Gender issues in poultry production in rural households of Western Kenya

L O Okitoi, H O Ondwasy, M P Obali and F Murekefu*

KARI-Kakamega, P.O.Box 169, Kakamega
*Ministry of Livestock and fisheries, P.O.Box --Kakamega
Oriama_okitoi@yahoo.com

Abstract

A study was undertaken to understand explicitly gender issues in rural poultry production system in western Kenya. The objective was to study the involvement of women, men and children within a family in rural poultry production in western Kenya. Participatory rural appraisal (PRA) techniques were used to collect gender-disaggregated data on poultry ownership, decision making on sales, slaughter, gifts and rural poultry management such as housing, feeding and disease control.

Results show that ownership of rural poultry is shared among the family members but is predominantly by women (63%) and children (18%). Decision-making regarding selling, consumption , and gifts to guests in rural poultry in western Kenya reflects plurality. All family members provided labour to a rural poultry production enterprise. Men and children mainly did construction of poultry sheds as women did cleaning, feeding and treatment of rural poultry. Women and children did most of the daily routines in rural poultry management. Men did occasional jobs that were cash requiring such as purchase of inputs and treatment of poultry using conventional drugs. Women did occasional sale of eggs. Women dominated the access and control of food and gifts to guests while men dominated cash and cultural benefits arising from poultry.

In conclusion, ownership of rural poultry and access to benefits is not exclusively the domain of women. Decision-making by women in the rural poultry production system was limited to non-cash related decisions while cash related decisions were made mostly by men. The family labour input into the rural poultry production system is a plurality. A gender component in the project is essential in order to identify factors of production and access to benefits accrued for technology transfer.

Key words: Gender, local poultry

Introduction

Rural poultry production is a well-known livestock enterprise in western Kenya where virtually every household kept small flocks of between 5-20 chickens. The enterprise has earned recognition in the rural socio-economy because it provides readily harvestable animal protein (meat and eggs) and revenue.

Recent emphasis on rural poultry production has driven researchers and extensionists to develop appropriate technologies for the previously neglected area (Kitalyi 1998). The levels of technology adoption are low and farmers get 50% or less of what it should be possible to achieve (KARI 1996). There is a growing recognition of the contribution of women to agricultural production. Mullin (1995) reported that women provided 46 percent of agricultural labour, produced approximately 70 percent of its food and did at least half of the tasks involved in raising animals. Ross (1991) reported that women contributed 80% of labour to food production and received 7% of extension information. Chavangi and Hanssen (1983) estimated that women performed 70-80% of the daily work and yet have been disregarded by extension agents. KARI has also recognized that clients /stakeholders have always not been taken into account sufficiently in technology development process (KARI 1996). It is for this reasons it is felt that in order for rural poultry improvement programmes to have a positive impact on household economies and gender equity, women's concerns have to be integrated in the programmes as a gender variable. This requires a more explicit understanding of gender issues in rural poultry production system. Gender specific roles and responsibilities are often conditioned by household structure and access to resources

This paper reports the involvement of women, men and entire family within a household in rural poultry production in western Kenya. The paper also suggests strategies for incorporation of gender in future improvement programmes. This was to assist in design of projects so as to rightly target inputs in rural poultry production. The study reported involves the analysis of gender roles in rural poultry production in western Kenya.

Materials and methods

Data were collected during a survey involving four hundred and seven randomly selected households in Butula (Busia District), Malava (Kakamega District), Sabatia (Vihiga District) and Uranga (Siaya District) in Western Kenya.

A questionnaire during a participatory rural appraisal (PRA) was used to collect gender-disaggregated data on poultry ownership, decision making on sales, slaughter, gifts and rural poultry management such as housing, feeding and disease control.

During PRA verification meetings a gender analysis matrix (GAM) was used to gather information on what impact a local poultry improvement project will have (or what changes will be brought about by the new technology) on women's, men's and family's tasks and workload. Activity profiles and access and control of benefits from rural poultry were captured during verification meetings during the PRA.

Data collected was summarized and classified.  The summarized and classified information was subjected to descriptive analysis using SPSS.

Results

Figure 1 presents the response of farmers to ownership of chicken by members of the family. The ownership of rural poultry is shared among the different categories but is predominantly owned by women (63%) and children (18%)

Ownership by men was not prominent (16%) and joint ownerships with other family members was little (3%).

Figure 2 shows the participation of household members in decision making during sales, slaughter of chicken given as gifts as indicated by percentage respondents. The decision-making in rural poultry reflects plurality in decision-making in selling chickens, consumption of chickens, and gifts to guests. Participation in selling eggs and consumption of eggs was predominantly for women. In all cases the greatest decision maker was women and less consultation (joint decision)

Division of labour among family members in rural poultry management is as shown in figure 3. The study showed that all family members provided labour to rural poultry. Men and children mainly did construction of poultry sheds. Women mainly did cleaning, feeding and treatment of rural poultry.

