Preface

Women’s participation in agriculture began when the Mesopotamians first domesticated animals and planted food near their homes (Stephens 1990). Their involvement in raising livestock is a longstanding tradition in Africa, Asia and Latin America. Livestock production patterns differ widely among ecological zones, and socio-political systems – from extensive transhumant systems in Tibet, or the Touareg in Africa, to intensive livestock farming systems in Japan, Jordan or the Altiplano in Latin America. It is estimated that in Africa, the Near East, Asia and Latin America, women represent 40-60% of the labour force in agriculture and animal husbandry (Finney 1988). However, the database on women’s role in livestock production is extremely limited, and problems arise in knowing where to direct inputs to help women increase their productivity or reduce bottlenecks.

IFAD’s gender policy and project strategies derive from and are entirely supportive of the Fund’s primary focus on rural poverty alleviation. The short-term objectives of the technical, social and economic strategies addressing poor rural women as pursued by the Fund are related to the immediate survival needs and the creation of economic options for improving the livelihoods of women. The longer-term objectives of these strategies are sustainable household food security and incomes and the elimination of acute conditions of poverty through the economic advancement of poor rural women.

IFAD’s operational approach to gender strategies and planning is based on the recognition that there are no general, universally applicable rules for addressing poor rural women. The reality of each project by its very nature provides different possibilities for benefits to women. IFAD projects increasingly focus on women for four main reasons:

1. Women represent a major part of the rural poor, especially where emigration, marital instability, economic stress and family status have left them as heads of households.
2. Women remain very much on the margin of access to and participation in public and private services to meet their own needs.
3. Women have acquired a tremendous store of knowledge about and efficient skills in agricultural production.
4. Women are prime movers, rather than welfare recipients, in the development process and vital agents, rather than passive bystanders, in the process of change (IFAD 1991c).

Animal production offers many advantages to smallholdings. It diversifies production and reduces the risk of economic losses resulting from crops destroyed by adverse climatic conditions or disease. If well integrated into the household economy, it allows more efficient use of family labour, secures a cash income spread out over the entire year, supplies draught power and manure as fertilizer and, through crop-forage rotation, improves the soil. It also provides proteins and other dietary supplements, especially for children (Finney 1988).

This report seeks to highlight women’s role and technical knowledge of livestock production in Asia, Africa and Latin America and provide guidelines on how rural women’s roles and indigenous technical knowledge on livestock can be incorporated in IFAD’s project cycle to their benefit. Chapter 1 is a summary of the main issues. Chapter 2 discusses the many roles of women in livestock production. Chapter 2 also has a focus on how the roles of women in livestock production have changed in recent years as a result of national and local trends and constraints. Chapter 3 highlights women’s indigenous technical knowledge and the gaps in current understanding of such knowledge. Appendix 1 illustrates how women’s ITK in livestock production could be studied, giving a case study of Yemeni women’s sheep-fattening operations. Chapter 4 reviews major types of livestock development efforts and their impact on women, and ends with gender-techno criteria for evaluating IFAD projects on livestock and women, which are summarized in Appendix 2 as guidelines for incorporating women’s role and ITK into livestock-related projects. Chapter 5 concludes with several recommendations arising from the report, and Appendix 3 provides a sample terms of reference for analysing the impact of existing IFAD livestock-related projects on women.

Table of contents Summary Women's role in livestock production Women's indigenous technical knowledge of livestock production Review of development efforts aimed at women in livestock production Recommendations Appendix 1 - case study - indigenous technical knowledge among Yemeni women in the Dhamar Montane Plains Appendix 2 - minimum requirements for incorporating gender issues into IFAD's project cycle Appendix 3 - Terms of reference for a study of the ITK of women livestock managers in IFAD projects References