The challenge of HIV/AIDS: Where does agroforestry fit in? - World ...

178World Agroforestry into the Futurecommon means of establishing claims, notonly on the trees, but also on the underlyingland, particularly in customary Africanland tenure systems. Indeed, so potent istree planting for establishing tenure claimsthat in some societies, women are prohibitedfrom planting trees, or may be restrictedin the species that they can plant. In suchcases, agroforestry programmes that introduceshrubs or species that women cancontrol are more likely to strengthen women’srights to both land and tree resources.Place (1994) suggests that agroforestrycan even be instrumental in changing socialnorms about women’s tree planting,by blurring the distinction between treesand perennial crops. Types of trees thatmeet women’s needs and fit within theirresource constraints are also more likely tobe adopted. For example, trees that replenishsoil fertility have been welcomed bywomen who lack the cash to buy fertilizers(Gladwin et al. 2002). The World AgroforestryCentre’s recent work on fruit andmedicinal trees is particularly promising,because these are important to women.When gender relations regarding trees areignored, programmes can even weakenwomen’s rights, as in The Gambia, whena tree planting scheme introduced for ‘environmentalrehabilitation’ and targetedto (male) landowners pushed out highlyproductive women’s gardens that were cultivatedon that land (Schroeder 1993).Credit, information and inputsCredit, information and inputs helpwomen to acquire land and invest in trees.Strengthening women’s land rights aloneis not enough; other constraints need to beaddressed if women are to be able to usethe land in a productive and sustainableway. In many cases, women’s yields areless than those of men because they haveless access to seeds, fertilizer and labour(Quisumbing 2003). The land that womenacquire is often less productive because oflow soil fertility or lack of water. Thus, extensionand other programmes that explicitlyseek to redress gender imbalances canhelp women to use their land productively,rather than mortgaging or renting it out.Community nurseries (often managed bywomen’s groups) can provide planting materialsand the knowledge needed to growthem effectively. Microfinance programmeshave targeted poor women in many countries,but, because of the small size ofavailable savings or loans, often cannothelp women to purchase land. However,microfinance can help them to buy trees(which can become a form of savings account)or other necessary inputs. Many extensionsystems bypass women, particularlywhen they are not the landowners, andhence they may not acquire informationabout improved practices, including agroforestry.Recognizing this constraint, theCentre’s biomass transfer and improved fallowsprogrammes in Zambia and westernKenya have used group-based approachesand simple dissemination materials to ensurethat women are included (Gladwin etal. 2002; Place et al. 2003). The use of amulch from cut branches of Tithonia shrubsfrom hedgerows (interstitial spaces, whichare under women’s customary usage) allowsthose with limited land to adopt thisapproach to soil fertility enhancement.In practice, these types of change do notexist in isolation, but interact. Quisumbingand Otsuka’s (2001) study of the evolutionof land tenure in western Ghana providesan apt illustration (see Box 2).Challenges for research andactionRecognizing the importance of women’srights over land and trees for productivity,equity and household welfare is only thebeginning. Much remains to be done inboth research and practice to achieve genderequity in property rights. The first stepis to make sure that our understanding ofthe issues is adapted to the local context.The processes involved are complex, andwill vary from place to place and accordingto a host of intersecting identities, includingreligion, ethnicity and culture. Asthe example from Ghana indicates, broadgeneralizations can be misleading. Thus,it is essential to identify the key gender/tenure interactions at each site, and howthese relate to the use of resources and distributionof welfare in society (and withinhouseholds). Although the specific answerswill differ from place to place, Gladwinet al. (2002) show that there are manycommon factors facilitating or limiting theplanting of trees, indicating a core set ofquestions that researchers can ask about.Cost-effective diagnostic tools are nowavailable for assessing customary as well asstatutory rights (Freudenberger 1994), so attentionto these issues is no longer restrictedto the research community that can undertakedetailed study. Focus group meetingsand key informant interviews may start withmapping the local resources, then discussingwho uses each resource and the rulesgoverning that use. Time and trend linescan indicate how access to these rights haschanged over time. However, it is essentialto discuss these issues with women andmen, younger and older generations, andto look beyond the private farmlands to thecommons and even the in-between spacesand resources. With such an approach, appliedprojects can and should develop anunderstanding of the distribution of rights toland and trees in each site.Although our understanding of propertyrights is growing, there is a need for furtherresearch on the complex interactions