This joint work between AFLI 2 and Small Research Activity (SRA) gender team aims to: - Understand gender-based constraints, interests and challenges; - Exploring suitable approaches to encourage women’s participation in project activities and to improve their knowledge and skills.

1. Exploring opportunities and challenges in
agriculture through the gender lens
FST/2016/152 and AGR/2017/008 | 27 March 2018
A case study in a H’mong community, Tuan Giao, Dien Bien

2. • AFLI 1 - Agroforestry for Smallholder Farmers in Northwest Vietnam (2011-2016)
successfully encouraged farmers to apply agroforestry and local authorities to implement
policies facilitating farmers.
• AFLI 1 key learning:
• Both men and women should play important roles in agriculture and smallholder economic
development
• Women, especially those from the H'mong ethnic group, facing specific gender-based constraints.
Language barrierStay behind the men in Focus group discussion Not easy to share
Giới thiệu

3. Introduction
• AFLI 2 -Developing and Promoting market-based agroforestry and
forest rehabilitation options for Northwest Vietnam (2017-2021)
continued addressing those challenges and scaling up agroforestry
• This joint work between AFLI 2 and Small Research Activity (SRA)
gender team aims to:
• Understand gender-based constraints, interests and challenges
• Exploring suitable approaches to encourage women’s participation in project
activities and to improve their knowledge and skills

4. Study site
Map of the study site
Toa Tinh commune:
- History: Established in 1952
- Population: 7 villages, 2,000 people, 400
households
- Ethnicity: H’mong
- Education: Primary (mostly) & secondary
- Agricultural products: Maize, rice, son tra (tao
meo), tea, coffee, pine, livestock (buffalo, cow,
goat, chicken, pig)
- Main income from son tra, coffee
Hua Xa A village
- History: Established in 1984
- Population: 7 villages, 2,000 people, 400
households
- Total area: 693 ha (agriculture: 337 ha)
- Population: 500 people, 103 households
- Poor household: 46%, near poor: 16%

5. Ice breaking Labour division
Ownership/Access
to resources
Challenges in agriculture
Photo taking activities
Methodologies
Gender norms
Photo exhibition
10 Young men (15 -25); 10 Old men (26 – 60; 10 Young women (15-25); 10 Old women ( 26-20)
4 farmers from each group

6. Results
1. Social expectations of wife and husband
A good husband (from women groups) A good wife (from men groups)
• Loving wives, children and parents
• No love affair
• Not drinking or beating wives when drinking
• Not playing billiards, game online
• Taking care of children
• Earning money and managing main activities of
family
• Sharing housework (get up early, cooking, wash
dishes, sweep floor) and fieldwork all the time
• Buying clothes and earrings/phones for wife
• Loving husband and children
• Being faithful, honest and hard working
• Avoiding social evils
• Being polite and respect with older people
• Letting husbands drink and get up late
• Taking care of husband when he gets drunk
• Take care of children and family
• Teaching children
• Being good at housework, shewing, cooking, washing
• Doing farm work if husbands are employed
• Doing off-farm jobs for earning money
• Feeding livestock, herding buffalo and cows
• Remind husband what to do following daily schedule

7. 2. Power relationships within the family
0
1
2
3
4
5
Young men Men Young women Women
The degree of power and freedom in the family
*5=Full of power and freedom, 0=No power and freedom
**Left= five years ago, Right=now

8. 3. Labour division in agricultural activities
Carrying fertilizers and water to the field
Selling maize and coffee
Purchasing herbicide and pesticide
Receiving fertilizer and seedling from the project staff
Controlling pest and diseases in the field
Participating agricultural trainings
Collecting forage and feeding pigs, fish and cattle
Feeding chickens and ducks
Selling Son Tra
Maintaining vegetable production at home garden
Selling vegetable at a local market
Sawing rice
Herding buffalos and cattle
Harvesting maize, coffee and Son Tra

9. Time wheels of young and old men and women

10. 24 hours’ time allocation of men and women
Happy !!! Tired but used to that !!!

11. 4. Ownership and the use of resources and assets by gender
Farming (land, crops)
Home garden (vegetable)
Livestock (fish, chicken, duck)
Livestock 2 (cattle, buffalo)
Agricultural equipment, tools**
Agricultural machines*
Information tools***
Motorbikes
Perceived ownership Actual users
Men Women
*tractor, truck, sawing machines
** grass chopping machines, spraying equipment, hoe
*** Radio, TV, phones, training materials, posters
• Men may hold ownership,
women have relative freedom
to use some small equipment
• The greatest gender gap is
accessing to information
• Although women have access
to motorbikes and phones, it is
often men who buy them first
and women are often given the
second hand items from their
husband

12. Source of knowledge and information
Men (15-25) Men (26-60) Women (26-60)Women (15-25)
Mostly from relatives and friendsVarious sources: trainings, media and
relatives and friends

13. • Big-scale issues such as
infrastructure, irrigation,
big machines and
markets
• Young men are keen on
new innovations such as
agroforestry
• Willing to attend
trainings and learn new
things, new techniques
5. Men challenges & interests in agriculture

14. 5. Women challenges & interests in agriculture
• Livestock diseases and need
more support on livestock
• Son tra, coffee production and
selling
• Working and living condition
such as road, water pipe
• Limited access to information
and techniques due to language
barrier and education
• Using mechanisation to create
additional time and labour for
improving agricultural
production

15. Conclusion
• Family is a core unit of agricultural production and development in H’mong
community, based on gender norms
• There are certain domains where women can have relative freedom in
investment, risk taking and changing practices, such as vegetable production, fruit
selling, poultry production.
• The young and the old have different approaches to obtain information and learn
new technologies.
• There are gender-specific challenges and interests in agricultural production and
selling.
• Young men and women express their special interests to try new practices such
as agroforestry while old men and women prefer incremental change based on
traditional practices with improved working conditions
• Participatory data collection methods is very helpful to build rapport with H’mong
famers and thereby collecting rich information on gender and social dimensions

16. THANK YOU !!!