr in March2011, which helped her increase the volume of herbusiness and she bought an ox at 6000 birr and expectsto sell it for 8000 to 9000 birr after she fattens it in 3months.ConclusionAny development program or actions including women as major actors will have a higher chance of success inimproving livelihoods, fighting food insecurity and poverty alleviation.While women are central to Ethiopian rural development, they typically receive an unequal share of the economicbenefits from their efforts, an inequity particularly visible in the commercialization of agricultural commodities.This IPMS project adopted calculated strategies in an attempt to ensure that a significant number of womentargeted by the project benefitted from value-chain development. The project was more successful in some woredasthan in others, but those in the project believe that the following ten recommendations stemming from this projectapply broadly to the rural Ethiopian agricultural context.Top ten recommendations for enhancing women’sdevelopment through agriculture in Ethiopia1 Change mindsetsMen and women at all levels needto change their traditional ways ofworking and begin to acknowledgethe potential and need for activelyinvolving women in Ethiopia’srural development.2 Provide incentivesIncreasing women’s participationin trainings and skill developmentshould be part of the developmentagents’ performance evaluationcriteria.3 Set high, but realistic gendertargetsAt the beginning of developmentprojects, set high but realistictargets for the numbers of womento be reached through theinterventions.4 Work with both men andwomenInclude both the head of thehousehold and spouse in all genderdevelopment work so that men andwomen together can learn and giveeach other support in increasinghousehold income, which shouldthen give them both real incentivesfor increasing the decision-makingpower of the women.14

5 Take a stepwise and flexibleapproach to gender issuesProjects targeting women shouldstart with a focus on commoditiessuch as dairy, small ruminantproduction, poultry raising,bee keeping and backyardfruit production, which havetraditionally been the domain ofwomen; as their incomes raiseand capacity is built, they maythen take on other more profitableenterprises such as cattle fattening.6 Tailor training for womenWhen designing capacity buildingstrategies aiming to enlargewomen’s participation in markets,take into account that women oftenlack the time, confidence, skills andnetworks that make it possible forthem to participate in the training.References7 Facilitate input and servicesprovision in the value-chainGovernment should promoteprivate sector and ruralentrepreneurs development toprovide inputs and services.8 Link women to marketsCreate opportunities that willinvolve women as well as men inmarket-led agricultural activitiesby, for example, bringing theminto relevant discussions; attendingto their concerns, needs andambitions; and ensuring inparticular that those ready to entermarkets have the links and toolsthey need to do so.9 Change self-perceptionsHelp women to realise that theyare a vital link in the agriculturalvalue chain. As in many otherparts of the world, rural Ethiopianwomen typically view themselvesmore as farm labourers than ashousehold providers and incomeearners.To change this willrequire women accessing more andbetter-quality information, beingpart of stronger networks as wellas women who are entrepreneurialrole models.10 Scale out successes byadapting them to particularcontextsAgricultural interventions andoptions that work in one place willoften not work in another unlessthe approach to the innovation aswell as a given technology is alsoadapted appropriately to the newgiven context.Belete A., Azage T., Fekadu B. and Berhanu G. 2010. Cattle milk and meat production and marketing systemsand opportunities for market-orientation in Fogera woreda, Amhara region, Ethiopia. IPMS Working Paper 19.Nairobi, Kenya, ILRI.Everts, S. 