Biographical Sketch

The author was born in Addis Ababa on December 28,1973. After completing high school,

she joined the then Alemaya University of Agriculture in September 1994 and graduated with

a B.Sc. degree in Agricultural Economics in June 1998.

From September 1998 to September 1999 she worked in a consultancy firm called WASS

International.

In October 1999, she joined the department of Agricultural Economics of Alemaya University

to continue her graduate studies.

i
Acknowledgment

First of all, profound thanks to my major advisor Dr. Desta Hamito, my co-advisor Dr.

Wudnesh Hailu, and to my previous advisor Professor Farah Hassan for their constructive

comments and valuable suggestions, which have improved the thesis.

My special thanks go to W/o Zeleka Girma and Mr. S.E Robi for funding my education and

Winrock International Ethiopia for funding my research work.

I would like to extend my greatest appreciation to Dr. Belay Kassa (Academic Vice President

of Alemaya University), Dr. Tekalegn Mamo, Ato Habte Mariam Kassa, Ato Zewge Lemma

(Yem Wereda WIBS coordinator), Ato Menker Girma, and Ato Zewdu Girma who provided

me their constant encouragement and help in completing my study. In fact, without their

unreserved assistance, this research work would have not been a reality.

Finally my thanks go to my family and friends who supported me throughout the research

work.

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Table of Contents

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH................................................................................................... I

ACKNOWLEDGMENT.........................................................................................................II

LIST OF TABLES...................................................................................................................V

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS ................................................................................................VI

ABSTRACT.......................................................................................................................VII
1. INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................................1
1.1. BACKGROUND AND JUSTIFICATION...................................................................................1
1.2. STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM ..........................................................................................3
1.3. OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY...............................................................................................5
1.4. SCOPE OF THE STUDY........................................................................................................6
1.5. SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY............................................................................................6
1.6 LIMITATION OF THE S TUDY................................................................................................7
2 REVIEW OF LITERATURE...............................................................................................8
2.I. GENERAL SETTING ............................................................................................................8
2.2 WOMEN IN D EVELOPMENT............................................................................................... 11
2.3 WOMEN IN FOOD PRODUCTION ........................................................................................ 12
2.4 AREA BASED DEVELOPMENT P ROGRAMS........................................................................ 13
3 METHODOLOGY ..............................................................................................................17
3.1 TYPES AND METHODS OF DATA COLLECTION.................................................................. 17
3.2 S ITE S ELECTION AND S AMPLING...................................................................................... 18
3.3. ANALYSIS OF D ATA ........................................................................................................ 20
4 DESCRIPTION OF THE STUDY AREA.........................................................................23
4.1 GENERAL BACKGROUND ................................................................................................. 23
4.2 P HYSICAL FEATURES ....................................................................................................... 24
4.3 S OCIO-E CONOMIC FEATURES ........................................................................................... 25
4.3.1 Land and Livestock Ownership ...............................................................................25
4.4 INCOME GENERATION...................................................................................................... 28
4.5 P RODUCTION PROBLEMS ENCOUNTERED IN THE S TUDY AREAS ...................................... 28
4.5.1 The problems of Marketing in the Study Areas .......................................................29
4.6 TASKS OF WOMEN AND INTRODUCTION OF TECHNOLOGIES IN THE STUDY AREAS.......... 31
5 RESULTS AND DISCUSSION..........................................................................................32
5.1 ACTIVITIES IDENTIFIED .................................................................................................... 32
5.1.1 Household Activities ................................................................................................32
5.1.2 ENSET plantation ....................................................................................................34
5.1.3 Enset Processing......................................................................................................37
5.1.4 Backyard Gardening................................................................................................39
5.1.5 Farm Activities .........................................................................................................41
5.1.6 The Gender Division of Labor in the Study Areas...................................................42
5.2 BURDENSOME TASKS....................................................................................................... 43

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 5.3 IMPACT OF INTRODUCED TECHNOLOGIES ........................................................................ 43
5.3.1 Water Fetching ........................................................................................................43
5.3.2. Grinding Grain .......................................................................................................45
5.3.3 Enset Processing......................................................................................................46
5.3.4 Production Functions for the Two Areas.................................................................50
6 SUMMARY, CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION..........................................56
6.1 S UMMARY AND CONCLUSION .......................................................................................... 56
6.2 R ECOMMENDATION.......................................................................................................... 59
REFERENCES .......................................................................................................................61

APPENDICES.........................................................................................................................65

iv
 List of Tables

Table 1. Strata used for WIBS and NWIBS ........................................................................................... 19

Table 2. Man Power Unit of Different Age Groups ............................................................................... 22
Table 3. Livestock ownership in WIBS and NWIBS -------------------------------------------------------- 25
Table 4. Land ownership in WIBS and NWIBS--------------------------------------------------------------- 27
Table 5. Average man-hour spent on household activities in WIBS and NWIBS sites------------------ 33
Table 6. Total and average man-hours s pent on enset plantation in WIBS and NWIBS---------------- 36
Table 7. Total and average man-hours needed for ‘enset’ processing in WIBS and NWIBSites------- 39
Table 8. Quantity of back yard produce for sale --------------------------------------------------------------- 40
Table 9. Total and average man-hour spent in farm activities in WIBS and NWIBS ites-------------- -41
Table 10 Mean difference of average man-hour spent on farm activities.............................................. 42
Table 11 Mean difference in water fetching between WIBS and NWIBS sites .................................... 44
Table 12 Mean difference of grain grinding between WIBS and NWIBS sites .................................... 46
Table 13 Mean difference in enset processing between WIBS and NWIBS sites................................. 48
Table 14 Man hour required for enset processing in WIBS and NWIBS areas----------------------------49
Table 15 Average amount of backyard produce for sale in WIBS and NWIBS .................................... 50
Table 16 Marginal productivities of resources in WIBS and NWIBS ................................................... 54

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List of Abbreviations

CERTWID : Center for Research, Training, and Information for women in Development

CSA : Central Statistical Authority

GOE : Government of Ethiopia

MOPED : Ministry of Planning and Economic Development

MPU: Man Power Unit

ONCCP: Office of National Committee for Central Planning

PA : Peasant Assoc iation

REWA : Revolutionary Ethiopia’s Women Association

RIBS: Rural Integrated Basic Services

TGE : Transitional Government of Ethiopia

UIBS: Urban Integrated Basic Services

UNESCO: United Nations E ducational, Scientific and Cultural Organization

UNICEF: United Nations Children’s Fund

WIBS: Wereda Integrated Basic Service

WID: Women in Development

vi
Abstract

Women’s Workload and their role in Agricultural Production in Wereda and non-
Wereda Basic Service Areas -The Case of Yem

By Hiywot Menker

Advisors: Desta Hamito (Ph.D)

Wudnesh Hailu (Ph.D)

A study was conducted in Yem special wereda of the Southern Nations and Nationalities
Peoples Regional State. It emphasized on the effect of introduction of labor and time saving
technologies on the pattern of allocation of time by women for household activities, backyard
gardening, enset processing and plantation, and farming activities.
The t statistic and regression were used to analyze and summarize the data .Results from the
t-test revealed that there was a significant difference in time use with respect to grinding
grain, fetching of water and production of roots and vegetables between WIBS, where the
intervention was made and NWIBS, without any of the intervention. The result of the multiple
regression analysis showed that in WIBS male labor and farm size were found to be the most
important factors in influencing output, whereas in NWIBS it was only male labor.
The elasticities of the factors influencing output were found to be 0.57, 0.11, 0.04, -0.05, 0.38
for male labor, female labor, number of enset plants processed per year, livestock ownership
and farm land ownership respectively in WIBS. In NWIBS, the elasticities were 0.46 for male
labor, 0.32 for female labor,-0.04 for number of enset processed in a year, -0.09 for livestock
ownership, and .0.038 for farm land ownership.
Households in WIBS were found more efficient in allocating the resources like male labor and
farm land. Whereas in both of the areas, female labor was found to be used inefficiently
implying that the spare time gained as a result of the intervention was not applied to
agricultural activities as expected.

vii
1. Introduction

1.1. Background and Justification

Agriculture is the mainstay of the Ethiopian Economy and women are the backbone of the
food production system (MOPED and UNICEF, 1994). Out of the total subsistence
agricultural production, they are responsible for about 50%. As some reports indicate women
constitute 50% of the total population and contribute around 65% of the labor-force in
agriculture (TGE and UNICEF, 1993a).

Social definitions of which tasks should be carried out by men or women vary from one
society, region, class or ethnic group to another. This variability indicates that the division of
labor is determined not by the physical differences between sexes, but by the social
definitions of proper relation ship between women and men (Shmink et al. , 1988).

The condition of the Ethiopian women, especially in rural areas, is appalling. They perform
laborious household tasks, such as grain grinding, fuel-wood and water fetching. These
activities sap much of their energie s, which could have otherwise been spent in more
productive farming activities. In fact, as statistics show women’s labor-force participation rate
is much lower than that of men and they are generally crowded in low-skilled, low -paying
activities (GOE, 1995).

Even though women participate in many production areas like food production, animal
husbandry, storage, processing and marketing of food stuff, their farming activities take place
on an ever shrinking resource base with extremely primitive technology and with severely
stretched time resources. The competition for their time comes from arduous and time-
consuming household tasks, on the one hand, and their need to accommodate additional
activities, which will provide them with cash earnings in an increasingly monetized rural
economy, on the other (UNESCO, 1985).

We can see nowadays that subsistence production of women or women’s poverty is attracting
much attention. This is because of the deterioration of the rural sector to the point where a
growing number of Third World Countries have become net importers of food stuff and the

1
uncontrollable migration to urban centers, which creates several problems with politically
unsettling implications.

So far, there is ample evidence that most efforts towards increasing the productivity of the
peasant sector and the real incomes of rural producers have been accompanied by an
intensification of labor within the peasant household. This has primarily increased women’s
workloads in the absence of any measures to alleviate their already extremely heavy domestic
burden typically involving several hours a day fetching water and pounding grain among
other things. It, therefore, stands to reason that very little can be achieved in terms of
increasing rural women’s labor productivity without taking into account (a) the exact
modalities of their participation in agricultural work and (b) the intrinsic limitations imposed
on such work by other time-consuming household tasks.

