Gender Roles in Production and Marketing within the Vegetable-Agroforestry System in Bukidnon

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Gender Roles in Production and Marketing within
the Vegetable-Agroforestry System in Bukidnon

• Ma. Elena Chiong-Javier, Ph.D.
• Social Development Research Center
• De La Salle University-Manila

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This paper isbased on findingsfrom a
collaborative research on Agroforestry and
SustainableVegetable Production in Southeast
Asian Watersheds(funded by USAID through
Virginia Techs SANREM III Program and
spearheaded by North Carolina AT University)
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• Research Goals alleviate poverty and food
  scarcity and reduce environmental degradation
  through economically-viable, resource-conserving
  technologies and gender-friendly socioeconomic
  policies that will reward especially small women
  and men farmer-stakeholders
• Objectives
• T Technology (sustainable profitable VAF
  integration)
• M Market (market value chain)
• P Policy (promotive options and frameworks)
• E Environmental Socioeconomic Impact
  (assessment)
• G Gender (improved womens participation
  welfare)
• S Scaling Up (VAF management dissemination)
• Multiple partnerships involving institutions in
  the US, Vietnam, Indonesia, the Philippines,
  including WAC, WVC (at least 28 scientists)

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The DLSU-SDRC Involvement

• Market value chain research on vegetable-agrofores
  try (VAF) products in Barangay Songco, Lantapan
  Municipality, Bukidnon
• Gender studies, especially womens participation
  in VAF production and marketing

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Features of Songco (study site)

• - One of 14 barangays in Lantapan, situated
  within Manupali Watershed which in turn comprises
  a substantial part of Mt Kitanglad Range Natural
  Park (protected area) a noted vegetable basket,
  supplying urban markets in CDO, Davao, Cebu, and
  Manila.
• - Remembered as 80 forested until logging
  started in 1950s
• - In-migration and socioeconomic development
  efforts speeded up rate of forest conversion and
  changed land use patterns
• - High elevation (averaging 800 masl)
• - Land classification 63 timberland, 37 AD

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Site features

• Longer rainy season (May-December) and many
  ground water resources
• 1st class soil types suitable for agriculture
• Moderate to severely-rolling slopes (70-80
  quarter slopes)
• Severe erosion potential estimated at 40
• 2002 population 2,947 persons (46 women and 54
  men) in 568 households
• Land uses 81.6 forestry, 17.1 agricultural,
  1.3 industrial/agro-industrial and residential
• Private agricultural lands are predominantly
  vegetable gardens trees are along boundaries or
• contours (fewer no. of purely AF farms
  compared to monocropped vegetable gardens)

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Site features.

• Slopes than can be plowed are usually planted to
  vegetables (top 5 Chinese cabbage or umbok,
  beans, cabbage, tomato, potato other popular
  preferences - bell pepper, carrot, sayote,
  sweetpeas, eggplant))
• Steeper areas or bakilid are used for AF
  species including eucalyptus, acacia mangium,
  musizi, falcata trees, assorted fruit trees and
  rootcrops like sweet potatoes, taro, cassava
• Mostly unpaved and rugged roads
• 5 waiting sheds serve as bagsakan (collection
  point weighing station) found on main barangay
  road
• Agriculture-based ecocomy majority of households
  grow vegetables for the market

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Gender Role Findings1. Men are the dominant
labor force in almost all niches of the
agricultural (vegetable) production cycle
women produce subsistence crops and cut-
flowers in home gardens.

• Mainly Men
• Land preparation (97)
• Planting (77)
• Crop management/
• watering/weeding (79)
• Fertilizer application (92)
• Pest control (95)
• Harvesting (84)

• Mainly Women
• On-farm meal preparation
• Home gardening

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2. Timber production is also a predominantly
male task female participation is limited to
tree care.

