Promoting gender equity through integrated rice-fish farming system in Myanmar: Insights from Maubin & Letpadan Township

Transcription

1 Promoting gender equity through integrated rice-fish farming system in Myanmar: Insights from Maubin & Letpadan Township Lemlem Aregu, L. Su Su San, Nilar Shein & et al. Lemlem Aregu Behailu, WorldFish-Myanmar Nay Pi Taw, June 2018

2 Background Rice-fish project: ACIAR funded o 1 year pilot project July 2016-Oct 2017 o A follow up 3 years project since Oct 2017 to assess the potential of integrated rice-fish business models to increase income of farmers in the disadvantaged flood-prone areas of the Ayeyarwaddy Delta

3 Introduction Rice & fish are key components of agricultural & diets (Asia & Africa) The practice of catching fish from rice field has long history (Asia & Myanmar) Integrated rice-fish system evolving from traditional rice-fish system Economic benefits Nutritional benefits Ecological benefits Livelihoods: 70% of Myanmar s 51 million people rely on agriculture for income and well-being with rice and fish the key foci of the agricultural sector The assumption of the project is introduction of high-yielding rice varieties along with fish may increase rice field productivity may also add to total farm production and household livelihood

4 Research questions 1. How can integrated rice-fish production system contribute to gender equity & women s empowerment? 2. What are the potential of integrating fish in rice production system in enhancing equitable benefits to women and men farmers 3. What are the barriers to gender-equitable outcomes from improved/integrated rice-fish production system gendered inequities in assets, resource and labour allocation Including financial benefits

5 Research methods Qualitative research methods A sex-disaggregated data collected FGDs: with 11 groups (3 Maubin & 8 Letpadan Only women s focus groups Only men s focus groups Community leaders (both men and women) Key Informant Interviews (9 in Maubin) 3 with DoF and DoA staff members 6 with community members (3 women & 3 men) From 3 production systems (1 each gender ) Rice-rice, Fish farming, Rice-fish

6 Data collection tools Various participatory tools used to facilitate the discussion & interviews resource mapping wealth ranking seasonal calendar gender activity calendar Now 10 years ago Poor Poor Middle 70 Middle Rich 86 Rich

7 Study sites Township Village Date of data collection Letpadan V1:Kanyin Tan V2: Chan Thar Goni 31 Jan- 2 Feb 2018 V3: Kan Gyan V4: Gway Tauk Kwin Maubin V5: Lat Khoat Pin 7-10 Nov 2016 # farmers

8 Findings: Gender roles: Fisheries sector In all locations fish farming is not common (except 1 male farmer farm fish in a pond) Catch wild fish from cannel, stream, and rice field They have low fish production Men s role: Fishing or catching fish assumed to be a sole responsibility of men Except in village 4 in Letpadan where women reported to have % of share for fishing Women s role: Selling fish and fish processing is women s responsibilities. Except in village 1 where men have also 20% of share in selling fish.

9 Findings: Gender roles: Rice production Women and men have distinct and shared roles for different production activities in rice system Men s role: in general rice assumed to be men s domain and they have a great role in rice production They almost participate in all production activities either as sole or shared contributors land cultivation, direct seeding, spraying herbicide & pesticide, and harvesting using machine. Women s role: Women also have a distinct role in rice farming. Particularly transplanting, and weeding, and manual harvesting.

10 Findings: Implication to Rice-fish system It is evident that the rice & fish production & marketing activities are highly gender-differentiated. In integrated rice-fish production system change is expected on Gender relations dynamics have implication in gender inequalities Hence a deeper gender analysis on the role of women and men, their workload, and benefit sharing from the integrated rice-fish production system is essential Helps to design and come up with gender inclusive and responsive strategies and interventions to ensure gender equity

11 Opportunities: Women s empowerment A great potential to promote integrated rice-fish production system in Maubin & Letpada Plenty of water during monsoon period, access to good quality of land & water, 60% of the farmers already catching wild fish naturally from rice field (Maubin) Availability of wild fish are potential sources of fingerlings for stocking Fertilizer not used for monsoon rice The experiment results from the rice-fish pilot project site revealed 97% of net income increase in integrated rice-fish plot Vs monoculture rice plot Women potentially benefit from integrated rice-fish system through increased fish production Traditionally women have a great role in fish selling in Myanmar Women have either full or shared control over the income from fish However, how can we keep the traditional role of women in selling fish in integrated rice fish farming system??

12 Challenges: Gender inequities Fishing and rice production is quite often classified as men s occupation Women are believed to have little role to play, while in reality Fish sector Women play large role in post harvesting of fish in fish trade and fish processing However these roles have been relatively invisible & little attention is given to the fishing industry s Rice production system Similarly in rice production system men are the focus of the interventions women have limited access and control over the farm land their contributions in transplanting and weeding undervalued & underestimated Do not have key decision to share the benefit they deserve This might perpetuate in the integrated rice-fish production system

13 The way forward: Integrated rice-fish Opportunity to women share the benefit from rice production system As women have a greater role in fish trading As fish production increases there will be a surplus fish for women to sell women s economic empowerment improving the nutrition of the family. However, this will not happen automatically

14 The way forward To ensure that both women & men would equally benefit from the new production system while demonstrating the system, mindful provision of equal opportunities for both women and men farmers is needed This suggests the need to understand the dynamics of the gender relationship and identify the needs & preferences of women and men farmers Understand the opportunities and challenges to address gender inequalities Ultimately helps to identify appropriate gender-inclusive strategies and interventions Ensure equal benefit sharing between women & men farmers from the integrated rice-fish farming systems

15 Thank You