Women's indigenous technical knowledge of livestock production In traditional societies, indigenous technical knowledge depends on what people can see and remember without the aid of microscopes, journals or the written word. People often see correlations and understand causality, but where they see gaps in the process, they depend on spirituality to explain them. Local indigenous knowledge is increasingly being seen as a reservoir of ideas and solutions for development work. The ITK of women about agriculture, including livestock-raising, is a "largely untapped reservoir of intellectual wealth and experience ... and a valuable asset that must be capitalized upon and integrated into the development process" (IFAD 1991a). Although ITK has long been the subject of anthropological research, it is only recently that interest has been shown in the possibility of harnessing it for the purposes of development (Howes 1980). Some development workers may agree with Richards (1980, p.192) that "a sentimental belief in traditional values and a gut feeling that the ‘people know best’ without knowing why and under what circumstances, will be … unhelpful and damaging to the prospects for rural devclopment in the long run". However, as yet there are very few examples in which ITK has been directly incorporated into projects and programmes. Development planners continue to function ‘top down’ despite the rhetoric. Another value of ITK systems is their use in enhancing communication between local people and development agents in agricultural development (Norem, Yoder & Martin 1988). This is manifested in such techniques as rapid rural appraisal, participatory research and client-oriented research and extension. Distinction can be made between ‘extractive’ and ‘enriching’ research on ITK. The former provides information for development planners, while with the latter, data collection, analysis and reporting are done by and for the local people, who use the information to solve their own problems (Waters-Bayer 1992). Most research has been of the former kind, with only a few, including RRA, tending towards the latter. Evidence shows that most ITK is very much gender and age based. Opinions and knowledge vary according to locality, age, sex, education, specialization (e.g., marabouts and witch doctors), aptitude, economic class, etc. (Warren & Meehan 1980). People organize their knowledge so that it can be of use in their lives. Knowledge is dynamic and adapted to various purposes through experimentation and generalizations about other situations. For example, the way men and women classify knowledge of livestock may be different because each has different objectives for the product. Planners and development workers usually spend more time (if any at all) understanding the ITK of leaders and men in the rural community. Rarely are women asked for their opinion. The few reports and papers written on women’s ITK are insignificant compared with the tremendous literature available on that of men (Niamir 1990). In addition, there are more passing references to women’s knowledge than there are detailed discussions of that knowledge. A typical example comes from a study in Thailand, where it is merely said that "women have demonstrated their expertise and skill in livestock production and provide their families with a major share of household income" (Natpracha 1991), without offering more detail on that expertise. The following is an account of women’s ITK concerning livestock that is based on existing reports. Detailed reports of women’s ITK are extremely scarce. Table 1 provides a matrix showing the gaps in an understanding of women’s ITK of livestock, in the hope of stimulating further participatory research on this subject. Table 1. Matrix showing existing documentation of ITK of livestock and natural resources by women
As increasing numbers of research reports and projects document women’s ITK of livestock and natural resources, a better understanding is gained of how their vital role and knowledge has been hitherto underestimated. As the matrix in Table 1 shows, there are considerable gaps in the literature where such ITK needs to be documented. This matrix is intended as an aide-mémoire in the design of future IFAD projects and programmes. The case study of Yemeni women’s sheep-fattening schemes (Appendix 3) gives a practical guide as to how women’s ITK should be analysed and understood. 112. On a regional basis, women’s ITK of livestock and natural resources has been better documented in Africa than elsewhere. Documentation in Muslim societies has faced cultural constraints. The problem stems from the fact that research and planning teams have been male dominated, and there is a prevailing myth that women have a non-existent role in livestock production. Women's ITK of animal husbandry Indigenous technical knowledge of animal husbandry covers animal management, hygiene, feeding, watering and use of animal products. Women and men have the same knowledge of the general principles of animal husbandry (e.g., adaptive strategies of herd structure and manipulation of numbers) and of tribal law and strategies, even though the women’s part in the process may remain unrecorded. For example, having a large number of female animals and no marked seasonality in calving in order to ensure a continuous year-round supply of milk is a common strategy in most transhumant systems (Dyson-Hudson & Dyson-Hudson 1982). This type of general knowledge is taught to boys and girls both, ensuring a common set of tenets within the community. For example, among the Lozi of the Central African