Preface
Certainly, ‘home and mother’ are written over every phase of neolithic agriculture 
and not least over the new village centers...Women’s presence made itself felt in 
every part of the village: not least in its physical structures, with their protective 
enclosures...in the house and the oven, the byre and the bin, the cistern, the storage 
pit, the granary and from there pass on to the city, in the wall and the moat, and 
all inner spaces, from the atrium to the cloister. House and village, eventually 
the town itself, are woman writ large. (Lewis Mumford, The City in History: Its 
Origins, Its Transformation and Its Prospects, p. 12, 1961, Harcourt, Brace and 
World, New York)
A major motive for the commissioning and writing of this book was the 
recognition of two contradictory realities. On the one hand, we know from 
different kinds of study the key role that women have played in agriculture 
– from its emergence ten thousand years ago to current practice. We also 
recognize that agriculture has been intimately linked to the growth of urban 
settlements, and that women have been central to that growth, especially 
because of their primary contribution to the food security of urban families, 
either by virtue of their own food production or through trade. On the other 
hand, food production and food security have been given extremely limited 
attention in the history of urban development and planning, a fact which 
has contributed to the invisibility of women’s role in provisioning cities with 
food. 
Fortunately, urban food production and its contribution to the food 
security of low-income households within and around cities have begun to 
receive more serious research and development attention over the past 25 
years. Studies have begun to quantify the contributions of women and men 
to various types of urban agriculture, and results confi rm the centrality and 
diversity of women’s roles, particularly in Africa. In many cases the studies 
suggest that gender roles typically associated with rural-based social structures 
are often transformed in the city, because urban agriculture is embedded in 
a wide range of complex social and economic processes in and around the 
city to which individuals and households have to adjust. They also highlight 
the fact that urban agriculture is embedded in ecological processes, producing 
both benefi ts and risks to human health, with important gender-related 
implications. These factors reveal the need for research and development tools 
that contribute to more detailed understanding of the roles of women and men 
in urban food production, so that research and development organizations 
can improve their support for this livelihood strategy in the future. 
xiv WOMEN FEEDING CITIES
This was the common recognition shared by two leading actors in the fi eld 
of urban agriculture research and development which led to the publication of 
this book. The Cities Farming for the Future Programme of the RUAF Foundation 
(International Network of Resource Centres on Urban Agriculture and Food 
Security) and Urban Harvest, the System-wide Initiative on Urban and Peri-
urban Agriculture of the Consultative Group on International Agricultural 
Research (CGIAR), have sought to bring attention to gender issues in research, 
policy, and development interventions relating to urban food production and 
urban food security. Our efforts began in 2002 with the joint organization of 
an international workshop on appropriate methodologies for urban agriculture 
research and development programmes in Nairobi, Kenya. One of the specifi c 
conclusions of that workshop was the necessity of highlighting women’s role in 
urban food production and distribution, and the importance of strengthening 
the capacity of different types of organization to give proper attention to 
gender issues in their research, policy, and development activities. 
In the following years Urban Harvest and RUAF jointly and individually 
implemented a number of activities to address the issue of gender mainstreaming 
– ensuring that the goal of gender equality is central to all interventions in 
support of urban agriculture. A state-of-the-art review of gender in urban 
agriculture was commissioned by RUAF, an initial inventory of gender-
sensitive methods and tools was compiled, and several case studies with a 
strong gender focus were undertaken. In 2004, Urban Harvest and RUAF jointly 
organized ‘Women Feeding Cities’, a workshop on gender mainstreaming in 
urban food production and food security, held in Accra, Ghana. Based on 
initial ideas of Diana Lee-Smith, a specialist in gender and urban agriculture 
with Urban Harvest, and guided by her keynote presentation, the workshop 
brought together urban-agriculture researchers involved in gender research 
and development to analyse a number of case studies from cities across the 
developing world, and to systematize lessons from those case studies. 
Stimulated by that workshop, both organizations have subsequently 
devoted major attention to gender issues. They have supported staff capacity 
building and have sought and received funding for further exploration 
and development of guidelines, methods, and tools for integrating gender 
in the project cycle of Urban Harvest research projects and in RUAF multi-
stakeholder strategic planning processes and pilot projects. (See Chapter 16 of 
this publication for more details of these activities.) 
The production of this book has involved broad consultation and active 
participation by a global network of urban-agriculture specialists, co-ordinated 
by the book’s editors, Alice Hovorka, Henk de Zeeuw, and Mary Njenga. These 
three specialists in gender and urban agriculture have been supported by 
an Editorial Committee, consisting of the three editors together with Diana 
Lee-Smith, Gordon Prain, and Joanna Wilbers (later succeeded by Femke 
Hoekstra). 
This book seeks to do two main things. First it draws attention to women’s 
crucial role in bringing food to the tables of urban families, and especially 
 PREFACE xv
to the ways in which low-income women locally produce, carry, or trade 
food in multiple strategies to keep their families food-secure. A series of case 
studies enrich our understanding of these strategies. Second, the book aims 
to put into the hands of researchers, development practitioners, and local 
government offi cers the guidelines and tools that will ensure the centrality of 
gender concerns in future projects and initiatives related to urban agriculture 
and food security. 
The book’s Introduction, prepared by Alice Hovorka with important 
inputs from Joanna Wilbers and Diana Lee-Smith, provides a rationale for the 
centrality of gender concerns in relation to urban agriculture and offers an 
analytical approach to its study. Pulling together common threads linking the 
case studies, the Introduction illuminates key issues on the theme of women 
feeding cities. The chapter concludes with a discussion of the need for gender 
mainstreaming of urban agriculture research, planning, and implementation 
activities and the main ways to achieve it. 
Part I consists of case studies on gender in urban agriculture in various 
cities of Africa, Asia, and Latin America; some are refi ned, updated versions 
of the papers presented during the Women Feeding Cities workshop in 2004, 
others are new work. The case studies, preparation of which was guided by 
Joanna Wilbers and Mary Njenga, analyse urban agriculture activities in 
varying political, socio-economic, and cultural situations, revealing the 
gender dynamics that underlie people’s abilities to secure fresh, affordable, 
and accessible food and (often complementary) income. They serve as an 
entry point into considering differences between men and women in urban 
agriculture activities, highlighting especially the role and signifi cance of 
women in this context, as well as the gender dynamics within which food 
production, processing, and marketing take place in urban areas.
Part II provides researchers and development practitioners with specifi c 
guidelines on how to include and incorporate gender-related aspects in each 
phase of urban agriculture research or development project cycles. It also 
includes a set of gender-sensitive tools that are referred to in the guidelines for 
each phase of the cycle. The tools are drawn from the experiences gained in 
the fi eld by RUAF and Urban Harvest partners, but they draw also on earlier 
frameworks and ’tool boxes’, which are included in the list of Resources in the 
fi nal chapter of this publication for use by readers in their own projects. 
The collaborative and interactive process involved in developing the 
guidelines and tools deserves some further explanation. Alice Hovorka took 
the lead in the preparation of draft guidelines and tools, with additional 
inputs and revisions provided by other members of the Editorial Committee. 