 Women and children dominated the activity profile for rural poultry in western Kenya (Table 1). Women and children did daily routines in rural poultry management.

Men were involved in occasional activities such as purchase of inputs, sale of poultry and treatment of sick chickens. Mainly women did occasional sale of eggs.

All family members had access to the benefits from rural poultry production such as food, income, gifts to guests and cultural benefits (Table 2)

Women dominated the control of food and gifts to guests while men dominated cash and cultural benefits arising from rural poultry production.

Table 3 presents the impact of a local poultry improvement programme on labour and time demand from family. There is more time and labour demand from women than from men and the entire family.

Discussion

The ownership pattern of local poultry was a plurality in western Kenya, although dominated by women. Similar patterns have been reported in Gambia (Kitalyi 1998) although different patterns have been reported in the Dodoma region in Tanzania in which it was reported that chickens were predominantly owned by women and children. The patterns of chicken ownership can be linked to women's productive and reproductive roles within a family. As they performed their reproductive roles by having interest in children, they carried out subsistence farming. Rural poultry has been considered part of subsistence production described by economists as Non market production revolving around the homestead. A woman's role therefore was close to the homestead to withstand the fragmented attention. Rural poultry by its proximity to a homestead is an obvious enterprise for women. Further, Chickens were mostly housed in kitchens. It is here where a woman's family role rotated to provide food and kitchen waste provided supplementation of scavenged feed. These are reasons poultry management was more a woman's affair.

The decision-making with respect to selling chickens, consumption of chickens, and gifts to guests in rural poultry also reflects a plurality within the household.A market survey in Tanzania indicated that men dominated both in selling and buying of chickens in village markets (Kitalyi 1998). This can be attributed to the dominance of men in cash related activities within a household.

Division of labour among family members in rural poultry management as far as construction of sheds, cleaning of chicken houses, feeding and treatment of sick chickens showed that all family members provided labour, although women and children dominated the activity profile. Similar labour utilization profiles have been reported in Zambia and Ethiopia (Kitalyi 1998). It was observed that when men did some tasks in rural poultry production, it was often regarded as an economic activity. Men mostly did cash requiring activities within the rural poultry production system. As the enterprise tended towards commercialization, men appeared to participate more in its management. Urban migration was another factor that has contributed to the greater role of women in poultry production. Most households in western were men led but women managed because the men have moved to towns in search of jobs and the women have assumed the management roles. The chickens were her only "bank account" in the absence of a man's monetary contribution.

The activity profile showed that women and children were involved in rural poultry management throughout the day with a few breaks within the day. Men were mostly involved in occasional activities. This has a bearing on scheduling of other activities such as meetings, farm visits. Some flexibility will be necessary. Since rural poultry farming is an integral part of the farming system and that the poultry calendars of activities interact with other farming activities, labour saving skills in other farming activities would allow more time to care for chicks and reduce chick losses.

Decision making regarding control and access of resources for local poultry production showed that women dominated the control of food and gifts to guests while men made decisions on cash requiring activities. Similar findings were reported in Tanzania and Gambia (Kitalyi 1998). This can be attributed the fact that cash within a household was the power within a family and that men who were usually considered heads of families tended not to relinquish their powers through transfer of control of money to other members of the families

Conclusion

• Ownership of rural poultry and access to benefits is not exclusively the domain of women although they are the managers of the enterprise.

• The family labour input into the rural poultry production system is also a plurality but there is more time and labour demand for women than men.

• Chicken keeping is a domain of women but because of economic priorities, men have changed roles and attitudes towards the enterprise.

• Rural poultry keeping can be used to reduce poverty levels within the women and children in rural areas

• A gender component in the project is essential in order to identify factors of production and access to benefits accrued for technology transfer.

References

Chavangi N A and Hanssen A 1983 Women in livestock production with particular reference to dairying. Expert consultation on women in food production, FAO, Rome

KARI 1996 Proposal for institutionalizing gender issues in agricultural technology development and transfer, September 1996

KARI 1997 Gender analysis and skills development workshop at RRC Kakamega, 18-21 February 1997

Kitalyi A J 1998 Village chicken production systems in rural Africa. Household food security and gender issues. FAO animal production and health paper No. 142. Rome http://www.fao.org/docrep/003/W8989E/W8989E00.HTM

Mullin G R 1995 Kenya's women dairy farmers. Forgotten partners in National dairy development. In: Kenya farmer, (9), 1995

Ross G R 1991 African women leaders in Agriculture: Analysis of two round table discussions, October 1991, Winrock international

Received 16 October 2006; Accepted 22 October 2006; Published 8 February 2007

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