• 3. Men rather than women control the following
  agricultural domains
• Farm-level decision making, viz., purchase of
  inputs (66) timing of harvest (58)
• Involvement in farmers organizations,
  associations or cooperatives (69-100)
• Participation in agricultural training
  extension (54).

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• 4. However, women are actively
• engaged in obtaining financing or capital for
  farm inputs and labor requirements.
• 5. Male spouses dominate in post-harvest tasks of
  sorting, grading, transporting VAF products.
• 6. Vegetable marketing is dominated more by women
  but timber marketing is done by men.
• 7. AF crop preferences are also gendered abaca,
  coffee, falcata, eucalyptus gmelina for men
  corn, banana, rootcrops, cut flowers for women.
  

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Findings on Women Marketers

• Known as biyahidors (one who buys-and-sells)
• Handle mostly micro vegetable trading vending
  enterprises (it is the men who are in large-scale
  trading)
• Study subjects are mostly married, have been in
  the trade for 8-40 yrs.
• Failures in vegetable gardening (poor harvest,
  unprofitable income, lack of capital, fluctuating
  market prices) pushed them to try selling their
  own produce before venturing to buy other
  farmers crops for sale to the market

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• Market participation sustained by economic
• profitability of vegetable marketing
  informal social-market alliances of women
  biyahidors.
• Carry 4-5 varieties of vegetables in their stocks
  (umbok is favored followed by carrots, potatoes,
  cauliflower, eggplant, beans, bell pepper/atsal,
  chayote, broccoli, squash)
• Goods procured from an average of 6 regular
  (suki) suppliers, mostly friends, neighbors, and
  kinsmen who deliver goods to biyahidors house.

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Women biyahidors

• Weekly revolving capital of P1000-6000
• -covering cost of goods, hauling fee
  (P5/sack), trucking (P35/sack), market stall
  rental or bodega fee (P5/sack)
• Gross ROI on lower-priced (less than P10/k)
  vegetables is generally 100 more expensive
  goods earn lesser
• Main business problems
• Lack of capital borrowing from usurers
• Failure to recover capital due to selling on
  credit or at a loss
• Helplessness over fluctuating market prices
• Poor quality of goods due to mishandling/bad
  roads poor
• command over prices
• Overall difficulty of sustaining business

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Women biyahidors

• Some business practices/strategies to safeguard
  investment
• Keep standard entitlement biyahidor can crop off
  less than 25 (may be negotiated by supplier)
  of the farmgate price/kilo to account for
  spoilage during transporting
• Stretch capital by going to suppliers farm and
  purchase at farm gate prices
• Be present at harvest time to monitor quality,
  help sort/classify, oversee packing/sacking, and
  ensure the sale does not go to another trader
• Be willing to travel long distance to procure
  supplies in scarcity or in demand
• Cultivate suki relationships with suppliers and
  buyers
• Maintain low selling prices to attract buyers
• Choose cash buyers over those who buy on credit

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Summary and Implications

• Gender considerations must be considered in
  helping improve the lives of small upland farmers
  and marketers farm roles are gender
  differentiated and vary by crop.
• Amidst increasing commercial/market influences,
  farm roles in the upland VAF system still reflect
  a persistently traditional pattern with men
  assuming most of the productive tasks and women
  lending support (but they dominate in
  reproductive/home- and child-related work).

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• Thus it seems that any assistance to increase
  farm productivity, whether for vegetables or tree
  crops, will continue to be cornered by men
  (because they occupy almost all niches) unless
  and until greater efforts are exerted to really
  target women stakeholders.
• Because timber marketing is a male role, any
  development of tree-based market enterprises
  shall also remain male-directed and oriented
  unless more women become involved in this sphere.

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• However, since women and vegetable marketing are
  linked, it follows that the development of
  vegetable-related market enterprises shall most
  likely impact directly and positively on womens
  welfare.
• The needs of this upland women sector include
  access to micro-financing, efficient updated
  market information, simplified business
  management strategies, and formal organization.
  

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Maraming Salamat. Thank You!