ABSTRACT GAINING WOMEN's VIEWS on HOUSEHOLD FOOD SECURITY in WOTE SUBLOCATION, KENYA by Bernice Mulandi in Sub-Saharan Africa
ABSTRACT
GAINING WOMEN’S VIEWS ON HOUSEHOLD FOOD SECURITY IN WOTE SUBLOCATION, KENYA
By Bernice Mulandi
In Sub-Saharan Africa, food production is declining and many people are malnourished. My study asks: (1) what are women doing to meet their household food needs; and (2) how do they perceive opportunities and challenges towards achieving food security. I worked with two women’s groups in a semiarid region that is at risk because of low incomes and agricultural potential. Activity schedules and seasonal calendars show how these women rely equally on their farms and purchases. They photographed enterprises that provide food for their homes and small incomes. Venn diagrams show how the role of outside institutions increases during “bad years” but the women emphasize that their security cannot rely on this support. Food security agencies need to focus on women’s triple role by working with women’s groups to increase the production of crops that can also be sold, and to plan for the distribution of food aid. GAINING WOMEN’S VIEWS ON HOUSEHOLD FOOD SECURITY IN WOTE SUB LOCATION, KENYA
A Thesis
Submitted to the
Faculty of Miami University
in partial fulfillment of
the requirements for the degree of
Masters of Arts
Department of Geography
By
Bernice N. Mulandi
Miami University
Oxford, Ohio
2007
Advisor______(Dr. Kimberly E. Medley)
Reader______(Dr. John K. Maingi)
Reader______
(Dr. Ian Yeboah) Table of Contents
Appendices……………………………………………………………………………..iii List of Tables…………………………………………………………………………...iv List of Figures………………………………………………………….………….….....v Acknowledgements…………………………………………….………………...... vi
Chapter One INTRODUCTION………………………………………………………….…….....1 · Statement of Purpose and Research Questions…………………………….…....2 · Presentation of the Study………………………………………………….…….5
Chapter Two LITERATURE REVIEW...……...... ……….……………………………….……....6 · Food Availability and Accessibility……………………………………….…...... 6 · Livelihood strategies……………………………………………………………...8 · Coping and Adaptive Strategies……………………….……….……………...... 8 · Women in Household Food Security…………………………………….……...10
Chapter Three STUDY AREA………………………………………………………………...... 12 · Subject Population……………………………………………………….….…16 · Selection of the Study Population………….…………………………….….....19
Chapter Four DATA AND METHODS……………………………………………………...... 21 · Participatory Research for Gaining Local Knowledge………………………...22 · Livelihood Strategies for Household Food Security…………………………..25 · Women’s Perceptions of the Challenges and Opportunities for Household Food Security ………………………………………………………………….…….28
Chapter Five RESULTS…………………………………………………………………….…....30 · Livelihood Strategies for Household Food Security…………………….……..30 · Women’s Perceptions of the Challenges and Opportunities for Household Food Security ………………………………………………………………………..44
Chapter Six DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION……………………………………………..51 · Livelihood diversification.……………………………….…..……….…….….51 · A critical Assessment………………………………………………….………52 · Gender Planning for household food security.………………………………...53 · Conclusion……………………………………………………………….…….54
· References……………………………………………………………………..56
ii Appendices
Appendix I: Research protocol approved by the human subjects committee at Miami University…………………………………………………………………………..….61
Appendix II: Research permit obtained from the Ministry of Education Science and Technology, Kenya prior to the research……………………………………………...65
Appendix III: Daily activities for women observed and interviewed for a whole day.66
Appendix IV: A free list of food items produced, collected, bought, donated as food aid to women………………………………………………………………………………67
iii List of Tables
Table 1: PRA tools for participatory research on household food security ………….....24
Table 2: Households characteristics for women who participated in the record of daily activities for food compiled from the women……………………….………………...... 32
Table 3: A free list of income sources for food compiled from the women participants .33
Table 4: Food items observed during the participant observations of daily activities...... 36
Table 5: Focus-group responses to factors affecting the ability of women to get food for their households...…………………………………………………………………..……45
iv List of Figures
Figure 1: Schematic diagram that shows the study’s focus on women’s household management, and research questions for gaining women’s views on household food security……………………………………………………………………………….……4
Figure 2: Study area map showing the sub location center at Wote and the villages where the women lived for the two women’s groups....………………………………………...14
Figure 3: Rainfall distribution data for Makueni District extrapolated from satellite images for the region…………………………………………………………………….15
Figure 4: Subsistence strategies practiced in the study area. The photographs show mixed cropping (pigeon peas, corn, and cotton) and the production of small livestock (sheep)..18
Figure 5: The Mutethya Joint and Woni wa Wote women groups selected for the study.20
Figure 6: Women’s photos and captions on projects that help them secure food for their households…………………………………………………………………………....37-38
Figure 7: Household diagram showing the total number of women who acquire food items through food production, collection, purchases and donations …...………………40
Figure 8: Mean number of food items obtained through production, collection, purchases, and donation, compiled from the participants in the two women’s groups ………….….41
Figure 9: A seasonal calendar for 2004- 2005 compiled by women from Woni wa Wote and Mutethya Joint …………………………………………………………………..…..43
Figure 10: Venn Diagrams for Woni wa Wote and Muthethya Joint Women’s groups....47
Figure 11: Historical time-lines compiled by participants from Woni wa Wote and Muthethya Joint women’s groups ……………………………………………………….50
v ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
Successful completion of this thesis is due to lot of efforts and contribution from many different persons and institutions. My special thanks and appreciations go to my advisor Prof. Kimberly Medley for her consistent availability, great ideas, encouragement, time and patience even during the hardest time of the writing process. Her readiness to review my numerous drafts was an encouragement to me. May God reward her abundantly exceedingly above what she may need in the success of her life. Again, I would like to thank Dr. Maingi and Dr. Yeboah for reading my thesis and other members of the Geography Department. They also gave me great ideas and comments during the writing process. I would especially also like to thank Ministry of Education Science and Technology for authorizing me to do a research in Kenya. Also I thank all the women from Woni wa Wote and Mutethya Joint women group who accepted me into their homes, offered me food and made me comfortable during the period I was collecting data at Wote sub location. I would also like to thank the two research assistants David Mutuku and Nzisa Wambua for their support and help in the field. I greatly appreciate the financial help from the Geography and Botany departments for providing funds to enable me to do my research in Kenya. My sincere gratitude also goes to my fellow students with whom we encouraged and helped one another with insightful ideas. Above all I would like to give many thanks to my family Caleb and Peter Kimeu for their support and help. They always encouraged me and had faith in me. I would also like to thank my Pastor Larry Stevenson (Oxford Church of God) and Pastor Damian Emetuche for their many prayers and support. Finally but not least I would like to thank Sam Mutiti’s family for their support. May God bless you all.
vi Chapter One
INTRODUCTION
Food, particularly the intake of food, is one of the big ironies in comparative global studies (Nyariki and Wiggins, 1997). People in more developed countries suffer from diseases caused by excessive intake of food, while in Sub-Saharan Africa people have insufficient food for healthy livelihoods. In Africa, hunger prevalence is estimated at 30% (Sanchez and Swaminathan, 2005) and 90% of the population is chronically malnourished (Conway and Tonniessen, 2003). Conway and Toenniessen (2003) estimate that two-thirds of Sub-Saharan Africans relies on agriculture, and that agricultural production takes place on small-scale family farms. Rural people, who produce and mostly rely on this local production to meet their food needs, are also the most food insecure (Nyariki and Wiggins, 1997). Sub-Saharan Africa is the only region worldwide where food production per capita decreased over the last two decades (Nyariki and Wiggins, 1997; Atkins and Bowler, 2001; Conway and Toenniessen, 2003; Tibaijuka, 2004). Hence, “food security is one of the challenging issues in Sub-Saharan Africa which has continued to generate debate” (Nyariki and Wiggins, 1997, 1). Food security is “[a] ccess by all people at all times to enough food for an active and healthy life” (Reutlinger, 1986: 1). Food security includes two elements: (1) food availability through local production or gathering; and, (2) food accessibility through direct market purchases, financial outlays for improved production, or donations toward home supplies (Nyariki and Wiggins, 1997). Food insecurity, in contrast, is insufficient food that may result from a lack of availability through local production or accessibility through lack of incomes and donations. Food security was historically measured by overall global-to-national production levels and the sufficiency of that supply to meet the food requirements of the nation (Maxwell, 1996). People were assumed to be food secure when production levels were secure. By the 1980s, however, global food production was secure but the number of hungry people seemed to be increasing (Reutlinger et al., 1986; Maxwell, 1996). These
1 findings, as highlighted at the 1996 World Food Summit, directly linked poverty to under-nutrition and shifted food security programs toward increasing incomes or accessibility (Maxwell, 1996). At the same time, there was also a shift from a focus on global-national production statistics toward a closer look at household management (Reutlinger et al., 1986; Maxwell, 1996). The mismatch between global food production and what is available and accessible at the household level highlighted the need to understand how households adapted strategies to achieve food security. For households, Davies (1993) distinguished between “coping strategies,” or mechanisms to deal with short-term food shortages, and “adaptive strategies” that relate to permanent changes a household makes to meet food needs (Maxwell, 1996). Women, in their reproductive roles, work to ensure household food security (Mitchell, 1997). Dankelman and Davidson (1988) and Thomas-Slayter and Rocheleau (1995) point out that 90% of the women in developing countries depend on the land for their survival. Women make food available in the household by engaging in small-scale farming, livestock rising, and the gathering of wild foods (FAO, 1987). They can also access food through purchases and the collection of food donations derived outside of the home (FAO, 1987). About 80% of the local food farmers in Africa are women; these women use their sophisticated knowledge of biological resources to feed and look after their families (Deda and Rubian, 2004; Mitchell, 1997; Gittinger et al., 1990; Hirschmann and Vaughan, 1984). Thus, household coping and adaptive strategies are a big part of women’s work and women’s local and traditional knowledge about food security should be a big part of development plans.
Statement of Purpose and Research Questions I conducted this study in the context of a shift in food security studies from global to regional production statistics to household management (Figure 1). My purpose is to look at what women are doing to secure food for their homes and gain some understanding from women on how they perceive the challenges and opportunities for food security. I focus on women living in the Wote Sub location of Makueni District, Kenya, which experiences low potential for production due to low, seasonally erratic, and unpredictable rainfall (Nyakiri and Wiggins, 1997). Also household incomes are low,
2 thus limiting the purchasing power of the population. As a result, most households in this area are prone to food insecurity (Nyariki et al., 2002), and accordingly the women actively practice adaptive and coping strategies to deal with food shortages. My study considers directly the relative importance of availability and accessibility in what women do and how they perceive the opportunities and constraints for food security. Two research questions guide the study (Figure 1):
(1) What are the women doing to meet their household food needs?
