Men and women farmers’ perceptions of adopting improved diets for pigs in Uganda: decision-making, income allocation, and intra-household strategies that mitigate relative disadvantage

Abstract

Background:The roles and responsibilities of men and women in east African smallholder pig-raising households and the entitlements each can claim from pig-enterprise income are unknown. The article is a qualitative genderand-household-head-disaggregated exploration of Ugandan smallholder pig farmers' perceptions. Asset ownership, control, and access; division of labour; and decision-making related to pig rearing and pig-enterprise income are presented in the context of the potential impact of adopting improved diets for pigs (a productivity improvement).Results: Potential benefits of improved diet adoption included faster pig growth; increased farmer income and pig population; new on-farm employment and produce market opportunities; and improved pig market opportunities and family-and community-level well-being. Contradictory views about the potential impact of diet adoption on labour requirements and feed costs, and the inclusion of seasonal, home-grown ingredients were expressed. Concerns about people and pigs competing for food and personal safety were also voiced. Women allocated pig-enterprise income to provide for their children, household, and extended family, and spent only the remaining income on themselves. Men allocated income to meet personal needs, and to provide for their children, wife, second wife/family, extended family, and lovers. Men and women in female-headed households (WFHH) had overt decision-making ability over the pig enterprise and pig-enterprise income. Some women in male-headed households (WMHH) had overt decision-making ability over the pig enterprise and pig-enterprise income when their husband allowed it, or failed to provide, or was away. Pig ownership and labour investment by WMHH did not guarantee that women had decisionmaking ability or benefitted from pig-enterprise income. Some WMHH employed covert strategies which mitigated their relative disadvantage. Threat of domestic violence inhibited the decision-making ability of WMHH. Polygyny reduced intra-household communication transparency.

Benefits and Risks of Smallholder Livestock Production on Child Nutrition in Low- and Middle-Income Countries

“…Four studies discussed women's decision-making and role in small-ruminant production and reported that women tend to be more responsible for small ruminant activities, mainly poultry production (98)(99)(100)(101)(102)(103), while men tend to have more responsibility over large ruminant production, such as cattle or camel (99,101,104). One study pointed to the head of household's importance in decision-making ability over livestock production, discussing how women in women-headed households were more likely to retain control over livestock production compared to women in men-headed households (105). Though women engaged in SLP can contribute significantly economically to the household, their decision-making is often constrained, depending on the type of livestock, intensification of the production system, sociocultural context, and the type of decision being made (16,22,99,102).…”

Intra-household decision-making, production diversity, and dietary quality: a panel data analysis of Ethiopian rural households

“…Like dietary diversity, farm production diversity is determined by various demographic, socioeconomic and infrastructural factors like household demographics, wealth, access to market and other infrastructural and institutional services. A factor, gender, is linked to various aspects of rural livelihoods like adoption of agricultural technologies and practices (Fisher and Carr 2015;Ndiritu et al 2014), investment of generated income and credit (Carter et al 2017;Garikipati 2008) and food security (Galiè et al 2019;Larson et al 2019;Malapit et al 2019;Sariyev et al 2020;Sraboni et al 2014). Moreover, recent observational studies that investigate agriculture and nutrition linkage find that livestock ownership and production diversity are prominent for dietary diversity, and women's empowerment can be an important mediator (Ruel et al 2018).…”

An assessment of pig feed diversity amongst smallholder pig farmers in Northern Uganda

“…Farmers marital status influences a number of household farming aspects including decision making with respect to household agricultural and marketing activities. According to Carter et al (2017), marital status is important in household pig production and marketing decision. Married household heads are also likely to get support from their spouses when it comes to looking for feeds for pig production.…”

“…Consequently, smallholder farmers have devised ways of addressing this challenge by adopting the use of locally available feed resources in addition to conventional and commercial feeds. Smallholder farmers feed their pigs with feeds that they can afford through purchase, production or simply gathering (Carter et al, 2017;Katongole et al, 2012;Lumu et al, 2013;Mutua et al, 2012;Roesel et al, 2019). The smallholder pigs' feed profile which includes conventional feeds, leftover food (swill), plant products and by-products of agro-processing are thus highly diversified.…”