Submission of Abstract for Oral Presentation

Submission of Abstract for Oral Presentation Africa Rice Congress – 2010

Gendered Aspects of NERICA Upland Rice Production in Uganda

Johanna Bergman Lodin*, PhD Candidate Dep. of Human Geography, Lund University, Sweden

Magnus Jirström, PhD, Associate Professor Dep. of Human Geography, Lund University, Sweden

Milly Mugenyi, MA Development Studies, Uganda Martyrs University Bsc. Agric., Makerere University Kampala Member CEEWA-U, Kampala, Uganda

African women farmers do not always benefit from, and are sometimes adversely affected by, the introduction of new technologies, including high-yielding varieties and their often-associated improved management systems. This can partly be traced to the limited control over production resources (land and other inputs) by women. In the wake of what has elsewhere been referred to as the NERICA revolution in Uganda, this paper sets out to critically assess the relevance of NERICA upland rice, an example of a new technology, as a powerful poverty fighter from a gendered perspective grounded in the Ugandan context. We expand the concept of poverty to include a time dimension so as to also open up for a discussion concerning the labour input in the production of this new rice. The paper builds on research carried out in Uganda, mainly in Hoima District. Data was collected using a mixed methods approach covering quantitative, qualitative and participatory methods, including a survey of 300 farm households, focus group discussions, and participatory mapping-and-ranking exercises. Since women’s experience of NERICA production also has been researched in West Africa, our contribution will make it possible to initiate cross-continental comparisons.

Due to the rather static household division of labour in Uganda, women are mainly responsible for weeding and scaring birds along with their children. Since these are the main labour intensive aspects of upland rice production, and demand much more labour than in the production of other crops, women’s time poverty – understood as the lack of time for leisure, or even to do all the things that need to be done in daily life – and drudgery have increased. In certain areas, households have even opted out of the production when women have not been able to cope with the new and gruelling labour or accept the unequal intra-household sharing of proceeds and other benefits from the rice.

Uganda clearly needs to boost national rice production in order to satisfy domestic demand and achieve food security. However, the suboptimal distribution of labour within farm households may significantly limit the benefits of future interventions and the chances to achieve sustainable results. An illustrating example is the subsidised tractor hire services. This partial mechanisation of land preparation mainly replaces and saves men’s labour. There are no similar services available that can save women’s labour with regard to weed and bird control. Therefore, interventions should not only aim at

1 improving rice adoption/production/productivity in general, but also have a particular focus on increasing the productive capacity of farming activities in which women are engaged, i.e. to increase women’s management ability. This calls for the current labour bottlenecks associated with weeding and bird scaring to be addressed if women’s time poverty and drudgery are to decrease.

Thus, it is imperative to make women more visible in Uganda’s rice dissemination effort and grant them a higher profile as technology users and farmers if the success story of women upland rice farmers reported from West Africa shall be replicated in Uganda. ♦

Theme 6 Policy instruments and investments for pro-poor and competitive rice sector development

Contact Person Johanna Bergman Lodin Dep. of Human Geography Sölvegatan 12, S-223 62 Lund, Sweden Phone no: +46-46-2228399 (office) +46-73-9462785 (mobile) Fax no: +46-46-222 84 01 [email protected]