Republic, young boys and girls go to the cattle farms with the men, where they are hardened and taught morals and tribal law (Gluckman 1951). In parts of Botswana, where men and women together raise small ruminants and where women are supposedly not involved in cattle production, women’s knowledge of the management of all animals is equal to that of their sons and husbands (Peters 1986). There are very few cases where women know less about animals than men, and when this is the case, it is mostly the result of a specialization of tasks. One example is the Fulani women of Niger, who appeared not to know as much about breeding and marketing of cattle as men but were very familiar with the general facts about cattle (Henderson 1980). In Masvingo Province of Zimbabwe, despite the fact that women are responsible for keeping small ruminants, they often consulted men when asked to give the age of or other information about the animals (Card 1989). With a few exceptions, the most common pattern is that men and women possess different knowledge about different things, as a result of divisions of labour and specialization of tasks. In Peru, where women are primarily responsible for livestock production, a study has found a strict gender division of labour, and a tendency for each sex to have less technical knowledge of the other’s tasks (Fernandez 1988). Transformation of animal products into utensils is gender-dependent knowledge, since it depends on who uses the utensils and for what end. For example, among the Pokot of Kenya, 34 different kinds of utensils and equipment traditionally used are made of animal products by both men and women. Utensils used in the house outnumber other sorts of tools (Kurita 1983). Women in most societies are responsible for the reproduction, daily care and doctoring of animals, an example being the Rufa-al-hoi of the Sudan (Ahmed 1976). Although less visible, these tasks are just as important as transhumance and herding, but they are labour intensive and require an individualized approach to the animals. Women’s intimate knowledge of gynaecology, birth, human nutrition, etc., in most societies also implies a detailed knowledge of animal anatomy, biology and nutrition. In fact, in many societies, women are expected to know more about these things than are men. A study in the Punjab of Pakistan reports that women who manage the village animals are much more knowledgeable about animal health and fertility than are men (Preuss 1989). In Botswana, husbands frequently turned to their wives in trying to remember when the last vaccinations or dips had taken place, or how many calves had been born or died (Peters 1986). Women in many societies are in charge of feeding animals in a cut-and-carry system, for example as recorded in India (Paris 1988) and Egypt (FAO 1983), and they possess detailed knowledge of the best kinds of feed for each season and type of animal (e.g., lactating animals require high levels of protein). In one part of the Philippines, women gather forage and feed the animals. When extension agents tried to introduce Leucaena as livestock feed there, they were largely unsuccessful, having contacted only men, who failed to pass the information on to their spouses (Paris 1988). In a few countries, women are in charge of fattening animals for slaughter. As a result, their knowledge of animal nutrition can be quite extensive. For example, in the Dhamar Montane Plains of Yemen2, women fatten rams either for home consumption or for sale. In general, they take good care of the animals and know exactly what to feed them and how to keep them healthy. But there is frequently a clash between the objectives of both sexes, because men try to force three lambings a year (a meat-oriented strategy) while women claim that such a strategy depresses milk production (unless supplementary fodder is supplied) (Maarse 1989). In addition to understanding how to raise animals, women in most pastoral societies have a detailed knowledge of milk processing and marketing. Women demonstrate their knowledge and control of the fermentation process, including the effects of ambient temperature and degree of acidity. They also know of the best processes for making and conserving butter and have a detailed knowledge of dairy hygiene (washing and sunning utensils, mould prevention and the importance of personal hygiene and cleanliness of surroundings); this appears to be true even without the benefit of contacts with extension workers.3 The women have developed various techniques for managing different quantities of milk, particularly techniques for conserving and accumulating small quantities daily in order to save enough to "work with". This means that they are thus well adapted to cope with seasonal changes in milk quantities. These skills are transmitted to younger girls and, in some cases, boys, through socialization and apprenticeship (Maarse & Idriss 1988b; Niamir 1990). Among the Fulani agropastoralists in northern Nigeria, where men milk the animals but women process the milk, each woman works with 2-6 kg of milk a day, transforming it into at least six different products. Fulani dairywomen are always adapting to changing market conditions, through experiments and innovations. For example, an influx of people into a nearby town demanding fresh milk prompted local women to learn how to boil milk in order to keep it from souring during the long walk to the town. The availability of powdered milk subsidized by the European Economic Community in the 1970s prompted Fulani women to experiment with different mixtures to produce a fermented