A number of time-budget studies indicate that tas ks such as water fetching, fuel collection,
food processing and preparation can account for the better part of an adult woman’s extremely
long working day. Allocating resources to a better sanitation, easy access to water points,
cheap sources of fuel, improved means of porterage and transportation would have immediate
beneficial consequences, as would the reduction of laborious food-processing operations
through the introduction of labor- and time–saving appropriate technologies (UNESCO,
1985).

In view of this, UNICEF, in collaboration with the TGE studied the situation of women in
Ethiopia and selected the most vulnerable areas. One of the goals in the cooperation between
the TGE and UNESCO for the advancement of women was the introduction of some means
by which women would be able to reduce their heavy work load and also raise their incomes.
And this goal was planned to be achieved through wereda integrated basic services (WIBS)
program whose aim is to provide services which are sustainable and replicable through the
adoption of low -cost, affordable, community–managed technologies, and by means of
community empowerment as well as full participation of women (TGE and UNICEF, 1994a).

2
1.2. Statement of the Problem

Women’s role in the society can be divide d into three main categories; productive,
reproductive and community organizing (Dejene, 1999).

Generally, women support the subsistence economy by growing food crops for the family,
bringing up children, fetching water and firewood- in short, doing all daily tasks, which keep
the family going. But because these tasks do not involve money, they are not seen as “work”
and are subsequently undervalued (UNESCO, 1985).

Women producers are relatively unproductive, typically have less access than men to labor-
saving technologies and other productive resources. The development efforts of the last three
decades, which tried to solve the issue using women in development (WID) approach,
revealed that women’s work remained unrecognized, undervalued and that women generally
have less access to development resources. If development is conceived as economic growth,
without improving the productivity of women, the objective would not be realized (MOPED
and UNICEF, 1994).

The country program of cooperation covering the period 1994-99 and signed on 25

November, 1994 between the Government of Ethiopia and UNICEF, had objectives that

evolved from the 1993 report on the situation of children and women. It states that “there is an

abundance of empirical evidence, which points to excessive hardships that are being

experienced by Ethiopian women as a result of social, cultural, economic and psychological

pressures. The plight of the women has been exacerbated, in particular, by poverty, war and

drought mostly acting in combinatio n” (TGE and UNICEF, 1993a). To address its objectives,

the program of cooperation had two broad strategies. One was through building and

expanding nation-wide service delivery, and the other was through supporting integrated basic

services programs at wereda levels.

The main aim of the Wereda Integrated Basic Service (WIBS) programs was to promote and
introduce technologies that are simple, affordable, durable and manageable by communities.

3
Communities were assisted in improving food processing and preservation methods, which
contribute to the easing of the work load of women and reducing the demand on their time.
The extra time available can be used for productive purposes. There were four major project
activities and these include:

• The installation of grinding mills;

• Use of improved stoves;
• Construction of water points at distances less than or equal to two kilometers from
villages and
• Promotion and introduction of appropriate technologies requiring active community
involvement (E.g. hand-dug and small diameter drilled wells fitted with hand pumps,
protection of springs, etc.).

According to the Master Plan of Operations (MPO), sixty-four weredas (later reduced to fifty-
seven) were to be covered by the WIBS program. Sixteen weredas were targeted for the first
year, Yem being one of them. The weredas have been chosen on the basis of their poverty
level and according to criteria, which address the priority needs of children and women. The
criteria for this selection were established by both the Government and UNICEF (TGE and
UNICEF, 1994b).

Thus study aimed at assessing the contribution of the introduced technologies such as
grinding mills, and water points constructed at a near distance and enset processor, to the
improvement in agricultural production and reduction of the time used by women in
comparison to the situation where such interventions had not taken place. And the study was
conducted in Yem special Wereda of the SNNPRS.

4
1.3. Objectives of the Study

The overall objective of the study was to assess the performance of women and labor
allocation patterns in WIBS and NWIBS areas and observe the difference in the level of
burden shouldered by women, and agricultural productivity.

The specific objectives were:

• to identify the types of daily work performed by women and quantify how much
time is spent on each of them;
• to identify the most burdensome tasks and find out whether assistance received in
women’s daily work activities through improved technologies was effective in
bringing about a reduction in women’s workload;
• to detect and quantify any differences that might exist between women’s work in
WIBS and NWIBS sites; and to find out on what purpose women spend the extra
time saved (if any) in WIBS area, and
• to recommend practical measures to ease women’s burdens at household
level.

5
1.4. Scope of the Study

Out of the total of 33 kebeles only 8 were taken, where, in the 6 kebeles there were grinding
mill, water points and enset processors, where as in the other 2 there were none of the
technologies. The 8 kebeles selected practiced crop farming most of the time than livestock
rearing, marketing by women, etc. This was because, in the study, attention was given to
improved technology, which leads to high productivity in crop produc tion than to greater
saving of energy in domestic labor. Emphasis was given to a season with less rain in order to
capture the difference between the two sites with respect to water availability. And only male -
headed households were selected for the sample.

1.5. Significance of the Study

Many studies show that women’s work has remained unrecognized and undervalued. As a
result, women have been underserved or ignored by development planning though they have
important roles and responsibilities in the development activities. Women over-worked as
they are, have often been left worse off by past development interventions ( Winrock, 2001;
CERTWID, 1997 a; OSSREA, 1997). In this study, it was foreseen that knowing the impact
of the WIBS on participating women could enable policy makers to use the scheme as a
model or allow UNICEF, the Government of Ethiopia, and Winrock International Ethiopia to
modify the project for possible use in other areas. That is, the results of this study were
expected to portray the exact situation of women and help correct the imbalances, and
recognize the vital linkage between women’s status and the implementation of sustainable
development initiatives.

6
1.6 Limitation of the Study

The study has some limitations and these are listed below.

• The indirect effect of women’s participation like provision of food in the time of

different agricultural activities has not been considered.

• When time of farming activities, water fetching and grinding coincide, women try

to complete these tasks by working all night and early in the morning to spare time

for the farming. As a result, during the day they are tired and are not effective in the

performance of the activities. These aspects have not been considered in comparing

the man-hour requirement of each farm activities in the two areas.

• Only man-hour unit was taken as a basis in considering the level of burdens of

different activities but not the energy that was spent on each of the tasks.

• Time spent on preparation of food for debo , holidays and special days were not

calculated.

• Comparison between the two study areas was done only on one year basis.

7
2 Review of Literature

2.I. General Setting

In Ethiopia, as in many African Countries, women are the backbone of the food production
system. It is estimated that around 65% of the total labor expended on farming activities in
Ethiopia is contributed by women (TGE and UNICEF, 1993a).

Ethiopian women are involved in the entire gamut of agricultural activities. They are involved
in different activities like seed cleaning, land preparation, sowing, weeding, hoeing, scaring
birds, harvesting, preparation of threshing field, collection and piling farm products,
winnowing, transporting, storing, food preparation labor assistance in the field, crop storage
container-making and care of stored seeds. Study made in three regions of Ethiopia (Amhara,
Tigray and SNNPRS) showed that about 50 %, 47-58%, and 34% of the total labor and time
inputs in crop production are contributed by women (Wudnesh, 2000).

In the peak agricultural season, women spend up to 10 hours per day in the field. The period
of heaviest workload on women, (pre-harvest and harvest) is generally the period of lowest
household food availability and the physical strain on them is thus tremendous. Women’s role
in marketing is also demanding. They usually supplement the family’s income by selling the
produce over which they have control, such as butter, cheese, eggs, and chicken. They spend
several hours per week on marketing activities.

There are also tasks that involve women by virtue of their accepted roles as providers of daily
meals for the family. The activities include grinding and pounding of grains and other food
stuff, the drying and storing of food, preparing the food for eating and the fetching of water
and firewood. The last two activities alone can consume 6 to 8 hours each day (UNICEF,
1989; EARO, 2000). As reports indicate, women in rural Ethiopia commonly work for 15
hours a day (TGE and UNICEF, 1993a). Daily routine activities of women in south Gondar
zone also showed that they work in general about 18 hours a day (Winrock International
Ethiopia, 2000).

8
In general women’s tasks can be categorized under the triple roles of women- productive,
reproductive, and community functions.

The productive functions involve production of goods and services essential for family
sustenance. They involve work related to food and nutrition, water, fuel wood, income,
market, etc. Unlike men’s production and productivity (registered in nationa l accounts and
planned for in allocations of resources for increasing productivity) which have
market/exchange value, women’s production is almost exclusively for immediate family
consumption (use value) (OSSREA, 1997).

The reproductive functions involve women’s contribution to and needs associated with child
bearing, rearing and family sustenance. These functions are integral to women’s roles as
mothers.

Community functions encompass labor inputs towards organization and sustainability of

cultural events, networks, and services in communities, including management of
environmental resources. such functions include ceremonies involving celebrations of birth,
marriage and other spiritual and socio-cultural happenings; and mobilization of local
resources for community development, including local politics (membership in cultural and
religious organizations/groups) requiring volunteer services and material inputs. (OSSREA,
1997).

There have been some attempts to document women’s work in Ethiopia. Some studies
showed, enset processing, which is one of the household tasks in some parts of Ethiopia,
consumes much of the women’s labor and time (MOA,1996).

Enset is cloned, planted and replanted by men but harvested and processed solely by women.
Not only do wome n play a larger role in those activities than men, but dealing with enset
takes up a large proportion of most women’s time, both when the plants are being harvested
and during the preparation for meals.

A study made in Loke (northeastern shore of lake Awassa), Areka(Wolaita), Gase(Hagere

selam) in the Sidamo highlands, and Wolkite (western Shewa) showed that the traditional way
of processing takes more time, up to 1.5 to 2 days to fully decorticate, pulverize and knead a

9
matured enset, than the improved one (IAR, 1993). Therefore, any changes in the technology
of enset processing is likely to affect women enormously and change their workload
proportionally more than that of men’s.

