Linking smallholder women farmers to markets: Which approaches work best?

The first-ever global conference on women in agriculture was held on 13-15 March 2012 in New Delhi, India. The conference gathered women farmers, researchers, policymakers and other stakeholders from all over the world to discuss current and emerging gender-related issues in agriculture and research, as well as derive lessons for future sustainable, gender-sensitive development.

The International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) was represented at the conference by Jemimah Njuki, leader of ILRI's Poverty, Gender and Impact team.

Njuki's presentation, Linking women farmers to markets: Patterns of market participation, decision making and intra-household income management, explored various approaches to linking smallholder women to markets as a critical pathway towards their economic empowerment.

View the presentation below.

Linking farmers to markets: Patterns of market participation, decision making and intra-household income management

View more presentations from ILRI

Informal channels are key sources of livestock information for Kenya’s rural farmers

Maasai father and son tend to their cattle in Kenya. Informal channels are important sources of livestock information but there are gender disparities in access to information among male-headed rural households in Kenya (photo credit: ILRI/Mann).

Informal channels such as farmer to farmer interactions are more important sources of information on livestock production and marketing for rural farmers in Kenya than co-operative groups, government extension services and radio, a new study has found.

However, this farmer to farmer exchange is more popular among women farmers than among their male counterparts.

The study, published in the February 2012 edition of Livestock Research for Rural Development, assessed how women’s access to livestock information and financial services compares to that of men among male-headed rural households in four districts in Kenya: Kajiado, Kiambu, Meru and Tharaka.

The study also revealed gender disparities with respect to training of farmers in livestock production and marketing.

Men in male-headed households received more training on a greater variety of technical topics such as livestock breeding, health and marketing, whereas women mostly received training on general aspects of livestock management.

Trainings were mostly held within the village but outside the home.

“Increasing access to training by women will require holding training in venues that do not constrain women,” the authors suggest.

Gendered disparities were also observed in access to financial services.

Although both men and women relied on groups as their main source of credit, more men than women obtained credit from formal financial service providers such as banks, microfinance institutions and co-operative societies.

On the other hand, more women than men obtained credit from neighbours and friends.

For this reason, the authors recommend that “provision of credit facilities should be flexible and have consideration for women’s constrained access to collateral”.

Access the full article here

Citation
Mburu S, Njuki J and Kariuki J. 2012. Intra-household access to livestock information and financial services in Kenya. Livestock Research for Rural Development. Volume 24, Article #38. http://www.lrrd.org/lrrd24/2/mbur24038.htm

Global conference to discuss empowering women for inclusive growth in agriculture

What are women’s specific needs for empowerment in agriculture? What initiatives are in place to effectively link women to markets? What are the policy, institutional, infrastructural and financial constraints affecting agricultural diversity to enhance income?  What solutions exist to reduce women’s drudgery relating to agricultural operations and household needs?

These are just a few of the questions that will be up for discussion at the first-ever global conference on women in agriculture to be held on 13-15 March 2012 at the National Agricultural Science Centre (NASC) Complex, New Delhi, India.

Under the theme, Empowering women for inclusive growth in agriculture, the conference brings together women farmers, researchers, policymakers and other stakeholders from all over the world to discuss current and emerging gender-related issues in agriculture and research, as well as derive lessons for future sustainable, gender-sensitive development.

Discussions will take place under the following themes:

• assessing women’s  empowerment in agriculture;
• agricultural innovations for reducing drudgery;
• linking women to markets;
• the role of women in household food and nutritional security;
• policies and services to increase women’s access to assets, resources and knowledge;
• the impact of and responses to climate-change related risks and uncertainties; and
• strengthening capacity building and partnerships.

The conference will also develop a framework for action to integrate and empower women for inclusive growth and development through an enduring global partnership program on gender in agriculture.

At the conference, the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) will be represented by Jemimah Njuki, leader of the Poverty, Gender and Impact team. She is one of the speakers at the parallel session on linking women to markets.

The conference is organized by the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) and the Asia‐Pacific Association of Agricultural Research Institutions (APAARI) with support from the Global Forum on Agricultural Research (GFAR) under the Gender in Agriculture Partnership.

For more information, please visit the conference website.

New project to study goat value chains as platform for boosting food security in India and Mozambique

A woman herds her goats in Rajasthan, India. New project targets goat value chains as pathways out of poverty for small-scale goat keepers in India and Mozambique. (Photo credit: ILRI/Mann)

Following a planning workshop in February 2011, a new project on goat value chains is now underway in India and Mozambique to investigate how best these value chains can be used to increase food security and reduce poverty among smallholders.


The main target groups are poor goat keepers, especially women, and other marginalized groups like scheduled castes and tribes in India; households living with HIV/AIDS and female-headed households in Mozambique. These include small-scale agropastoralists who cultivate small plots of land, as well as the landless.


The project, Small ruminant value chains as platforms for reducing poverty and increasing food security in India and Mozambique (imGoats), is led by researchers from the Market Opportunities Theme of the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) in collaboration with the BAIF Development Research Foundation in India and CARE International, Mozambique. It is funded by the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD).