product acceptable to their customers (Waters-Bayer 1992). Women's ITK of range and natural resource management As with animal husbandry, the general principles of range management and natural resource use are part of women’s and men’s ITK. However, more detailed knowledge depends on their specialization as well as on the division of labour. Far less is known by the scientific community about women’s ITK of natural resources as opposed to other forms of ITK. Very often, ethnobotanical and other sources do not differentiate, or even mention, whether their informants were men or women (e.g., Kerharo 1968; Lemordant 1972; Ohta 1984; Baumer 1975a; Ichikawa 1987; Heine & Heine 1988). In most cases, women have an indirect, not a direct, influence on the use of land. For example, among the Boyr Ahmad pastoralists of Iran, decisions that affect the entire camp relating to migration and economic transactions are seemingly made only by men, but in reality, such decisions are never made without prior recourse to the opinion of women on the issue, and thus tacitly requiring women’s support. Also, women often form their own assemblies within hearing of the men’s assemblies, thus giving loud and clear expression to their views (Fazel 1977). There are a number of examples, however, in which women have direct influence. There are cases where women are involved in rangeland utilization, and do influence land use decisions directly. The women’s council of the Barabaig in Tanzania, for example, tried (but failed) to prevent the mechanical ploughing of their sacred groves by large-scale agribusinesses (Lane 1991). In the Chipko Andolan movement in India, women have been instrumental in stopping forest destruction (Gadgil 1985). In one instance, 75% of Fulani women interviewed said they went on transhumance with their husbands and knew all about rangelands, although they left the day-to-day management and feeding of cattle and small ruminants to the herder (Henderson 1980). It has been reported among the Yemenis of the Dhamar Montane Plains that both shepherds and shepherdesses have a vast traditional knowledge of the best grazing grounds, on which they base daily decisions and for the optimal use of forage, and of pasture rotation systems, in order to prevent overgrazing (Kessler 1987). Among the Maasai of highland Kenya and Tanzania’s Maasai Steppe, women manage small ruminants and use them deliberately to control bush encroachment and avoid damage to grass during critical periods (Jacobs 1980). Among the Samburu of northern Kenya, girls of between 12 and 18 years of age herd the sheep and goats. In the dry season they can walk as many as 10 km from the settlement, and in the wet season, 6 km. They have an established ‘resting tree’, where they spend the hot afternoon hours. The young herder changes the direction in which the herd goes, depending on her knowledge of range resources, and keeps the herd together (especially goats, which are unruly and harder to control than cattle) (Shikano 1984). Zaghawa women and those of the Teda of Chad know which part of the rangeland contains wild cereals, which they harvest for their families. By the end of the wet season, women will go to these areas for 1-2 months, collecting the wild cereals (e.g. Echinochloa colona and Panicum laetum, and wild rice Oryza breviligulata) at 15-day intervals; they return with 3-4 camel loads (130 kg each). Each village and each woman has its and her own wildland territory for collecting grass seed. Herders are not allowed into these areas until after the cereal harvest. This has the added benefit of ensuring that these grass species are not overgrazed. In addition, since hand collection takes only 50-60% of seeds, enough is left in the seed bank for natural regeneration (Tubiana 1969). Although use of wild plants is declining, it is still done ritually for special occasions such as Ramadhan and weddings (Tubiana & Tubiana 1977). Among the Ahaggar Tuareg of the southern Algerian desert, women are responsible for all aspects of sheep and goat production, including herding and the choice of grazing land, while men manage the camels (Bourgeot 1987). Women possess a detailed knowledge of the dynamics of a highly variable desert ecosystem, which they have been successful in exploiting for sustainable production. Similar knowledge is found among Somali women who herd and manage cattle, sheep and goats (Morton 1990). In Chichillapi Puno (Altiplano of Bolivia and Peru), the Aymara women and herders regularly monitor the productivity of the wool clips they shear from sheep, to tell them about overgrazing and rangeland quality. With a decline in productivity, they adjust the stocking rates accordingly (Palacios Rios 1977). In Sallca Santa Ana in Huancavelica, where livestock production is the responsibility of women, families establish common agreements concerning the maximum number of animals that a family can have, in order to avoid overgrazing of common pasturelands. Those families exceeding the maximum number must either purchase animal rights from neighbours with less than their quota or sell off surplus livestock (CENCIRA 1980). Detailed knowledge of natural resources is often linked to specialization. Among the Mbeere of Kenya, older women know annual herbs best (because they gather them for food and medicine), young herders have a particular understanding of varieties of edible wild fruit (because they eat them on the way) and specialized craftsmen have their own discrete knowledge (e.g., honey collectors know more about the flowering cycle of plants) (Brokensha & Riley 1980b). In systems