1999. Gender and technology. Empowering women, Engendering Development. Zed Books Ltd, Londonand New YorkFAO, IFAD, ILO. 2010. Gender dimensions of agricultural and rural employment: Differentiated pathways out ofpoverty status, trends and gaps. Rome, Italy.Torkelsson A, Tassew B. 2008. Quantifying women’s and men’s rural resource portfolios—empirical evidence fromWestern Shoa in Ethiopia. The European Journal of Development Research 20(3) 462–481Kristjanson P., Waters-Bayer A., Johnson N., Tipilda A., Njuki J., Baltenweck I., Grace D. and MacMillan S.2010. Livestock and women’s livelihoods: A review of the recent evidence. Discussion Paper No. 20, Nairobi,Kenya, ILRI.Aregu L., Bishop-Sambrook C., Puskur R. and Tesema E. 2010. Opportunities for promoting gender equality inrural Ethiopia through the commercialization of agriculture. IPMS Working Paper 18. Nairobi, Kenya, ILRI.Mohamed A.M. Ahmed, Simeon E. and Assefa Y. 2004. Dairy development in Ethiopia. EPTD Discussion paperNo. 123. IFPRI.Quisumbing, A. R. and Pandolfelli, L. 2010. Promising approaches to address the needs of poor female farmers:Resources, constraints and interventions. World Development, Elsevier, vol. 38(4) 581-592.World Bank 2008a. Ethiopia at a glance. World Bank. Washington, DC.http://countrystudies.us/ethiopia15

Canadian InternationalDevelopment AgencyFederal Democratic Republic of EthiopiaMINISTRY OF AGRICULTURE ANDRURAL DEVELOPMENTAgence canadienne dedéveloppement internationalThis report is written by Lemlem Aregu, Ranjitha Puskur, Genvieve Renard and Dirk Hoekstra, With Susan MacMillanDesigned by Apollo Habtamu and produced by ILRI KMIS, May 2011Research outputs and publicationsየግንዛቤ ማስጨበጫwww.ipms-ethiopia.orgwww.eap.gov.et Working Paper No. 18Improving Productivity and Market Successof Ethiopian Farmersለአይ ፒ ኤም ኤስ ኘሮጀክት የተመረጡ ወረዳዎች ውስጥየስርዓት ፆታ ግንዛቤን የማስረፅ ተግባራትበአይ ፒ ኤም ኤስ ኘሮጀክት ውስጥ በአይ ፒ ኤም ኤስ ኘሮጀክት የተመረጡየስርዓት ፆታ ግንዛቤን የማስረፅ ወረዳዎች ውስጥ የስርዓተ ፆታተግባር ያስፈለገበት ምክንያትግንዛቤን የማስረጽ አላማዎች• የስርዓተ ፆታ ግንዛቤ መዳበር በስራ • ከፆታ እይታ አኳያ ቅድሚያ ሊያገኙናጫና በሃብት አጠቃቀምና አከፋፈል በአይ ፒ ኤም ኤስ ሊደገፉ የሚገባቸውንበኩል መኖር ስለሚገባው የግንኙነት የአቅርቦት አይነቶችና አገልግሎቶችአይነት በማስገንዘብ ረገድ ለግብርናው ለይቶ ማወቅክፍለ ኢኮኖሚ፡ መጐልበት ከፍተኛሚና ስለሚኖረው• በተመረጡ ወረዳዎች ውስጥ ያሉባለድርሻዎች በግብርናው ክፍለ ኢኮኖሚ• ሴቶች በአብዛኛው የሳይንስና ቴክኖሎጂ ውስጥ የሚነሱ የፆታ ጥያቄዎችንበረከቶች እንዲሁም የተሻሻሎ አገልግ መለየት የሚያስችላቸውን ክህሎትሎቶች ተጠቃሚ የሚሆኑባቸው አጋጣ እንዲያዳብሩ መርዳትሚዎች በጣም ውስን በመሆናቸውናየረድኤቶቹ ተቋዳሽ ባለመሆናቸው • ወንዶችና ሴቶች በማናቸውም የኘሮጀክትእንቅስቃሴዎች ውስጥ እኩል ሊሳተፉ• ይህ ሁኔታ በቸልታ ከታለፈ ቀጣይነት የሚችሉበትን እድል መፍጠርያለው ገበያ መር ግብርና የማየትሕልማችንን ሊያመክነው ይችላል• በግብርና ሥራ ውስጥ ያሉ ሁሉስለ ፆታ ምንነት ያላቸውን ግንዛቤ• እንደ /PASDEP/ ከሆነ፤ በ2010 እንዲያዳብሩ አስተዋፅኦ ማበርከትዓ.ም. 30% የሚሆኑት በአባወራዎችየሚተዳደሩ ሴት አራሾች እና መቶ የግንዛቤ ማስጨበጫ ሰነድ አጠቃቀምእጅ በእማወራዎች የሚተዳደሩ ሴትአራሾች ገጠሩን በአማከለ የልማት • ይህ የግንዛቤ ማስጨበጫ ሰነድ የስርዓተእቅድ ውስጥ ተሳታፊ ይሆናሉፆታን ግንዛቤ በማስረጽ ረገድ የበርካታእንቅስቃሴዎችን ዝርዝር ያካተተሲሆን፤ የአይ ፒ ኤም ኤስ የተግባርእቅድ በሚነደፍበት ወቀት ማለትምስልጠና፣ የመስክ ጉብኝትና የአዳዲስቴክኖሎጂ ውጤቶች ትውውቅ መርሐግብሮች ሲነደፉ መጤን ይኖርበታልToolkit for Gender Analysis of Crop and Livestock Production,Technologies and Service ProvisionPrepared by Clare Bishop-Sambrook (Gender and HIV/AIDS Adviser)andRanjitha Puskur (Agricultural Innovation Specialist)2007Gender Analysis Toolkit for Crop and Livestock Production, Technologies and Service Provision | 1በሰብልና እንስሳት ሀብት ልማት፤ ቴክኖሎጂና አገልግሎትየሥርዐተ-ፆታ ትንተና መረጃ መሰብሰቢያ ሰነድበክሌር ቢሸፕ ሳምብሩክ (የሥነፆታና ኤች አይ ቪ ኤድስ አማካሪ) እናበራንጀታ ፑስኩር (የግብረና አዳዲስ አሰራሮች ባለሞያ) የተዘጋጀምርታማነትና የገበያ ስኬተን ማሻሻል ፕሮጀክት ለኢትዮጵያ ገበሬዎች (IPMS)1999Opportunities for promotinggender equality in rural Ethiopiathrough the commercializationof agricultureGender and HIV/AIDSmainstreaming ina market-orientedagriculturaldevelopment context:Training manualfor frontline staffILRIINTERNATIONAL LIVESTOCK RESEARCH INSTITUTEFor publications and other documents :Project Website: http://www.ipms-ethiopia.orgEthiopian Agriculture Portal: http:www.eap.gov.etFederal Democratic Republic of EthiopiaMINISTRY OF AGRICULTURE ANDRURAL DEVELOPMENTCanadian InternationalDevelopment AgencyAgence canadienne dedéveloppement international16