Gender relations and women's empowerment in small-scale irrigated forage production in the Amhara and SNNP Regions of Ethiopia

Small-scale cultivation and irrigation of planted forages can increase the availability of good-quality animal feed in smallholder farms. However, low adoption rates of improved forage technologies in most parts of sub-Saharan Africa have been observed and are partly attributed to limited understand...

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Autores principales: Omondi, Immaculate A., Njuguna-Mungai, Esther, Bezabih, Melkamu, Teufel, Nils, Galiè, Alessandra, Njiru, Nelly, Kariuki, Eunice, Mulema, Annet Abenakyo, Baltenweck, Isabelle, Jones, Christopher S.
Formato: Journal Article
Lenguaje:Inglés
Publicado: 2024
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://hdl.handle.net/10568/168546
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author Omondi, Immaculate A.
Njuguna-Mungai, Esther
Bezabih, Melkamu
Teufel, Nils
Galiè, Alessandra
Njiru, Nelly
Kariuki, Eunice
Mulema, Annet Abenakyo
Baltenweck, Isabelle
Jones, Christopher S.
author_browse Baltenweck, Isabelle
Bezabih, Melkamu
Galiè, Alessandra
Jones, Christopher S.
Kariuki, Eunice
Mulema, Annet Abenakyo
Njiru, Nelly
Njuguna-Mungai, Esther
Omondi, Immaculate A.
Teufel, Nils
author_facet Omondi, Immaculate A.
Njuguna-Mungai, Esther
Bezabih, Melkamu
Teufel, Nils
Galiè, Alessandra
Njiru, Nelly
Kariuki, Eunice
Mulema, Annet Abenakyo
Baltenweck, Isabelle
Jones, Christopher S.
author_sort Omondi, Immaculate A.
collection Repository of Agricultural Research Outputs (CGSpace)
description Small-scale cultivation and irrigation of planted forages can increase the availability of good-quality animal feed in smallholder farms. However, low adoption rates of improved forage technologies in most parts of sub-Saharan Africa have been observed and are partly attributed to limited understanding of gender dynamics in the context of production and utilization of planted forages. The introduction of small-scale cultivation and irrigation of planted forages is likely to interlink gender relations in the mixed crop–livestock farming system given the differences in contributions, benefits and challenges men and women farmers face. Efforts to transform livestock systems through improving adoption, scaling, and sustainability forage interventions can benefit from empirical evidence on gender relations in feed-related activities. We aim to highlight the linkage between gender relations and women’s empowerment in the production and utilization of feed resources smallholder settings. We used mixed methods, drawing on quantitative data obtained from a cross-sectional survey of 250 men and 250 women, and qualitative data obtained from eight focus group discussions in smallholder settings of the Amhara and Southern Nations, Nationalities, and People’s regions of Ethiopia, where small-scale irrigation was introduced to boost the production of cultivated forages by households. We used the Women’s Empowerment in Livestock Index tool to elicit data and analyze the empowerment of the sampled men and women. Women’s empowerment differed significantly with different dimensions of gender relations, types of forages grown, and small-scale irrigation practice. Moreover, women in households practicing small-scale irrigation of planted forages were significantly more empowered and most (80%) achieved the adequate threshold in “work balance”. The study findings point to the positive link between empowerment and the likely shifts in gender relations from the practice of small-scale production and irrigation of forages.
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spelling CGSpace1685462025-10-26T13:02:35Z Gender relations and women's empowerment in small-scale irrigated forage production in the Amhara and SNNP Regions of Ethiopia Omondi, Immaculate A. Njuguna-Mungai, Esther Bezabih, Melkamu Teufel, Nils Galiè, Alessandra Njiru, Nelly Kariuki, Eunice Mulema, Annet Abenakyo Baltenweck, Isabelle Jones, Christopher S. forage animal feeding smallholders gender irrigated farming Small-scale cultivation and irrigation of planted forages can increase the availability of good-quality animal feed in smallholder farms. However, low adoption rates of improved forage technologies in most parts of sub-Saharan Africa have been observed and are partly attributed to limited understanding of gender dynamics in the context of production and utilization of planted forages. The introduction of small-scale cultivation and irrigation of planted forages is likely to interlink gender relations in the mixed crop–livestock farming system given the differences in contributions, benefits and challenges men and women farmers face. Efforts to transform livestock systems through improving adoption, scaling, and sustainability forage interventions can benefit from empirical evidence on gender relations in feed-related activities. We aim to highlight the linkage between gender relations and women’s empowerment in the production and utilization of feed resources smallholder settings. We used mixed methods, drawing on quantitative data obtained from a cross-sectional survey of 250 men and 250 women, and qualitative data obtained from eight focus group discussions in smallholder settings of the Amhara and Southern Nations, Nationalities, and People’s regions of Ethiopia, where small-scale irrigation was introduced to boost the production of cultivated forages by households. We used the Women’s Empowerment in Livestock Index tool to elicit data and analyze the empowerment of the sampled men and women. Women’s empowerment differed significantly with different dimensions of gender relations, types of forages grown, and small-scale irrigation practice. Moreover, women in households practicing small-scale irrigation of planted forages were significantly more empowered and most (80%) achieved the adequate threshold in “work balance”. The study findings point to the positive link between empowerment and the likely shifts in gender relations from the practice of small-scale production and irrigation of forages. 2024-12-23 2025-01-06T10:06:47Z 2025-01-06T10:06:47Z Journal Article https://hdl.handle.net/10568/168546 en Open Access Omondi I, Njuguna-Mungai E, Derseh MB, Teufel N, Galiè A, Njiru N, et al. (2024) Gender relations and women’s empowerment in small-scale irrigated forage production in Ethiopia. PLoS ONE 19(12): e0309927.
spellingShingle forage
animal feeding
smallholders
gender
irrigated farming
Omondi, Immaculate A.
Njuguna-Mungai, Esther
Bezabih, Melkamu
Teufel, Nils
Galiè, Alessandra
Njiru, Nelly
Kariuki, Eunice
Mulema, Annet Abenakyo
Baltenweck, Isabelle
Jones, Christopher S.
Gender relations and women's empowerment in small-scale irrigated forage production in the Amhara and SNNP Regions of Ethiopia
title Gender relations and women's empowerment in small-scale irrigated forage production in the Amhara and SNNP Regions of Ethiopia
title_full Gender relations and women's empowerment in small-scale irrigated forage production in the Amhara and SNNP Regions of Ethiopia
title_fullStr Gender relations and women's empowerment in small-scale irrigated forage production in the Amhara and SNNP Regions of Ethiopia
title_full_unstemmed Gender relations and women's empowerment in small-scale irrigated forage production in the Amhara and SNNP Regions of Ethiopia
title_short Gender relations and women's empowerment in small-scale irrigated forage production in the Amhara and SNNP Regions of Ethiopia
title_sort gender relations and women s empowerment in small scale irrigated forage production in the amhara and snnp regions of ethiopia
topic forage
animal feeding
smallholders
gender
irrigated farming
url https://hdl.handle.net/10568/168546
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