Gender and agricultural mechanisation in Kenya

Despite considerable investment, agriculture in Kenya is characterised by declining food production per capita and worsening environmental degradation. Why have technologies which have worked elsewhere failed? How can female cultivators be encouraged to consider new methods?

A paper from the United NationsUniversity World Institute for Development Economics Research (UNU-WIDER) basedin Finland, analyses factors influencingfarm mechanisation choices at the household level in Bondo district in Kenya’s Nyanza Province.

Significant investments in African agricultural research anddevelopment have had limited impact on rural livelihoods. Farmers either failto adopt new technologies, or apply them inappropriately. Technical aspects of mechanisation are widelydocumented but little is known about the social, cultural, economic, andenvironmental factors that influence farmers’ mechanisation choices. Failure to identify different people’s needsand preferences in the design and implementation of programmes has resulted inlow demand for new technologies.

In Bondodistrict, the most common cultivation methods are manual tillage (preparing and digging the land by hand) and animal traction (using animals and machines). While 7 percent ofhouseholds use manual tillage, 82 percent use animal traction. Householdsprefer animal traction because it is effective, available, and relativelyaffordable. Households that do not use animal traction are those that cannotafford the technology or those with very small plots of land.

The study analysedmechanisation relative to different gender categories: female/male-headedmarried, female/male-headed single, female/male-headed widower, female-headeddivorced, and female-headed husband absent. Findings include:

• Access to animal traction is not necessarily based on gender, but on accessto cash and the work schedule of the animal traction operator.
• More male-headed households operate animal traction than female-headedhouseholds. This is because of prevailing socio-cultural practices andtraditional beliefs that discourage women from owning and operating animaltraction technology. Also, the design of the implements discourages women’s participation.
• Women generally have lower levels of formal and informal training.Together with a lack of access to formal credit, this constrains their accessto the more expensive animal traction.
• Formal training positively influences the use of animal traction, irrespectiveof gender; the age of the household head has a negative influence on the use ofthe same technology.
• Most land in the study area is untitled. This means that land cannot beused as collateral in accessing credit, which could be used to acquire farmmechanisation technologies.
• Married and widower male-headed households have the largest pool of farmlabour. These households are therefore more likely to use labour-intensivetechnologies.

UNU-WIDER research suggests theneed for greater training, extension services, credit and tractor hire servicesto improve technology transfer. Kenya’s agriculture ministryshould:

• do more to inform farmers about mechanisation options
• provide training to promote the useof animal traction
• promote smallhand-pushed tractors –  which are widelyused in Asia – and two-wheeled hand-pushed tractors, if the soilconditions suit cost-effective use of these technologies
• undertakeresearch to develop hand implements that are efficient and cost effective forthose with small landholdings
• recognise thatwomen often cannot make decisions in a culture where all household resources,including tillage equipment, are owned by men
• incorporate gender issues into extension officers’ trainingcurriculum.