In 1980, Eva Poluha studied what Ethiopian women do in and out of the household, the tools
they use and the constraints they face while engaged in socially productive work. By doing
the research in one wereda each in Gojjam and Arsi, Poluha concluded that women were
overloaded with household and farm work and recommended various interventions to ease
their burden.

Many researches made showed that women are intensively engaged in farming, harvesting,
and post harvest activities and due to fuel wood and water problems spend a substantial
amount of their time in water and fuel wood collection. As a result of this most women put
fuel wood collection and water houling problems as their most difficult activities followed by
grinding, transporting and other processing tasks. Women’s preferences in technology were
identified as being fuel saving devices, water hauling devices, carts, processing devices, and
post harvest devices (Winrock International Ethiopia, 2001).

The relation between community time resources and community values was studied in order
to create a better understanding between development planners and administrators, and
community members in two sites in Gojjam, one having model producers’ co-operatives and
the other without. Household interviews and observations were used to determine how men
and women allocate their time. It was found that although both sexes were active at least for
12 hours a day, men had twice as much time as women for personal use and social functions
(Solomon, 1986).

The role of women and children in household energy supply for Addis Ababa was st udied in
1985. And it was estimated that about 73,000 households earn their living by collecting and
selling fuel wood. As the author said, women spent 9 to 12 hours in fuel collection, covered
up to 35 kilometers and carried loads amounting up to 77 kilograms while suffering many
physical hardships (Fikrte, 1990).

Women’s role in livestock related food and fuel production activities was also studied in four
villages in Sidamo using interviews. It was shown that on the average, women spent over two

10
hours daily on such activities and had entire responsibility for those activities, which involved
production and sale of milk products (UNICEF, 1990).

Studies were also made which show gender differentials in agricultural productivity among
small-holders in Ada, Lume, and Gimbichu weredas of the central highlands. And results
showed that, with respect to some resources, female -headed households were more efficient
than male-headed households. But the overall analysis revealed that male-headed households
were found to be more productive. The study also showed that there were differences between
male and female -households in terms of capital endowments and access to factors and inputs
(IDR,1999).

2.2 Women in Development

Rural women, who make up the majority of women in developing countries, have become
prime targets for policy makers who are variously concerned with their high fertility,
illiteracy, low labor productivity and their seeming ability to avail themselves for more
advanced technology or modes of orga nization (UNESCO, 1985). Nevertheless, the
development efforts of the last three decades which tried to solve the issues of women using
the WID approach, when viewed through the gender ”lens”, revealed that women have always
been left behind in development programs. In particular, their role has been limited to
household chores and little or no economic value was given to their contributions
(CERTWID, 1997a).

Not only that, the past development interventions too often have left women worse off relative
to men, than they were prior to development efforts (MOPED and UNICEF, 1994). This
shows that development in the real sense will come only if women participate in the
productive sphere (CERTWID, 1997b). The multiple roles women play and their
contributions to the productive sector is not reflected in national statistics. One major reason
is that only income-generating activities (field work in particular) are covered in the surveys,
while house work and other activities are often excluded (Dejene, 1989).

The difficulty lies in the interrelatedness between women’s productive, reproductive and
maintenance roles, the close identification of women’s production activities with household

11
consumption and the gender based division of labor (ONCCP, REWA and UNICEF, 1988).
The modern view of women is that of women who can successfully juggle a career with the
management of healthy and harmonious home, and actively participate in community affairs.
Even though women’s tasks at home are tiresome and time taking, their role should not be
limited to the family environment alone. However, activities outside the home should be
undertaken only when all household duties have been fulfilled. If the home is still unsettled, it
is better not to be involved with outside activities, particularly when these activities are
obligatory functions (Deri, 1989). Therefore, in the integration of women in rural
development, development planning must attempt to provide ways to ease the burden of
women’s domestic labor through a variety of public projects (Dessalegn, 1989).

2.3 Women in Food Production

Concern with both the politically destabilizing impact of the Green Revolution’s distributional
effect and the chronic state of food production in many Third World countries, gave rise to
preoccupations about rural poverty and distributional issues, which found expression in the
World Bank’s most recent policies vis-à-vis the poorer rural sectors (UNESCO, 1985). This
heralded the second phase of the Green Revolution, namely the adaptation of credit
technology packages for peasant use and the setting up of supervised small- holder projects
and out-grower schemes. Others involve food production schemes or area development
projects, where there is no relocation but the provision of “supervised “ credit and agricultural
extension to small holders. This places much of the risk on the farmer, and is a cheaper way to
obtain the labor of an entire family. Another important aspect is that the mode of exploitation
of household labor through the intensification of labor without any development of the
productive forces might have reached its intrinsic limits.

It is against this background that one must understand the imperative of increasing
productivity of peasant labor, in general and in production of food crops, in particular. In
many parts of Africa, subsistence agriculture has virtually become a female task, and as in
other parts of the Third World, male migration has created a feminization of the subsistence
sector. This effectively means increasing the labor productivity of women at all cost. In
projects which do involve new inputs as a means of increasing labor productivities, the fact
that small holders can only rely on family labor means intolerable work loads for women in

12
the absence of any measures to alleviate their already extremely heavy domestic burden
(UNESCO, 1985).

An increase in production cannot come as a result of increased work by women; on the

contrary the women’s workload must be reduced as the household becomes more productive.
This could partly be achieved by the development and introduction of technologies that
lighten the load of women’s work but there is also the fundamental need for the society’s
attitudes towards sexual division of labor to evolve towards a more egalitarian position
(UNICEF, 1989). Assisting poor rural women is the crucial element in guaranteeing both
development with equity and food in the Third World. This observation is based on several
assumptions, the two most important ones being that women are defacto food producers in
many parts of the Third World and the main constraints on their productivity are related to the
labor time involved in their daily household maintenance task. And the other assumptions are:
women’s access to income is more likely to pay welfare dividends for the community at large
than men’s income, women’s productivity and potential for income generation may be raised
with minimal capital outlays and reduction or freeing of labor time from household tasks
implies its possible diversion to income generating activities (UNESCO,1985).

2.4 Area Based Development Programs

The improvement of the status of women requires action at the national, regional, and local
levels and within families. In Ethiopia, both the TGE and UNICEF, have acknowledged the
need to strengthen women-related activities within the framework of the regular country
program development exercise as part of the efforts being made to improve the situations of
women. The activity of UNICEF is an area based development program, which is WIBS, with
special focus on women and children in different areas of the country.

The WIBS program was based upon the experiences of Rural Integrated Basic Services
(RIBS). RIBS was an area based development strategy, which provided basic services in the
then Bale, West-Gojjam, Illubabor, East Wellega, East Shoa, North Shoa, Keffa/Benchi,
Tigray and North-Omo administrative zones. RIBS sought to involve communities in needs
identification and prioritization. It assisted the government in development planning at local,
wereda, zonal and regional levels by supporting viable economic activities meant to generate

13
income and promoting the development and dissemination of appropriate technologies that
were intended to reduce the burden, and save time and energy of women.

The WIBS program was the major component of the 4th TGE and UNICEF country program
(1995-1999), where major emphasis was placed on women. Like UIBS (Urban Integrated
Basic Services) and RIBS (Rural Integrated Basic Services), WIBS (Wereda Integrated Basic
Services) was also an area based Integrated development program, but its approach focused at
wereda/community level. WIBS was planned to cover 64 weredas (both rural and urban)
within the period 1995-1999. Selection was made from all regions based on priority needs of
regions and sustainability of the programs. The strategy of WIBS includes among others, the
provision of services, which are sustainable, replicable through low cost, affordable, and
community managed technologies (TGE and UNICEF, 1994a).

Studies made by comparing RIBS and non-RIBS PAs in Gojjam and Illubabor showed that
there was no significant difference between the two areas in time use. Among the reasons
given, the main one was lack of close consultation with local women in the design of the
appropriate technology for reducing drudgery and on enhancing productivity. The
recommendations given in the study for the PAs under the study were:

• introduction of technological devices, which are intermediate between ancient stone

grinding and the modern mill;
• collection of water during rainy season from the roof, if the roof is covered with tin, if
not use of bamboo pines which extend from the apex of the roof on top of the thatch to
each corner;
• digging of a well for the household where feasible, and replacing clay vessels with
plastic jerry cans to reduce weight to be carried;
• provision of implements for hand weeding, soil preparation and cultivation with long
handles and encouraging planting in rows so that weeding would be easier;
• modif ying some methods of food preparation so that less preparation work and shorter
cooking time is required and installation of closed stoves;
• planting of fast-growing trees, where branches are systematically harvested as needed
and
• introduction of the wheeled cart pulled by donkeys or mules (UNICEF, 1990).

14
WIBS, which had the capacity and immense potential to mobilize beneficiary communities to
participate in needs identification, program planning, monitoring and evaluations was
expected to create a better situation for women in Ethiopia.

Interventions were also made by different agencies and institutions in different parts of
Ethiopia.

Basic Metals Industries and Engineering Agency (BMEIA) has been developing technologies
on post harvest, water, transport, and energy. It has also developed a mold for making plastic
water pots for women (Winrock International, 2001).

The Melkasa Agricultural Mechanization Research Center, has done some work on
developing technologies for ENSET processor, raw planters and weeders, threshers, shellers
and storage for onions and other crops.

The Home Science and Technology Department of the DEBUB University in Awassa has
incorporated appropriate technologies into its curricula with the aim of equipping students
with the required knowledge on technologies. Technologies demonstrated by the department
include, biogas cookers, fireless cookers, smokeless ovens, food driers, improved stoves,
improved mud brick rural model homes and technologies that bring about improvement in the
home environment.

Selam Technical and Vocational Center, an NGO, which has been active in the development
of technologies has been making multi crop threshers, grinding mills, butter churners,
beehives and smokers, honey extractors and transport technologies such as trailers and carts.

