Women, as well as men, need direct access to training and extension information to improve their livestock production activities.
A 1994 IFAD study of women's livestock management activities points out that, worldwide, livestock extension and training is more often directed to men than to women. Underlying this common pattern is the assumption that because men usually own the livestock, and decision-making and trade in livestock are generally their domain, only men need to be trained. Little account is taken of the fact that women provide much of the labour and expertise. Surveys have shown that women livestock managers not only would require training but also are interested in learning new techniques and ideas.
Part of the problem is that most livestock extension agents are men. In Asia only 7% of extension agents are women. A study in 46 African countries found that fewer than 4% of extension workers responsible for advising women are themselves women. Men agents may find it difficult to deal with women, particularly in Muslim and some Hindu and Christian cultures where custom precludes contact between women and men who are not family members. But even when not the case, several studies have found that men staff give preference to contacts with other men. A study in both Kenya and Tanzania, for instance, found that they visited woman-headed households less frequently than man-headed ones. Women tend to prefer women extensionists - as long as they are qualified.
True, husbands can relay information to their wives, but frequently this does not occur, even when it is the women who are carrying out the relevant tasks. The IFAD study illustrates this point with findings from several countries. In The Philippines, where women gather forage and feed the animals, extensionists tried to introduce Leucaena (a tree whose foliage, legumes and seeds can be used for animal fodder). They were largely unsuccessful, however, because they contacted only men, who subsequently failed to relay the information to their wives. In India, women are responsible for calf rearing, animal health and detection of oestrus (the onset of heat). Men veterinarians gave information on these tasks to husbands, who in turn neglected to pass it on to the women. In Peru, the study describes a case where training on livestock tasks performed by women was given to men heads of households, even though they were not even present much of the time because of labour migration. Similar illustrations are provided from Bangladesh, Mali, Turkey, Thailand and elsewhere.
Where women do not receive the needed training, especially for new types of activities, ignorance can lead to the failure of a livestock enterprise. In Sri Lanka, for instance, a newly formed women's poultry group bought day-old chicks for poultry production, all of which turned out to be cockerels. Their mistake almost caused the business to fail.
Women need training in marketing if they intend to access non-local markets. They need to know, for instance, how to obtain and use market information, and how to gain access to transport and storage facilities. Rural women's frequent lack of literacy and numeracy is a frequent constraint and may, according to the study, be the main reason why men are given preference in training and extension. Another problem is that women are frequently unable to leave their households and responsibilities for the length of time needed to attend training courses.
The IFAD study does note some cases of successful extension and training for women livestock managers. In The Philippines and Thailand, for example, the use of mobile dairy extension and training services helped increased both women's technical knowledge and their access to inputs. In Kenya, women veterinary agents have proven useful in contacts with women, and have even been accepted by men. In India, women dairy extension workers have successfully taught farmers hygienic milk production. In the Central African Republic and The Sudan, paraveterinary training has been so successful that it serves as a model for replication elsewhere. In Egypt and other countries, women most often obtained useful information from the mass media or public meetings rather than from personal contacts. Media channels can be particularly useful for reaching women in situations where their mobility and social contacts are culturally restricted. Media messages can also legitimize and reinforce the information received from extension agents.
In most countries, in the short and medium term, there will not be enough women extension agents to meet women's needs for livestock learning. Depending on the culture involved and the existing opportunities, men extension agents may be able to be trained to serve women better. Existing 'home economics' types of extension workers may also be able to be retrained to focus on women's livestock production activities, particularly if working for the same ministry. Training and fielding of paraveterinary agents and use of communication media can also provide needed learning at a relatively low cost.
Adapted from
M. Niamir-Fuller, Women Livestock Managers in the Third World: Focus on Technical Issues Related to Gender Roles in Livestock Production, Staff Working Paper 18, Rome: IFAD, December 1994.
