EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

DEG/GTZ COMPACI Program Gender Reviews and Strategies for Cotton Sector Development in Six Countries of Sub-Saharan Africa

Rekha Mehra

International Center for Research on Women

February 2010

(DRAFT: NOT FOR QUOTATION OR CIRCULATION)

Across Africa, cotton makes an important contribution to national economies, and is a significant source of income for small-scale farmers, the primary cotton producers.

The DEG/GTZ launched the “Competitive African Cotton Initiative” (COMPACI) as a means to increase productivity and income of small-scale farmers in 6 African countries-- Benin, Burkina Faso, Côte d’Ivoire, Malawi, Uganda and Zambia. Because women play an important role in cotton farming yet are often excluded from participating in activities that would maximize their productivity and returns to their investments, COMPACI is committed to addressing gender issues and fully integrating women into all activities aimed to increase production and household income.

DEG/GTZ contracted with the International Center for Research on Women (ICRW) to conduct a gender-differentiated analysis of cotton production in all six countries and to identify context appropriate gender recommendations and strategies, including gender indicators for the COMPACI monitoring and evaluation framework. This report synthesizes findings and recommendations of the six-country study.

Gender Assessment Methodology

ICRW conducted field research from June-December 2009 with one visit of varying lengths (3-10 days) to each country. ICRW used individual interviews and focus group discussions to collect information from cotton company and program staff, including those working at ginneries and as field workers, men and women farmers, local leaders, and, in some cases, partner organizations and NGOs working on gender issues. Due to security concerns, no field-level data were collected in Côte d’Ivoire.

Socioeconomic, Gender and Cotton Sector Context

Most people in the 6 project countries live in rural areas and depend on agriculture for their livelihoods. Income is low: per capita gross domestic product ranges from a low of $250/year in Malawi to $960 in Côte d’Ivoire. In each of the countries a significant proportion of people live in poverty – ranging from 38 percent in Benin and Uganda to a staggering 70 percent in Zambia.

The status of women is low in each of the 6 countries. Women lag behind men in key indicators of education, health and political participation. Gender-based violence against women is pervasive and reflective of women’s low status. Polygamous households exist even where they are not legal and this affects, among other things, household labor allocation and decision-making including cotton production.

Land is a critical asset not only for production but as a means of securing access to credit and other resources. Unfortunately, legal remedies to address gender discrimination in accessing land often clash with traditional customary practices. For example, women are permitted to inherit land in Malawi, yet rarely retain ownership and user rights to land. Indeed, women’s access to land continues to flow through their male relatives, irrespective of the formal legal framework in all six countries.

Lack of education and literacy skills limits a producer’s ability to read and understand contracts or materials relevant to agricultural production – and this weighs most heavily on women. Education and literacy rates for women are lower than men’s in all six countries, although this is improving. For example, in Benin, 12 percent of women and 43 percent of men ever attended school, although rates for girls and boys are better – 73 percent of girls and 87 percent of boys were enrolled in primary school in 2007.

Cotton is a major cash crop in each of the 6 countries. It ranks third in Côte d’Ivoire behind cocoa and coffee; represents 37 percent of merchandize exports in Benin, and 50 percent of export earnings in Burkina Faso. It is the main source of income for many low-income producers whose cotton plots are, typically, small—just 0.5 hectares in Uganda. For myriad reasons, including limited access to land; inputs including cotton seed, credit and other resources critical to production; debt burden of producers and gin operators; and delays or non-payment to producers, production targets are often not met and ginneries work at half their capacity in Burkina Faso, Côte d’Ivoire and Malawi.

The cotton sector has been privatized over the past 20 years. As a result, much of the support for production, including extension services and access to inputs, is now provided by private companies such as those involved in the COMPACI program – Faso Coton in Burkina Faso, Ivoire Coton in Côte d’Ivoire; Great Lakes Cotton Company (GLCC) in Malawi, Dunavant Uganda Ltd (DUL) in Uganda, and Dunavant Zambia Ltd (DZL) in Zambia. In Benin, the COMPACI program works with the Inter-Professional Cotton Association (AIC), which includes representatives of importers, distributors, ginnery owners, producers; and the Insurance Payment Central (CSPR), a subsidiary of AIC.