This question focuses on the diversity of the food prepared in the homes, where the food comes from and how it comes into the homes. I identify strategies that contribute to the availability and accessibility of food at the household level. Women were followed in their daily activities to document through participant observations and semi-structured interviews the diversity of food items, on farm and off farm sources of food, and the relative roles of production, gathering, purchases, and donations. The women were asked to take photographs and describe important food production strategies. Women were also asked to construct seasonal calendars to show how production, purchases, donation and collection of food vary at different times of the year.
(2) How do the women perceive their opportunities and challenges for achieving food security?
This question examines how women perceive food security as a challenge in their homes. The aim was to understand whether they view food insecurity as an outcome of poor incomes or other economic factors that limit their accessibility to food or if it is the harsh climatic conditions that dictate what can be produced locally or collected. The study focuses on local perceptions on opportunities and challenges and whether they are influenced by local or external forces affecting their households. I particularly focus on how their views differ when under good and bad environmental conditions. Semi-structured interviews, participatory construction of Venn diagrams and historical timelines were used to identify factors and institutions that influence food security in the households.
3 UNEP- food productiGlobalon to Regional Production
Household Management as Women’s Work
Availability Accessibility
Question 1 Question 2 What are the women doing How do the women perceive to meet their household their opportunities and food needs? challenges for achieving food security?
Household Food Security · Local production · Local gathering · Incomes and donor aid
Figure 1: Schematic diagram that shows the study’s focus on women’s household management, and research questions for gaining women’s views on household food security.
4 I assumed that women are vital for attaining and maintaining food security at the household level and focused on their activities and strategies and how they view changes over time and their gender relations. I use Participatory Rural Appraisal (PRA) methods, which allow for joint analysis and progressive learning, and further collaboration and trust (Byers, 1996; Kane, 1997; Slocum et al., 1998). I am interested in knowing adaptive/coping strategies women practice to improve food production (availability) as well their attempts to increase incomes for food purchases (accessibility). The study focused is on working with rural women who need to be better incorporated into decision making on food security strategies by governmental and non-governmental organizations (Slocum et al., 1998).
Presentation of the Study
The study is organized into six chapters. Chapter two explores literature on the availability and accessibility of food, the role of women in household food security, and the contributions of participatory research in gaining local knowledge. Chapter three describes the environmental setting of the study area and identifies the subject population. Chapter four shows how participatory methods were employed to collect the data and how these data were analyzed to address the research questions. Chapter five gives the results, and chapter six presents the discussion and conclusion of the study.
5 Chapter Two
LITERATURE REVIEW
My study aims to gain women’s views on household food security in rural villages of Wote sub location, Kenya by focusing first on what women are doing to secure food for their homes and secondly on how they perceive the opportunities and challenges towards achieving household food security. For context, the literature review focuses on: (1) food availability and accessibility; (2) livelihood strategies; (3) coping and adaptive strategies; and (4) the role of women in household food security. I elaborate on how women diversify their lives for food security including their availability and accessibility to food sources. The next section briefly discusses livelihood strategies, particularly coping strategies versus adaptive strategies and how people modify their behaviors over the short-term and the long-term to achieve conditions for food security. Finally, I elaborate on women’s roles in household food security, under which I will characterize women’s domestic (reproductive) role in household management and its relation with the situated experiences and knowledge that women have about food security. I then consider gender relations and how women and men contribute toward food availability and accessibility in the household.
Food Availability and Accessibility Food availability is achieved through local production or gathering while food accessibility is attained through market purchases or food donations to home supplies (Nyariki and Wiggins, 1997). According to FEWS (2001), food is secure when there are adequate quantities of food supplied through household production, commercial imports, and/or food assistance. Food availability decline (FAD), according to Atkins and Bowler (2001), occurs more often to non-monetized peasant subsistence economies afflicted by natural calamities and can be offset by more secure farming systems. A lot of studies on food security focus on food production be as the main way of securing food (Nyariki, 1997). For example, Gladwin et al. (2001) concludes that the government should advocate for the expansion of farming systems to produce enough for
6 households to be food secure. A field study by Allemann et al. (2004) in South Africa focus is on the contributions of root and tuber crops, such as sweet potato, potato, and cassava to food security. Also Droogers (2003) emphasizes the importance of improving food production for food security under conditions of global change. A second aspect of food availability is food gathering. Becker (2000) in “Garden Money Buys Grain” finds that food was being procured in a Malian village through bush extraction. Rensburg et al. (2004) recommend the use of indigenous leafy vegetables, which play an important part in alleviating hunger and malnutrition in Sub-Saharan Africa. Although these wild foods are important sources of micronutrients and sometimes more nutritious than modern vegetables, they are often neglected in research (Rensburg et al., 2004). The leaves of cultivated and wild weeds can be used either fresh or processed and preserved by cooking them partially or drying them for future use (Rensburg et al., 2004). Their research in South Africa documents the importance of leafy vegetables in food security and even shows the monetary value of some of these crops. Rinaudo et al. (2004) describe a number of species of edible-seeded Australian acacias that thrive under adverse conditions that do not support annual plants. The seeds of these species are tasty, safe to consume as a moderate component of human diets, and nutritious, being high in protein, carbohydrates, and fats. Acacia are perennial species, which can take advantage of rains that are out of season or poorly distributed and hence ineffective for annual crops (Rinaudo et al., 2004). Keller and Mbewe (1991) also show that women in Malawi reserve and select seed, plant, weed, harvest, store and prepare a wide range of wild/food crops that include annual and perennial species. Food accessibility is when all members of a household can obtain culturally acceptable food for a nutritious diet; it depends on how incomes are available to and distributed within a household as well as the affordability of local food (FEWS, 2001). Food accessibility can be attained through purchases and food aid (Nyariki and Wiggins, 1997). Sen (1981) argues that famines are due to the lack of peoples’ purchasing power. This sometimes affects some groups of people in the midst of good harvests and plentiful warehouse stocks (Atkins and Bowler, 2001). For example, a study done by Becker (2000) shows that households depended on food purchases, and that income for food purchases was obtained from remittances or local non-formal sales of produced goods.
7 According to Atkins and Bowler (2001), women in Rwanda and Cote d’Ivoire spent a much higher proportion of their incomes on food than men. Income for the purchase of food comes from various sources such as sales from animals and cash crops (Downing, 2000). Gebremdhin and Swinton (2001), advocate that food assistance programs are important for the alleviation of food shortages for subsistence farmers, particularly in the developing countries. The problem is choosing the people who most deserve the aid. As a result, alternative food transfer programs are suggested by some governments such as Food-for-Work (FFW), which combines food distribution with public service, projects (Gebremdhin and Swinton, 2001). The authors argue that if labor-intensive FFW projects are well implemented, then they can help to alleviate food insecurity through food aid distribution.
Livelihood Strategies Livelihood strategies are those activities undertaken by households to provide a means of living. They are geared to ensure household economic and social security
(Koczberski et al. 2001). One activity may not be enough for the survival of a family; therefore, it becomes important for the family to venture in to other activities to increase the chances of survival. Women indulge themselves into diverse activities to ensure income generation (food accessibility) or just increasing food availability, which sometimes can also earn income when a surplus is, realized (Ellis, 1998). Diverse livelihood strategies reduce the risk of income failure overall, by reducing the consequences of failure of one source of income, or intra-year as well as inter-year income variability (Francis, 2000). Livelihood strategies can also be adjusted by households as an involuntary response to crisis situations (Elis, 1998, see Davies, 1996).
Coping and Adaptive Strategies Davies (1993, 293) defines coping strategies as “fallback mechanisms to deal with a short-term insufficiency of food” while “adaptive strategies are permanent changes in the way in which households and individuals acquire sufficient food or income.” According to Maxwell (1996), a complete study of food security must take in to account both coping and adaptive strategies.
8 Maxwell (1996) records the following coping mechanisms from respondents: eating foods that are less preferred, limiting the portion, borrowing food or borrowing money to buy food, maternal buffering when mothers deliberately limit their own food intake to ensure children get enough food to eat, and skipping meals. Borrowing money or food from friends and relatives as well as short-term credits from local merchants was likely to cause more instability and vulnerability to food insecurity because it could make the family more permanently indebted (Maxwell, 1996). For example, Del Ninno et al. (2001) focus on coping strategies that were important after the 1998 floods in Bangladesh. Maxwell (1996, 320) also proposed some adaptive strategies, which would be categorized as “risk-minimization, or food- and income-diversification aimed at altering entitlements over the longer period.” According to Ssewanyana and Ahmadi-Esfahani (2001), several adaptive strategies existed in their study area in Uganda: changes in food intake behavior, promotion of nutrition education, improving accessibility to productive resources, and finally advocacy. About 52% of households were reported to have diversified their crops shifting towards more drought resistant crops, to minimize risk as a long-term adaptive strategy (Ssewanyana and Ahmadi-Esfahani, 2001). From their study, 33.2% of the respondents reported better food production strategies such as prompt weeding and harvesting, and improved food preservation and storage (Ssewanyana and Ahmadi-Esfahani, 2001). It is clear that people modify both their ability to produce and access food resources in response to short term and long term strategies. Devereux (1993) came up with some coping strategies for Ghana such as betrothing one’s daughter in order to improve ones purchasing power, begging for cash, selling assets, and modifying consumption behavior. Downing (1991) documented some coping strategies undertaken by households in central and eastern Kenya such as slaughtering and selling domesticated animals in order to purchase grain and planting drought resistant/adapted crops. Campbell (1999) documents some coping strategies for food shortage are usually embedded in the current rural socioecological systems of the society and therefore, coping/adaptive strategies change with time due to changes in the way people make their living. His article assessed socioeconomic changes in Kajiado District, their driving forces, and how
9 they related to similar and different coping strategies in times of drought. The society in Makueni would be expected to experience changes in their coping/adaptive strategies due to their changing socioecological systems.
