Presentation by Sophia Huyer, CCAFS Gender and Social Inclusion leader, at the webinar on climate change and agricultural development.
Watch the webinar recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aBGaXlBLmog
Understanding farmer uptake of climate-smart technologies: gender and social inclusion dimensions
1. Sophia Huyer, Gender and Social Inclusion Leader
Understanding farmer uptake of
climate-smart technologies:
Gender dimensions
2. CCAFS Gender and Social Inclusion
• Goal: ensure that rural women benefit from CCAFS’ contribution to
poverty reduction, enhanced environmental resilience, improved
food security, human health and nutrition.
• Priority results:
Inform, catalyze and target CSA solutions to women, youth and
vulnerable groups that do not increase their workloads
Increase the control of women and youth over productive assets and
resources, and
Promote their participation in decision making
3. Gender differences in farmer uptake of
CSA
1. Adoption of CSA technologies
and practices
2. Benefits from CSA Training
3. Access to and use of climate
information
4. 1. Gender Differences in Adoption of CSA
• Women and men tend to have different adaptation strategies and
practices
• Different preferences in crops and uses for crops
• These depend on GDOL, differing access to and control over resources
participation in decision making and sociocultural norms
Five most common changes made by men and women to adapt to climate change
5. CSA Technology / practice uptake
Percent of men and women adopting CSA practices
CCAFS/IFPRI/ILRI Gender Survey 2012, in Twyman et al, 2014
9. 2. Climate information
Women need different channels and types of information (Senegal
2011, 2012)
Ghana, 2016
• 85.2% (representing 767) farmers were aware of climate change and
its implications for their agriculture and other livelihood activities, with
little difference in perception between men and women
• Gender a determinant of uptake and use of climate information: men
were 39.4% less likely to use climate information than women.
10. Access to climate information in Ghana
Male Female
Limited training Little or no formal education and thus inability to
read and understand the text messages sent by the
Esoko platform
The forecast information is sometimes different
from the actual weather condition
Periodically, educated community members unable
to correctly interpret text messages
Bad network connection Expensive call charges noted by farmers on Airtel
telecommunication lines when calls to the Esoko
call centre are made.
Long waiting times on calls placed to the call
center
Lack of access to mobile phones as the service is
phone based
Periodically, the translators at the Esoko call
centre are not available and they do not call back
either
Lack of means of transportation on reported market
days in various communities prevents farmers from
moving to sell farm produce
In this presentation I’m reporting on gender results of CCAFS activity in regards to three areas:
They will also have preferences for different crops and uses for crops – in East Africa in 2012 and 2013, women and men farmers were asked about preferences in bean crops. Men were primarily interested in market value and yield, while women considered additional benefits, such as short cooking times, taste and nutritional value.
Impact assessment in Senegal, found that in some villages women were disadvantaged in the distribution of land and seeds, as well as in loans, while in the study area access to land for women was said to be a factor making them more vulnerable to climate change.
South Asia female farmers prefer integrated pest management, weather agro-advisories and contingent crop planning compared to male farmers. Not interested in rainwater harvesting and climate smart housing for climate change adaptation.
North-west India. LLL is not a technology that is biased towards large farms. However, socio-cultural barriers, especially gender inequalities, apply. Discussion with LLL service providers in the study areas revealed that woman farmers do not approach a male LLL owner or service provider in order to hire the service, but do the deal through one of her children or through a male relative. This is mainly due to existing gender norms in the society which constrain their participation in the public domain.
Micro-dosing in Zimbabwe - Data on fertilizer use and microdosing technology suggest that farmer training on fertilizers; in particular microdosing, increases the probability of using fertilizers and adoption of microdosing. Female headed households were less likely to microdose their crops, probably due to poor access to information by women.
In the case of Rice Drum-seeders in Maharashtra, India:
Men have a greater say over how the family spends the cash and accordingly have a higher willingness to pay for attributes that increase income (increase in yield) or reduce cash costs (reduction in the seed rate). Women contribute a large share of the labor for transplanting rice, much of which is unpaid work on family farms.
As a result, women value labor saving significantly more than their male counterparts.
Results of the training included increased production, lower inputs of fertilizer and pesticides. Increased availability of food encouraged additional livestock production. They began to participate in HH decision making on varietal choice, crop management and post harvest management, as well as on spending decisions within the household, including for children’s education.
Mobile phone information in India:
Information through mobile phones can reduce information asymmetry between women and men farmers.
Helped women farmers make more efficient use of agro-inputs: 83% of women in Biryana made use of information
70% women gained more information on CSA technologies and practices (70%)
Increased their participation in HH decision making in agriculture
Shamba Shakeup,
It is estimated that 428,566 households made changes in their farming practices or reported increased income or food production as a result of watching the program
While both male and female maize farmers benefitted from the changes that they had made on their farms, men benefitted slightly more, increassing their consumed output by 58%, women 23%; output for sale doubled for men, increased by 83% for women
Women dairy farmers had greater proportional returns than men – improved their production by 59%, compared to improvement of men of 41%
Women need different channels of information –
Research in Senegal kinds of weather and climate information needed also differ along gender lines. Women farmers in Dioly, Senegal planted their crops a month later than men, so that it was more important for them to know when the rains would end, rather than the start of the rainy season. They were also more interested in information on drought / early cessation of rainfall.