Download the project brochure in English (Small ruminant value chains to reduce poverty and increase food security in India and Mozambique)

Download the project brochure in Portuguese (Cadeias de valor de caprinos como plataformas para reduzira pobreza e aumentar a segurança alimentar em zonas semi-áridas da Índia e Moçambique)

For more information, please email Dr Ranjitha Puskur at r.puskur [at] cgiar.org

Projects share strategies to increase access of women farmers to agricultural markets and services

Mozambican women selling fruit. Innovative approaches can enhance access of small-scale women farmers to vital markets for their produce. (Photo credit ILRI/Mann)

The recently concluded AgriGender 2011 workshop on gender and market-oriented agriculture which took place at the Addis Ababa campus of the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) from 31 January to 2 February 2011 featured discussions on experiences from research on how best to increase the access of small-scale farmers, many of whom are women, to agricultural markets and value chains.

ILRI’s Market Opportunities theme was represented at the workshop by Dr Isabelle Baltenweck, agricultural economist with ILRI’s research team on smallholder competitiveness in changing markets and Dr Ranjitha Puskur, head of ILRI’s research team on innovation in livestock systems.

Below are links to their presentations on lessons learned from two projects, collaboratively undertaken by ILRI and partners, which adopted innovative approaches towards enhancing the access of smallholder farmers to agricultural inputs, services and markets.

Using hubs to increase smallholder farmers’ access to services: Experiences from the East Africa Dairy Development project
By Isabelle Baltenweck and Immaculate Omondi
An overview of how the East Africa Dairy Development project is using an approach involving community-based hubs to bring dairy services closer to small-scale farmers in Kenya, Rwanda and Uganda. This innovative approach has greatly enhanced the access of dairy farmers to agro-veterinary inputs, animal health services and milk markets.

The role of gender in crop value chains in Ethiopia
By Lemlem Aregu, Ranjitha Puskur and Clare Bishop Sambrook
Presentation of results of a gender analysis by the project, Improving Productivity and Market Success of Ethiopian farmers (IPMS) which examined the influence of gender in crop production, marketing, decision-making and access to services and technologies. Potential barriers to women’s and men’s participation in market-led development initiatives are identified and remedial actions to overcome these barriers recommended. The IPMS project was involved in participatory commodity development using a value chain approach.

Strategies for increasing women’s participation in agricultural value chain development: Lessons from IPMS experiences
By Lemlem Aregu and Ranjitha Puskur
An overview of approaches used by the IPMS project to increase women’s participation in agricultural value chains and enhance the access to knowledge and services. Based on the lessons learned from the project, several recommendations are proposed that may assist in planning and management of similar projects.

Outcomes of women’s participation in market-oriented community development: Evidence from IPMS
By Ranjitha Puskur and Lemlem Aregu
An overview of an assessment of the immediate socio-economic outcomes for women farmers who participated in IPMS project interventions in value chains involving poultry, small ruminants, dairy, feed and forage, apiculture, fruits and vegetables.

View more presentations from the AgriGender 2011 workshop on the ILRI Slideshare page at http://www.slideshare.net/tag/agrigender2011.

Find out more about ILRI’s gender-related research on the ILRI Gender and Agriculture blog at http://agrigender.wordpress.com.

International workshop to discuss strategies for enhancing women's participation in agricultural value chains

Making agricultural markets work for women: A Mozambican woman prepares her agricultural produce for sale. (Photo credit: ILRI/Mann)

Agricultural researchers, development practitioners and policymakers gather at the principal campus of the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia for a three-day workshop on gender and market-oriented agriculture beginning today, 31 January 2011.

Participants will discuss the role of gender in enhancing market-oriented smallholder agriculture in developing countries.

The meeting will also present evidence from research on strategies with potential for increasing the access of smallholder women farmers to agricultural commodity value chains.

The workshop is hosted by ILRI on behalf of a project of the Government of Ethiopia implemented by ILRI called Improving Productivity and Market Success of Ethiopian Farmers (IPMS).

ILRI’s Market Opportunities theme is represented by Dr Ranjitha Puskur, head of the research team on innovation in livestock systems, and Dr Isabelle Baltenweck, agricultural economist with the research team on smallholder competitiveness in changing markets.

Dr Puskur is co-author of a number of presentations on women's participation in commodity value chain development and market-oriented smallholder agriculture while Dr Baltenweck will present on experiences from the East Africa Dairy Development Project which is encouraging the use of dairy hubs to enhance access to services by smallholder farmers.

The workshop programme is available at http://agrigender.wikispaces.com/Programme.

For more information, please visit the ILRI Gender and Agriculture blog at http://agrigender.wordpress.com/tag/agrigender2011 or search for #agrigender2011 on Twitter.

Also check out this ILRI News blog post, ‘What will it take for women farmers to break away from the hearth–and into the marketplace?’ by Susan MacMillan, head of ILRI’s Public Awareness Unit.