The draft drew on outputs from earlier activities of RUAF (especially two 
documents by Joanna Wilbers and Henk de Zeeuw) and Urban Harvest, and 
work by Hovorka and Lee-Smith, as well as adding new material. 
The fi eld-testing of the guidelines and tools took place between October 
2007 and July 2008 in on-going urban agriculture projects around the world, 
and it was supported by Mary Njenga and Femke Hoekstra. Project personnel 
xvi WOMEN FEEDING CITIES
and external consultants knowledgeable about gender issues evaluated the 
usefulness of the guidelines and tools in particular phases of the project cycle, 
depending on where the project was in the cycle. The valuable experiences 
gained and conclusions reached about the draft guidelines and tools were 
reported back to the Editorial Committee through structured-format reports 
that were synthesized and discussed during a workshop in the Netherlands in 
August 2008. We wish to acknowledge with thanks the excellent contribution 
made by those involved in the fi eld-testing. They are responsible for signifi cant 
improvements in the fi nal publication.
It is hoped that the guidelines and tools will aid efforts to understand the 
nature and extent of women’s participation in urban agriculture activities, in 
order to facilitate appropriate, effective, and benefi cial policy and planning 
interventions in urban centres. Of course, we fully recognize that this is not 
an exhaustive listing of guidelines or tools. It has not been possible to include 
all of the specialist research and development initiatives that have seriously 
addressed the relationship between gender and agriculture. Research on 
nutrition, for example, has yielded a growing literature in this fi eld which 
is only partially refl ected in the text and in the fi nal chapter on Resources. 
Nevertheless, the book has concentrated on experiences that link gender with 
urban agriculture in its broad practice, and we hope that it will contribute 
to more gender-sensitive and responsive policies and projects on urban 
agriculture and food security in the future; to cities that are better and more 
equitably fed; and to women who are better recognized and supported in this 
crucial role. 
Finally, we want to thank IDRC for making possible the preparation and 
publication of this book.
Gordon Prain, Programme Co-ordinator, CGIAR–Urban Harvest 
Henk de Zeeuw, Programme Co-ordinator, RUAF–Cities Farming for the Future
CHAPTER 1
Gender in urban agriculture: an 
introduction
Abstract
This chapter discusses the important role that women play in feeding urban 
populations (in particular the urban poor), and the need to mainstream gender 
in policies and programmes regarding urban food security and urban agriculture. 
It identifi es and explains key issues related to gender and urban agriculture that 
require the attention of policy makers, planners, researchers, and practitioners. 
The chapter also provides an overview of urban agriculture, highlighting its 
importance in the light of increasing urban poverty and urban food insecurity. 
Why Women Feeding Cities?
Women are in the majority among urban farmers in many cities around 
the world, but they tend to predominate in subsistence farming, whereas 
men play a greater role in urban food production for commercial purposes. 
This observation prompted the initial exploration of an area of scholarship 
termed ’Women Feeding Cities’ which led to a similarly titled workshop 
in September 2004, and ultimately to the production of this book. These 
endeavours combined initiatives by two organizations, the RUAF Foundation 
(International Network of Resource Centres on Urban Agriculture and Food 
Security) and Urban Harvest (the System-Wide Initiative on Urban and Peri-
urban Agriculture of the Consultative Group on International Agricultural 
Research – CGIAR). The result is a comprehensive framework for gender 
mainstreaming – ensuring that the goal of gender equality is central to all 
activities – in urban agriculture research and development
Frameworks on gender and agriculture already exist (see for example 
Hovorka, 1998; Feldstein and Jiggins, 1994); however, the context of gender 
and agriculture differs in urban settings compared with rural settings. This is 
largely owing to the fact that structures, institutions, and circumstances create 
specifi c gender dynamics in and around cities. There is a diversity of cultural 
values merging in urban areas such that traditional defi nitions of gender roles, 
responsibilities, characteristics, and behaviour are not necessarily appropriate, 
and often become hybridized with alternative perspectives. Thus there 
is potential for different political, economic, and social scenarios in urban 
settings, compared with rural contexts. Specifi cally, the urban setting often 
brings with it more diverse sources of family income; greater opportunities 
for women’s schooling, wage labour, and fi nancial credit; new confi gurations 
2 WOMEN FEEDING CITIES
of mobility; heightened insecurity regarding land tenure and ownership 
(particularly for women); a greater incidence of theft; less involvement of 
children in food-production activities; new opportunities for co-operative 
efforts among community members; and fl exibility in gender roles, as men 
and women adapt to urban life. In other words, it cannot be assumed that what 
is happening in rural agriculture is necessarily the case in urban agriculture 
within a particular context, for example within a particular country. Livelihood 
systems will differ, political/economic structures will differ, and social-
network dynamics will differ. These key agricultural variables of difference 
need to be documented in urban areas in the context of agriculture, in order 
to avoid prescriptive and assumptive assertions for any potential research or 
development interventions. 
Through family and social networks in cities of many poor countries, 
women have been making sure that their families get food. Sometimes this is 
achieved by means of kitchen gardens and urban agriculture plots, sometimes 
by remittances of food from rural or peri-urban farms. Women try their best 
to sustain their families in often diffi cult circumstances, and that is why in 
a very real sense they end up being the ones who are feeding the cities. The 
important distinction between subsistence and commercial production of 
food – with planners often prioritizing the latter – has frequently rendered 
invisible women’s role in feeding cities. Similarly within households women 
are often marginalized and accorded lower status than men on account of 
the fact that they engage in subsistence farming rather than commercial 
agricultural ventures . 
It was often taken for granted that women stay home while men go to 
work, and that still is the case in many places, including rural areas of poor 
countries. It is the case even though women work very hard, providing the 
majority of agricultural labour world-wide. The social changes that came with 
industrialization created divisions between work and home, as large numbers of 
people became wage labourers in production enterprises. Nineteenth-century 
laws passed to prevent the exploitation of women and children meant that 
men became the predominant wage labourers and employees. This gendered 
division of labour has stayed with us, so much so that the unpaid work of 
the home ceased to be seen as ‘work’ at all until recently, even if it meant 
producing food for the family.
This invisibility of women in the economy happened in parallel with the 
industrialization of food production, along with the production of other 
commodities. Women’s role was to maintain the household, with men 
bringing in cash from their earnings. In poor countries with low wages and 
a rural economic base, it was mainly the women who continued producing 
food for home consumption on small farms or in kitchen gardens. To this day, 
women’s work on small family farms, whether rural or urban, and their work 
in moving foodstuffs around on their backs or on public transport is scarcely 
regarded as of any signifi cance and at worst is harassed or prohibited, as is the 
case with some of women’s food-marketing activities.
