Female Farmers

This week, I will be discussing smallholder female farmers and groundwater irrigation issues that affect them.

Women farmers can benefit from groundwater irrigation, however, they traditionally have no right to inherit land. This puts them in a disadvantaged position due to lack of land tenure and it also makes it difficult for female farmers to obtain loans and thereby equipment for irrigation (Villholth, 2013: 381).

Furthermore, female-headed households tend to have smaller plots of land available to irrigate. This means that manual methods for lifting water are often common and women tend to have a smaller labour force available than a male-headed household. This is generally due to the fact that female-headed households are usually smaller (Villholth, 2013: 381). 

As they are disproportionately responsible for household chores, women also have less time available for agricultural activities than men (Van Koppen, 2013: 841), which, overall, means that female farmers are at a distinct disadvantage and face great difficulties due to the unequal experiences they have.

There is already evidence available indicating that in grant schemes where women are favoured, the overall communities benefit (Villholth, 2013) 381). However, an article by Van Koppen et al., (2013) states that it is not yet clear whether closing the gender gap would aid the achievement of water-policy goals or hinder it. Their argument is that as men are often assumed to be better technology adopters, efforts to provide equal opportunities to men and women could actually reduce the possible success of only targeting men (Van Koppen et al., 2013: 840).

However, the same study does mention that there is research showing women in rural Africa are as productive as men and so this particular study concluded that women are proactive irrigation adopters despite the difficulties they face. Furthermore, Van Koppen et al.’s paper suggests that by removing gender-specific issues, water policy makers would aid more efficient water management by helping all small-holder farmers, female and male, and encourage more groundwater irrigation at these small-holder farms, as well as addressing the gender-policy goals of that particular country at the same time (Van Koppen et al., 2013: 850).

As will be discussed in a later week, empowering women in all aspects of water management has shown to be incredibly effective, and groundwater irrigation has been no different. It is my opinion that gender equality must not be ignored in the improvement of water management.

References:
Van Koppen, B., Hope, L., & Colenbrander, W. (2013). Gender aspects of smallholder private groundwater irrigation in Ghana and Zambia. Water International, 38(6), 840-851.

Villholth, K., 2013. Groundwater irrigation for smallholders in Sub-Saharan Africa - a synthesis of current knowledge to guide sustainable outcomes. Water International, Vol. 38, 369-391