While privatization and decentralization have opened the cotton sector to competition, the changes have posed challenges. In Benin, for example, the private sector cotton industry is self-regulated, and farmers and gin owners view AIC and CSPR with some distrust. This is a result of delays in getting inputs and payments – sometimes receiving no payment at all, which impacts on producer and ginnery debt. As a result, there is more side-selling by producers and gin operators, farmers are using cotton inputs for other crops, and, in some cases, farmers have abandoned cotton production altogether. Cotton companies face other problems such as delivering sufficient seed to growers (Uganda). Side-selling is an issue in some countries (e.g., Zambia) as contracted farmers ignore contractual obligations and side-sell to the highest bidder—not always an irrational decision for poor farmers.

COMPACI Country Interventions

COMPACI partners work with over 250,000 farmers and over 2000 producer organizations (also referred to as “producer groups,” “producer cooperatives” or “out-grower networks”)[1]. This includes 20,000 producers each in Benin, Burkina Faso, and Côte d’Ivoire; 65,000 farmers in Malawi, 36,700 in Uganda, and 90,000 in Zambia.

Cotton companies contract either with individual farmers (e.g., Malawi and Zambia) or registered members of affiliated producer organizations (PO). Through them, farmers access a general “package” of inputs and services including: training in environmentally-sound farming practices, safe use of pesticides and herbicides, and improved production technologies; access to seeds, fertilizer, pesticides and other inputs; credit to buy equipment, e.g., oxen or plows; and, in some cases, information on how to comply with “Cotton made in Africa Initiative” (CmiA) criteria and the verification process.

There are some variations in how these inputs and services are provided. For example, in Benin, government extension services are supplemented by those provided by AIC. In Malawi, farmers buy inputs using cash, credit or government vouchers, and in Zambia, the cotton company (DZL) is partnering with Mobile Transactions Zambia to provide farmers with mobile banking services and immediate cash payments for their cotton.

Cotton companies have their own ginneries for processing cotton purchased from their contracted farmers. Ivoire Coton has three ginneries in the Northwest zone, while cotton purchased by AIC in Benin is processed at a single ginnery. As noted above, many of the ginneries are working at less than optimal capacity due to low production levels.

Findings

Gender Roles and Responsibilities in Cotton Production

Women provide much of the labor for cotton production from planting to harvesting; some are also involved in land preparation, much of which is done by hand. While men are responsible for applying pesticides, women haul the water used in spraying pesticides. Men tend to be responsible for land clearing especially when using oxen, and, for the most part, make decisions about crop management, marketing, selling, and cotton income. Because the cotton production timeline is strict, farmers often form labor brigades to increase efficiencies, particularly during planting and harvesting. While women may join their male counterparts in some of these labor groups, in Zambia and Burkina Faso, they also form work groups with other women to work in their own fields, and as hired labor.

Women often have their own plots where they grow cotton, but also grow food crops to contribute to household food security. Zambian women also grow cotton in their own plots. However, they must first work in men’s fields and meet their other responsibilities, after which they work in their own plots, often having less energy for the labor-intensive practices they use. Moreover, their access to inputs, equipment and other resources come from husbands, further limiting production.

However, women are underrepresented in all project activities and outreach in all countries and there is limited awareness (with some exceptions) among project staff of the potential missed opportunity of women’s exclusion. For instance, at a national level in Benin, 20 percent of cotton producers are women who cultivate approximately nine (9) percent of hectares devoted to cotton production. Women’s participation is lower, however, in the project area where women represent only 14 percent of producers, and 10 percent of independent producers (women heads of households and women with own plots in male-headed household), see Table 1. Their plots are smaller than men’s, averaging about 0.4 hectares as compared to 1.1 for men.

Table 1: Cotton Producers by Sex in Benin (2008-2009)

Men / Women / Percent Female
National / 92,021 / 22,102 / 20
Atacora Donga / 22, 924 / 3,698 / 14
COMPACI / 17,933 / 2,083 / 10

On the other hand, there are some examples of gender awareness and outreach to women (see Box 1).