 GENDER IN URBAN AGRICULTURE: AN INTRODUCTION 3
However, the idealized economic plan whereby workers in cities paid for 
food from commercial farms and industries that produced it in rural areas and 
trucked it to them soon ran into diffi culties. The urban food crises of the 1970s 
and 1980s in poor countries were attributed to the malfunctioning of offi cial 
schemes that failed to match supply and demand. In fact the remittances of 
food from rural families and social food networks were invisible to food and 
agriculture policy makers, as were the women who operated them, either 
as small-scale producers or as petty traders or ’market women’. As offi cial 
schemes collapsed, the explosion of informal-sector trade and enterprise 
– mainly involved in food supply – drew attention to the importance of the 
informal sector – but not enough to the role of women in food production and 
trade (Hovorka and Lee-Smith, 2006). Urban agriculture, compared with other 
informal-sector activities in cities, has been especially convenient for married 
women with children, given that it can be practised close to home, requiring 
little cash investment, and combining multiple roles of urban women. In 
urban agriculture production, women tend to focus on saving on family cash 
expenditures by growing their family’s food (and eventually selling some 
surplus production), whereas women active in other informal urban-sector 
activities are focused more on generating a cash income. 
Women’s role in feeding cities, through formal or informal means, has 
become more challenging recently, given the mounting global food crisis. 
Higher food prices are rooted in increased energy costs, rising demand 
resulting from economic growth in emerging economies, the growth of bio 
fuels, and increasing climatic shocks from droughts and fl oods. Food reserves 
are at their lowest in 25 years. Associated commodity markets are volatile, 
and in a bid to protect their own populations many countries have imposed 
export bans or restrictions on certain foodstuffs, further driving up prices 
as food becomes less available (World Food Programme, 2007). Millions of 
people are being pushed deeper into poverty and hunger, and the urban poor 
are no exception: in many of the world’s poorest cities, people can suddenly 
no longer afford the food available on store shelves. This is increasing in 
particular the time and energy that urban women expend on producing food 
and/or procuring monies for foodstuffs. For many women, this means that 
their families will suffer not only in terms of not having adequate (let alone 
fresh) supplies of food on hand, but also because they will have less money to 
pay for school fees or health costs. Beyond women’s daily struggles to secure 
food for their families, their own potential for empowerment is limited in the 
longer term, given the need to focus on the here-and-now demands of urban 
food production and procurement. 
The case studies in this book attempt to build up a picture of the complexities 
of men’s and women’s activities in urban agriculture in three developing 
regions of the world. This is a subject which has become increasingly important 
and timely in the context of the global food crisis. The analytical framework, 
tools, and guidelines presented are designed to identify solutions to some of 
the problems of marginalization and inequality experienced by women. The 
4 WOMEN FEEDING CITIES
book’s approach to gender mainstreaming tries to contribute to the important 
social goal of gender equality, not through the exclusion and marginalization 
of men but through careful analysis of gender circumstances and experiences, 
and engagement of men in the process. Ultimately, women’s goals, both 
practical and strategic, may be addressed through increased and systematic 
support for urban agriculture activities around the world. 
Urban agriculture
What is urban agriculture?
Urban agriculture (often differentiated as intra-urban and peri-urban 
agriculture) can be defi ned as the production of food (for example, vegetables, 
fruits, meat, eggs, milk, fi sh) and non-food items (for example, fuel, herbs, 
ornamental plants, tree seedlings, fl owers) within the urban area and its 
periphery, for home consumption and/or for the urban market, and related 
small-scale processing and marketing activities (including street vending of 
fresh or prepared food and other products). In many places urban agriculture 
is also closely linked with recycling and use of urban organic wastes and 
wastewater.
Urban agriculture takes place on private, leased, or rented land in peri-
urban areas, in backyards, on roof tops, on vacant public lands (such as vacant 
industrial or residential lots, roadsides), or on semi-public land such as school 
grounds, in prisons and other institutions, as well as in ponds, lakes, and 
Woman watering crops in Rosario 
By Hans Peter Reinders
 GENDER IN URBAN AGRICULTURE: AN INTRODUCTION 5
rivers. In 1996 the United Nations Development Programme estimated that 
eight hundred million people were practising urban agriculture, 200 million 
of them market producers employing 150 million people full time (UNDP, 
1996). Since then the numbers have increased.
For a long time the importance of urban agriculture was overlooked or 
dismissed as merely the result of traditional habits brought by rural migrants 
to the city, expected to fade away over time when these people integrated 
into the city economy. There was opposition to urban agriculture from public 
health and urban planning circles, which perceived urban agriculture either 
as a threat to public health that should be abandoned, or as a low-rent land 
use that would not be able to compete with other urban land uses. Such 
perceptions were institutionalized in restrictive by-laws and regulations at 
national and city levels, although these have remained largely ineffective. 
During the past 15 years, studies have shown that urban agriculture should be 
recognized as an integral and permanent element of the urban socio-economic 
and ecological system (Van Veenhuizen and Danso, 2007; Mougeot, 2006). It 
forms an important part of the livelihood strategies of large numbers of urban 
poor. In many countries, rapid urbanization is accompanied by increasing 
urban poverty, food insecurity, and malnutrition. As a result, in many cities 
the number of people involved in urban agriculture tends to increase with 
ongoing urbanization, rather than decreasing, as had been previously assumed. 
Another factor is the growing urban demand for perishable products, including 
vegetables, meat, milk, and eggs, coupled with the comparative advantages of 
production close to the markets, and the availability of productive resources, 
including urban organic wastes, wastewater, and vacant public land. 
The increasing importance of urban agriculture
About 50 per cent of the world’s population now lives in cities; 77 per cent 
of Latin Americans live in cities, while in Asia and Africa the proportion is 
currently 39 per cent, climbing at a rate of 3 and 4 per cent per year respectively 
(UN Habitat, 2003), and the numbers of urban poor are rapidly increasing.
It is hard for most cities in developing countries to create suffi cient 
employment for their rapidly increasing population. Meanwhile, transmissible 
diseases such as HIV/AIDS have eroded the income- earning capacity and 
assets of millions of urban households. As a consequence, the urbanization 
process goes hand in hand with an increase in urban poverty, dubbed the 
‘urbanization of poverty’ (Haddad et al., 1999). According to UN-HABITAT, 
slum populations in urban areas of developing countries were estimated at 
870 million in 2001 and are expected to increase by an average of 29 million 
per year up to 2020. Forty per cent of the population of Mexico City, for 
instance, and a third of Sao Paulo’s population are subsisting at or below the 
poverty line. 
A lack of jobs and income is leading to increasing urban poverty, as well as 
to growing food insecurity among the urban poor. A substantial proportion 
6 WOMEN FEEDING CITIES
of urban household expenditures is dedicated to food – for poor households 
as much as 60–80 per cent – and in the city context the lack of cash income 
translates more directly into food shortages and malnutrition than in the rural 
areas (Mougeot, 2006). On average, urban consumers spend at least 30 per 
cent more on food than rural consumers spend, but despite this their average 
calorie intake is lower and in many cases insuffi cient (Argenti, 2000). 
