This document summarizes the findings of a gender assessment conducted in Manica, Mozambique as part of a dairy development project. Key findings include: 1) Women adopted dairy production and management technical assistance at higher rates than men, showing gender differences in adoption of practices. 2) While overall household decision making remained with men, women were being consulted more on dairy business decisions as they took on larger roles in dairy management. 3) The project created both self-employment and wage employment in the dairy sector, benefiting both women and men. 4) Household incomes and food security increased significantly due to income generated from dairy activities.

1. Dairy Management in Manica:
Findings and Lessons from a
Gender Assessment in
Mozambique
Marinho Nhambeto & Elizabeth Hutchinson
4th November, 2011

2. Who We Are
- Land O’Lakes, Inc.
 US$12 billion agribusiness; 1/3 business is dairy
 Second largest cooperative in the U.S.
 Founded on principles of integrity, fairness, honesty and
respect for individuals
- Land O’Lakes International Development
 Division of Land O’Lakes Inc. founded in 1981, leveraging
corporate experience and expertise but operates like a
not-for-profit (primary funders USAID, USDA)
 Our mission is to help farmers around the world improve
incomes and quality of life
 260+ programs in 76 countries since inception (currently
33 programs in 28 countries)

3. Project Background
- 3-Year USDA funded Dairy Development FFP
project in Manica, Mozambique
 Objectives include:
- to rebuild Mozambique’s dairy industry to meet market demand
- to increase incomes for smallholder farmers by participation in a sustainable
dairy value chain
- to increase crop yields through utilization of draft animals for cultivation.
- IFPRI/ILRI-funded GAAP project
 Complement the existing FFP project adding gender
research component
 “Gender, Agriculture, and Assets Research Project”

4. Activities and Progress
- Mixed methods data collection
 Randomly selected household survey (N: 637, with 167
dairy households). Quasi-experimental design surveying
both dairy and non-dairy households
 15 single-gender focus group discussions
• 5 females with cows; 2 females without cows
• 6 males with cows; 2 males without cows
 Enumerators/FGD facilitators were local university
students or project/partner staff
• All were trained in multi-day training and participated in
pilot test of tools

5. Challenges and Constraints
- Timing of data collection
 Heavy rains made some roads inaccessible so some
groups not represented in qualitative findings
- Language barriers
 Training documents and data collection tools in
Portuguese and English; not all enumerators/facilitators
were fluent in all three local languages
- Potential participant bias
 Potential for bias in reponses, since dairy households
have received asset (dairy cow) from project

6. Key Findings –
Adoption of Technical Assistance
Table: Percentage of male and female beneficiaries adopting new practices from the
technical assistance (TA) provided
Male Female Totals
Category of
Technical Assistance
Frequency % Frequency % Frequency %
Record keeping 256 84 50 16 306 100
Dairy production and
management 120 47 137 53 257 100
Crop production and
management 248 82 54 18 302 100
Stocking 201 79 53 21 254 100
Dairy market linkages 126 70 54 30 180 100
Crop market linkages 187 81 43 19 230 100
Design of Animal Traction
tools 299 86 47 14 346 100
- Women are most frequent adopters of dairy
production & management TA.
- Without this project looking specifically at
gender differences, we would have never seen
these differences.

7. Key Findings –
Household Decision Making
- Overall household decision-making remains
unchanged (decision-making done primarily
by men).
- With improved dairy cattle and increased
involvement in dairy management by women,
both men and women report that women are
now being consulted with regards to
decisions made about dairy businesses.

8. Key Findings –
Employment and Labor
- Job creation in dairy management
 283 jobs (207 male/76 female) created in dairy sector
outside the household
 612 self-employed jobs created at households (324
females/288 males)
- Ownership of dairy cow does not dictate
household labor in dairy management
 86% of households are male-headed and men own dairy
animals.
 Women provide 53% of labor (milking, inputs, milk
sales); Men 47% of the labor (infrastructure, dairy
marketing)

9. Key Findings –
Land Ownership

10. Key Findings –
Incomes and Food Security
- 69.2% of household monthly income from
dairy activities
 Average Income from crops $37/month + $106/month
from dairy
 225% increase in income for dairy households
- Nutritional Value of Milk
 Household Dietary Diversity Score: 5.9 (baseline value)
 Importance of milk for household consumption for
improving health status mentioned in all FGDs

11. Mid-Course Corrections
- Incorporating women in training as paravets
and AI technicians
 Community identifies women for technical roles/training
- Inclusion of women in cooperative
management committees and MCCs
 Advocacy, awareness, recommendations for women’s
participation as a sustainability measure
- Incorporating findings from this assessment
were included in design of proposal
submitted to USDA for new FFP project
(Phase 2) in Mozambique

12. Next Steps
- Case study about gender differences in dairy
management will occur in Jan-Feb 2012
- Additional data collection with combined
approach for final assessment in April-June
2012
 Minor modifications/adjustments to data collection tools
(survey and FGD guide)
- Learn from this study and make internal use
of the methods and findings to guide gender
assessments for other agriculture and food
security programs

13. Thank you!
For more information contact:
Marinho Nhambeto: marinho.nhambeto@idd.landolakes.com
Lizz Hutchinson: erhutchinson@landolakes.com