Box 1
Addressing Gender Barriers in Cotton Productivity: Zambia
DZL staff in Zambia have recognized the importance of addressing gender issues as they relate to productivity. Some shed managers have started to incorporate discussions of gender dynamics in “Farming as a Business” extension meetings with distributor/buyer agents who work most directly with farmers. The managers point out the relationship between marital conflict and farmers’ ability to produce cotton. Since men would strongly object to sharing cotton income from their plots with their wives, the managers suggest incremental steps toward more equitable production measures and income sharing. One such step is farmers providing their wives with their own cotton plots to generate income.

Men and Women’s Participation in Producer Organizations

In all 6 countries, cotton companies work with individuals or Producer Organizations (PO) to issue contracts and deliver productive inputs and training. Individuals are registered with the cotton company and receive annual production contracts. In Zambia, farmers who honor their contracts become eligible to participate in the CmiA program, which pays a price premium. Some members are selected to be “lead farmers” and demonstration plots are developed on selected members’ land.

Women are significantly underrepresented as members in POs; they are even more underrepresented in leadership. In Uganda, of the 36,770 registered farmers, about a fourth are women; 20 percent of land inspected in 2009 is owned by women, and nearly a third of PO members are women (Table 2). There are no data on the number of women who are elected officers in the PO, number of women who are lead farmers, or marital status. DUL developed an “internal control system” to verify organic standards, register farmers using a unique code and ID card – these are issued only to the head of household, typically a man.

Table 2: Percent Distribution of Farmers in DUL networks in Uganda by Sex

DUL Network / Percent Men / Percent Women
Registered farmers / 76 / 24
PO members / 68 / 32
Farm acreage inspected* / 80 / 20

* Data provided only for farmers with 2009 contracts

These figures are much higher than in other COMPACI countries. Only 10 percent of PO members in Benin are women, and only an estimated 5 percent in Zambia. The Ugandan figures may reflect, in part, changes in thinking brought about by the lessons on human rights and gender equality that occurred in the areas where COMPACI is active (see Box 1). Even so, Ugandan women participants in focus groups suggested that they would prefer women-only or widow-only groups as this would give them more decision-making power and control over benefits.

Lessons for obtaining more equitable gender relations in cotton communities are locally available as are examples of instruments for change (See Box 2).

Box 2
Practical Strategies to Reduce Gender Barriers: Uganda
Uganda presents an interesting example of how events can stimulate change. GLCC works in the northern areas of Uganda where there was civil war between the government and the Lord’s Liberation Army beginning in the early 2000. This forced many families to abandon their farms and villages for life in camps. By 2007, the conflict had largely subsided, and families began to return to their homes.
During their time in the camps, many residents participated in activities led by international and local non-governmental organizations that used a human rights and gender-sensitive approach to their work. Due to the trauma and dislocation related to the conflict, as well as the influence of these organizations, DUL farmers reported that new norms were emerging whereby men shared resources, work and income with their wives. Stereotypes of traditional men who use women’s labor without sharing decision making or income are, at least publicly, beginning to be portrayed as negative.
This influence spilled over into PO byelaws, which require members who sign contracts to abide by the rules. In some cases, the PO byelaws contain clauses establishing spousal rights to: information on the amount of money earned from crops sold by the other spouse; equal participation in decision making about how to spend the income from crops; and a share of the residual income left over after family expenses. Field staff estimated that between 20 percent and 30 percent of POs have such bylaws.
When husbands break byelaws and fail to share, women complain to their PO, which forces the errant husband to behave. If men break the bylaws more than three times they are forced out of the organization. One of the POs recently expelled five men who refused to conform to its bylaws protecting the rights of their spouses

Gender bias among cotton company staff in all countries affects how women producers are viewed and their potential for incorporation into the project including access to inputs and training. For example, male Ivoire Coton managers expressed the view that it was “unimaginable” that women could be heads of household, and, therefore, qualify as lead farmers. This affects field activities as no efforts have been made to recruit women farmers to join POs, which impacts their access to contracts, inputs and other services. Interestingly, there are examples of Ivoire Coton extension agents working with women producers and supporting women-only producer organizations albeit in crops traditionally associated with women, such as vegetables. The effects of gender bias on filed and project activities vary but only by degree across all countries