Increasing food insecurity among the urban poor and increasing problems 
in accessing fresh nutritious food at affordable prices largely went unnoticed 
by municipal authorities until some years ago. This was due among other 
things to a middle-class bias in urban planning, a lack of attention to urban 
food issues, and an exclusive focus on food imports to the city; at the same 
time, planners paid little attention to problems of access to food and the actual 
and potential roles of urban food production. According to Dahlberg (1998), 
although during the entire history of humankind cities accorded high priority 
to ensuring their food supply, few cities nowadays show great concern about 
this or perceive that their future food safety is linked to the local food system 
and to the agricultural areas surrounding it. In this context, urban agriculture 
has belatedly been recognized as making a ‘signifi cant contribution to food 
security of urban households and generation of jobs and income, self-esteem 
and environmental improvement’ (Report of the Ministers’ Conference on 
Urban and Peri-Urban Agriculture; Prospects for Food Security and Growth in 
Eastern and Southern Africa, MDP Harare, Zimbabwe, August 2003).
Cities are fast becoming the principal territories for intervention and 
planning of strategies that aim to eradicate hunger and poverty and improve 
livelihoods, requiring innovative ways to enhance the food security and 
nutrition of the urban poor and vulnerable households. Urban agriculture is 
one such strategy. In 2000 the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) 
included urban agriculture in its programme and created the Priority Area 
for Interdisciplinary Action ‘Food for the Cities’. The FAO is now supporting 
the development of national and local policies and programmes on urban 
agriculture. More and more cities (for example, Rosario in Argentina, Bulawayo 
in Zimbabwe) and countries (such as Brazil, Botswana, and China) worldwide 
are now promoting urban agriculture to enhance food security, stimulate local 
economic development, and facilitate social inclusion and poverty alleviation 
(Brazil Government, 2008; Hovorka and Keboneilwe, 2004). 
Benefi ts and risks associated with urban agriculture
While urban agriculture has important positive effects – on poverty alleviation, 
local economic development, food security, nutrition and health of the urban 
poor, social inclusion, and urban ecology – it can also lead to some undesirable 
outcomes if certain associated risks are not taken into account and preventive 
measures are not taken. 
 GENDER IN URBAN AGRICULTURE: AN INTRODUCTION 7
Income and employment creation
Available research indicates that urban agriculture can be a profi table 
undertaking, especially in the case of products that are in high demand and 
have a comparative advantage over rural production. These include perishable 
products such as green leafy vegetables, eggs, milk, mushrooms, medicinal 
herbs, fl owers, and ornamental plants (see Moustier and Danso, 2006 or Van 
Veenhuizen and Danso, 2007 for an overview). 
Market-oriented urban agriculture generates net incomes that in most cases 
are equivalent to or better than the minimum urban wage. In cases where by-law 
barriers have been removed, urban agriculture has proved to be a highly dynamic 
sector, with features that include irrigated year-round production, production 
under cover, small-scale processing of fruits, vegetables, herbs, and mushrooms, 
development of certifi cation, green or organic labelling, and shorter marketing 
chains for consumers and institutions (IBRD/World Bank, 2008).
Subsistence-oriented urban agriculture leads to important cash savings, 
since food is by far the largest component of household expenditures; as 
a result, a signifi cant portion of family income becomes available for non-
food expenditures. Urban farming also provides a source of employment, 
not only for urban farmers themselves but for hired labourers and workers in 
related micro-enterprises such as production of compost, herding, collection 
and selling of grass or manure, processing of agricultural produce, and street 
vending of food. In Cuba, urban agriculture generated 25,000 new jobs in 
the years 1994–8, with a smaller investment per job than in other sectors 
(Gonzalez Novo and Murphy, 2000). 
Urban food security and resilience
During economic or political crises – which in some cities are more often 
the norm than stability and economic progress – urban agriculture tends 
to increase rapidly, since it provides a safety net for the poor and for other 
households seeking to augment their dwindling incomes. It enhances their 
access to fresh and nutritious food by making fresh food available at prices 
that are lower than imported food, due to savings on transport, storage, 
refrigeration, and middlemen. 
While cities will in future remain largely dependent upon food, especially 
staple crops, brought in from the rural areas and from international sources, 
cities can and should pursue greater food self-reliance in order to enhance 
their resilience and reduce vulnerability to shocks and food insecurity. This 
has been made clear by food riots in various cities, in response to recent sharp 
increase in food prices, caused in part by climate change and higher incidences 
of natural and human-made disasters. All of these have led to problems with 
food-supply chains that are dependent on imports or long-distance transport 
from rural areas.
To illustrate these trends, Box 1.1 presents fi ndings taken (with permission) 
from a brief on urban food security and urban agriculture prepared by the FAO 
Regional Offi ce for Latin America (FAO, 2008).
8 WOMEN FEEDING CITIES
Box 1.1 Urban food consumption in Latin America and the Caribbean
For the fi rst time in history more than half the world’s population lives in cities. In 2007, 
78 per cent of Latin America and the Caribbean population was defi ned as urban, a fi gure 
that is growing at the rate of 1.3 per cent per year.
Urban population (%)
100
80
60
40
20
0
Africa Asia Latin America
and Caribbean
Annual Urban Growth Rate (%)
3
2.5
2
1.5
1
0.5
0
Africa Asia Latin America
and Caribbean
Source: UNFPA, 2007
The average daily vegetable and fruit consumption is 157 g/capita/day, well below the 
WHO-recommended level of 400 g/capita/day. It is interesting that the country with the 
highest fruit and vegetable consumption (Cuba) is also the country with greater advances 
in urban agriculture.
Vegetable and fruit consumption in countries of
Latin American and Caribbean
Haiti
Jamaica
Cuba
Guatemala
Nicaragua
Honduras
Peru
Bolivia
Colombia
0 100 200 300 400 500 600
Vegetable and fruit consumption (gr/capita/day)
Source: FAO, 2005
 GENDER IN URBAN AGRICULTURE: AN INTRODUCTION 9
Urban dwellers in poor neighbourhoods in Latin America are at risk of malnutrition and 
food insecurity, further aggravated by rising food prices as families have to allocate 
a higher share of their income to food. For example, a family in Bolivia earning $5 
(Bolivian peso) a day typically spends $3 on food. Recent increase in prices of basic 
foodstuffs – some of which have risen 50 per cent or more – takes $1.50 of their 
purchasing power away, affecting the quantity and types of foods purchased as well as 
non-food expenses such as health care. The logical consequence is increased under-
nutrition.
Consumer price index variation (CPV) in metropolitan areas of
Latin America
30
La Paz (Bolivia)
20
Managua metropolitan
area (Nicaragua)
10 Gran Santiago (Chile)
Caracas metropolitan area
0
(Venezuela)
2005 2006 2007
Source: ECLAC, 2005
Nutrition and health
Some studies suggest that urban farming households have a better nutritional 
status (as shown by calorifi c and protein intake, and measures of stunting 
and wasting) compared with non-farming households. Further, creation of 
better conditions for poor urban families to produce and market items such as 
vegetables, livestock products, and fi sh would increase the access of other poor 
households to fresh and nutritious food at affordable prices. Medicinal plant 
production is increasingly explored, given that poor urban families may spend 
10–20 per cent of their income on health care. Local production of medicines 
and medicinal herbs could contribute to improved health conditions for these 
people. Urban agriculture also now receives attention as part of HIV/AIDS 
mitigation programmes, being a strategy to enhance the nutritional condition 
of patients as well as reducing the negative effects of reduced working capacity 
or loss of adult members on household food security.
