Women play an important role in agroforestry and other farming systems, as they make up about 50% of the agricultural labour force. Yet, in many countries on the continent, they have less access than men to resources and opportunities. This divide between the roles of men and women is based on cultural tradition and circumstances.
Importance of women in agroforestry
Agroforestry is a low-cost system that requires minimal inputs and offers a diversity of products. It therefore offers opportunities to women who cannot afford to adopt high-cost technologies because they simply do not have cash or credit facilities.
This farming system does not require a lot of land and labour. The trees can be planted around the homestead and on field boundaries. Weeding is only necessary during early growth of the trees, and when these are mixed with annual crops that cover the soil, no extra weeding is necessary. Many trees require little or no cash for buying seeds or seedlings.
With agroforestry, the women can supply in their families’ basic needs by collecting them off the farm. If trees and shrubs are planted close to the homestead, they do not have to spend money on fuelwood, fodder and fruits. In Kenya and Uganda, women manage more than 80% of the fodder shrubs. In the parklands of west Africa and southern Africa, women are the main collectors of indigenous fruits.
Men have overall authority with regards to tree products that have high returns, such as coffee crops.
Despite their responsibility and hard labour, women’s decision-making power is limited to the byproducts of the men’s trees and subsistence crops that have low returns and those that do not involve advanced technologies.
Women are increasingly taking on the leadership role and decision-making as men often leave to find off-farm income in the cities, or in many instances moving to countries that offer a better chance of finding work in more affluent countries, for instance South Africa. In Malawi, 30% of households are headed by women, while in western Kenya and Zimbabwe, the number exceeds 50%. This places the responsibility to obtain food, fodder, fuelwood and other tree products on women.
Despite their important role in agricultural production, women remain disadvantaged in the agricultural sector as a result of economic, but also sociological and cultural factors. These include limited access to resources, like land and trees, but also finance, extension services, additional labour and appropriate technology.
In most communities, tree planting and felling are regarded as a man’s domain, and logs, timber, large branches and poles, as well as charcoal belongs to him.
Right to own land
Although women do much of the work in agroforestry systems, they usually have limited rights to land. The right to own and or sell land is the man’s domain and in patrilineal (father to son) societies, women’s rights are tied to their husband. In the case of widowhood, divorce or even failure to have son, they forfeit any rights.
Even in countries with matrilineal (mother to daughter) societies, such as western Ghana, women also do not have a right to inheritance. Should the husband die, the matrilineal clan decide whether the deceased man’s brother or his nephew (his sister’s son) inherit the land.
There are exceptions, as in some countries, like southeastern Tanzania and the Akan people in Ghana and southern ethnic groups in Malawi, women do have equal land ownership rights.
Generally, women in patrilineal systems can obtain rights to work the land and keep some of the proceeds through their role as daughter or wife. A husband allows his wife to use the land he owns for a period of time without expecting money in return for it.
The wife then has freedom to use the land as long as the character of the land is not changed by digging a well, constructing a house or planting trees, which may imply ownership.
In agroforestry systems, women plant different crops like potatoes or yams among the trees to provide food for her family in addition to the food the trees provide.
Access to different parts of the tree
Men and women also have rights to different parts of trees or plants, their use and income from selling these.
In an agroforestry system, women may use branches, fodder and indigenous fruit, since these are considered less valuable. Should any of these products become more valuable, they are usually taken over by the men because they have overall authority with regards to tree products that have high returns.
In some provinces of Kenya, women have rights to collect and use fruits but may not harvest fuelwood from high value timber trees. However, Sesbania sesban, or Egyptian river hemp, is regarded as a women’s tree and women may plant, manage, use or dispose of these trees as they please. This fast-growing tree that belongs to the legume family, is good for fuelwood and improving soil fertility.
In the Akamba community of Eastern Kenya, tree planting and felling are regarded as a man’s domain, and logs, timber, large branches and poles, as well as charcoal belongs to them. Women have a right to fodder, fuelwood, fibre, fruits and mulch.
Domesticated fruit trees of economic importance, such as oranges, mangoes and papayas, are planted and harvested by men and women in parts of Africa. Traditionally, women’s crops that grow around the homestead are considered subsistence or necessary for survival and are planted and harvested by women.
These include bananas and plantain, bread fruit, bush mango and oil bean tree. In the parklands in West Africa, women are responsible for collection and processing of shea nuts, and men allow women to use them.
Women can save money on buying seeds if she keeps some for planting the next year.
Agroforestry advantages for women
Planting trees and shrubs along with food crops and keeping livestock, offers three direct advantages, namely access to food, fuelwood and fodder.
Food
Forest foods include wild leaves and fruits, roots and tubers, seeds and nuts and mushrooms, as well as forest animals and their products, like bushmeat, eggs and honey. These products supplement the foods produced by agriculture and obtained from other sources, like buying from a market what she does not produce or exchanging food with neighbours.
While hunting and fishing are typically the domain of men, women tend to collect edible forest plants, fruits and medicines. A woman often has vast knowledge, learned from her mother, regarding the identification and preparation of nutritious forest foods to enhance the nutrition and health of her household.
Women in rural Africa have limited access to resources, like land and trees, but also finance, extension services, additional labour and appropriate technology.
Fuelwood
About three billion people worldwide rely on wood for cooking, heating and hot water. In Africa, women and girls collect firewood, which is time consuming, hard work, especially when they have to walk long distances to the nearest source on communal land. With the agroforestry system, they do not have to travel great distances.
Fodder
Agroforestry support domestic livestock production by providing fodder, which enhances milk and meat supply and contribute to higher household incomes.
In many regions, women and often also children help collecting tree-based fodder for their livestock and draught animals for ploughing and producing manure to enrich the soil.
Research has shown that although women in East Africa do not always control the earnings from dairy cows, this income adds significantly to household budgets for school fees, clothing and to buy additional food.
Strengthening women’s groups at the community level can help them to benefit more from agroforestry.
Marketing produce
When it comes to selling products from agroforestry systems, there is also a clear divide. In Kenya, Uganda, and Rwanda, for instance, when milk is sold in the morning to cooperatives where men are registered, the men pocket the money. The women may sell the evening milk that is not used for the household to neighbours and traders and that income is hers.
Source references
Benjamin, E.O., Ola, O., Sauer, J., Buchenrieder, G. (2021)
Interaction between agroforestry and women’s land tenure security in sub-Saharan Africa: A matrilocal perspective
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.forpol.2021.102617
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1389934121002239
Duguma, L.A., Nzyoka, J., Obwocha, E., Wainanina, P., Muthee, K. (2022) The forgotten half? Women in the forest management and development discourse in Africa: A review. Frontiers https://doi.org/10.3389/ffgc.2022.948618
Gender (n.d.) Food and Agriculture Organisation of the of the United Nations
Kiptot, E., Franzel, S. (2012) Gender and agroforestry in Africa: a review of women’s participation. Springer Link
https://doi.org/10.1007/s10457-011-9419-y
https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10457-011-9419-y#citeas
Women In Forestry: Challenges And Opportunities. (n.d.) Food and Agriculture Organisation of the of the United Nations