Similarly a project, which has been making research to develop fuel saving cook stoves since
1989 is the Cooking Efficiency Improvement and New Fuels Marketing Project (CEINFMP).
With financial input from the World Bank, the project has produced an improved charcoal
stove, a biomass stove for injera baking, and a low cost electric stove. The improved charcoal
stove, commonly known as lakech has a fuel efficiency of 25-30% over the traditional square
metal stove, while the biomass stove for injera, commonly known as Mirt has an efficiency of
45-50% over the traditional three stone injera stove(Winrock International, 2001).

15
A comparative analysis of the technology development process in two rural technology
centers and a private producer in Addis was made. It was found out that technology
development process of the two rural technology centers were similar while that of the private
producers showed slight variation. Technology development was found, among others, to be
gender neutral and biased towards the ones who can afford. While women were implicitly
assumed to benefit from the technologies developed to alleviate the workload and increase the
productivity of the farmer, no special reference was made to the particular needs and priorities
of women (Winrock International, 2001).

16
3 Methodology

3.1 Types and Methods of Data Collection

To collect information that was relevant to the objectives of the research, the following
methods were employed.
• Questionnaires designed to solicit information about, the type of activities performed by
men and women in the field and at home, manpower requirement of each job and the
frequency of doing the job in a year, were prepared and administered to participating
households. The questionnaires were filled by enumerators by interviewing farmers. The
enumerators were selected on the basis of completion of grade twelve, having a good
knowledge of the locality and speaking the Yem language in addition to Amharic and
having a good experience in data collection. Before the enumerators commenced, a
training on how to administer the questionnaire and how to register the responses was
given.
• Individual and focus group discussions have also been held. These were designed to get
explanations for the results obtained from the formal survey, and to clarify some points
that were not clear.
• Actual field observations were also made and this was meant to reduce the possibility of
missing some vital information and also to cross check the data found in the formal survey.
• Secondary data were gathered from the Wereda Bureau of Agriculture, WIBS bureau in
the wereda and Winrock International Ethiopia offices.
• Pilot survey was also conducted on households from WIBS and NWIBS sites.

Appropriate data have been gathered on the following topics.

• total number of households by age and sex

• type and quantity of produce

• resources owned (land, livestock, etc.)

• distance traveled, time taken, frequency, number of people involved to do different

activities

17
 • technology used to perform different activities

• types of activities performed, etc.

3.2 Site Selection and Sampling

Yem special wereda has a total of 33 kebeles or peasant associations (CSA, 1998). In this

wereda, the Bureau of Agriculture, UNICEF and Winrock Internationl Ethiopia had

introduced different labor and time saving technologies. These were: grinding mills; water

pumps and enset processors. The first two had been provided by UNICEF. There were also

grinding mills owned by private individuals. Enset processors had been provided by Bureau

of Agriculture of the wereda and by Winrock International Ethiopia. Out of the 33 kebeles, 6

kebeles used all the three technologies, whereas the remaining kebeles, used one or two or

none of these technologies.

From the 6 kebeles, 34 households, which adopted the technology fully were selected for the

study. From the kebeles with none of the interventions, two kebeles, which were similar with

the kebeles with the intervention, were selected. The two different groups had the same

feeding habit, household work, backyard garden, types of crops grown, average size of land

holding, fertilizer use, average number of livestock, access to income generating activities,

proximity to the market, access to transportation, etc. Their difference lies in the fact that one

was with the interventions and the other without. The two groups were compared with respect

to the introduced technologies keeping other factors constant.

The kebeles, which used the three technologies w ere Deri-ereto, Gesoni, Wongacho, Shemina

Metelow, Gurumna Angeri, and Ediya. Zemida and Meleka, the counterpart kebeles were

those without the interventions, but matching with the above kebeles in other aspects.

18
The total number of households in the study areas was 1,663 and 848 for WIBS and NWIBS

areas, respectively (CSA, 1998). But the number of households, which used the three

technologies together, had not been recorded by any of the bureaus in the area. In NWIBS

areas, the households, which traveled for a distance of one kilometer or more to fetch water,

were the ones incorporated in the sample. This was because in WIBS areas, the water points

were developed at a near distance, which was less than one kilometer to reduce time as well

as energy.

Stratified random sampling was used in the selection of the households in both areas. The

basis for stratification being distance from the nearest water point. The strata for both WIBS

and NWIBS are shown in table 1.

Table 1. Strata used for WIBS and NWIBS

WIBS
distance from water STRATA 1 STRATA 2 STRATA 3
10-20 20-30 30-50
points (in minutes)

NWIBS
distance from water 2 1.3 1
points(time for round
trip in hours)

19
3.3. Analysis of Data

Simple analytical tools such as percentages and averages were employed to describe and

analyze the data.

To find out if there is a significant mean difference between WIBS and NWIBS sites, t-test

was used in the analysis. The formula for the test was:

X1 − X 2
t=
σˆ X1 − X2

( n1 − 1) S1 + (n 2 − 1) S 2 2
2
Where σˆ 2 =
n1 + n2 − 2

σˆ 2 σˆ 2
σˆ X 1 − X 2 = +
n1 n2

Cobb-Douglas production function was also estimated in order to capture the difference in

labor productivities in farming activities between the two study areas (Dillon and Heady,

1998).
a ß ? ? ?
The Cobb Douglas production function of the form P = ? V W X Y Z was

employed

where
V= male labor hour in farming activities;
W= female labor hour in farming activities;
X= number of enset plants processed in the year;
Y= livestock ownership;
Z= farm land ownership (ha);
P= production level of cereals and pulses (qt), and
W is a constant.

The exponents are the elasticities for the respective factors

20
Since a productivity figure of any level involves sampling errors, the differences in the

productivities were evaluated in terms of errors attached to each elasticity coefficients. This

was done by using simple statistical tests, which included the following steps. First, the

elasticity of production necessary to give a marginal product in WIBS equal to the marginal

product of the same resource in NWIBS was computed. The aim was to compare Ew , the

elasticity actually derived for WIBS with Ew1, the elasticity necessary to give equal

elasticities. The value was computed in the following way.

YNW RW
EW 1 = ENW
YW RNW

Where: E NW =elasticity of NWIBS

E W1 =elasticity of WIBS, necessary to give equal elasticity as in NWIBS

E W =elasticity of WIBS

YNW =the geometric mean of output in NWIBS

YW =the geometric mean of output in WIBS

RW =the geometric mean of a particular factor in WIBS

RNW =the geometric mean of a particular factor in NWIBS

The standard error, S, for the pooled variance is computed as:

YNW RW 2
S = S 2W + S NW
YW RNW

Where:
2
S W =the variance for a particular factor in WIBS

S2NW=the variance for a particular factor in NWIBS

And the value of t was calculated as:

21
 EW − E NW (YNW RW ) YW R NW )
t=
YNW RW 2 2
SW 2 + ( ) S NW
YW RNW

To define the labor force of different age groups the man power unit (mpu)was used. The

MPU is defined as a physically and mentally healthy, average person. A person defined as a

full man power unit works eight man power hours (mph) per day (Wudnesh, 1991).

Table 2. Man Power Unit of Different Age Groups

Age group in years 7-9 10-12 13-14 15-64 65-69 70-75

Man power unit (mpu)

0.3 0.5 0.9 1.0 0.4 0.2

According to Wudnesh (1991) the labor input of household members in each activity was
calculated as follows:

MHY=T*N*F

Where

MHY=man-hour/household/year
T=time taken to do the job/day, week or month
N=number of people engaged in the job, and
F=frequency per year

22
4 Description of the Study Area

4.1 General Background

Yem is a special wereda, which is found in the Southern Nations, Nationalities and Peoples

Regional State (SNNPRS). The wereda capital Fofa is 588 Km from the regional capital

Awassa. About 70 percent of the wereda has temperate climate, while 25 percent is lowland

and the remaining 5 percent is highland. The perennial rivers in the wereda are Bore, Aya,

Saja, Laften and Tegri. The main wild lives found in the area are greater kudu, wild pig,

baboon and leopard.

The population of the wereda is 61,843, of which 31,361 are males and 30,482 are females.

The total number of households is 12,568, the average household size being 4.9. Out of these,

about 82.7 percent is male - headed and the remaining being female -headed (TGE and

UNICEF, 1995). About 43.5 % of the total population is single while 49.64, 1.88 and 4.72%

is married, divorced, and widowed respectively (CSA, 1998).

Gross enrollment ratios of the wereda population in primary school, junior secondary school

and senior secondary school are 24.4, 20.5 and 4.6 respectively (CSA, 1998).

The people of the wereda are mostly of Yemisa ethnic origin and constitute about 96 percent

of the total population. The remaining four percent of the population is composed of different

ethnic groups like Amhara, Meri, Chara, Oromo, Kolo, Gurage-sodo, Gurage-Sebat Bet,

Hadiya and Zeyise. Around 65 percent of the Yemisa population are followers of Orthodox

Christianity, and about 3 percent are Moslims.

23
The entire population of the wereda is sedentary. All of the peasant associations in the wereda

do not use improved seeds, farm implements and irrigation, while all of them use commercial

fertilizers. The major food crops and cereals grown in the area are enset, teff, wheat, maize,

peas, horse beans, barley, sorghum, beans, and nigger seed. The major types of fruits grown

are banana, peach, papaya, guava and lemon while the vegetables consist of sweet potato and

Ethiopian kale.

Out of the total number of households, about 92.2 percent own some type of livestock, while

7.4 percent do not own any. The average number of livestock per household in the wereda is

2.3, 0.12, 1.14, 0.84, 0.02, and 1.36 for cattle, equine, sheep, goat, camel and poultry,

respectively. The wereda does not have all weather roads and air service. It does not have also

postal, telephone, banking, and electricity services (TGE and UNICEF, 1995).

4.2 Physical Features

The wereda has an annual mean temperature, which ranges between 12-30°C. The annual rain

fall average is 600-1800 mm. The area has two rainy seasons- Belg and Meher.

Yem special wereda is located between 1000-3200 m.a.s.l. About 65% of the area has rugged

surface, 20% mountains, 9% valleys, 3% plateau, 2% swamps and 1% covered with water.