However, food produced in and around cities may be detrimental to human 
health if there is pathogenic contamination, potentially causing infectious 
disease. This is especially the case if contaminated water or fresh solid organic 
wastes are used to fertilize crops of foodstuffs that are eaten raw, or if hygiene 
is lacking in the production, processing, and marketing of food, as can happen 
10 WOMEN FEEDING CITIES
if market produce is ‘refreshed’ with contaminated water, or street vendors 
do not observe hygiene precautions. Cultivated areas in cities may attract or 
provide breeding grounds for rodents and fl ies, which can contribute to the 
spread of infectious diseases, while certain diseases can also be transmitted to 
humans by livestock kept in close proximity to them, if proper precautions 
are not taken.
Food produced in and around cities can also be detrimental to human 
health if there is chemical contamination which might cause chronic disease. 
Heavy metals and complex organic compounds released by industry and traffi c 
in particular may pollute urban crops through deposition and absorption via 
air, water, and soils.
The World Health Organization (WHO, 2001) has published an ‘Action 
Plan on Urban Food Production and Consumption’ as part of its strategy to 
stimulate the local production and consumption of fresh nutritious food and 
to improve the nutrition and health of disadvantaged urban groups.
Urban environmental management
Urban agriculture has a high potential for improving the urban environment 
by using organic wastes – solid wastes and wastewater – as inputs, by improving 
the micro-climate, and by preventing erosion and fl ooding through replanting 
bare lands. It also conserves energy and food, because there are fewer food 
losses during transport and handling, and greater energy savings due to the 
smaller need for storage, processing, and packaging. 
The current highly capitalized and energy-consuming ‘super market’ model, 
based on the external supply of foodstuffs, increases the urban ’ecological food 
print’. Urban agriculture is one aspect of a different urban food system based 
on local or regional fresh products, with shorter market chains from producers 
to consumers, offering a policy alternative to the long-distance transport of 
food from elsewhere.
However, urban agriculture activities can create problems. They may 
contaminate local water sources if high inputs of fertilizers and pesticides are 
used. Neighbours may complain of dust, smells, and noise. Urban farmers 
may use high-cost treated drinking water for irrigation purposes. Further 
problems can be caused by poorly managed farm wastes clogging storm drains 
and piling up in the streets, while farming on steep slopes or along sensitive 
parts of river banks may lead to erosion and siltation.
The use of fully or partly treated urban wastewater for urban agriculture 
is investigated and promoted by the Sustainable Cities Programme of UN-
HABITAT and the UN Environmental Programme (UNEP), and WHO and FAO 
recently updated their guidelines for the safe use of wastewater in agriculture 
(WHO/ UNEP, 2006). 
 GENDER IN URBAN AGRICULTURE: AN INTRODUCTION 11
Enhancing civic participation in urban management
Finally, urban agriculture has proved to be an effective strategy to enhance the 
participation of urban communities in the management of municipal resources, 
including land, water, and urban wastes. The planning and implementation 
of urban agriculture and related projects for recycling and reuse of urban 
organic wastes and wastewater can have direct positive effects on people’s 
living conditions while generating feelings of self-reliance and creating links 
between the urban poor and other actors. The latter include NGOs providing 
technical support and training, and local authorities providing access to 
municipal land and services.
Gender in urban agriculture – an analytical approach
The concept of gender was introduced into international thinking during the 
1980s as a counterpoint to ongoing work on ‘Women in Development’. It 
was recognized that the underlying structures of the unequal relationships 
between men and women required analysis. Because different societies have so 
many varied customs governing men’s and women’s roles and behaviours, the 
word ‘gender’ was adopted to distinguish things about men and women that 
are socially ascribed – part of culture – as opposed to physical and biological 
difference, which is still described as difference in ‘sex’. It is important to note 
that gender differences (wearing a headscarf, for example) do not necessarily 
mean that there is lack of equality. It is discrimination and denial of equal 
rights and opportunities that militate against gender equality. 
Facts that are differentiated according to whether they relate to men or 
women are referred to as ‘gender-disaggregated data’, which are often called 
for in programmes or projects that are supposed to incorporate gender 
considerations. Another common term used is ‘gender balance’, denoting the 
fact that a certain ratio of women to men is noted (or called for). Getting a 
better gender balance is a target or indicator of better gender performance in 
a programme or organization. This kind of measurement is a useful indicator, 
but it does not substitute for ‘gender analysis’, which provides systematic 
documentation and understanding of the roles of men and women in a given 
situation. Achieving gender balance does not necessarily bring about gender 
equality or the empowerment of women. Thinking about the reasons why 
there are more women or more men doing urban agriculture (or any other 
activity) can be as important for a gender analysis as merely obtaining the 
numbers. 
For example, a study in Nepal found that women and men peri-urban 
farmers shared many types of agricultural task, unlike rural farmers, who 
exercised a stricter gender division of labour. Some taboos of gender behaviour 
in agriculture were thus changing in the case of peri-urban farming as it 
became increasingly commercial, and both women and men in these farming 
households were benefi ting economically and in terms of social status. But 
12 WOMEN FEEDING CITIES
gender analysis showed that men had complete control of the marketing of 
the produce and controlled all commercial transactions; they also owned and 
controlled all land and property, while women had the additional burden of 
household work (Sapkota, 2004). 
In another example, while almost equal numbers of women and men 
poultry entrepreneurs were found in Gaborone, Botswana in 2000, gender 
analysis revealed that the men had larger enterprises and were supplying 
more of the market. Even deeper investigation revealed that the women had 
less education and were often heads of household. The men who headed 
households generally had wives assisting them with extra income as well as 
labour – which put them at an advantage over women-headed households. 
Moreover, the men had larger plots, with more secure tenure. It was suggested 
that the women entrepreneurs were likely to be forced out of business as the 
market became more competitive, and that the reasons for this were mainly 
the structural factors of discrimination which disadvantaged them: women 
had less education, less land, less access to capital, and fewer property rights 
(Hovorka, 2005).
Several Latin American studies have shown that men may be more involved 
in agriculture than women, although, as in Africa, women are responsible for 
gardens near the house that produce food for home consumption. One of these 
studies demonstrated that, despite men’s customary restriction of women to 
the home, an urban agriculture intervention designed to empower women 
was able to bring about some positive change. The young women with small 
children were also responsible for the families’ food. Women’s production of 
vegetables near their homes was at fi rst resisted by the men, because they 
thought it was taking up the women’s time and taking them out of the home, 
but as they saw the benefi ts they changed to supporting their wives’ work 
(Olarte, 2004). 
These examples show that only a thorough disentangling of the reasons 
behind some statistics can reveal the sources of gender inequalities, and thus 
enable us to fi nd solutions to them.
