Gender and non-timber forest products Promoting food security and economic empowerment Marilyn Carr, international consultant on gender, technology, rural enterprise and poverty reduction, prepared this paper in collaboration with Maria Hartl, technical adviser for gender and social equity in the IFAD Technical Advisory Division. Other staff members of the IFAD Technical Advisory Division contributing to the paper included: Annina Lubbock, senior technical adviser for gender and poverty targeting, Sheila Mwanundu, senior technical adviser for environment and natural resource management, and Ilaria Firmian, associate technical adviser for environment and natural resource management. The following people reviewed the content: Rama Rao and Bhargavi Motukuri (International Network for Bamboo and Rattan), Kate Schreckenberg (Overseas Development Institute), Nazneen Kanji (Aga Khan Development Network), Sophie Grouwels (Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations) and Stephen Biggs (School of Development Studies, University of East Anglia). The opinions expressed in this book are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD). The designations employed and the presentation of material in this publication do not imply the expression of any opinion whatsoever on the part of IFAD concerning the legal status of any country, territory, city or area or of its authorities, or concerning the delimitation of its frontiers or boundaries. The designations ‘developed’ and ‘developing’ countries are intended for statistical convenience and do not necessarily express a judgement about the stage reached by a particular country or area in the development process. Cover: Women make panels and carpets from braided coconut leaves at this production unit near Naickenkottai, India. © IFAD, A. Hossain © 2008 by the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) August 2008 Table of contents Preface 2 Acronyms 3 Introduction 4 Women in the informal economy 4 Women and NTFPs: Opportunities and constraints 5 Value chains and women’s empowerment 9 Field experiences 10 Bamboo and rattan 10 Mushrooms 14 Bee products 16 Medicinal and aromatic plants 20 Fruits, nuts and seeds 23 Gums 26 Analysis 30 Innovative interventions 30 Resource scarcity 32 Competitiveness/market access 33 Organizing 34 Conclusions 35 Bibliography 38 Boxes 1 Non-timber and non-wood forest products – some facts and figures 6 2 International Network for Bamboo and Rattan (INBAR) 12 3 Linking mushrooms with markets in Europe 16 4 International Centre of Insect Physiology and Ecology (ICIPE) 19 5 Hills Leasehold Forestry and Forage Development Project (HLFFDP) 22 6 GCC and the Andhra Pradesh Tribal Development Project (APTDP) 27 Figures 1 Rattan value chain (Philippines) 11 2 Mushroom value chain (Mexico) 15 3 Honey value chain (Uganda) 17 4 Medicinal and aromatic plant value chain 21 5 Shea butter value chain (Burkina Faso) 24 6 Gum karaya value chain (Andhra Pradesh, India) 29 Preface If development is to be effective, it should empower rural women and men equally. IFAD- supported projects and programmes address inequalities by enhancing women’s access to productive resources and increasing their participation in decision-making. Over its 30 years of existence, IFAD has placed increasing importance on gender equality and women’s empowerment, both as objectives in themselves and as instruments for poverty reduction. In IFAD’s experience, women can become a powerful force in transforming the lives of their families and communities when programmes acknowledge the specific needs and constraints of both women and men, and when women have concrete opportunities. ‘Non-timber forest products’ is a sector that offers great promise for women, but to enhance the effectiveness of poverty reduction programmes, opportunities for the greater involvement of women are essential. Obviously, they should be activities that can accommodate the constraints of traditional domestic duties and recognize gender differences in knowledge of natural resources, biodiversity and conservation. Recognizing the importance of NTFPs in promoting food security and rural poverty reduction, IFAD has invested significant financial resources in this sector and is a supporter of the recently launched Global Partnership Programme on NTFP, which brings together stakeholders from the public and private sectors. Through its programmes and projects, IFAD has accumulated valuable knowledge on how to encourage broader and more significant support to the NTFP sector and to adopt measures that enable women and men to benefit equally from its development. Women producers operating in the informal NTFP sector in developing countries face discrimination and many obstacles. This publication highlights approaches used by IFAD and other agencies to support women more effectively. It emphasizes the multiple dimension of the challenges – in division of labour, differences in access to credit and market information, and environmental issues – and presents ways to expand the role of women as agents of change in this sector. The publication is the result of an initiative by IFAD’s Technical Advisory Division to promote better methods of enabling poor rural people, and especially women, to benefit from the NTFP sector. It takes stock of past experience and demonstrates that there are many opportunities to invest in NTFPs in support of rural livelihoods. 2 Acronyms APTDP Andhra Pradesh Tribal Development Project CECI Canadian Centre for International Studies and Cooperation CFUG community forest user group CIFOR Center for International Forestry Research FAO Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations GCC Girijan Cooperative Corporation Ltd. HLFFDP Hills Leasehold Forestry and Forage Development Project ICIMOD International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development ICIPE International Centre of Insect Physiology and Ecology IDRC International Development Research Centre IDS Institute of Development Studies ILO International Labour Organization INBAR International Network for Bamboo and Rattan ISO International Organization for Standardization NTFP non-timber forest product SEWA Self-Employed Women’s Association UNDP United Nations Development Programme UNEP-WCMC United Nations Environment Programme – World Conservation Monitoring Centre UNIFEM United Nations Development Fund for Women WWF World Wide Fund for Nature 3 Introduction Much has been written about the negative returns unevenly between women and men – impact of globalization on the world’s poor and also between gatherers/producers and people, and especially on women. But distributors/retailers – for six major NTFPs: globalization also opens up new economic bamboo and rattan; mushrooms; bee opportunities if poor women producers and products; medicinal and aromatic plants; workers are able to take advantage of them. fruits, nuts and seeds; and gums. The results Nowhere is this more evident than in the of the analysis highlight how and where non-timber forest product (NTFP) sector. interventions have succeeded in organizing NTFPs have traditionally provided a source groups and in increasing access to credit, of nutrition and income for millions of training, technology and markets. indigenous women and men in some of the most remote areas of developing countries. Currently, interest in natural health and Women in the informal economy beauty products is fuelling a massive growth in demand for these products in North Throughout the developing world, women’s America, Europe and Japan. But the women enterprise activities are of key importance in and men who collect the raw materials are providing the food and income that enable usually unable to share in the gains from this their families to exist. Official statistics trend unless enabled to do so. Typically, estimate this income, which often is the sole NTFP gatherers receive much less than source of support for families, at up to half of 10 per cent of the selling price of the final each country’s national income. It is earned product. Without the ability to bargain on almost exclusively within the large and equal terms with distributors and retailers, growing informal economy.1 and without the technical and financial Women’s informal enterprises and means to add value at the source, gatherers incomes have come increasingly under threat have little chance of increasing their power with the rapid spread of trade liberalization and returns within the production chain. and globalization. In particular, women’s This paper examines some of the ability to grow food has decreased as farmers constraints and opportunities faced by devote more land to commercial export crops women producers in the informal NTFP and as women’s labour shifts from food sector. It reviews interventions introduced by IFAD and other agencies to help women producers increase their incomes while 1 In Africa, for example, official statistics indicate that the share of the informal economy in the non-agricultural retaining access to and control of the natural workforce is over 70 per cent, and that 84 per cent of women non-agricultural workers are informally employed, resource base. compared with 63 per cent of men. If informal employment Value chain analysis demonstrates that in agriculture is included, as is done in some countries, the proportion of informal employment increases greatly the production chain distributes power and (International Labour Organization (ILO)