Women in Household Food Security Household food security is the ability of a household to have sufficient food to meet the nutritional needs of all family members (Callens and Seifert, 2003). Women, in their reproductive roles, work to ensure household food security (Mitchell, 1997). In Sub- Saharan Africa, for example women produce 70-80% of all subsistence-farming goods. They also, in their productive role, market up to 80% of all domestic food production (Mitchell, 1997; Atkins and Bowler, 2001). Women do 70% of the hoeing and weeding, 60% of the harvesting and marketing, 50% of the livestock care, 50% of the planting, and 30% of the ploughing in rural households (Atkins and Bowler, 2001). Improving food security in Africa means that one needs to consider women who usually play a very big role in producing food and also serve as income earners for their families (Gittinger et al., 1990). Home gardens, which are mostly ‘female territory’, are models of sustainable and intensive multi-cropping systems (FAO, 1987). For example, Atkins and Bowler (2001) found home gardens in Nigeria to be surprisingly diverse, with 18-57 useful plant species. These gardens may be fertilized by the use of household waste, while livestock may also feed on the stalks and other scraps (Atkins and Bowler, 2001). Women's local and traditional knowledge is fundamental to guarantee food security (Deda and Rubian, 2004). They are far better geared up for a household food emergency because their closer involvement with day-to-day coping/adaptive strategies (Atkins and Bowler, 2001). One of the important factors that lead to high levels of women participation in agriculture in sub-Saharan Africa is the heavy migration of the men to cities and industries in search of employment ‘white color jobs’ (Atkins and Bowler, 2001), leaving women at the head of 31% of the households. Sometimes these women face a number of constraints such as weak land ownership rights, limited access to resources, poor access to modern technology, and credit limitations (Atkins and Bowler, 2001). Gender relations
10 and feminist political ecology are important areas of research in food resource development (Thomas-Slayter et al., 1995).
11 Chapter Three
STUDY AREA
The study was conducted in Wote sub location of Makueni District (Figure 2). Makueni District lies east of the Great Rift Valley (10 35’ S, 370 10’ E) and covers an area of about 7,263 km2 (Nyariki et al., 2002; cf. Republic of Kenya, 1994). The climate is semi-arid, receiving 600-800 mm of rainfall annually (FEWS, 2000). Rainfall is scarce and erratic. In addition, it is characterized by a bi-modal pattern with the movement of the inter-tropical convergence zone and associated trade winds (FEWS, 2000; Figure 3). The short rains occur in October to December and account for about 70% of the total annual production in Makueni District, and the long rains occur in March to May (Republic of Kenya, 2002; FEWS, 2000; Figure 3). The short rains normally deliver more rain and are more reliable than the long rains (Gichuki, 2000). Mean temperatures are warm (20.20 C to 24.60 C) all year, with greatest differences between the warm days and cool nights (Republic of Kenya, 2002). Makueni District has hills in the north with elevations up to 1900 m and slopes downward to the southeast forming an undulating plateau at about 700 m (Nyariki et al., 2002). The northern and hilly part is cool while the low-lying areas in the south are hot. Makueni District has one major perennial river, Athi River, joined by other tributaries that drain from various parts of the district. Topographic changes provide a wide range of agro-ecological zones, from coffee cultivation in the hills to grazing lands in the lowland. In the lowland, crops can be grown but are at risk of frequent harvest failures (Nyariki et al., 2002). Maize and beans are the most common crops grown and sometimes drought- resistant crops like sorghum, millet and cassava are also planted (FEWS, 2000). Other common crops are pigeon peas, sweet potatoes, and cowpeas (Rocheleau et al., 1995). The main livestock found are the indigenous Zebu cattle, goats, sheep, donkeys, and poultry (Rocheleau et al., 1995; FEWS, 2000). Precipitation is typically variable and unpredictable in semi-arid Makueni District. For example, during the short rains in October 1997 to January 1998, Makueni experienced El-Niño and rains were above average (Figure 3). Since El-Niño, this area
12 has received relatively low rainfall, particularly shown for 2003 and 2004 when the short rains came too late (January 2004) and were much below normal (Figure 3). Drought analyses for the region reveal that 43-55% of the growing seasons are classified as having light droughts or worse and only 13-30% as severe droughts (Gichuki, 2000). Generally, households in Makueni are prone to food insecurity and as a result the district is a frequent candidate for food relief (Nyariki et al., 2002). Kenya Food Security Steering Group (KFSSG) in their 2004 Consolidated Inter-Agency Report classifies Makueni District as a marginal agricultural region in Kenya’s Eastern Province (KFSSG, 2004). In addition, the report pointed out that the lowland areas experienced successive poor seasons and are prone to food insecurity. Wote sub location occupies less than 1% of Makueni District, Kenya (FEWS, 2000). Most of the land is low lying with savanna vegetation, which is suitable for grazing cattle. The area has favorable conditions for the production of citrus and mango fruits, but is ranked by FEWS (2000) as a region of extremely high food insecurity. In Wote, people practice mixed farming; drought resistant crops like pigeon peas are better adapted, but maize, which is highly preferred often, fails.
13 Figure 2: Study area map showing Wote sub location and the villages where the women lived for the two women’s groups.
14 300 Total Estimates 97 (El-Nino Year) 250 '98 '03 '04
200
150
100 Total Rainfall in (mm)
50
0 Jan Feb Mar Ap r May Jun Jul Au g Se p Oct Nov Dec Month
Figure 3: Rainfall distribution data for Makueni District extrapolated from satellite images for the region (FEWS, 2005).
15 Subject Population
Wote sub-location is populated by an ethnic group of people called Akamba. Akamba were traditionally hunters and gatherers who moved north from Mt. Kilimanjaro into present day Machakos, Makueni, Kitui, and Mwingi districts (Rocheleau et al., 1995). They first settled in the hills due to the fertile soils, which were suitable for cultivation, but later moved to the lower parts of the area that include Makueni District in search of land for cultivation and settlement. The women were mostly involved in gathering while the men were involved in hunting; these activities are still practiced in some Akamba households (Rocheleau et al., 1995). The Akamba rely on small-scale subsistence farming and demonstrate strategies to manage rainfall constraints. These strategies include the cultivation of drought-adapted crop varieties like Katumani maize and using deeply rooted crops like pigeon peas to optimize both the long and short season rains (Figure 4). In addition, they establish perennial grasses and trees in order to increase water use efficiency by utilizing rainfall outside the cropping season (Gichuki, 2000). Due to recurrent crop failures, farm households have had to adapt coping strategies to mitigate the risk of impoverishment. The major ones are seeking wage labor in urban areas, selling charcoal and sand, making artisanal products, engaging in petty trade, and as a last resort, selling livestock (FEWS, 2000). Makueni District has a population of about 772,000 of whom approximately 74% (571,000) are absolutely poor (Republic of Kenya, 2002). Low household incomes limit the purchasing power of the population (Republic of Kenya, 2002). The diversification of livelihood strategies has helped the Akamba to survive in very harsh economic and environmental conditions. About 70 – 80% of the rural population earns their living from agriculture with women contributing about 80% of the labor (Republic of Kenya, 2002). Although Makueni District has prioritized intensification campaigns to use modern farming technologies and drought resistant seeds to fight food insecurity, gender discrimination on land ownership, and poor soils limit the utilization of these techniques (Republic of Kenya, 2002). Moreover, HIV AIDS is the leading killer of the most productive segment of the agricultural population mostly women who contract it at an early age (Republic of Kenya, 2002).
16 Much settlement in Wote sub location occurred during the late 1940s and 1950s by retired Akamba soldiers who were allocated large plots of land under the ALDEV (African Land Development) program as well other landless Akamba (Nelson, 2000). Wote is a growing urban and market centre, with part of its vigorous growth attributable to the fact that in 1992 it became home to Makueni District headquarters (Nelson, 2000). Wote sub-location had a population density of 111 per square kilometer by 1999, and projected a rise to 121 per square kilometer by the year 2002 (Republic of Kenya, 2002). The people make up a diverse community of Christians and traditionalists (Rev. Mbithi, 2005 pers. comm.). According to FEWS (2000), Wote sub-location is among the areas most affected by food insecurity in Makueni District due to crop failures from the long rains which occur between March and April.
17 Figure 4: Subsistence strategies practiced in the study area. The photographs show mixed cropping (pigeon peas, corn, and cotton) and the production of small livestock (sheep).
18 Selection of the Study Population I worked with women selected from women’s groups in order to better understand how women, in their reproductive roles, work to ensure household food security (Mitchell, 1997). A women’s group is a comprised of women who come together to help one another in various aspects of their lives, depending on the goals and objectives of the group. Some groups have well laid down regulations, membership fees, and committee members but others may lack these features. Mr. Mutuku, one of my field assistant, had worked with most of the women’s groups in the area on their income generating projects. He identified a second field assistant, Ms. Nzisa Wambua who was a retired community nurse and had experience working with the women on community health related projects. Mr. Mutuku introduced us to a chairlady who invited us to visit three different women’s group meetings. After attending their weekly meetings, we selected the Mutethya Joint (helping one another) and Woni wa Wote (Wote’s vision) women’s groups (Figure 5). Mutethya Joint women’s group was started five years ago and is comprised of about 25 members who come from Kamunyoo village (Figure 2). The group was involved in various activities such as the construction of water tanks to sell water in the village, real estate leasing in Wote town and financial loans for home, farm and business activities. Each member of the group pays an entry fee of 50 Kenya shillings (approximately 75 cents USD) after which they make periodic contributions towards the group’s fund. Woni wa Wote women’s group consisted of about 24 members. The membership fee for this group is higher than the Mutethya Joint women’s group. They contribute 150 Kenya shillings (2 USD). Members of this women’s group came from Kamunyoo, Unoa, and Watuka villages (Figure 2). The group is involved in several income generating projects such as garment dying, bee-keeping and real estate leasing in Wote, and the group also contributes food and money to their group members.
19 Mutethya Joint Woni wa Wote
Figure 5: Mutethya Joint and Woni wa Wote women’s groups selected for the study.
20 Chapter Four
DATA AND METHODS
This chapter describes the methods I used to collect data in order to answer my two research questions:
· What are the women doing to meet their household food needs? · How do these women perceive their opportunities and challenges for achieving household food security?
I employed participatory research to gain women’s views on household food security in rural villages in Wote sub location. Participatory research appreciates that local people analyze and discuss what can be done about important issues and emphasizes local people’s participation in, and ownership of the research process and results (Byers, 1996). The recognition that local participation is a critical goal of development has contributed to the popularity of a set of techniques designed to increase local participation and knowledge in planning processes (King, 2002). Participatory methods should lead to an outcome that supports collaboration and empowers communities to guide resource management decisions (Chambers, 1994). I worked with the Woni wa Wote and Mutethya Joint women’s groups in my research for they served as a basis for me to meet with women and were also convenient for the group exercises (Figure 5). Both groups invited us to attend their meetings at a time when we would not disturb their timetable of activities or trespass on discussions of confidential matters. All interviews with the participants followed the confidentiality and informed consent protocol described by my human subject proposal approved by Miami University (Appendix I). Prior to the actual field research, I obtained a research permit from the Ministry of Education, Science, and Technology and submitted a copy of the letter in the District’s office (Appendix II). I gave the women food and cash as a form of compensation and appreciation for their time and their collaboration on the research (Appendix I). I collected all the data needed for this study between June and July 2005.