Gender analysis helps to diagnose the issues that need to be addressed in 
order to bring about gender equality and women’s empowerment. Another 
concept that is important to the process of gender analysis in order to identify 
strategies for change is the difference between practical and strategic gender 
needs. Women and men often express their need for change and improvement 
in terms of access to basic resources, infrastructure, or income. These are 
practical needs that usually bear no obvious relation to gender needs. Strategic 
needs are related to the gender division of labour, control over resources, legal 
rights, income equality, and decision-making power. While a gender analysis 
usually aims to understand the underlying strategic needs, dealing with 
practical needs can often have a transformative effect. 
Gender equality is a basic societal value. Most countries have constitutions 
that assert people’s equality, with no discrimination based on sex or other 
factors. The equality of men and women is also enshrined in the Universal 
 GENDER IN URBAN AGRICULTURE: AN INTRODUCTION 13
Declaration of Human Rights of 1948, and was developed in detail in the 
international Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination 
Against Women (CEDAW) of 1979. But what is the situation in practice, and 
what does it mean in the context of real life? Some argue that since women 
and men have obvious biological differences – resulting in different needs and 
experiences – there is a need for a concept like ‘equity’ instead of ‘equality’, 
calling for fairness instead of sameness. But this discrimination contravenes 
the Universal Declaration and CEDAW. Women and men should be allowed 
the same opportunities, and efforts need to be made to ensure that they get 
them even if they differ biologically. 
The extent of inequalities between men and women – with women clearly 
disadvantaged – is widely known and documented, in terms of their access 
to education, employment, and property ownership; inequalities in their 
incomes; and their presence in positions of leadership in just about every 
type of organization and institution, including governments, businesses, 
and community-based organizations. The correction of these inequalities 
necessarily involves the empowerment of women. However, to achieve this 
entails a long and complicated process of social learning and change that is 
ongoing all over the world. It can be particularly diffi cult for men – especially 
those who are themselves disempowered and marginalized – if losing their 
privileges and advantages over women touches on deep-rooted feelings of 
personal identity. Involving men in promoting gender awareness, analysis, 
programmes, and activities is seen as essential to meeting the social goal of 
gender equality. 
Women feeding cities – key gender issues
This section focuses on illuminating and assessing the gender issues within 
urban agriculture activities that give rise to differences between men and 
women, and in many cases stifl e women’s opportunities for self-empowerment. 
Such gender analysis within site-specifi c contexts, stemming from the case 
studies featured in this book, is an important step in gender mainstreaming 
at a broader scale. Within this analytical process, it is important to recognize 
that gender is not a fi xed category – indeed it is continually contested, such 
that individuals participate in (re-)defi ning gender relations on a daily basis. 
Further, gender dynamics may differ according to the ages, the size, and the 
life-cycle stage of the household, and according to marital status, religion, and 
caste. As a consequence, gender dynamics change over time and vary widely 
within and between cultures. 
Nevertheless, the case studies presented in this book highlight the general 
consistencies in women’s circumstances and experiences of urban agriculture 
that warrant attention, given that they reveal substantial gender differences 
and in some cases inequalities within cities around the world. In particular, 
the case studies illuminate the predominance of women in urban agriculture, 
numerous gender-based benefi ts and challenges of food production, and 
14 WOMEN FEEDING CITIES
differential divisions of labour, knowledge/preferences, access to and control 
of resources, and decision-making power. The patterns of key gender issues 
that emerge from the case studies are overwhelmingly similar, revealing that 
in most urban agriculture contexts men own land, have access to greater 
resources, make decisions, and reap more benefi ts than women. 
The remainder of this section expands on these common threads, detailing 
the ways in which gender matters in urban agriculture activities, and what 
these issues specifi cally mean for women’s participation in this urban sector. 
Women’s predominance in urban agriculture
There are many women involved in urban agriculture worldwide, and data 
from several countries show them to be in the majority among urban farmers. 
This is the case in East Africa in general, with 80 per cent of farming households 
using only female labour in Kampala in the 1980s – although in neighbouring 
Kenya 56 per cent of the labour was female, with more men engaged in 
farming in the smaller towns, and more women (62 per cent) growing food 
in the capital. In West Africa more men than women were sometimes found 
in urban agriculture, the difference generally being attributed to the fact that 
much of the food produced was for sale (Obuobie et al., 2004). In Yaoundé, 
Cameroun, however, 87 per cent of urban farmers growing vegetables were 
women, 95 per cent of whom were growing mainly for subsistence and 79 
per cent were growing commercially (Bopda et.al. forthcoming). Similarly in 
Kampala, women growing crops on contaminated sites were more likely to 
be doing it in order to feed their families than were the men, who tended to 
sell more of the produce (Nabulo et al., 2004). Poland, Thailand, Senegal, and 
Zimbabwe are other countries where women urban farmers have been noted 
to outnumber men (Smit et al., 1996). Statistical data on women in urban 
agriculture in Asian and Latin American cities are rare or even non-existent. 
The predominance of women (illustrated in Box 1.2) in many contexts 
can be ascribed to two factors: fi rst, women bear responsibility for household 
sustenance and well-being; second, women tend to have lower educational 
status than men, and therefore more diffi culties in fi nding formal wage 
employment (Hovorka, 2001). In some contexts, men predominate in urban 
agriculture activities because of their access to land and resources, as well 
as the socio-economic status created by this activity. Box 1.3 illustrates this 
gender variability in urban agriculture participation.
Benefi ts and challenges of urban agriculture for women
Generally speaking, urban farming provides particular benefi ts to women 
as producers and/or procurers of foodstuffs in cities. Urban agriculture is a 
viable alternative to wage labour for women who lack access to formal em-
ploy ment because of their limited education and training, or socio-cultural 
factors that limit their freedom of movement. As a largely informal-sector 
 GENDER IN URBAN AGRICULTURE: AN INTRODUCTION 15
Box 1.2 Female predominance in urban agriculture in Harare, Zimbabwe
The Musikavanhu urban farmers’ movement, which was originally concentrated in Budiriro 
and Glen View and has now spread to the other low-income suburbs of Harare, started with 
seven families meeting and agreeing to form a group that would work together and engage 
in urban farming. Currently, the movement has more than 5,000 members, of whom more 
than 90 per cent are women. Several factors explain the dominance of women in the group. 
