5 ROLE OF WOMEN IN LIVELIHOOD STRATEGIES

The role of women in the livelihood strategies of households in spate-irrigated areas shall not be under-estimated and under-valued as they are important actors in spate-irrigated agriculture and rearing livestock. Furthermore, women of poorer households are often engaged as wage labourers and/or they are involved in handicraft and petty sale. All domestic tasks are the exclusive responsibility of the female members of each household, including the fetching of potable water and the collection of fuel wood. Women are often members of (informal) saving groups or other self-help groups at village level.

In Shabwah Governorate (Yemen), women take care of most crop husbandry activities of food and cash crops, including the application of farmyard manure, sowing, weeding, harvesting, threshing and removing of the crop residues from the fields. Men are responsible for the maintenance of the canals and terraces, ploughing of the land with tractors, bee-keeping and the marketing of crop produces and livestock. (KIT 2002) In Wadi Zabid and Wadi Tuban, men and women undertake most tasks together, including the cleaning of small canals. The general rule is that women take on the more traditional production practices, including spate irrigation, while men specialise more in the technical aspects of modern agricultural practices. Raising livestock is considered to be the responsibility of rural women and their children. A number of women take care of cows belonging to wealthy households and they share in the cow’s production, whereby the first calf will be for the woman. Although women are actively involved and often responsible for most agricultural and livestock activities, the marketing of any produce is exclusively reserved for men. (World Bank 1999, 2000a)

In the Sheeb area in Eritrea, women undertake agricultural activities, such as harvesting, threshing and transport of grains and straw. A small proportion of women is involved in petty trade, which is mainly the sale of handicraft products, such as mats and baskets, whereas a few women operate a shop. These women are usually widows, divorcees or former freedom fighters. Due to the policy of the Eritrean government, women are also active in community affairs, although the majority of men reject such activities of women outside their houses for cultural reasons. With regard to the sale or slaughter of livestock, women have little or no authority. However, the distribution of milk and meat from slaughtered animals among all household members as well as the selling of eggs are the right of the women. (Hadera 2001; Halcrow 1997; Kahsaye 2002)

In the Konso Special Wadera in Ethiopia, the role of women in agriculture is substantial. Particularly during periods of droughts when men migrate in search of employment, women undertake all agricultural activities, including the maintenance of the stone terraces and irrigation of the prepared fields. In addition, women are also involved in petty trade and sale of fuel wood. (Farm Africa 2003)

Among the Qaisrani tribe in the Dera Ghazi Khan area (Pakistan), the role of women in spate irrigation is very important as they have developed local knowledge about the intensity and magnitude of spates in their areas and skills for assessing the probability of rain occurrence. Furthermore, women are involved in supervising the irrigation process, guarding infrastructure and applying spate water at field level. (Nawaz 2002b) In the spate-irrigated areas of Balochistan (Pakistan), almost all agricultural activities are carried out by women, except the tillage of the land. In Nal Dat, women assist the male members of their households with the supervision of the infield irrigation and the repair of minor damage to the earthen channels close to their fields during daytime. (Halcrow 1993e) Animal husbandry is predominantly the domain of women, who are responsible for cutting and transport of fodder, milking goats and cows, preparation of a variety of dairy products, taking care of sick and pregnant animals as well as the drying of dung for fuel. The grazing of animals is the responsible of men, who also purchase veterinary medicines. (Halcrow 1993b+e, 1998)

6 CONCLUSIONS

Livelihoods are built upon five assets: human capital, social capital, natural capital, physical capital and financial capital. Secure access to these five assets is essential to achieve a secure and sustainable livelihood. To cope with the unpredictability and inherent risks of spate-irrigated agriculture, whereby seasons of meagre crop production, absolute failure and relatively high production occur alternatively with no predictable pattern, households have developed different livelihood strategies to ensure a minimum standard of living, which are based on their different levels of access to the five assets.

The most common livelihood strategy of many households in spate-irrigated areas is the diversification of the household economy. In addition to a highly variable income from spate-irrigated agriculture, many households also have one or more other sources of income, in particular from livestock keeping and wage labour and to a lesser extent from the sale of handicraft products. As a result of their adopted livelihood strategies, most spate-irrigated farmers are incorporated in the regional and national economies, in particular through the sale of crop surpluses and livestock as well as the labour migration. (Van Steenbergen 1997) Despite the diversification of their sources of income, most households in spate-irrigated areas are poor as their per capita income is less than US$ 1 per day. In the Shabwah Governorate in Yemen, the annual net income ranges between US$ 53 and US$ 124 per capita, whereas 28% and 35% of the households in Wadi Tuban and Wadi Zabid lived below the poverty line of US$ 203. The estimated net farm income in the Sheeb area in Eritrea is US$ 86 per capita, while the net benefit from spate irrigation is about US$ 35 per household member in Balochistan. The living conditions in most communities situated in spate-irrigated areas are poor as they lack basic amenities, such as potable water and sanitation facilities, electricity and health care. High infant mortality due to malnutrition among children and pregnant women is evident in most villages as well as anaemia, malaria and other health problems.

The main features of these three main sources of income for households in spate-irrigated areas are presented below.

