Gender and agroforestry in Africa: a review of women’s participation

Abstract

This paper presents a review of agroforestry in Africa from a gender perspective. It examines women's participation relative to men and the challenges and successes they experience. Particular agroforestry practices examined include fodder production and utilization, soil fertility management, woodlots and indigenous fruit and vegetable production and processing. The review shows that agroforestry has the potential to offer substantial benefits to women; however, their participation is low in enterprises that are considered men's domain, such as timber and high in enterprises that have little or no commercial value, such as collection of indigenous fruits and vegetables. Furthermore, the degree of women's involvement relative to men in technologies such as soil fertility management, fodder production and woodlots is fairly high in terms of proportion of female-headed households participating but is low as measured by the area they allocate to these activities and the number of trees they plant. Data on whether women are able to manage agroforestry practices as well as men are mixed, although it is clear that women do most of the work. In cases where they do not perform well, the reasons are mostly due to scarcity of resources. In marketing, women are confined to the lower end of the value chain (retailing), which limits their control over and returns from the productive process. In order to promote gender equity in agroforestry and to ensure that women benefit fully, the paper recommends various policy, technological and institutional interventions. These include (1) facilitating women to form and strengthen associations, (2) assisting women to improve productivity and marketing of products considered to be in womens' domain and (3) improving women's access to information by training more women extension staff, holding separate meetings for women farmers, and ensuring that women are fully represented in all activities.

Reducing subsistence farmers’ vulnerability to climate change: evaluating the potential contributions of agroforestry in western Kenya

“…We approached our research with an understanding that agroforestry practices may be used and perceived differently by men and women [45]. However, we did not find that women participated in agroforestry in a substantially different way, as all farmers reported planting, tending to and harvesting from trees.…”

Does Gender Division of Labour Matters for the Differences in Access to Agricultural Extension Services? A Case Study in North West Ethiopia

“…Gender equality is an essential component for sustainable economic growth and poverty reduction (FAO, 2010). As a result several literatures have alerted development practitioners to give emphasis for gender-specific constraints faced by poor female farmers (Quisumbing & Pandolfelli, 2010;Kiptot & Franzel, 2012;Ragasa et al, 2013).…”

Gender in the CGIAR Research Program on Forests, Trees and Agroforestry: A strategy for research and action

“…In Asia, the sale of NTFPs such as wild fruits and vegetables often provides the only source of cash available to landless women (Carr and Hartl 2008). Similar results are evident in agroforestry, where women derive substantial cash benefits from indigenous fruits and vegetables (Kiptot and Franzel 2012). Women's control over income correlates positively with improved food intake and child nutrition status (Kennedy and Peters 1992, Engle 1993, Hoddinott and Haddad 1995, Smith et al 2003.…”

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