The major soil types of the area are red and brown/black clay loams, which account for 5 %

and 25 % respectively. The land use pattern of the area is that 61 % of the total area of 41,133

ha is used for farming, whereas grazing land, forest, bushes, rocky land and settlement

account for 23.74%, 11.95% and 0.17%, respectively (Etalemahu, et al, 1998).

24
4.3 Socio-Economic Features

4.3.1 Land and Livestock Ownership

Livestock constitutes an essential part of the farming system. It provides the only means of

production (traction power) and biological fertilizer (manure). In addition to its major role in

crop production, it is the major form of investment and asset reserve in times of crop failure.

Table 3. Livestock Ownership in WIBS and NWIBS areas

Number of Livestock

Household NWIBS WIBS Household NWIBS WIBS

number number
1 10 3 22 6 5
2 9 9 23 11 9
3 7 7 24 17 14
4 7 18 25 10 14
5 9 8 26 8 3
6 10 6 27 13 9
7 9 7 28 5 8
8 13 10 29 12 3
9 7 13 30 9 5
10 18 13 31 6 5
11 5 5 32 6 5
12 3 16 33 3 6
13 18 7 34 8 3
14 10 2 35 6
15 6 18 36 8
16 10 9 37 9
17 20 3 38 7
18 5 5 39 7
19 10 11
20 7 10
21 12 15
Total 359 284

Average 9.2 8.4

25
Table 3 shows that the average size of livestock ownership by each households is 9.2 and 8.4

for NWIBS and WIBS areas, respectively.

In the study area enset is the predominant staple food, which occupies the largest share of

homestead production. Teff, ba rley, wheat, and peas are also common in the area.

As it can be seen from Table 4, the average land size allocated for cereals and pulses is 0.65

and 0.66 ha while for enset and back-yard gardening, it is 0.24 and 0.2 ha., for NWIBS and

WIBS, respectively.

26
Table 4. Land Ownership in WIBS and NWIBS
Land Size (ha)
Enset and
Household Pulses and Backyard Household Pulses and Enset and Backyard
number (NWIBS) Cereals Gardening number (WIBS) Cereals Gardening
1 0.50 0.31 1 0.60 0.165
2 0.75 0.125 2 0.50 0.250
3 0.50 0.25 3 0.75 0.250
4 0.50 0.178 4 1.30 0.125
5 0.75 0.31 5 0.50 0.250
6 0.125 0.25 6 1.00 0.250
7 0.50 0.20 7 0.50 0.250
8 1.00 0.178 8 0.5 0.250
9 0.50 0.50 9 0.875 0.370
10 0.50 0.125 10 0.75 0.250
11 0.75 0.30 11 0.60 0.500
12 0.50 0.25 12 0.70 0.125
13 0.50 0.11 13 0.60 0.125
14 0.50 0.20 14 0.70 0.125
15 0.25 0.125 15 1.00 0.381
16 0.375 0.125 16 0.20 0.312
17 0.50 0.125 17 0.20 0.100

18 1.00 0.30 18 0.40 0.350

19 1.00 0.25 19 0.50 0.120
20 0.12 0.375 20 1.50 0.100
21 1.00 0.25 21 0.25 0.125
22 0.75 0.45 22 0.90 0.125
23 0.75 0.25 23 0.50 0.125
24 0.75 0.25 24 0.50 0.200
25 1.00 0.25 25 0.45 0.130
26 1.25 0.25 26 0.60 0.125
27 0.75 0.25 27 0.60 0.130
28 0.50 0.25 28 0.75 0.120
29 0.50 0.25 29 0.30 0.200
30 0.60 0.125 30 0.37 0.300
31 0.875 0.25 31 1.12 0.250
32 0.625 0.25 32 1.37 0.250
33 0.625 0.15 33 0.60 0.250
34 0.875 0.25 34 0.37 0.124
35 1.00 0.15
36 0.75 0.15
37 0.38 0.45
38 0.625 0.108
39 0.75 0.25
Total 25.475 9.169 22.355 6.8212

Average 0.653 0.235 0.658 0.2006

Source: Field survey

27
4.4 Income Generation

In the study area, the households generate income through selling horticultural products from

their gardens. They sell cabbage, white onion, red onion, beetroot, cauliflower, potatoes, and

Ethiopian kale. But almost all households grow cabbage, which is the main plant used for

making wet (a sauce which is eaten with injera (food-stuff), bread , or kocho ). Other products,

which they sell, are jiba (a mat made from the outer part of enset stem), shorodo (a container

made from the outer part of enset), bulla (food stuff prepared from enset) and few amounts of

kocho (food stuff prepared from enset) and zenbil (a structure used to hold things). They also

sell cereals and pulses. But because the prices are too low, the money they get is not sufficient

to cover their expenses.

And it can be observed that women have control over the sales of items, which have small

values.

4.5 Production Problems Encountered in the Study Areas

Several production related problems have been identified. Some of these are listed below.

• increased burden due to fertilizer use: Sometimes, the male farmers go to far places

to pick coffee to cover fertilizer costs if the sale of crops and animals does not cover

it;

• sometimes, the farmers sell some of the fertilizer because they needed cash badly

and this affects productivity adversely;

• farmers harvest only once i.e., they only produce during the meher season.

Individuals do not produce in belg season for fear of death or of becoming poor, or

loss of crops by birds;

• failure by farmers to use the recommended level of fertilizer;

28
 • failure in timely harvesting as a result of which post harvest losses are high;

• high fertilizer prices: the prices of fertilizers increase every time making it difficult

for farmers to procure because of their low purchasing power;

• absence of satisfactory income generation mechanism in the place and

• the prevalence of animal diseases and provision of weak veterinary services, in

addition to their high cost relative to the capacity of the farmers.

All the above problems increase the burden of women, because they are the farmers and also

they look for other income genera tion mechanisms to sustain the household.

4.5.1 The problems of Marketing in the Study Areas

In the PAs selected, the households mostly sell their products in 4 market places. These are:

Fofa, Toba, Deri, and Kesheli. From Deri to Fofa it takes 2 hours on foot, from Toba to Fofa 3

hours, and from Kesheli to Fofa, 2 hours. The markets operate two days a week in Fofa

(Thursdays and Sundays), while they operate once a week in the other three market places of

Toba (Saturdays), Deri (Mondays) and Kesheli (Sundays).

Different products appear in the market like cereals, pulses, bulla, kocho, jiba , shorodo ,

zenbil, butter, cabbage, fruits, etc.

The reasons why the people go to the market places are one for financial purposes, i.e., to sell

their products for money, which in turn is used to pay for fertilizers, to buy things for

household consumption, and the other, for social purposes. The male farmers go to the market

to drink and enjoy with their friends, while couples go for honeymooning after their wedding.

Even though a certain market may be relatively far away for a household as compared to

another market, they would go to that market to meet their need, at the expense of their time

29
and energy. They also sell their products in different markets because of the following

reasons:

• the expectation that different prices prevail in different markets;

• the need to meet friends and

• the absence of information on demand and supply.

The household’s frequency to go to the market depends, mostly among other factors, on

amount of product, the purchasing power, amount of goods left from each market trip, and

expectation of price change, which leads to selling of small amount every time a trip is taken

to the marketplace. Women’s length of stay at the market place appears to be influenced by

the speed with which their product is sold, and the intensity of social activities undertaken

around the market or at home.

The most important marketing problems observed in the study areas according to personal

interviews include:

• All households harvest and sell at the same time, which makes the price of the product

to fall

• Fertilizer repayments are required at the time of harvest, which is one of the reasons to

sell at the same time

• The supply of the products is high relative to the dema nd, i.e., most of the time the

buyers, who do not produce themselves are few in number and among the farmers it is

only the exchange of what one doesn’t produce

• To sell long after the harvest time is over, is difficult because of absence of good

storage facilities, the low amount of produce, the obligation of fertilizer repayments

and the absence of tradition to thresh and store on time. The gotera (local bin) is used

to store seeds for the next plantations and mostly to store maize.

30
Fair market transaction takes place before and after the period of the obligation time to repay

for the fertilizers. At other times, farmers sell at very low prices.

4.6 Tasks of Women and Introduction of Technologies in the Study

Areas

Women in the study areas are engaged in different activities. These are: household activities,

backyard gardening, social affairs, marketing of agricultural produce, and processing of enset.

They participate in agricultural activities directly and indirectly by providing food to people

involved in the activities like the case of debo (a labor pool system in which people call each

other to perform activities together).

To ease the tasks of women, grinding mills, water points, and enset processors were

introduced in some of the study areas. Water is fetched by paying some amount of money (ten

cents per jerrican with a capacity of twenty liters). Water fetching in the study area is carried

out by women, children and sometimes by men. Grain grinding in WIBS areas is performed

mostly by women and sometimes by children.

Enset processing is the most common activity in the study areas. Both in WIBS and NWIBS

areas processing can be done alone, together with family members or by dado (labor pool

system where neighbors call each other to perform activities). But since the task is tiresome, it

is mostly done by a group of women. Both the wereda Bureau of Agriculture and Winrock

International Ethiopia, have introduced enset processors. The former disseminated the

technology on sale basis (Birr 183 per processor) while the latter demonstrated the

technology. With respect to enset processing, the two sites practiced different methods. In the

NWIBS areas, the people used the traditional way of processing, while in the WIBS sites,

they practiced the improved method.

31
5 Results and Discussion

5.1 Activities Identified

Several activities which are performed by rural farmers have been identified. These are

grouped into five major headings: house hold activities, enset plantation, enset processing,

backyard gardening and farm activities.

5.1.1 Household Activities

Household activities include kocho baking, injera baking, preparing wet, grain grinding, water

fetching, fuel-wood fetching, washing clothes, and cleaning barns. Out of all these, the ones,

which are performed daily are kocho baking, wet making and water fetching, whereas fuel-

wood collection and barn cleaning are performed daily or once in two days depending on the

livestock owned and availability of fuel-wood. The others, injera baking, grain grinding,

washing clothes are done weekly, once or twice a month according to the habit of each

household.