Spate-Irrigated Agriculture

• The cropping pattern in spate-irrigated areas is dominated by the cultivation of traditional, drought-resistant crops, such as sorghum, wheat, pulses, oilseeds, cotton and melons.
• Most farmers only plant local, self-selected seed varieties, which are often well adapted to the local agro-climatic circumstances, although this practice may cause various problems, such as increased vulnerability for diseases.
• Many farmers do not apply (chemical) fertilisers, pesticides and insecticides as they cannot afford the use of these inputs and they believe that their crops receive sufficient nutrients from the sediments deposited during each irrigation.
• Research and extension services are not directed towards spate-irrigated agriculture, so that it is very difficult for farmers to enhance the yields of their spate-irrigated crops by applying improved crop husbandry techniques.
• Many small farmers growing spate-irrigated crops do not have access to (subsidised) credits from banks and financial institutions as they are unable to fulfil the conditions for acquiring loans. As a result, many small farmers have to rely on other sources of credit, such as moneylenders and traders, who charge high interest rates.
• The distribution of arable land in spate-irrigated areas may vary from relatively egalitarian to very unequal, whereby most of the land is owned by a few very large landholders.
• It is common in many spate-irrigated areas that a substantial proportion of land is cultivated by sharecroppers and to lesser extent by tenants.
• In general, women play an important role in spate-irrigated agriculture as they are involved in almost all crop husbandry activities, including sowing, weeding, harvesting, threshing and storage. Reportedly, women in some spate irrigated areas in Yemen, Pakistan and Ethiopia are also involved in the irrigation of fields as well as the maintenance of field channels.
• Most farming households try to keep the input of labour as minimal as possible, whereby mainly family labour is used.
• Most farmers in spate irrigation systems only cultivate small areas of less than 1 ha to not more than 8 ha.
• In years with normal floods, the average yields for sorghum range between 600 to 2,000 kg/ha in Yemen and Eritrea, while the average yields of millet and cotton vary from 600 to 1,500 kg/ha and 650 to 1,600 kg/ha respectively in Yemen. The average yields in Balochistan (Pakistan) are significantly lower than in Yemen and Eritrea.
• Even in years with normal floods, most farmers do not produce enough to feed their households throughout the entire year. Only in (very) good years, a majority of farmers is able to sell any crop surpluses.

Livestock Keeping

• Most households in spate-irrigated households keep livestock for various important functions, such as traction and transport as well as sources of food items, such as dairy products, meat, wool, dung and skins, which are mainly used for home consumption but also sold to raise cash. Furthermore, small ruminants and oxen are important savings, which are sold to cope with crisis situations.
• Oxen still pay an important role in the maintenance and repair of irrigation infrastructure and field bunds, although its role is gradually taken over by tractors.
• Almost all activities related to raising livestock are considered to be the responsibility of women en their children.
• The composition and number of livestock owned by households in spate-irrigated areas reflects their needs (i.e. traction, transport, food) as well as the availability of forage (i.e. rangeland, fodder crops).
• Beekeeping could be another important source of income for households in spate-irrigated areas.

Wage Labour and Off-Farm Income

• Income from wage labour is often an important source of income for many households in spate-irrigated areas, especially for households with no or limited access to land or whose fields could not be irrigated.
• Household members can find wage labour either in their own communities or they have to migrate temporarily to other areas in search of employment.
• Most households earn an additional income as agricultural labourers, especially during the harvesting season, whereby they often paid in kind (i.e. fixed portion of harvested crop).
• The sale of (fuel) wood and handicraft products may be an additional source of income as well.

6.1 Threats to Livelihoods in Spate-Irrigated Areas

The existing livelihood strategies based on the cultivation of spate-irrigated crops in combination with additional incomes from livestock and wage labour are undermined by a number of developments:

• The importance of spate-irrigated agriculture as a source of income for many households diminishes as the average size of their landholdings decreases due to further sub-division through inheritance.
• As more landowners install their own wells to become less dependent upon spate water for the irrigation of their fields and the gradual depopulation of communities as a result of permanent migration, the remaining farmers are often unable to mobilise sufficient labour and draught animals for the (timely) reconstruction of the diversion structure and the cleaning of the flood canals. The result will be that the diversion of spate water to their fields becomes more difficult and more landowners have to give up spate-irrigated agriculture, who may also decide to migrate elsewhere in search of other sources of income. Finally, the spate irrigation system ceases to function as the capacity to maintain the irrigation infrastructure is lost.
• The modernisation of spate irrigation systems, whereby the traditional diversion structures are replaced by a concrete weir, has often had a detrimental impact for farmers in the middle and tail sections as it has become easier for upstream water users to divert more if not all spate water to their fields despite existing rules regarding the allocation and distribution of spate water. For instance, spate water only reached the downstream sections of Wadi Al’Ain/Harib in Yemen during large floods following the construction of two weirs in the head reach, whereas the spate-irrigated area in the upstream section increased by 300%. (Kohler 1999) The same problems are also reported in the Nouael II Project in Tunisia as well as in Wadi Tuban, Wadi Zabid and Wadi Mawr in Yemen.
• Degradation and/or widening of the riverbed may progress to such an extent that farmers are unable to (re)construct diversion structures that are high and/or long enough to divert spate water into their flood canals. Uncontrolled cutting of trees and bushes as well as overgrazing in and along the riverbed may accelerate this natural process.
• Due to the installation of an increasing number of dug- and tube-wells as a risk coping strategy to become less dependent upon the unpredictable supply of spate water for irrigation purposes, the ground water table in many spate-irrigated areas is falling rapidly. The result is that older and shallower wells dry up, the quality of the ground water deteriorates and an increasing number of fields are abandoned due to desertification. Ultimately, the population of entire villages may have not other choice than to migrate permanently as they have lost a secure access to potable water and/or arable land.

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