21 Participatory Research for Gaining Local Knowledge Participatory research appreciates that local people analyze and discuss what can be done about important issues and emphasizes local people’s participation in, and ownership of the research process and results (Byers, 1996; Stichele, 1998, Chambers, 1992; Ali and Delisle, 1997). Thomas-Slayter (1998) briefly discussed six methods, which have been increasingly used by researchers in an attempt to incorporate and enhance the involvement of people in development: Participatory Action Research (PAR), Methods for Active Participation (MAP), Participatory Rural Appraisal (PRA), Training for Transformation (TFT), Productivity Systems Assessment and Planning (PSAP), Participation and Learning Methods (PALM). Participatory Rural Appraisal (PRA) evolved in the late 1980s after which it spread fast in projects in Kenya, India and Nepal and other countries in Africa and Asia (Byers, 1996). It is a semi-structured process conducted in the field, usually involving a number of steps. Researchers have widely used PRA in various studies of gender, nutrition and family planning, irrigation, forestry, soils and water management, pastoralism, etc. (Byers, 1996). Participation in research may be promoted through a number of techniques that allow for joint analyses (Byers, 1996, Table 1). Manijeh and Deslisle (1998) used PRA tools to understand how Malawians view their own food security. PRA tools guided them in how to generate discussion on food security. They used mapping, linkage diagrams, seasonal calendars, ranking, interviewing and casual analysis (Manijeh and Deslisle, 1998). In their conclusion, they pointed out that PRA is an effective way of assessing people’s perception of their security and the solutions they seek (Manijeh and Deslisle, 1998). PRA encounters some problems with concepts that are not clear to the research participants. The approach should be designed to empower people, by encouraging them to use their own skills, knowledge, and experience to generate and implement sustainable and self-reliant food security strategies (Manijeh and Deslisle, 1998). I conducted all interviews and participatory exercises in Kikamba the local language, because all respondents understood this language. Throughout the research period, I used a tape recorder to document our conversations, took pictures of the women
22 in action and took notes in a notebook. Two research assistants were hired to help me collect data. The research assistants fully participated in the research activities. They helped take photographs, conduct interviews, and clarify questions to the women.
23 Table 1: PRA tools used for participatory research on household food security (adapted from Ali and Delisle, 1997; Byers, 1996; Slocum et al., 1998; Thomas-Slayter et al., 1993).
Tool Description
Seasonal calendars An exercise used to gather information on people’s activities all year round, showing the different seasons. Participants present their seasonal variations as pertains to the climate, crop cultivation, and income producing activities. Also they identify times of food stress and coping or adaptive strategies. Participants use simple and local materials or demonstrate differences on paper as a group by seasons they define. Venn diagrams These are conceptual “maps” representing the relationships between social groups, organizations, and institutions, drawn using circles and other shapes of different sizes. The size of the circles and their placement reflect the relative importance and/or influence of different factors. Participant Researchers follow and record the behavior of participants in the observation farms, while gathering wild foods, or at community projects, etc. Field observations provide direct evidence, rather than indirect information via surveys and questionnaires, on the availability of and accessibility to food. Semi-structured Focus groups are identified for in-depth interviews in a relaxed interviews with environment. The questions facilitate free discussion among the group focus groups members.
Daily activity This is a personal activity timetable, which can be used to reveal schedules information on what food is prepared in order to understand the diversity of food items. Historical time- They show events in a chronological order that are important to the lines community, activity change and the reasons for the change. Participants construct timelines to show how food security has changed over time in the study region.
24 Livelihood Strategies for Household Food Security In order to find out what women in the Wote sub location do to meet their household food needs, I conducted semi-structured interviews and participant observations that enabled me to construct daily activities schedules (Table 1). Also I asked women participants from each group to construct a seasonal calendar in order to understand how activities related to getting food in their households change during the year. Construction of the Daily Activities Schedules During our first visit to the weekly meetings of the two women’s groups, my research assistants and I introduced ourselves and my research intentions. We explained to the women that we needed some volunteers who would let us observe them in their daily activities. We explained to the volunteers that we would take photographs, ask some interview questions, and tape record our conversations with them while carrying out our research. Further, we showed them all the equipment we would be using, like the camera and the tape recorder. Eleven (11) women from the Mutethya Joint and ten (10) from the Woni wa Wote volunteered to participate in the research. We asked each participant to identify a time when she would want us to join her in her daily activities. In Mutethya Joint, we joined two (2) women in their daily activities for the whole day and nine (9) women for a half day. In Woni wa Wote we joined two (2) women in their daily activities for the whole day and eight (8) women in their activities for a half a day. In the morning hours, we joined five (5) women in Mutethya Joint and four (4) women from Woni wa Wote while in the afternoon we joined four (4) women in Mutethya Joint and four (4) women in Woni wa Wote. We first collected some information from the participants about their households. We asked questions about their marital status, age, family structure, and employment. We also asked them where they get the money they use to buy food. Each woman listed all her sources of income in the order of the most important to the least important. This information helped me to understand generally how the households compared in their composition and structure, and their access to income sources. In order for me to learn about their daily activities, we visited the volunteers at their homes and worked alongside them for a designated portion of a day. We focused
25 particularly on what the women were doing to get food, the different kinds of foods used, and sources of the food they prepared in their households at the time of our visit. Because we had more volunteers than we had time to follow them for a full day, we observed most for half a day. In two cases, we followed women for a full day because of their work schedule and a meeting at a distant location, respectively. While with the women, I noted any time they changed activities and indicated the time the change occurred. I thus drafted daily activity schedules for each woman during the time I spent with them. I compiled a full list of the different kinds of food items the women prepared during the visit and their relationship to local availability and/or accessibility. I also asked the women to describe what food they generally prepare for their families, starting from breakfast through supper; what food they bought, collected, produced, or got as food aid. I also asked follow up questions on how they acquire or buy food for their households. Their responses were used to list all the food items they buy, produce, gather, and get as food aid. I tape-recorded and took notes of what was said in all our conversations as narrative descriptions of their activities. As a way of enriching the data I had collected through participant observations and semi-structured interviews, I asked the women to request photographs of their important projects and activities that help them secure food for their households. They also described the activities they wanted photographed in relation to getting food for their households. In order to compare sources of food for the women, I counted all the food items each woman free listed under food produced, gathered, given as food aid, and purchased. I created a figure showing the total number of women who acquired food items through food gathering, production, purchases, and donation. This comparative figure helped me understand which food sources are more important to the women in the particular study area and whether food availability (production and/or gathering) is more important than food accessibility (purchases and/or donations) or vice versa. Then I summed all the food items under each of the different categories for the eleven (11) women from Mutethya Joint and calculated the mean number of food items utilized by women. I followed the same procedure for Woni wa Wote where I worked with ten (10) women. I plotted a bar graph comparing the mean number of food items
26 obtained through production, collection, purchases and donation and compared the two women groups.
Seasonal calendars A week after the meeting at which I recruited participants for interviews and field observations, I joined the groups at their weekly meeting. Here I asked them to construct a seasonal calendar. Seasonal calendars are tools for gathering information on people’s activities all year round, showing the different seasons (Table 1). They are useful for the participants to present their seasonal variations in their farming and income producing activities. Also they can identify stressful times during the year and associated adaptive strategies. For seasonal calendar, the women showed how they got food in the past year (June 2004 – 2005) up to the time I was doing the research. Twenty (20) women from Mutethya Joint and 23 from Woni wa Wote were present. I explained to the women what a seasonal calendar is and demonstrated how to construct one. I then asked for a volunteer who knew how to read and write to lead the whole group in the exercise. I asked the participants what kind of food items they produce at their homes and when, what wild vegetables and fruits they gather and when, what food items they purchase and when, and whether they get food aid or not and if yes when. The women in both groups chose to use months of the year to show seasonal variations. With a big sheet of paper (60 cm by 90 cm), a volunteer from each group divided the paper into rows and columns. Inside the rows, she listed all food items that were produced, purchased, collected and donated and in columns she put months of the year and indicated which months were dry or wet. She recorded all the information by consensus with the other members of the group. She used a heavy pen (marker) to draw thick continuous lines showing food items that were used heavily, a pen to draw a light lines showing food items that were used lightly and a broken line for intermittent use.
27 Women’s Perceptions of the Challenges and Opportunities for Household Food Security
One week after the meeting during which the women constructed the seasonal calendars, my research assistants and I visited the groups a third time. This time, we asked them to do three exercises designed to answer the second research question: how do these women perceive the challenges and opportunities toward achieving household food security. First, I asked the women to participate in a focus group discussion. Twenty five (25) members were present in Mutethya Joint while thirteen (13) members were present in Woni wa Wote. A focus group discussion is an in-depth interview in a relaxed environment to facilitate free discussion among the group members (Table 1). In the focus group, we asked the women to list factors that affect their ability to get food. We also asked them follow-up questions on the role of family members and changes over time in response to different conditions. The women also asked one another questions and discussed the answers until they reached consensus. Second, I asked the women to construct venn diagrams. Venn diagrams are conceptual “maps” representing the relationships between social groups, organizations, and institutions, by drawing circles and other shapes of different sizes (Table 1). This study asked the women to construct two venn diagrams, one for a bad year and another for a good year, to compare factors affecting their ability to get food in their households. I explained to them that a good year when they had enough rain and plentiful harvest, and asked the women to identify one, and a bad year when the area experienced a severe drought, after which, I asked the women to identify one. I also explained to the women what a venn diagram is and how to construct one. Then we asked a volunteer who could read and write to lead the group in the whole exercise. I let the groups decide which good or bad year they wished to represent in their diagrams. On a big piece of paper (60 cm by 90 cm), the women drew a big circle at the center of the paper to represent the household. With the help of the group members, the woman drew circles of different sizes and colors. The size of the circle reflected the relative importance of the factor to the women in their attempt to get food in their households. The distance between a circle and the household was proportional to their
28 relative influence on the ability of women to get food, and whether it is something the women can do something about (close) or not. Circles drawn using a green marker represented environmental factors and non-environmental factors like institutions, governmental projects or incomes were drawn using a red marker. I wanted to learn which factors are most important to the women and whether they were local or extralocal. A third exercise asked the women to construct a historical time-line and to reflect on how food security has changed over time. I first asked the women to categorize bad and good years as far as they could recall in their lives. They started with the earliest bad year, which a number of them could remember (1961/62). Using a large sheet of paper (60 cm by 90 cm), they drew one straight line and marked the start of the line at that bad time (1961/62) and then segmented the line into bad and good time periods to the present. I used the timetable to pursue questions about their adaptive and coping strategies during good years and bad years, respectively.