The man-hours spent to perform each activity were calculated by using the following formula.

MHY=T*N*F

Where
MHY = man-hour/household/year
T = time taken to do the job/day, week or month
N = number of people engaged in the job, and
F = frequency per year

32
Table 5 Average man-hour spent on household activities in WIBS and NWIBS sites

Activities WIBS site NWIBS site

Male(%) Female(%) Male(%) Female(%)

Kocho baking 0 100 0 100

Injera baking 0 100 0 100

Wet making 0 100 0 100

Grain grinding 6 94 0 100

Water fetching 28 72 18 82

Fuelwood 41 59 71 29
fetching

Cloth washing 38 62 31 69

Barn Cleaning 28 72 36 64

Total 23 77 19 81
Source: Field survey

As the figures in both sites show kocho baking, injera baking and wet cooking were entirely

women’s job in the area, while the other activities were shared between the two sexes and still

the proportion is high for women. As data from appendix 1 show, from all the activities, fuel-

wood fetching consumed much of women’s time due to the fact that the distance traveled was

too long and the frequency of fetching was between once a day to once in two days.

33
Kocho baking also consumed much of their time because it is prepared and consumed daily.

Kocho is eaten with wet which also needs to be prepared daily and so wet making also took

much time. Water fetching occurred frequently because the water point was near to the

households. Grain grinding also occurred mostly once in a week or twice by going to the near

by grinding mill.

In WIBS study areas, fuel-wood fetching ranked first in consuming man hour. Kocho baking,

wet making, water fetching, washing clothes, barn cleaning, injera baking and grain grinding

consumed time in decreasing order. In NWIBS area, water fetching, kocho baking, fuel-wood

fetching, grain grinding, wet making, cloth washing, barn cleaning and injera baking took

more time in that order.

When we take water fetching in NWIBS area, there was on the average a need for 936.4 man

power unit (mpu) per year per household, whereas in the WIBS area the need decreased to

422.21. Similarly, in grinding grain, we can observe the same trend, i.e., the value decreased

from 599.3 mpu to 57.44 mpu.

5.1.2 Enset plantation

Enset has been in use in Ethiopia from antiquity. Its users are mostly found in the central,

south, south western and western parts of the country. In other places it is commonly known

as koba. enset, which is considered as a root crop, is similar to banana and it is sometimes

called false banana. Its scientific name is Enset ventericosum. Although wild species of enset

are distributed throughout much of central, eastern and southern Africa (as well as Asia), it is

only in Ethiopia that the plant is domesticated (Ministry of Agriculture, 1989).

34
Eenset ventericosum is widely cultivated in Ethiopia as food and fiber crop. Over 20 percent

of Ethiopia’s population depend on this plant. The importance of enset is considerably high in

that it is commonly grown in densely populated areas of the country where it is known to give

higher yield per unit area and hence capable of sustaining a large population than cereals. In

addition, enset is grown as an insurance crop for the peasant against drought and as a means

to earn cash income. This crop is also important because of its good level of tolerance to

drought and frost. The processed form of enset, kocho , has a very long storage life, which

makes enset an important security food crop (IAR, 1993).

The ownership of large enset plants and a diverse number of clones is the major criterion for

farmers in categorizing households according to different wealth status. Even though the

households with large number of enset plants and sufficient clonal diversity are food secure,

they are not necessarily secure in terms of income and livelihood. So the ownership of other

resources such as livestock and land for the production of other crops for additional income is

vital for livelihood security (Almaz, 2001).

Enset grows at an altitude between 1,600 and 3,100 meters above sea level. In addition to its

use as food, it is useful in reducing soil erosion and keeps the fertility of the soil. Under good

soil, air and health conditions, enset can attain a height of about 10 meters and circumference

of 3 meters and above. It can live from 8 to 14 years.

Different products are produced from enset. The major products are kocho and bulla , which

are used for consumption by the people in the area. They are prepared from the leaf sheath

and the corm. When processing enset, the fiber that remains is used for making mat

commonly known as jibba, and basket like structure known as shorodo in the surrounding

35
areas. The leaves of the enset plants are used for wrapping the kocho , when it is being baked.

While considering the use of enset it is worth mentioning its composition. Kocho and bulla ,

the two most important products contain a high amount of calorie, calcium, carbohydrate, and

moiture. They also conta in protein, fat and iron in small amounts (MOA, 1989).

Enset plantation involves land preparation, seedlings preparation (enset propagation) and

planting, hoeing, manuring, digging holes and transplanting seedlings. During propagation,

enset plants of four to six years are selected. They are uprooted, the pseudostem severed to

20-30 cm is cored and filled with dry humus. The corm is replanted after three to five days

close to homesteads. Within four to eight weeks as many as 40 to 200 new sprouts begin to

appear depending on the enset cloned, the soil and climate. These sprouts are kept near the

homestead for at least a year and then transplanted to another area.

Table 6 Total and average man-hours spent in enset plantation in WIBS and NWIBS sites

Activities WIBS Site NWIBS Site

Male(%) Female(%) Male(%) Female(%)

Land preparation 96 4 70 30

Seedling preparation 87 13 100 0

Seedling plantation 95 5 99 1

Hoeing 63 37 62 38

Manuring 50 50 60 40

Digging holes 93 7 99 1

Transplanting seedlin gs 22 8 99 1

Total 71 29 71 29
* Source: Field survey

36
Table 6 shows that about 71% and 29% of the work is done by men and women, , in WIBS

and NWIBS sites respectively.

5.1.3 Enset Processing

Enset processing involves selection of enset, decortica ting, squeezing, pulverizing the root,

mixing the residual with the pulverized root, burying the mixture for sometimes for

fermentation and removing unwanted liquid from the fermented dough and finally cutting the

fibers in the fermented enset to a tolerable size.

Different materials are used in the process. Except for the knife used for cutting the leaves and

for felling the plant, the other objects are wooden tools.

From focus group interview and observation, the following information about enset

processing was gathered. At harvest, leaves and older leaf sheathes are first removed from the

selected plants. The internal leaf sheaths are separated from the pseudo stem down to the true

stem, which is about 20 cm section between corm and pseudostem. Then the true stem is

separated from the underground corm. The concave side of the leaf sheath is peeled and cut

into pieces of about one meter length and split lengthwise in order to shorten the leaf sheath to

a workable size. Then the leaf sheath is decorticated using a locally made bamboo scraper

while the leaf sheath is held on an incline against a wooden plank. Women sit on the ground

and use one leg to hold the leaf sheaths in place, while in the improved method of processing

women decorticate standing. While decorticating the liquid bulla is allowed to flow into a pit

layered with enset leaves where it will remain for two or three days until the a solid

component settles to the bottom. The remaining kocho will be kept covered with enset leaves

for a week in a specially prepared place. At the same time, the corm (which is uprooted) is

37
pulverized by pounding with a dented wooden stick until only a small layer is left intact to

serve as a bowl to hold the product. Then herbs and a small amount of kocho are added to the

pulverized corm and the resulting mixture is covered with leaves and left to ferment for one

week. Pulverized corm and leaf sheath pulp which were separately fermented for one week,

are mixed thoroughly with hands or feet and left wrapped in enset leaves to ferment for a

further one week. The mixture is left open for three days before it is buried in a pit lined with

enset leaves and laid with heavy stones. The mixture stays there until the time it is ready for

consumption, which is usually between 15 to 60 days.

Both the bulla and kocho are buried together, bulla being wrapped separately and put in the

middle of the kocho. To get a good flavored kocho, the buried mix should stay for at least one

month, but when there is shortage of food it is taken out of the hole after 15 days. The bulla

should stay at least for 3 months, otherwise, it will have a sour taste. When the kocho is ready

to be eaten, it is taken out of the hole and squeezed using kacha (tiny fibers used to make rope

and other stuffs) and a long tapering wooden stand with pointed tip. After the unwanted liquid

is removed it is chopped until the fibers become very fine. Thereafter, it is baked and made

ready for eating.

Enset processing occurs in different months of the year, twice on the average in the months of

December, February and around June. But the frequency differs from household to household.

38
Table 7 Total and average man-hours needed for ‘enset’ processing in WIBS and NWIBS sites

Activities WIBS Site NWIBS Site

Male(%) Female(%) Male(%) Female(%)

Preparation(selecting and 44 56 35 65
felling the enset , digging
hole, etc.)

Decorticating, squeezing, mixing, 3 97 9 91

burying

Finalizing the process 0 100 0 100

Total 3 97 4 96
* Source: Field survey

Table 7 shows that in one processing cycle, over 96% of the work is done by women, and less

than 5% is done by men.

5.1.4 Backyard Gardening

The households in the study areas participated in backyard gardening in their spare time. They

produced vegetable s and root crops, which were both for consumption and selling purposes.

Data collected for backyard products in Table 8 show the amount brought to the market after

deducting household consumption in both areas. And on average they produce 109.094 and

64.41 Kilograms for WIBS and NWIBS respectively.

39
Table 8. Quantity of Backyard Produce for Sale
House hold WIBS House hold NWIBS
number Amount(kg) number Amount(kg)
1 372.4 1 10
2 55.4 2 15
3 330 3 216
4 100 4 20
5 200 5 20
6 0 6 144
7 200 7 15
8 50 8 10
9 69.4 9 10
10 93 10 15
11 80 11 0
12 148 12 0
13 40 13 0
14 0 14 20
15 0 15 10
16 43 16 20
17 96 17 288
18 150 18 144
19 70 19 0
20 20 20 144
21 90 21 72
22 0 22 100
23 15 23 50
24 100 24 12
25 70 25 15
26 100 26 144
27 230 27 216
28 150 28 0
29 155 29 0
30 200 30 50
31 192 31 72
32 150 32 72
33 120 33 72
34 20 34 144
35 100
36 0
37 100
38 120
39 72
Total 3709.2 2512
Average 109.094 64.41
Source: Field survey

40
5.1.5 Farm Activities

Farm activities include land preparation, fertilizer spreading, ploughing, sowing, weeding,

harvesting, threshing, transporting and storage. As shown in Table 9, about 81% and 78% of

these tasks were performed by men in WIBS and NWIBS areas, respectively, while about

19% and 22% were done by women. The women participated mostly during weeding and

sowing. They also participated during harvesting and threshing to a lesser extent. When

performing some of these activities, the work was done by debo. In this case, the role of the

women was mostly limited to preparing food for lunch for the group.

