2.2 LIVELIHOOD AND WOMEN.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PROBLEM

Women work two-thirds of the world’s working hours, and produce half of the world’s food, yet earn only ten per cent of the world’s income, and own less than one per cent of the world’s property. (UN)
It is cultural. The women do not own land. Yet they are the undeclared beasts of production. They till the land, keep the homes, prepare the food and feed the households. Yet it is the men that decide what is produced. Because they are the cash handlers, the men prefer cash crops such as coffee and vanilla. So the in the end, when the cash crops are produced, the men sell off the crop and waste the proceeds. Polygamy is the normal situation. Polygamy comes with soaring birth rates. The children further stretch the nutrition requirements of the home. Malnutrition sets in and infant Mortality rates soar due to decreased immunities.
With livelihood, it is important to see how ‘gender’ is approached and integrated into community discussions. It is essential to analyze male-female roles and power relations. The analyses of daily tasks of women and men using the 24 hour analysis tool seen in a number of KCF REFLECT circle records, and from interviews, reveal that women are already over laden with tasks associated with production, marketing and home care.
There is more need in carrying out training’s in a) better agricultural production especially non labour intensive agronomies b) Gender Mainstreaming and c) Nutrition and Early childhood development and legume agronomies d) growth monitoring of 0-6 years children and immunization campaigns. e) Post harvest handling and agribusiness promotion f) Emergency Food and seed relief.

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