29 Chapter Five
RESULTS
Livelihood Strategies for Household Food Security
Construction of the Daily Activities Schedules
The women participants from the two groups were similar in their composition and structure (Table 2). In Woni wa Wote, seven women were married with children, one was divorced with a child out of the home, and two were widows and single parents. Ages of the women ranged from 30-79 years. There were seven nuclear families (father, mother and children) and three extended families (father, mother, children, and other relatives). One participant was a grandmother who had sole responsibility for taking care of her grandchildren. Two women were employed, two retired, five women were never employed, and one had a small tailoring and garment dying business (Table 2). In Mutethya Joint, I met with eight women who were married with children and three who were widows with children (Table 2). The women’s ages also ranged from 30-79 years. One of the older participants complained that due to her old age she did not cultivate the whole garden as she used to do a couple of years ago. There were six extended families and five nuclear families (Table 2). All the women were responsible for their own homes except one who lived with a son who took care of her. Six women were never employed and three were self-employed in small business. Two women were retired from outside employment. All the participants from the two groups had various sources of income for food in their households, although some of them were more diverse than others (Table 3). Five women from Mutethya Joint were currently receiving financial support from their husbands (Table 3), in contrast to Woni wa Wote where only one woman received financial support from her husband. Seven women from Mutethya Joint received remittances from their children while only one from Woni wa Wote women’s group had financial support from her children. No women in Mutethya Joint were formally employed. In Woni wa Wote, two women had retirement benefits, one received wages from casual labor, and two were currently employed as teachers in the community (Table 3). All of the women participants from the two groups had secured their own sources of
30 income by their own employment, through rental property, and/or by selling farm products. Nineteen of the 21 women sold farm products and as a last resort they would sell livestock and poultry (Table 3). Three benefited from a merry go round whereby members of a group contribute money or food to one another, one by one or in turns. This can be done in cycles over a month, a week and/or a day, and is a very common practice in most women’s groups. From our conversations with the women, it was clear that those who had reliable incomes, were more food secure. Secondly, women who had their own sources of income were more food secure than those who relied on outside sources. Women from Woni wa Wote were more food secure than Mutethya Joint because most of them had jobs and operated businesses.
31 Table 2: Household characteristics for women who participated in the record of daily activities.
Participant Composition Woni wa Wote Mutethya Joint n=10 n=11
Marital Married 7 8 status Divorced 1 0 Widowed 2 3 Age 30-39 1 1 40-49 1 2 50-59 3 4 60-69 2 1 70-79 3 3 Types of Nuclear family 7 6 families Extended family 3 5 Households without children in the 1 0 homes Employed 2 0 Retired 2 2 Not employed 5 6 Self employed in business 1 3
32 Table 3: A free list of income sources for food compiled from the women participants.
Mutethya Joint Woni wa Wote Sources of income Sources of income 1 Husband’s financial support; 1 Selling produced foods to get remittances from son; selling peas, manufactured goods; occasionally chickens, and eggs. selling eggs, goats, and cows. 2 Remittances from children; selling 2 Retirement benefits; selling milk, weaved baskets, livestock, and poultry. other dairy products, and oranges. 3 Remittances from children; selling 3 Merry go round contributions; small vegetables and fruits like bananas; loans from the women’s group; merry go round contributions. selling surplus grains, chicken, and eggs. 4 Financial support from children; selling 4 Husband’s retirement benefits; oranges, chickens, and eggs. financial help from her children; selling fruits, milk, eggs, honey, and surplus food produced. 5 Rental payments for property leased; 5 Teaching salary; selling chicken, remittances from children. eggs, and maize surplus. 6 Casual jobs; financial support from her 6 Buying and selling vegetables and husband who does casual jobs; charcoal fruits in the market; selling milk, production; selling goats and chicken. bricks and maize surplus. 7 Remittances from children; merry go 7 Casual jobs; selling cotton. round contributions; selling maize, beans, cow peas, pigeon peas, eggs, and milk. 8 Remittances from husband; selling 8 Retirement benefits; garment dying chickens and goats. business; gets research contracts with Ministry of Health (her former employer); gets paid to teach HIV/AIDS seminars; selling maize surplus. 9 Relied on rental properties built by her 9 Tailoring shop; selling dyed deceased husband; selling kale, paw garments, milk, goats, chicken and paws, oranges, and honey. surplus farm produce. 10 Husband’s retirement salary; 10 Teaching salary; selling milk, eggs, remittances from children, selling poultry, and fruits such as mangoes vegetables, milk, eggs, and bricks. and oranges. 11 Casual jobs; financial support from her husband who does casual jobs; buying and selling vegetables in the market; charcoal production; stone production.
33 I followed two women for a full day in Mutethya Joint women’s group: one attended a seminar on how to keep exotic chicken as broilers and layers for income and the other woman was operating her grocery business (Appendix III). From Woni wa Wote I followed one woman who was a teacher and another who had a garment dying business. These women used some time doing activities related to either getting food for their families (reproductive roles) or getting money through income generating projects (productive roles) (Moser, 1997). For example the one who bought and sold vegetables in the market woke up early in the morning to get ready for the business (Appendix III). She spends most of her profit on food. Women in both groups used corn, beans, millet, cabbage, kale, rice, wheat flour, potatoes, pigeon peas, cow peas, eggs, tomatoes, bread, sugar, tea leaves, and onion as foods in their homes during our visits (Table 4). All the foods the women were preparing at the time of our visits were obtained from the market and/or from their farms (Table 4). They were not receiving food aid or collecting wild foods. They relied almost equally on markets and their farms for their household food security, and even acquired many of the same food items from these sources. The photos that the women requested and their descriptive captions show their reliance on income generating projects that also are their own source of food (Figure 6). Apart from one participant from Woni wa Wote who operates a small tailoring business, the rest of the women described farm projects (Figure 6). One woman in Mutethya Joint told me to take a photo of her removing pigeon peas from the pods. She plants Katumani pigeon peas, which ripen early so that she can sell them before the product floods in the market (Figure 6). She sells them in Wote town, and some times she cooks them for the family. The women requested photographs of them with corn, dairy cows, oranges, goats and sheep, and vegetables that they sell at the market or use in their homes. Six women described projects that supplement their diets and provide an income. Two had projects that supplemented their household diets only (Figure 6). During the semi-structured interviews, the women listed all types of food they generally prepare for their families and their respective sources (Appendix IV). Women in Woni wa Wote free listed the highest number of food items under production and purchases but had almost the same number of food items under wild food collection with
34 women from Mutethya Joint women’s group. Only women from Mutethya Joint women group reported food donations (Appendix IV). There were only two women from Mutethya Joint who did not collect wild foods. One was very old and the other said that she didn’t find any need for her to collect wild food because she had enough resources to produce and/or buy food. The women listed few wild vegetables but commented that they occur as weeds in their shambas and therefore are ploughed during cultivation. Only one woman in Woni wa Wote did not collect wild foods (Appendix IV). The most important wild vegetable collected by the women from both groups is kivw’ia (Amaranthus sp.) which is commonly used as a leafy vegetable in Kenya and also throughout in Africa (Maundu et al., 1999). Two women were now producing mchicha as a food vegetable from purchased seeds.
35 Table 4: Food items observed during the participant observations of daily activities.
Activities Number of women Availability Mutethya Woni wa Wote Joint W=10 W=11 Grown n Cooked porridge (corn) breakfast 1 3
n Cooked tea with milk for breakfast 2 4 n Cooked pancakes (eggs) for breakfast 1 0 n Cooked githeri (corn with cow peas) for lunch 3 4 n Cooked ugali(corn flour) with tomatoes and 1 0 potatoes soup n Cooked ugali (corn flour) with cabbage for lunch 2 3
n Cooked ugali (corn flour) with kale for lunch 4 1
n Cooked rice with pigeon peas for lunch 1 0 n Picked cow peas from the garden 0 1 n Picked pigeon peas from the garden and removed 2 2 pods n Picked maize from the garden 1 1
n Looked after animals (livestock) 2 2 n Attended/fed poultry 1 1
Gathered n None 0 0
Accessibility Bought n Cooked porridge (corn) for breakfast 0 2 n Cooked porridge (millet) for breakfast 1 n Cooked rice with pigeon peas for lunch 1 0 n Took/cooked ugali (corn flour) with kale, onion 3 1 and tomatoes n Cooked ugali (corn flour) with cabbage for lunch 0 1 n Cooked pancakes (wheat flour) for breakfast 1 0 n Ate bread for breakfast 1 1 n Used sugar to prepare tea for breakfast 5 4 n Used milk to prepare tea for breakfast 1 1 n Used tea leaves to make tea for breakfast 5 4
Donated food n None 0 0
36 “My (tailoring and garment dying shop) is the only source I rely on for my family since I am divorced from my husband.” (Woni wa Wote )
“This is one of my income sources and I make sure that I plant Katumani pigeon peas because they ripen earlier than the rest. I usually take this advantage to sell and get as much money as I can.” (Mutethya Joint )
“This dairy project took a lot of money and that is why I just make sure that the animals are well taken care of. From these animals, I get a lot of milk to sell and get some income. This income supplements my monthly retirement benefit.” (Woni wa Wote )
“The maize once harvested has to dry well to make sure that all moisture content is removed before it can be stored. In addition, the maize has to be removed from the maize cobs for easy treatment and storage. When I get some surplus I do sell it for some income.” (Woni wa Wote )
Figure 6: Photos and captions on projects that helped the woman participants secure food for their households.
37 “Although I do not cook, I work hard to produce some food. I have a big piece of land where I plant oranges and other farm products as you can see.” (Mutethya Joint )
“I am removing this green maize from the cob and getting them ready for dinner.” (Woni wa Wote )
“I get milk and meat out of these animals to supplement diet in my household.” (Woni wa Wote )
“I plant these vegetables for sale and home use.” (Mutethya Joint )
Figure 6 continued.
