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Gender issues fundamentally shape the totality of production, distribution, and
consumption within an economy but have often been overlooked in value chain
development. The current study adopted a cross-sectional study design and was carried
out in Chamwino and Kilosa districts. The study’s overall objective was to undertake a
gendered analysis in investigating smallholder farmers’ participation in the crop value
chains, in Chamwino and Kilosa Districts in Tanzania. Specifically, it aimed at analyzing
the influence of gender roles in upgrading strategies on multiple-commodity food value
chains, assessing the gendered impact on food securing upgrading strategies using
different gender tools, analysing gender in asset ownership and participation in market
oriented crop value chains and determining pathways of addressing gender based
constrains for equitable and sustainable participation in profitable crop value chains.
The selection of the study sites was based on their agro-ecological characteristics, a
balance of matrilineal and patrilineal societies, levels of food crop commercialization,
availability of infrastructure, and accessibility to regional thus enabling a good
comparison all together. Data were collected using a structured questionnaire from 600
randomly selected households and complemented with focus group discussions and key
informants interviews. The sampling involved purposive sampling techniques. In the
analysis the influence of gender roles in upgrading strategies on multiple-commodity food
value chains were computed. The findings show that crops commonly grown in the two
study districts are maize (Zea mays) and sesame (Sesamum indicum) are widely grown in
Kilosa, while bulrush millet and groundnut are grown in Chamwino, 50% of these crops
produced are sold. The results show that in Kilosa there was no difference between men
and women in relation to upgrading strategies related to natural resources, in contrast to
Chamwino District where a statistical difference between male and female farmers was
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observed. The results further show that female farmers in Chamwino are more concerned
about processing and storage, with more than 50% of female farmers indicating
processing and storage to be a problem compared to 26% of male farmers, implying that
women in Chamwino are highly involved with processing and storage tasks or are more
affected by processing and storage constraints than men. A closer look at the three value
chain nodes (production, processing and marketing) shows that the main constraints relate
to natural resources and production. Between 76% and 95% of the respondents indicated
these as leading concern, followed by processing between 20% and 53% and lastly, the
marketing node between 28% and 37%. The study concludes that gender difference in the
choices of crops is associated with the impact and role of the particular crop on the
respective gender, for example cash crop or food crop. The study further concludes that
women and youth in both regions are the ones heavily involved in the lower end of value
chain components such as production, processing and storage.The study further concludes
that there is a strong association between MHH and FHH asset ownership and food crop
commercialization and that although asset ownership is crucial, but not all assets serve the
same purpose or same importance. On removing GBC the study concludes that the
intention to remove GBC in value chain is iterative since most GBC involves multiple
factors, therefore it is important to identify context specific strategies to ensure that the
GBC are addressed. Lastly it can be concluded that both male and female headed
households are forced into food crop commercialization due to wealth situation.At the
household level, men are recommended to recognize how women are burdened by the
activities in the household and create a better chance for women to participate in value
chain activities by allowing them to make choices on their preferred crop and to take part
in the decision making. The present study further recommends the Local Government
Authority and project planners to consider youth as a gender group with the potential to
drive the economic development through crop commercialization. The Local Government
Authority and the MHH should consider gender aspects on matters concerning land
ownership because it hinders effective participation. |
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