Table 9. Total and average man-hour spent in farm activities in WIBS and NWIBS Sites
Activities WIBS Site NWIBS Site
Male (%) Female Male Female
(%) (%) (%)
Land preparation 99.9 0.1 100 0
Fertilizer spreading 100 0 100 0
Ploughing 96.6 3.4 100 0
Sowing 68 32 58 42
Weeding 60 40 54 46
Harvesting 93 7 98 2
Threshing 92 8 97 3
Transporting 73 27 66 34
Storing 64 36 66 34
Total 81 19 78 22
* Source: Field Survey

41
Table 10 Mean difference of average man -hour spent on farm activities

WIBS NWIBS

Average man-hour per house 274.7059 265.6

hold per year(female)

t-value 0.80779

Data of appendix 4 were analyzed using the t-test to find out whether there is significant

difference in man-hour spent in WIBS and NWIBS (Table 10). The t value shows that there is

no significant difference in women’s labor hours spent in the two areas.

5.1.6 The Gender Division of Labor in the Study Areas

In both places female farmers participated actively in sowing, weeding, transporting and

storing of cereals and pulses. Whereas male farmers were very active in land preparation,

ploughing, weeding, harvesting and threshing.

With respect to enset production, female farmers were active in spreading of manure. And

male farmers were active in the remaining activities. When the processing part is considered,

it is associated with women. All activities except cutting the enset were performed by women.

Decision making on when to harvest and how to use the products was made by the senior

woman of the household. Men usually decided when to clone, replant and where to plant the

enset. In crop production and marketing, men had control over majority of the sales, even

though women had also control over the sale of some crops.

42
5.2 Burdensome Tasks

Burdensome tasks are those which take much of the women’s time and, which are at the same

time tiresome. They are continuous, i.e., they take long time and appear frequently. When

performing these tasks, women get exhausted. Grinding by hand, carrying water from long

distances, traveling long distances to fetch fire-wood were the major burdensome tasks

identified.

5.3 Impact of Introduced Technologies

Different tasks have been observed in the two study areas. Among these tasks grain grinding,

fetching water and kocho baking have shown differences in the man-hour requirements in the

two areas. The three tasks took most of women’s time in NWIBS sites as compared to their

requirement in WIBS areas. Observation and focus group interview among different groups

confirmed that the differences in the first two activities resulted from the interventions of the

technologies.

5.3.1 Water Fetching

Information gathered from observation and interview showed that, water in the selected

households, is used for drinking, cooking, washing clothes, taking bath, watering gardens,

brewing arakie (local drink made of millet, barley or maize), tella (local drink made from

millet, or maize) and borde (local drink made from teff or sorghum). And the households in

WIBS site fetched water from nearby springs and water pumps whereas in NWIBS,

households fetched water from rivers and springs that were far away.

43
In comparing the difference in labor hour between the two selected areas, the man-hour has

been used as a common unit. The length of time taken was 9 months to avoid the effect that

the presence of rain can cause. The average man-hour is calculated per 9 months per

household using the formula:

AMH=T*N*F*270

Where

AMH=average man-hour per 270 days per household

T=time(hr) required for fetching water/day

N=number of people involved (mh)

F=the frequency of fetching water

After the average man-hour requirement was calculated for the two areas, t-test was used to

see if there was a significance difference. Using data of appendix 1, table 1 and table 2, the t-

value for fetching water for the two areas and the average man-hour requirement was

calculated. The results are given in Table 11.

Table 11 Mean difference in water fetching between WIBS and NWIBS sites

WIBS NWIBS

Average man-hour per house 422 936.44

hold per 270 days

t-value 5.16

The calculated t-value shows that man-hour requirement in the WIBS areas for fetching water

was significantly different from the NWIBS area at, 0.01 significance level. This means that

women in NWIBS sites spent more than double the time spent by those living in WIBS area.

44
5.3.2. Grinding Grain

The grains that were commonly ground were barely, maize, wheat, teff and beans. The

households ground the different grains for baking injera and bread, making wet, and brewing

arakie , borde and tella. In both of the study areas, it was learnt that, the people want their

grain to be ground frequently in small amounts.

For measuring different grains and pulses, tin cups were the most commonly used units.

Different cups were used for different grains. They generally vary in weight from 180 grams

for maize and lentil to 280 grams for wheat, teff, peas and beans.

Another measuring unit is the feresula, which is also common in the area. One Feresula is

equivalent to 17 kilograms.

After the introduction of grinding mill in some areas, differences have been observed with

respect to the man-hour requirement for grinding. The average man-hour per household per

year was calculated as a unit of comparison between the two areas. The average man-hour per

household per year was calculated using the following formula.

AMH=MH*N*12

Where

AMH = average man-hour per household per year

MH = man-hour required per cup of grain ground per month (in a house)
N = number of cups of grains ground in a month

The average man-hour requirement and the t-value for fetching water for the two sites was

calculated from data of Appendix 1, Table 1and 2 and these are given in Table 12

45
 Table 12 Mean difference of grain grinding between WIBS and NWIBS sites

WIBS NWIBS
Average man-hour per 57.44 599.4
household per year

t-value 6.3557

The resulting value of t=6.4 was compared with theoretical value with 71 degrees of freedom.

The computed value was found to be significant at 0.01 level of significance.

5.3.3 Enset Processing

With respect to enset processing, the two sites practiced different methods. In the NWIBS

areas, the people used the traditional way of processing while in the WIBS sites they practiced

the modern method.

Difference Between Modern and Traditional Methods of Processing Enset

In the traditional way of processing, the task is performed in a sitting position with one leg

lifted up to firmly fix the leaf sheath on to the decorticating plank. Due to this, women

(especially pregnant women) felt very tired after work. Decorticating was done while sitting,

which brought the women to be in contact with the fluid and this in turn, made them

uncomfortable. In general, results from observation and focus group interview showed the

following points regarding the traditional and modern methods.

Traditional Method of Processing

• The right leg is used to make firm the material meant for decortication and this

made the women, especially the pregnant ones, very tired.

46
 • Decorticating while sitting and squeezing using the feet creates uncomfortable

conditions because of coming in contact with the material.

• The fiber which is produced is not straight.

• The quality of the bulla is not good, i.e., it is mixed with pieces of fiber and dirt

found around the place of processing.

The Modern Way of Processing

• Women decorticate while standing, which makes the process to be done easily.

• The fluid does not touch the women, which creates good condition for work.

• The fiber produced is straight.

• The manual machine to squeeze the residual to get bulla is effective in labor

conversion.

• The quality of the bulla obtained is good.

Bamboo scraper is used in both ways of processing and it gets broken easily.

Result from focus group interview showed that there are also some problems associated with

the modern decorticating machine. These are:

• its heaviness to carry;

• the cost of buying;

• the locker gets lose easily and

• inadequate number of decorticating machines

It was also found that there was a difference in man-hour requirements in the two study areas.

This was analyzed using the average man-hour requirement for the task per household per

year. The average was obtained as

AMH=T*N*E

47
Where

AMH=Average man-hour per household per year

T=Time(hr) needed to process one enset

N=Number of people involved in the activity

E=Number of enset plants processed per year

From data of Tables 5 and 6 of Appendix 3, the following information was generated. As

shown in Table 13, the average man hour per household per year was 714 for WIBS and 1058

for the NWIBS.

Table 13 Mean difference in enset processing between WIBS and NWIBS sites

WIBS NWIBS

Average man-hour per 713.7 1058

house hold per year

t-value 0.02859

From the value of t, it could be inferred that there is no significant difference between the two

sites in the time used for enset processing at 0.05 level of significance.

Table 14 shows the man hour needed for enset processing, per enset per household. And it

was found that in WIBS area it was about 7.0 whereas in NWIBS it was 9.2. From this result,

it could be inferred that in WIBS area, one person can process from 1.5 up to 2 ensets per day,

whereas in NWIBS areas, the same person can process only 1 enset per day.

48
Table 14. Man-hour required for enset processing in WIBS and NWIBS areas
House-hold number of Man hour House-hold number of Man hour
number enset per year number enset per year
(WIBS) processed (NWIBS) processed
per year per year
1 18 126 1 24 420
2 24 256 2 24 240
3 6 48 3 28 240
4 27 72 4 16 176
5 12 84 5 24 132
6 30 144 6 9 96
7 24 225.6 7 6 120
8 16 216 8 8 160
9 12 54 9 30 252
10 21 90 10 32 384
11 12 72 11 16 144
12 20 96 12 27 192
13 20 120 13 18 108
14 21 120 14 18 88
15 18 126 15 30 270
16 9 72 16 24 168
17 24 128 17 30 220
18 25 96 18 24 126
19 18 60 19 18 180
20 30 163.8 20 30 198
21 36 144 21 22 192
22 30 120 22 27 180
23 36 144 23 24 192
24 16 127.2 24 20 180
25 40 576 25 30 540
26 12 84 26 21 240
27 18 288 27 24 180
28 24 216 28 27 198
29 18 144 29 16 192
30 12 90 30 18 180
31 18 144 31 24 216
32 24 126 32 14 96
33 30 192 33 12 120
34 24 288 34 24 144
35 15 216
36 24 288
37 10 90
38 16 96
39 15 96
Total 725 5052.6 819 7550
Average 6.97 9.22
Source: field survey

49
From the information gathered from formal survey, focus group interview and observation,

there is a strong justification that showed the extra time gained in WIBS area had been used

for producing vegetables and root crops in the backyards. The average production of roots and

vegetables for selling purpose per household per year was used to compare the difference

between mean productions in WIBS and NWIBS areas. Summarized information on backyard

production is given in Table 15.