38 All women participants in both Mutethya Joint and Woni wa Wote are involved in strategies that ensure both food availability and food accessibility (Figure 7). Under food availability, 21 women reported in the semi-structured interviews that they produce food in their gardens and 18 women collect wild foods at some point in their lives (Appendix IV; Figure 7). Under food accessibility, food purchases were described by all the women, but only women from Mutethya Joint (11) get food donations from either governmental or non-governmental organizations (Figure 7). This figure shows that food production and food purchases are equally important to the women from the two women’s groups. Women from Woni wa Wote received no donations but listed more food that they produce and purchase than Mutethya Joint (Figure 8). Mutethya Joint, on the contrary, received food aid (Figure 8), but they complained that they could have died if they solely depended on it. Food items come in small amounts and are not frequent. Also some of these foods are not common to their diet thus goes to waste. Again, the two women’s groups were similar in their collection of wild foods (Figure 8), but in our discussions they were not emphasized as an important contribution.
39 Production Purchases
21 21
Household Donations Collections
18 11
Availability Accessibility
Figure 7: Household diagram showing the total number of women who acquire food items through food production, collection, purchases and donations.
40 18 16 Mutethya Joint 14 Woni wa Wote 12 10 8 6 4 2 Mean Number of Food items 0 Production Collection Purchases Donations
Figure 8: Mean number of food items obtained through production, collection, purchases, and donation, compiled from the participants in the two women’s groups (Appendix IV).
41 Seasonal Calendars
The seasonal calendars compiled by the women’s groups helped me to gather information on their activities all year round, and to show the diversity of food sources in different seasons of the year. Their calendars were very similar and combined in the final analysis (Figure 9). They produce corn and beans during the short and long rains heavily. Cow peas are heavily eaten from June to December when they are available from their gardens but they are also bought intermittently throughout the year. Cow peas are planted during the short rains and it takes two rain seasons before they are ready. Pigeon peas (a crop that lasts for several years) are produced and eaten lightly during the two rainy seasons. Sorghum, millet, pumpkin, cassava, sunflower, passion fruits, tomatoes, black beans and other vegetables are grown intermittently. Mangoes, guavas, and oranges are seasonally available but bananas, pawpaws are lightly available all through the year from their gardens Wild vegetables are mostly collected during the wet seasons (January –May and November-December) but some wild fruits are available in the dry season (Figure 9). Women are involved in buying food throughout the whole year for consumption (Figure 9). Only women from Mutethya Joint received food aid in April 2005.
42 Dec Wet season Nov Oct Sept Dry season Aug Jul Jun Wet season May Apr do you collect? Mar Dry Feb wild fruits vegetables do you collect? Jan Wet season Do you get food aid? If yes what times of the year What What Heavily consumed Lightly consumed Intermittently consumed iwia) (K bu Activity DONATION (Mutethya Joint Only) Maize Beans Cooking oil Porridge Tea leaves Salt Grams Sorghum COLLECTION Wild vegetables Kikowe Pig weed Ndula Ndului Kyambatwa Kikungi Matulu Nduva M Wild fruits Ngomoa Ngalawa Namba Ntheu Nzumula Ngakaa Ndavisi Mba Ng’athuu Ngaatu Matoo Maua Nzaaya Legend: Dec Wet season Nov Oct Sept Dry season Aug 2005 compiled by women from Woni wa Wote and Mutethya Joint. - Jul Jun what times of the do you purchase them? Wet season May Apr Mar Dry Feb hat foods do you purchase and Jan Wet season What kind of foods do you produce at your home and in what times the year are these foods produced? W : A seasonal calendar for 2004 peas RODUCTION omatoes URCHASES Figure 9 Maize Activity P Maize Beans Cow peas Pigeon peas Millet Pumpkin Cassava Sweet potatoes Mangoes Oranges Bananas Paw paws Guava Matomoko Avocados Passion fruits Water melon Mchicha Kales T Black beans P Rice Cooking fat Sugar Tomatoes Sweet potatoes English potatoes Cassava Carrots Cabbages Kales Beans Cow peas Pigeon Jogoo Salt Spices Onions Meat Eggs Milk Arrow roots Wheat flour
43 Women’s Perceptions of the Challenges and Opportunities for Household Food Security
Table 5 lists the factors that the women gave as important influences on their ability to get food. All the women participants from Mutethya Joint (25) and Woni wa Wote (13) agreed that lack of rainfall and/or its variability were main factors influencing their ability to get food (Table 5). Five (5) women from Woni wa Wote listed poor farming methods as a negative influence on their ability to produce enough food. Lack of cows for plowing, lack of seeds, unproductive seeds, small land holdings, poor soils, time mismanagement, and laziness, were other factors (Table 5). Only one woman felt that lack of manure and fertilizer was an important factor (Table 5). The women focused on their ability to produce food but they also highlight the relationship between food production and incomes. During productive seasons, several women stated that they get enough food from their farms but due to poor or lack of storage facilities the food is destroyed by pests. Ten (10) women from each group listed lack of money. Also due to a lack of other steady sources of income, the women tend to sell most of their food immediately after they harvest. These women are engaged in farm activities that are focused on getting incomes as well as getting enough food for their households (see Figure 6). One participant reported: “I plant a lot of kale (sukuma wiki) and tomatoes to make money and also cook some in my home.” In Mutethya Joint, all the women said that other family members help the women in their struggle to get food for their households. They do this through various ways. Husbands help women with financial support or with their labor in the farm work. All the women agreed that children help them in achieving food security through their labor contributions: “My children help me a lot in garden work.”
44 Table 5: Focus-group responses to factors affecting the ability of women to get food for their households
Mutethya joint women group (25) Woni wa Wote women group (13) Factors No of women Factors No of women Lack of rain 25 Lack of rain 13 Rainfall 25 Rainfall variability 13 variability Lack of money 20 Lack of plough 4 bulls Lack of plough 6 Lack of manure 6 cattle Lack of seeds 6 Unproductive 3 seeds Pests 15 Lack of money 10 Laziness Small lands 3 Diseases 3 Rodents and other 5 small animals which destroy the food Poor soils 6 Late planting 5 Time 2 mismanagement Not well advised 3 by the agricultural officers Poor farming 5 methods
45 Older children help through remittances. In Woni wa Wote, the women said it was their responsibility to get food for the family regardless of whether married or not, but they did not form a consensus about the issue. They concluded that husbands are different depending on their educational and financial status, and how they are brought up. One participant commented that: “[I] t should be known that it is us [women] who work towards attaining household food security.” Venn diagrams constructed by the two groups showed factors affecting the ability of women to get food for their households in a bad and a good year (Figure 10). A bad year was a year the area experienced a severe drought. The women from Mutethya Joint chose 2005 and the women from Woni wa Wote chose 1984 as their bad years. A good year was the year when the area experienced enough rain and as a result the women had plentiful harvest. Women from both women’s groups had 1998 as their good year. According to FEWS (2005), although the total rainfall estimates for the year 2005 were 360 mm, they only recorded 164 mm total rainfall in the area and 1984 is known historically as a significant drought in Kenya. In 1998 the total rainfall estimates were 700 mm but 846 mm rainfall were recorded (FEWS, 2005). Women from Mutethya Joint and Woni wa Wote showed that during the good year, the most important factor that influenced their ability to get food was rainfall, although it was a factor that the women had no control over (Figure 10). Money was second and positioned closer to the women’s households. Both groups also valued their participation in women’s groups and women from Woni wa Wote listed the church because they gave food aid to the women.
46 1998- Good time 2005-Bad time-Mutethya Women’s Government groups Mutethya Church Red cross Household Household Soil Women groups
Rainfall Money Rainfall Money
1998-Good time 1984-Bad time Church Woni wa Wote Government Woni wa Wote
Household Household
Money Women’s Money groups Church Rainfall
Figure 10: Venn Diagrams for Woni wa Wote and Muthethya Joint Women’s groups. Bold lines show environmental factors and thin lines show institutional and socio- economical factors (diagram redrawn by the researcher)
47 For a bad year women from Mutethya Joint still showed the importance of environmental factors (rainfall and soil) and money, while Woni wa Wote emphasized the greater influence of institutions. In 1984, Wote town become the headquarters for Makueni District, and women from the neighboring village were no longer receiving food aid from the government. Such women are thought to have better access to job opportunities and food sources. For the bad year 2005, Mutethya Joint identified more supportive agencies, such as: the church, Red Cross and the government while they mobilized themselves as a group. In contrast, Woni wa Wote received help from the government and the church only. Mutethya Joint was viewed as more food insecure than Woni wa Wote. In a good year 1998, the two groups were equally food secure. Women in both groups were termed more food secure in a good year and consequently less reliant on outside agencies. Historical time-lines constructed by both groups were similar in when they identified good and bad years (Figure 11). They started their historical time-lines in 1960, which is the earliest time all members could remember and it was a bad time (Figure 11). They have been having bad and good years since 1960. In the past the women highlighted that bad years were brief and interceded by long good periods. Since the El Niño event in 1998-1999, however, all the years were considered bad by the women. Women felt that their sources of food have changed over time due to a decline in rainfall. In the year 1960 to 1962 women relied mainly on food aid and food purchases, but in the next three years the women produced enough food for their households and purchased little. In the year 1965 to 1966 the women bought a lot of food and got food aid but used little food from their gardens. From the year 1966 to 1973, the women produced a lot of food, collected wild food and only got a little food from the market. The area experienced a drought in the following two years, resulting in a major food shortage. Women had to buy food and get donations. Enough rains followed for the next eight years, thus women produced enough food for their households and collected little wild food. The women also bought little food to supplement their diets. In the year 1983 to 1984 the women relied mainly on food donations and food purchases. The whole country experienced drought. Even though people had the money to buy foods there was no food to buy. From the year 1984 to 1998 women relied heavily on food production and wild
48 food collection. They also bought few food items at times to supplement their diets. From the year 1998 to 2005 women have been relying more equally on food purchases and food production.
49 WONI WA WOTE MUTETHYA JOINT YEAR DESCRIPTION YEAR DESCRIPTION
1960 Bad Time 1961 Bad Time 1962 "Yua ya Ndeke" 1962 "Yua ya Ndeke" Good Time Good Time 1965 Bad Time 1965 Bad Time 1966 "Yua ya Atta" 1966 "Yua ya Atta"
Good Time Good Time
1973 1973 Bad Time Bad Time 1975 "Yua ya Longosa" 1975 "Yua ya Longosa"
Good Time Good Time
1983 1983 Bad Time Bad Time 1985 "Yua ya Nikw'a ngwete" 1985 "Yua ya Nikw'a ngwete"
Good Time Good Time
1998 1998
Bad time Bad Time
2005 2005 Figure 11: Historical time-lines compiled by participants from Woni wa Wote and Muthethya Joint women’s groups.