First, generally speaking most of the urban producers in Zimbabwe’s cities are women, 
given that putting food on the family table remains a responsibility for women. Second, 
until the mid-1980s in Zimbabwe, access to formal employment was a preserve of men, 
while women were supposed to concentrate on looking after the household, with some 
time available for farming activities. The third reason, and specifi c to Musikavanhu, was 
that the group emerged as a mechanism to resolve a confl ict over the use of the land with 
people who wanted to construct houses there. The women producers felt that they needed 
to organize themselves in order to defend their use rights, while the male producers felt 
that they did not require the group to defend their land. Fourth, until the late 1990s men 
felt that urban agriculture was not a high-income earning activity and thus did not support 
their spouses when they started practising it. Women’s freedom to attend training courses 
is still limited by their husbands, because it takes them away from home for more than 
a day. This severely impedes women’s capacity-building opportunities and participation 
in leadership positions. Men fi nally joined in urban agriculture activities after successful 
harvests yielded useful profi ts. Further, massive retrenchments that were exercised in the 
late 1990s left many of the men with very little option but to engage in informal-sector 
employment, including urban agriculture. Currently, the engagement of men in the activity 
is causing confl icts, given increased demand for agricultural land, sometimes resulting in 
some men invading land belonging to women. (Toriro, Chapter 6 this volume) 
Box 1.3 Male predominance in urban agriculture in Accra, Ghana
Men dominate urban farming in Accra as a result of the arduous nature of the farming 
tasks, including land preparation that is mainly manual, and vegetable production that 
requires regular watering, planting and transplanting, shading, tilling, and weeding. Land 
clearance, land preparation, and watering are considered the most diffi cult tasks and are 
designated as male activities. While men can supplement their effort by providing paid 
labour, half of independent women cultivators depend on paid male labourers to carry out 
land clearing and preparation. Women with limited fi nancial resources cultivate relatively 
small plots that can easily be managed. This is illustrated in the following comments made 
by a typical woman producer who had been cultivating in Accra for 11 years: ‘I started 
with fi ve other women, but they have all left because of the diffi culty of the tasks involved. 
Talking about land clearing and preparation, forking of beds, spraying of chemicals etc., 
it takes much determination to continue cultivating. I mostly use men hired labour for 
land clearing and preparation. When I have not got enough money to hire labour, I do the 
land preparation myself, but then I’m able to cultivate only part of my plot.’ (Hope et al., 
Chapter 4 this volume)
activity, urban agriculture is in many cases especially effective and effi cient 
for married women with children, or women heads-of-households, because it 
is often (but not always) performed close to the home and combines well with 
their household responsibilities. Urban agriculture requires little cash, given 
that it can be undertaken with relatively low capital, technology, and inputs. 
16 WOMEN FEEDING CITIES
It is thus attainable and affordable for women with limited education and 
resources, and often stimulates the use of indigenous practices.
By reducing household food expenditures through crop production and/
or livestock keeping, women in cities can redirect such fi nances to non-food 
items. Surplus production can turn into income-generation activities, either 
through direct sales of foodstuffs at the marketplace or through diversifi cation 
into small-scale food processing. It is not unusual to fi nd women in urban 
households earning more from food production than their husbands earn 
from formal jobs. The ownership of animals and/or independent cash income 
may strengthen a woman’s social position within the household and the 
community. Animal rearing can also fulfi l an important role as an economic 
safety net, and plays an important part in certain socio-cultural practices such 
as the payment of marriage dowries. Urban agriculture not only allows women 
to secure their daily household needs but provides a potential stepping stone 
for increased independence, confi dence, and opportunity to improve their 
quality of life. The case of María del Triunfo, Lima in Box 1.4 illustrates the 
advantages and potential benefi ts of urban agriculture for women. 
At the same time, the challenges facing women who aspire to participate in 
urban agriculture are numerous. For example, women face severe constraints 
in accessing, using, and/or controlling land in cities, compared with their 
male counterparts. Men tend to have the fi rst choice of any available vacant 
land, leaving women with low-quality or less secure plots of land, often 
located at a considerable distance from home. Even within households with 
adequate land resources, wives may be at a disadvantage in terms of access to 
these plots (Hovorka, 1998). Distance is a related challenge: women are often 
left to travel extensive distances to marginal lands, their journeys requiring 
considerable time, physical effort, and fi nancial expense for transportation, 
if it is available. 
Women also face constraints in terms of urban agriculture production itself. 
They often lack inputs and working capital, as well as access to knowledge 
and information on the use of modern inputs and technologies. The latter 
is partly due to women’s limited exposure to commercial urban agriculture 
or to their limited access to training courses offered by institutions or non-
government organizations. Women are less likely to benefi t from research 
or extension services that fail to consider gender-specifi c differences when 
Box 1.4 Benefi ts of urban agriculture for women in Villa María del Triunfo, Lima, Peru
Urban agriculture in María del Triunfo, Lima does not reinforce gender inequities. On the 
contrary, this activity is contributing to women’s empowerment, improved self-esteem, 
leadership, capacity building, and increased independence and freedom. It is important 
to note that for women urban agriculture is not an overload of activities but rather a 
means of building their personal development and their capacity for social interaction 
and organization, helping them to overcome many conditions including devaluation, 
subordination, and exclusion. (Soto et al., Chapter 8 this volume)
 GENDER IN URBAN AGRICULTURE: AN INTRODUCTION 17
Box 1.5 Gender constraints on urban agriculture in Dakar, Senegal 
Within the coastal fringe commonly known as the Niayes Valley, which runs from Saint-
Louis to Dakar, Senegal, a strip about 350 km wide is often referred to as the ‘green lung of 
the region’. In Pikine, located in this valley close to the capital city of Dakar, several urban 
agriculture activities are carried out on an area of 60 ha, including vegetable gardening, 
fl oriculture, fi shing, and fruit and vegetable processing. A gender study conducted in the 
area determined the constraints encountered in the practice of urban agriculture by both 
men and women. Most constraints were identifi ed or prioritized differently according to 
gender. For male urban farmers, land insecurity was deemed the most important constraint 
on their activities. They believed that their efforts were being threatened because of the 
rapid and uncontrolled growth of urbanization, resulting in the construction of collective 
housing and infrastructure. Another important constraint was access to water; watering 
was time-consuming and physically demanding, given that most farmers used watering 
cans to water their farms. This proved particularly challenging for women. 
Another key problem for women was access to other inputs. For example, they had 
limited access to operational space, so that they could not rent out a room in which to carry 
out processing activities. Further, women are trained in processing techniques but they 
rarely receive the necessary assistance (in the form of equipment, functional premises, 
working capital, etc.) to carry out their activities effectively. Women were also constrained 
by the lack of follow-up after training courses and by the diffi culty of mobilizing available 
labour within the family, especially among the children during the academic year. This 
latter diffi culty illustrates (in some cases) the insignifi cant infl uence that women have on 
their husbands’ decision to allow the children to pursue their schooling. As a result, the 
women have additional chores to carry out in the household. (Gaye and Touré, Chapter 14 
this volume)
selecting technologies and working methodologies. Further, one must take 
into account the limited labour time available to urban women, and the local 
dynamics within which their daily activities take place. Women’s response 
to opportunities to grow more food or better-earning crops will depend on 
the extent to which they can infl uence the decisions in the household about 
cultivation, the use or sale of produce, and the distribution of tasks and 
benefi ts within the household. The case of Pikine, close to Dakar, Senegal in 
Box 1.5 illustrates the differential challenges facing men and women involved 
in urban agriculture.
Division of labour
Within the household, various tasks and responsibilities are divided between 
male and female members. This division of labour is subject to context-
specifi c circumstances such that within different cities, even within different 
households, the tasks between men and women relating to urban cultivation 
and livestock keeping differ according to the cultural group to which they 
belong, the socio-economic status of the household, the crop type or livestock 
type, and the location of the household in the city. 