where women are in charge of animals kept at the homestead, women obtain a detailed knowledge of the land by monitoring the condition of the range through the milk produced, and by observing the state of the animals returning to camp (Niamir 1990). Women have a distinct advantage over men when it comes to feeding small penned animals because of their access to household wastes and by-products of food processing and crops (Okali & Sumberg 1986). Similarly, women have a comprehensive understanding of natural water sources, the variations in quality and quantity during the seasons and of the process of extraction and purification for human and livestock use. The fact that women have such knowledge and know where to collect water and how to cope with its scarcity, including ways of recycling water, has been consistently ignored in development work. In Kenya, women carry out water collection, and will use different wells in alternative seasons in order to allow replenishment of the resource, thereby avoiding the indiscriminate exploitation of groundwater. But now with increasing population pressure, the traditional system is no longer effective. In one case, that of Migwani Village in highland Kenya, young men refused to work on communal projects to collect water for the village and left for urban employment, the women organized and built the dam (Ostberg 1987). Women's ITK of veterinary medicine Pastoralists have extensive knowledge of animal diseases and their cure. Their traditional knowledge encompasses the areas of pharmacology, toxicology, vaccination, surgery, cauterization, bloodletting, castration, obstetrics, amputations, dental procedures, dehorning, skilled bone setting, treating bloat, nose-ringing, tattooing, etc. Many of their herding practices (e.g., avoiding certain pastures at particular times of the year; not staying long in one place to avoid parasite build-up; lighting smoke fires to repel insects, especially tsetse flies; mixing species in the herd to avoid the spread of disease; avoiding infected areas or moving upwind of them; spreading livestock among different herds to minimize risks; and quarantining sick animals) are designed to prevent disease. In addition, attention to breeding and genetics has led to disease-resistant species and varieties of animals (McCorckle & Mathias-Mundy 1992). Like ethnobotanical literature, ethnoveterinary literature rarely distinguishes between women’s and men’s ITK. Where available, the consensus seems to be that detailed medical ITK is also linked to specialization and division of labour. Women in general have more in-depth knowledge of traditional medicine and pharmaceutical practices than do men (Hoskins 1981), and carefully tend sick animals (Henderson 1980). This may be linked to their image as the nurturers and healers of society. In Peru, ethnoveterinary concepts and practices, many of which have real therapeutic and prophylactic values, are used extensively by women. For example, a large number of remedies are effective in assuaging diarrhoea or in preventing parasitic infections (McCorckle et al. 1987). Another study found that the traditional concepts of animal disease and treatment among the Fulani of Nigeria were "often startlingly close to the orthodox". In general, Fulani herdsmen know more about cattle and small ruminant diseases, while women have a greater understanding of poultry diseases. Knowledge of horse diseases is held by those working in the ruling families of the north (Ibrahim et al. 1983). Frequently women are more comfortable with traditional veterinary care than with modern techniques and medicines. This may be partly a result of the fact that in almost all countries, veterinary agents are men, who rarely approach women, but also because men take over when there are any external contacts to be made. For example, among the Fulani of Nigeria, the cost of vaccination and modern medicines is paid by the husbands (Henderson 1980). Poor households continue to seek out traditional livestock healers, but rich households prefer to consult government services. As the examples illustrate, general concepts and descriptive knowledge of animals and natural resources form a part of the ITK of both men and women. However, access to detailed knowledge is tied to the division of labour, specialization and membership and participation in various groups, many of which are gender based. Either detailed ITK can be entirely a female domain, or women and men may have different knowledge about similar things. Both sexes may have different ways of organizing knowledge, and different ways of preserving and transferring knowledge. The integration of ITK into development may not be effective if women’s expertise is not included. Policy planners and those concerned with the design of development interventions should be trained and encouraged to put aside their "paternalistic one-way mode of communication" (Brokensha & Riley 1980b) and engage in participatory development that includes discussions with women. 2/ See also Appendix 3. 3/ One common practice among transhumants in arid lands where water is not readily available is that of using urine as a disinfectant. For example, the Il Parakuyu women of eastern Tanzania (Ndagala 1991) or Dinka women of the Sudan (Niamir 1982), are in charge of milk production, and often clean the utensils, gourds and their hands, with fresh cattle urine. This is a more hygienic way than washing with potentially contaminated water, however, it leaves a 'taste' in the milk that non-pastoral consumers dislike. |
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