50 Chapter Six
DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION
Rural people in Sub-Saharan Africa are probably the most food insecure in the world and their food insecurity is declining (Conway and Toenniessen, 2003; Tibaijuka, 2004; Atkins and Bowler, 2001; Nyariki and Wiggins, 1997). This research was conducted to find out what rural women are doing to meet their household food needs and also find out women’s perceptions about their opportunities and challenges towards achieving food security. The research utilized participatory methods which are designed to increase local participation and knowledge in the planning process (King, 2002). The purpose of the discussion is to link the findings of the research to food security literature and planning especially in Sub-Saharan Africa.
Livelihood Diversification
Livelihood diversification can be defined as the process of how families construct their activities and social support in order to survive or even improve their living standards (Ellis, 1998). This process makes the families firm enough not to be adversely affected by times of droughts, economic stress and other factors likely to bring negative impacts on their lives especially in the rural areas. Due to the fact that one activity may not be enough for the survival of a family, it is always important for the family to venture into other activities to increase the chances of survival, regardless of whatever times of the year or season. Participants from the two women groups identified diverse sources of food for their households. They produce food, collect wild foods, purchase food from markets, and women from Mutethya Joint received food aid. The women also use many types of foods in their household. The women also practice crop diversification to increase the number of crops that provide for their household security (Tischerly and Benefica, 2001). They plant drought-resistant crops, like sorghum, cassava and millet that will survive in case of poor rains. One woman described how she planted Katumani pigeon peas in order
51 to compete in the market and increase her income. Women also collect a diversity of wild leafy vegetables and fruits for household consumption (Rensburg et al., 2004), but place little value on their contribution to food security. Only women in Mutethya Joint received food aid but all are familiar with donor support in the past. Rural livelihood diversification consists of non-farm or farm activities and can either be geared to income generation or just increasing food availability, which sometimes can also earn income when surplus is realized (Ellis, 1998 ). All the women in the study had at least one source of income. Women diversify income sources in order to reduce risk or buffer failures from one source within a given year or across several years (Francis, 2002). The women seemed to especially want to have their own source of income in addition to outside support from their husbands or other remittances. Women from both groups use farm projects like keeping dairy cows or poultry, and planting vegetables to give them income and food (Ellis, 1998). The women also have businesses and properties to rent. Women from the two groups sold property only as the last resort (see Watts, 1983 for West Africa), because they can not recover the loss. Rensburg et al. (2004) used research in South Africa to recommend the use of indigenous leafy vegetables, which play an important part in alleviating hunger and malnutrition in Sub-Saharan Africa. It is important to make the locals aware of the value of wild foods in achieving household food security. For example, due to promotion of Amaranthus by doctors in the country, Kenya Agricultural Institute (K.A.R.I.) has started selling its seeds. One of the women we visited from Mutethya Joint grew some Amaranthus lividus alongside other vegetables in her garden. The study was not able to differentiate between adaptive and coping strategies in this area. The area has been experiencing good and bad years alternating.
A Critical Assessment
Women argued that they prefer producing enough food for their households. They reported that the lack of some essential farm equipment and tools, enough labor, money, small lands among others reduce their yields even when there is enough rain. These women also lack good storage facilities and therefore end up losing most of their grain to
52 pests such as weevils. Poor storage facilities force women to sell their grain harvest when the prices are extremely low. Poverty forces these women to sell their farm produce at a throw away price. According to Gebremdhin and Swinton (2001) food assistance programs are important for the alleviation of food shortages for subsistence farmers, particularly in the developing countries. The women in the study criticized the contributions of food aid to their household food security. Women from Woni wa Wote, who did not receive aid thought that the distribution has not been fair. Due to the fact that food aid was irregular, the women never really considered it to be a reliable source of their food. Furthermore, the women were given food that was not part of their diets and therefore they disregarded it. Food agencies giving food aid in the region need to devise a better way of distributing food. These women are in a strong position to provide that guidance.
Gender planning for household food security
Gender planning consists of developing and implementing specific measures and organizational arrangements that ensure gender equality and promote the distribution of adequate resources (Moser, 1997). The women participants in my study are in charge of reproductive, productive and community management tasks that connect them with household food security (Moser, 1997). They use their “triple roles” to provide food for the family through various activities. The research findings particularly illustrate the intersection between reproductive and productive work. Women actively work to produce food but also look for ways to achieve income. No assumption should be made that women will always benefit from their husbands and other members of the family financially. Most women expressed a need to have their own sources of income. These women are also members of groups, which provide places to share ideas and work together on income generating projects. The role of women’s groups in food security planning in the region can not be ignored. First, they contribute food items to the women through the weekly/monthly merry go round. During their weekly meetings some women came with food items and sold it for cash or credit to the rest of women in the group. They also provide small low interest loans that the women pay back in small
53 amounts. The groups do manage income generating projects from which they make profits that can be divided amongst themselves as dividends. Also some of their income generating projects produces food that can be sold to the whole community in the market. A good example is Woni wa Wote who had bee keeping project and sold honey to people in the market. Planning with gender needs in mind is important in order to address women’s strategic gender needs and practical gender needs (Moser, 1997). Strategic needs of the women are those needs the women acquire through positioning themselves while practical gender needs are related directly to their access to resources such as food, housing and others. Women from the two groups play a big role in ensuring food security in their household, and therefore they strategically need to be incorporated in food security development strategies (Momsen, 2004). Improving food security in Africa means that one needs to consider women who usually play a very big role in producing food and also serve as income earners for their families (Gittinger et al., 1990). Women in that region need not be seen as mothers only. There is also the need to recognize that they contribute to the economic growth of that region. Women cannot be seen as just mothers or just workers; they must be supported to do both. The women participants in this study provided many examples for how that might be done. Food security agencies must see women as agents of change and emphasize gender relations when planning for projects to help women in the development process (Moser, 1997).
Conclusion
Overall, this study demonstrates that women rely equally on food production and purchases. Therefore attention needs to be focused on improving the women’s ability to produce enough food for their households and improve their incomes. Projects need to address both food availability (food production) and accessibility (purchases) because the two are inseparable in this area. The women continue to look for ways to produce food for their homes and markets. Food aid, which is an important redistribution of resources, seems not to be an important contribution. Women need to be more involved in deciding who gets the food, the types of food given to them and when it should be brought, so that
54 it can be better integrated into their security plans. The issue of unequal distribution of food aid needs to be addressed in this region. A better way of determining who is eligible to receive food aid needs to be devised. Also there is need to supervise the food aid distribution making sure food has been delivered to the right household. From my discussions with the women, they mention that they are lacking advice when it comes to marketing their farm products and especially mangoes and so they fall prey to middlemen who just exploit them. Therefore good market infrastructure needs to be laid down in the region. Working with women’s groups and gaining women’s views about a place is an important first step towards understanding and planning for food security.
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60 Appendices
Appendix I: Research protocol approved by the human subjects committee at Miami University
The research protocol for the thesis was approved in 2005 before the field research.
Research Description
Gaining women’s view on household food security using Mutethya Joint and Woni wa Wote Women Groups in Makueni, Kenya.
1. Project Personnel Principle Investigator (PI): Bernice N. Mutune, MA Student, Department of Geography, Miami University.
Advisor: Kimberly E. Medley, Professor of Geography, Miami University.
Local Field Assistant: Field assistants will be hired to help in with introductions to the community and the identification of key informants.
2. Purpose: I propose a study that investigates women’s views on household food security in Makueni, Kenya. The study will document coping/adaptive strategies the women do in order to meet their household food needs at their homes. To achieve this, two main research questions will be addressed: i. What are the women doing to meet their household food needs? ii. How do the women perceive the opportunities and challenges toward achieving food security?
3. Subject Population: I will work with Akamba, an ethnic group that practice subsistence farming and small-scale businesses in south central Kenya. Participants will include women 18 years and above.
4. Recruitment and Selection of Subjects: I will observe and interview adult female village residents in order to gain a local understanding of what women do to meet food needs at their household and how they perceive the opportunities and challenges towards meeting their household food needs. The local administration (Chief) will be notified about my research. I will co-work with a field assistant who will introduce me to the village residents as well as taking me round the village. Participation will be completely voluntary and I will focus my study on already established women groups for my interviews and group participatory exercise. Compensation will be given to those who volunteer to participate in the interviews for their time with me in the form of food, tools, or cash. During my research process I will not be discriminative or coercive.
61 5. Informed Consent: One-to-two female field assistants will be involved in all aspect of the research. She will make introductions before each session, after which I (PI) will orally go over the Consent Form in local language or Kiswahili. Those in agreement with the form will then participate in the research process. Any participant will be at liberty to terminate an interview session without special permission from the PI. Interviews will be carried out during times compatible with the participant’s time schedules.
6. Research Procedures: n Nature of Activities in which Participants will be engaged: I will investigate what women are doing to meet household food needs and to achieve this; participant will be asked to construct seasonal calendars indicating type of foods they have been preparing for households at different seasons of the year. The PI will also join the local women in their daily activities for participant observation accompanied by informal interviews. The PI will then ask local women to rank about the sources of food. I will also investigate how the women perceive the opportunities and challenges toward achieving food security. To achieve this, the PI will conduct semi-interviews as well asking the local women to construct a Venn diagram showing the relative contributions of environmental and institutional factors. Throughout this process, emphasis will be on a two-way dialogue to enhance optimal information exchange between the PI and the participants. n Research Location: This study will be carried out by the PI in two villages: Unoa and Kavingoni in Makueni District, Kenya. Makueni District (about 10 30’S and 380 E occurs in south-central Kenya where it borders Kajiado District to the west, Taita Taveta to the south, Kitui to the east, and Machakos to the north.
n Data Gathering Instruments: The PI will use semi-structured interviews, participant observation and participatory exercises such as, Venn diagrams, seasonal calendars and daily activity records to obtain information. Photographs will be taken and notes will be hand-taken in a field notebook. The PI will use a tape recorder only with permission from the respondents. To guide the interview process, the PI will use leading questions such as “what food do you prepare” “How do you get it” “What do you grow?” “What do you buy?” “What do you gather?” “What do you get from organizations/institutions?” “How has your food sources changed over time?” n Frequency of Activity and Overall time of Participation: PI will use the above methods to collect data in a reasonable amount of time anticipate that interviews will last in an hour or so. Participatory tools such as seasonal calendars, matrix ranking charts and Venn diagrams will be conducted with groups of women and may take two hours. The women and I will take the photos while I join them
62 during their daily tasks. I anticipate holding a total of five to ten interview sessions, one seasonal calendar in each village and one Venn diagram in each village. These will be spread over the entire time of data collection. However, they will not be used in such a way as to be time consuming and therefore interfere with the participant’s daily schedules.
n Training of Persons Administering Data Collection: The PI, working with an assistant, will be the only person collecting data during individual interviews. While carrying out the participatory methods, I will have two assistants and will provide orientation before the session and collaborate with them on the results. However, the PI will be responsible for the final compilation of all information obtained. n Training of research assistants on the issues of privacy and confidentiality: To protect confidentiality and privacy of the respondents, assistants will be trained not to refer the respondents by their names or locations and to keep all the information from the respondents private. In addition to the training the PI will make it clear to the assistants that any information collected should be kept as confidential and private as much as possible. In this way the information from respondents will be protected and really made private.
n Potential Risks and Discomforts: This study does not anticipate any potential physical, physiological, social and/or legal risks. Participants will be at will to terminate their involvement at any time should they feel the research poses any risk. n Anonymity and Confidentiality of Information: To protect confidentiality, respondents will not be identified by names or locations in their village. No respondent will mention her name even during sessions that will be tape- recorded.