Table 15 Average amount of backyard produce for sale in WIBS and NWIBS
WIBS NWIBS
Average Weight of roots and 109.09 64.41
vegetables (kg) for sale for a
household per year
t-value 2.3556

From the above value of t, it can be inferred that a significant difference existed in the

production levels of roots and vegetables in the two areas at 0.05 level of significance. In fact,

discussion made with women in WIBS area confirmed the above result. One woman in this

area said “previously, let alone producing this much in our backyards for sale, we did not

even have enough time to produce for our own consumption”.

5.3.4 Production Functions for the Two Areas

Production function is the mathematical relationship between the quantity of output and the

quantities of inputs required in the production process. It is represented as Y= F( X1 ,X2 ,…,

Xn), where Y is the output and the Xis are the inputs ( Heady and Dillon, 1998).

It is known that female farmers in WIBS area have access to labor and time saving

technologies. And it is also found that these technologies have helped them to get spare time

50
and energy as compared to the NWIBS areas. Fitting production functions in the two areas

could show the marginal productivities and which in turn show differences between them if

there is any, which could be a result of the freed labor.

The Cobb-Douglas production function was estimated for WIBS and NWIBS, respectively as

follows.

P=0.744 V0.57 W0.111 X0.036 Y-0.049 Z0..384

(1.070) (.143) (0.08) (0.114) (0.119) (0.164)

0.46 0.324 -0.036 -0.092 0.251

P =-3.566 V W X Y Z

(0.884) (0.162) (0.123) (0.094) (0.074) (0.110)

Where,

V=Male labor hour in farming activities (mpu)

W=Female labor hour in farming activities (mpu)

X=Number of enset plants processed in the year

Y=Live -stock ownership (tlu)

Z=Farm Land ownership (ha)

P=Production level of cereals and pulses (qt)

The numbers in the brackets being the standard errors of the regression estimates.

51
The Production Function for the WIBS Area

From the estimated function for WIBS, it could be observed that male labor was the most

important factor as it affected gross output significantly (p<0.01). The other important factor

was farm land (size), which affected output positively and significantly (2 percent). The

remaining variables, female labor, livestock ownership, and number of enset plants processed

in a year, were found to be marginal in influencing output.

The Production Function for the NWIBS Area

The estimated production function for NWIBS showed that the most important factor which

affected output level significantly (1 percent) was male labor. Female labor and farm land size

also affected output at 7 and 10 percent, respectively. The other factors specified in the model

had minimal effect in influencing output.

The adjusted coefficient of multiple determination is a statistic which gives the proportion of

the variation in the output observations explained by the fitted function. Correction has been

made for the size of the sample studied. The values were 87.3 and 80.3 percent for WIBS and

NWIBS, respectively, with standard errors of 0.2681 and 0.2210. In both cases, the estimates

were more than three times of their standard errors. Therefore, the values were significant at

1% level. One can argue that the majority of the variability is captured by the regressed

function.

52
The F-test, which tests the overall significance of the regression estimates was also calculated

as 46.4 and 31.9 for WIBS and NWIBS areas, respectively. In both cases, the values were

highly significant (p<0.01).

For each input resource , the estimated coefficients (elasticities) indicate the expected

percentage increase or decrease in production that would occur if the amount of the input

resource was increased or decreased by 1 percent other input factors being held constant. And

because of the models' nature, the estimates of the elasticities remain unchanged over the

range of input levels to which the function is fitted and to which it might be applied.

On the other hand, the sum of the elasticities is an indication of the returns to scale under the

assumption that no relevant input factors have been excluded. The sums of the estimates were

1.052 and 0.907 for WIBS and NWIBS areas, respectively. These results imply the existence

of constant returns to scale in the operation of the farms. This shows that a proportional

change (increase or decrease) in the levels of all of the inputs together will bring a

proportional change (increase or decrease) in the level of the output.

Each of the elasticities for the two areas, except for enset and livestock, was less than one -

indicating that diminishing returns hold true for the particular resource. That is, a 1 percent

increase in input or use of the particular resource results in an increase in the level of

production by less than 1 percent. Whereas decreasing returns (an increase in input level

resulting in a decrease in the level of output) was shown in livestock estimates in both areas

and that of enset production in NWIBS area.

53
Livestock ownership, which was expected to influence output pos itively, had negative and

insignificant impact. This, perhaps, has something to do with an increase in the sale of

fertilizers when there were large numbers of livestock, which were sold at the time of

repayment. Number of enset plants processed per year was also expected to influence output

negatively and significantly, but in WIBS it showed a positive effect. This could be due to the

fact that some households tend to save enset at the expense of grains.

5.3.4.1 Tests of Differences in Marginal Productivities of Factors

Table 16 Marginal productivities of resources in WIBS and NWIBS

NWIBS WIBS t-value

labor(male) -0.08
NWIBS 0.636
WIBS 0.541
labor(female) 0.0000043
NWIBS 0.132
WIBS 0.347
enset -0.014
NWIBS 0.065
WIBS -0.035
livestock 0.001
NWIBS -0.099
WIBS -0.072
land -0.788
NWIBS 0.566
WIBS 0.256

The figures in the middle two columns of Table 12 are the elasticity coefficients which would

have been necessary, considering the mean quantity of resource and product in the area of

comparison, to give a marginal productivity equal to that computed in the area of contrast. For

54
example, the elasticity of 0.541for male labor in NWIBS (as compared to the NWIBS sample

coefficient of 0.46) would have been necessary to give a marginal product of 5.97 quintals,

which is the WIBS area average, in NWIBS (as compared to the sample prediction of 5.83

quintals for NWIBS). In comparing the 0.541 elasticity, as a constant, against the actual

elasticity of 0.46 in a null hypothesis sense, we obtain a value of t=-0.08; a value which is not

significant at an acceptable probability level for t.

Considering the quantity of resources used, it is concluded that mean marginal productivities

in NWIBS were not significantly lower tha n in WIBS. So the assumption that the released

labor of female will be transferred to agricultural activities, which will be reflected through

increment in their marginal productivity did not meet its target here.

55
6 Summary, Conclusion and Recommendation

6.1 Summary and Conclusion

In the study areas, women participated in household activities, enset plantation, enset

processing and farm activities. Most of the tasks identified under each group took much of the

time and labor women.

Technological interventions were made in one of the study areas to ease the burdens for

women. The interventions were made in grinding grain, fetching of water and processing of

enset Comparison between the areas with and without the interventions indicated that

women’s burden in the areas with the intervention has been significantly reduced with respect

to the man-hour requirements of the two tasks (grain grinding and fetching of water).

Agricultural activities in the area were performed by debo or dado . Here the women

participated mostly in sowing, weeding, carrying and storing. They rarely participated in the

preparation of the land, ploughing, fertilizer spreading and harvesting. In enset production

women were active in the spread of manure and almost all of the processing activity was done

by women. Also gender divisions in decision making depends on who is involved in what

task.

In both of the study areas, the agricultural productivity was almost the same. Thus, the extra

time that resulted from the introduction of labor and time-saving technologies in WIBS area

was not transferred to the production of cereals and pulses. But vegetables and root crops

production was observed to be more in WIBS area than NWIBS, which could be, as some

women groups said, due to the spare time gained by women.

56
Besides the economic gain, it had also created leisure time for women, which, in turn, meant

more time for caring for their children and their own health.

Therefore, even though the burden of women was reduced through the introduction of

grinding mills, water pumps and enset processor, much of their labor was not transferred to

agricultural activities as hypothesized. This was due to the following factors,

§ The labor pool system makes use of the debo and the dado practices in which the

people were provided with food and drinks. This implies that the women started

cooking the day before the farming task was performed until lunch time approached in

the morrow. Then, they took the food to the field and served to the group of people in

the debo . Finally, they returned the utensils to their home and came back to assist in

the field. So, the spare labor time could not be transferred to agricultural activities in

the exact sense of the word, i.e., unless their indirect participation in the farming

activity is taken into account.

§ In both areas, when there was farming activity, other activities could not be done. For

instance, when there was a need to grind during that particular day, women stayed all

night before doing the task so that they could be free for the day.

§ The time of processing of enset was different from the time of farming activities, i.e.,

even if there was spare time during the processing, it was not used for farming

activities.

§ Due to the nearness of the garden relative to the far ming field, in which women

involve in the garden activities while doing another household tasks.

57
Two of the technologies introduced, i.e., grinding mill and water points, appeared to offer

very promising results in decreasing women’s work load. However, enset processing did not

yield a significant difference as expected. This may be because of unsuitable design of the

technology, the low purchasing power of the sample households, and the way in which the

processing activity was organized.

58
6.2 Recommendation

With respect to enset processor, the following points are in order.

• The organization should be in such a way that more people have access to it so that

there will not be unemployed person while a group is working together.

• The price of the processor should be within the purchasing power of the farmers.

• The number of the modern enset processors should be increased.

• The bamboo sticks used to scrap the material to be decorticated should be replaced by

hard materia ls like steel.

The introduction of fuel-saving stoves would reduce the burden of women in fetching
firewood. Intervention should also be made with respect to firewood fetching, kocho baking
and wet making.

In farming activities, weeding takes much of both female and male labor hours. So, the

introduction of herbicides in the area would bring a significant reduction in the labor allocated

for the activity.

The production and sale of vegetables and root crops should also be encouraged, among other

things , through:

• construction of feeder roads connecting to the main road, which connects Addis Ababa

and Jimma. By doing this, the number of buyers would increase and this in turn, would

improve product prices.

The Ministry of Agriculture should, through its development agents, create awareness about

the advantages of planting crops during belg rains.

59
There is a strong belief in the area, that people would die, or become poor if they produced

more than their neighbors. Such beliefs are counterproductive and should be abolished

through educating the farmers.

60
References

Almaz Negash. 2001. Diversity and Conservation of Enset (Enset ventricosum welw
cheesman) and its Relation to Food and Livestock Security in South-western Ethiopia.
Wageningen.

Center for Research, Training and Information for Women in Development, 1997a. Bi–annual
publication Vol.4.No.2. Addis Ababa.

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Appendices

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