63 INFORMED CONSENT FORM
To Whom It May Concern:
My name is Bernice Mutune, a graduate student, in Geography Department, Miami University, Oxford, Ohio, USA. The purpose of my study is to gain women’s views on household food security in Makueni, Kenya. Your participation in the research should contribute greatly to documenting different food security strategies. I will use this information for my Masters’ thesis in geography at Miami University. I am hoping we can collaborate on using the information for food security planning in Makueni. To achieve this goal, I will administer a number of interview sessions with willing community members at least 18 years of age. I will ask you to talk about what you do to meet household food needs and how you perceive the opportunities and the challenges towards getting food at your homes. I will take notes of your responses and in some cases ask you if I can tape record our conversations to make sure I have everything. I would also like to follow you during your daily activities and take some photos. Your participation is voluntary. You can terminate an interview session at your will, or avoid answering some questions. Your identity by name and location will remain confidential. Later, I will make a copy of my findings and photographs available to you. Your suggestions and ideas will be most appreciated. I thank you in advance for your time, and hope that we are going to work collaboratively.
Sincerely,
Bernice Mutune
For further information, please contact: Department of Geography, 216 Shideler Hall, Miami University, Oxford, Ohio 45056, USA Tel: 011- 513 529 1558
Office for the Advancement of Research and Scholarship, 102 Roudebush Hall Miami University, Oxford, Ohio 45056, USA Tel: 011- 513 529 3734 E-mail: [email protected]
Department of Geography University of Nairobi, P. O. Box 30197, 00100 Nairobi, Kenya Attn: Dr. Mwaura, F. [email protected]
64 Appendix II: Research permit obtained from the Ministry of Education Science and Technology, Kenya prior to the research.
65 Appendix III: Daily activities for women observed and interviewed for a whole day Time Activities period Woni wa Wote women group Mutethya Joint women group Ms. Mwelu Ms. Mueni Ms. Nthambi Ms. Wanza 6-6.30am Swept the Wake up 6.30-7am compound Take breakfast Fetched water 7-7.30am Prepared breakfast School hours Prepared Prepared breakfast 7.30-8am Tethered goats breakfast Swept compound 8-8.30am Prepared to leave Swept the to home for her compound 8.30-9am business Fetched water Fetched water Prepared to leave Prepared to leave home for her home for a seminar business on keeping exotic 9-9.30am Business hours Walking to the chicken market 9.30-10am Open her Attended grocery business seminar(morning 10-10.30am Business hours session) 10.30-11am 11-11.30am 11.30-12 Took lunch at the 12-12.30pm venue 12.30-1pm 1-1.30pm 1.30-2pm Relaxed and waited for the afternoon session 2-2.30pm Attended seminar 2.30-3pm (afternoon session) 3-3.30pm 3.30-4pm 4-4.30pm Left for the shops 4.30-5pm and bought sugar 5.00- and tea leaves 5.30pm 5.30-6pm Left for home to attend her evening domestic chores 6-6.30pm Left for home to Attended her attend her evening chicken Left for home for chores Attended her evening dairy cows domestic chores 6.30-7pm 7-7.30pm Relaxed home, 7.30-8pm listened to news 8-8.30pm and took dinner
66 ellow maize Food donations Maize, beans, cooking oil Maize, beans, cooking oil Maize, cooking oil, flour, y Maize, beans, cooking oil None Maize, cooking oil, porridge, tea leaves, green gram igeon as and cow peas Purchases Kale, maize, beans, sorghum, rice, wheat flour Maize, beans, p pe Rice, wheat flour, sugar, cooking oil, onion, tomatoes, kale, cabbage, salt Some times maize, and beans Wheat flour, maize, beans, rice, pigeon peas, milk Maize, beans, milk, cabbage, kale, meat, pigeon peas Mutethya Joint names in ) Collection ( kikamba Kiw’ia, kitulu Kiw’ia, kikowe, sake, matoo, ndula, ngomoa, muu Kitulu, kiw’ia, kikowe, matoo, ngomoa None None Movela, kiw’ia, kyambatwa, matulu, matoo, ndului, nduva, ngalaawa ems produced, bought, collected and given as food aid to women poultry , pigeon A free list of food it oultry, and livestock Production Maize, green gram, beans, pigeon peas, cow millet, oranges, pumpkin, mangoes, paw paws, Maize , beans, pigeon peas, cow peas, paw paws, sorghum, oranges, livestock, poultry Maize, cow peas peas, beans, cassava, p Maize, pigeon peas, pumpkin, sweet potatoes, mango, oranges, poultry Millet, maize, pigeon peas, paw paws, mangoes oranges. Maize, sorghum, millet, oranges, bananas Participant 1 2 3 4 5 6 Appendix IV:
67 beans beans , , Food donations Maize, cooking oil Maize, cooking oil Maize flour, salt, tea leaves, cooking oil, maize Maize Maize, beans, porridge cooking oil , Maize, beans, sugar, rice, tea leaves Maize, beans, pigeon peas, rice Maize, beans, rice, wheat flour, sweet potatoes Rice, wheat flour, sugar, arrow roots, tea leaves, cooking oil Maize, beans, pigeon peas, cow sweet potatoes, arrow roots Purchases names in ) Kiw’ia, kikowe, ndula, matoo, maua, ndului Kiw’ia, mchicha, kikowe, ndului, ngomoa, ndavisi, maua Matulu, sake, kiw’ia, ngakaa, ngomoa Matulu Kiw’ia, matulu, kikowe, ndului, maua, ngomoa, mbueni, kikolekya, ngwasu, ndavisi, kitumbuu, ngalaawa Collection ( kikamba o, s, green d apple, keep , avocad les chicken melon, bringels, - atoes, green gram, : (continued). Production Maize, mangoes, pigeon peas, custard apples, sorghum, oranges, guavas, poultry, livestock Bananas, paw paws, pigeon peas, pumpkin, sweet potatoes, custar livestock and poultry Cow peas, maize, millet, paw paws, oranges, pigeon peas, bananas, kale, tomatoes, pumpkin, sweet potatoes, mchicha, honey Pigeon peas, sorghum, oranges, cassava, pumpkins, kale, beans, cow peas, sweet pot custard app green pepper, potatoes, water livestock, Maize, cow peas, beans, oranges, paw paws, mangoes, banana pepper, berries, cotton Appendix IV 7 8 9 10 11 Participant
68 Food donation None None None None abbage, meat bles (kale, ge, carrots), peas, green gram, milk arrots) Purchases Cabbage, tomatoes, kale, meat, beans, pigeon peas, cow Maize, sugar, beans, rice, wheat flour, tomatoes, vegetables (kale, c potatoes, kunde leaves c Kale, potatoes, tomatoes, cabbage meat sugar, tea leaves, cocoa/coffee, onion, cooking oil Maize, rice, wheat, flour, beans, sweet potatoes, arrow roots, potatoes, tomatoes, vegeta cabba wa Wote (all Woni ikowe, kyambatwa, Collection (Kikamba names) Kiw’ia, matulu, ngalawa, nzovi None Mba, ndula, muu K kiw’ia ngomoa, ndula, maua collected in the past) , livestock. , , bananas, ies , paw paws, custard n peas, mangoes, es, pigeon peas, beans, wild berr (Continued). eas, green gram, oranges, : Production Maize, pigeon peas, beans, mangoes, oranges, paw paws, millet, cow peas, livestock Oranges, maize, avocados mango dairy cattle Maize, beans, cow peas, pigeon p mangoes, paw paws, lemons, poultry Maize, pigeo oranges, guava apple, pumpkins, cassava, sweet potatoes, honey, poultry Participant 1 2 3 4 Appendix IV
69 one None None None None Maize seeds N Food donation oking t flour, sugar, Purchases Maize, kale, beans, sweet potatoes, cabbage, rice, wheat flour, bread, meat, potatoes, tomatoes, onions Kale, onion, beans, maize, wheat flour, rice, cabbage, tomatoes Sorghum, maize, beans, pigeon peas, kale, cabbage, tomatoes, potatoes, meat carrots, sugar Rice, whea tea leaves, milk Sugar, wheat flour, tea leaves, blue band, co oil, rice, meat Cooking oil, beans, maize, rice, wheat flour, sugar Ngalawa, ngomoa, ndului, ndula, maua, ndavisi, natha, nguluu Matulu, mchicha, nduva, ngomoa, ndula, matoo Kiw’ia, kikowe, kikungi, ndula, maua, nduva Kiw’ia, ngomoa Muu, ndula, mamee, mba, ngalawa, nzovi, ntheu, nduva Ngomoa, ndula, ngolekya, mamee Collection (Kikamba names) igeon peas, bles such as tomatoes, onion (Continued) : Pigeon peas, paw paws, maize, bananas, beans, cow peas, mangoes, oranges, guavas, avocados, custard apple, pumpkins, sweet potatoes, cassava, millet, sunflower, green gram, soybeans, some times vegeta and kale. livestock poultry Sunflower, maize, p beans, oranges, lemon, mangoes, keep poultry to start planting mchicha Pigeon peas, maize, green gram, cow peas, beans, millet Maize, beans, millet, pigeon peas, cow peas, oranges, mangoes, poultry and livestock Maize, pigeon peas, beans, sunflower, soybeans, paw paws, mangoes, oranges, kale, tomatoes, bee keeping and woodlot Maize, beans, oranges, bananas, kale, pigeon peas, green gram, cow peas, mangoes, Avocados, Poultry, water melon, sunflower, paw paws Production Appendix IV Participant 5 6 7 8 9 10
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