Division of labour in urban agriculture is also infl uenced by the reasons 
why urban households engage in the activity. On the one hand, households 
18 WOMEN FEEDING CITIES
engage in urban agriculture because they have moved from rural to urban 
areas, bringing their agricultural practices with them. In this situation it is 
often the woman’s task to provide food for the family through farming and 
gathering, but this may prove challenging, given that in the city family labour 
is hardly supplemented by casual labour, which increases the burden on the 
women in the households (Rakodi, 1988). On the other hand, households 
may have an urban background and are involved in agriculture by choice or 
by need. In this situation, there may be no recognition of traditional gender 
divisions of labour if the social norms brought from the countryside have lost 
their infl uence (Lee-Smith, 1994). Box 1.6 describes how changing cultural 
traditions in the context of urban agriculture can bring about changing gender 
roles within households. 
As previously discussed, men’s and women’s involvement and predominance 
in urban agriculture activities may be different from one context to another. 
Beyond this, a number of other differences in the roles of men and women 
in urban agriculture can be observed. First, there is the difference in division 
of responsibility for certain crops. In most urban agriculture household 
systems, men are responsible for a few cash crops and larger livestock, and for 
generating cash income for the family, whereas women are responsible for a 
variety of food crops and small animals, and for household food security and 
nutrition (Hovorka, 1998). In research by Ofei-Aboagye in Ghana (1997), it was 
found that women are mainly responsible for crops with lower maintenance 
requirements, which leaves them with more time to spend on their household 
tasks. 
Second, Ofei-Aboagye (1997) witnessed the difference between men and 
women in dry- and wet-season farming in Ghana. Usually, men are more 
actively engaged in irrigated dry-season agriculture, while women are more 
involved in wet-season farming. Women often lack the physical strength 
to clear the dry-season farmland, and their access to hired labour, oxen, or 
a tractor is limited. Fewer producers engage in dry-season farming, and so 
more money is made as a result of the relatively limited supply of foodstuffs 
Box 1.6 Changing division of labour in Kisumu, Kenya
The city of Kisumu is situated on the shores of Lake Victoria. It has an area of 395 km², 
of which 35.5 per cent is covered by water. The cultural traditions of the Luo community 
that prevail in the rural areas apply differently here. For example, cases of women owning 
property are found, which would be impossible if the Luo tradition was completely adhered 
to. In Kisumu, control over property is largely determined by the identity of the household 
head; hence female heads of household hold absolute control over the household property. 
This is especially true for widows who control land, houses, and other property, including 
livestock. Women make independent decisions about fi nances, consumption, and 
production (even when adult sons and their families are living in the same compound). 
Sometimes the sons are consulted, but never the daughters. Another example of the 
infl uence of urbanization on gender roles is that women in Kisumu are inheriting livestock, 
even though tradition prescribes that wives and daughters do not inherit. (Ishani, Chapter 
7 this volume)
 GENDER IN URBAN AGRICULTURE: AN INTRODUCTION 19
Box 1.7 Gender division of labour in Kampala, Uganda
Urban agriculture in Kampala takes place predominantly on private land, in back yards, 
and on undeveloped public land. Due to rapid urbanization and population growth, people 
are increasingly utilizing hazardous places that are unsuitable for growing crops. Such 
places include road verges, banks of drainage channels, wetlands, and contaminated sites 
such as scrap yards and dump sites for solid and liquid waste. Most of the farmers in these 
hazardous locations produce and sell their food, with a higher proportion of women selling 
food directly to consumers. This may be attributed to the nature of crops grown: specifi cally, 
men grow crops on a larger scale and sell them on a wholesale basis to retailers, while 
women sell directly to consumers in the neighbourhood. In general, a higher proportion of 
the men sell some of the food that they produce from farming activities; women use the 
food crops to feed their families. The percentage of farmers who sell all of the food grown 
on contaminated sites to consumers is higher among women, who consequently use the 
funds to buy other foodstuffs from the market. (Nabulo et al., Chapter 5 this volume)
and unchanged levels of demand. Third, the gender division of labour at 
organizational and community levels is such that in some instances women 
participate in producer organizations, but it is quite common that they do 
so only as members or in supporting functions, not in key leadership roles 
with decision-making authority. Box 1.7 describes the different tasks of men 
and women involved in urban agriculture in Kampala, Uganda. Traditional 
divisions of labour continue to exist in urban households, such that women 
are responsible for reproductive (subsistence-oriented) tasks, while men are 
primary breadwinners, taking on formal jobs in the economy. 
Differences in knowledge and preferences
Another key issue within the fi eld of gender and urban agriculture is the 
differences in knowledge that exist between men and women in terms of the 
cultivation of certain crops and animals; the application of certain cultural 
practices (for example, women in the Andes know more than men about seed 
selection and storage, herding, processing of wool and natural medicines); the 
use of certain technologies (men generally have more knowledge of irrigation 
techniques, chemical inputs, and castration of bulls, for example); and certain 
social domains (men may know much more about formal marketing channels, 
whereas women may know more about informal barter relations). Men 
and women normally also differ strongly in their preferences and priorities 
in relation to their main roles and responsibilities (regarding, for instance, 
commercial or subsistence-oriented production goals); location of plots 
(women with young children often preferring to work close to the home, for 
example); mode of production (such as single versus multiple cropping); and 
use of the benefi ts (for household consumption or for sales, as an example). 
Differences between men’s and women’s preferences, priorities, and perceptions 
are illustrated in Box 1.8. In the urban context, men and women also come 
to acquire specifi c types of new knowledge, given their exposure and access 
20 WOMEN FEEDING CITIES
Box 1.8 Gendered differences in knowledge and preferences in Nakuru, Kenya
Information about the knowledge, opportunities, and constraints of men and women 
in respect to livelihoods and nutrition was obtained from a diagnostic study in which 
85 male-headed households and 70 female-headed households were interviewed. The 
participation of men and women in the project has helped in tapping and exchanging their 
knowledge and skills in vegetable production and dairy-goat rearing. Women had a lot of 
experience and care in tending vegetables, including the production of traditional African 
vegetable seeds, while men knew more about the milking of goats, their reproductive 
cycle, and health issues. The knowledge and skills of both men and women in vegetable 
production and dairy-goat rearing have, however, been improved through training. (Njenga 
et al., Chapter 11 this volume)
to new crops or technologies that are conducive to urban cultivation; they 
negotiate new social-network patterns, given the need to establish production 
chains or marketing linkages that are specifi c to city life.
Access to and control over resources
A central issue in men’s and women’s differential circumstances and 
experiences of urban agriculture is that of access to and control over resources. 
This refers both to productive resources such as land, water, inputs, credit, 
information, and technology and to contacts, interpersonal networks, and 
organizations. It also refers to access to and control over one’s own labour 
and the benefi ts of production, which include cash income, food, and other 
products for home consumption, sales, or exchange. Gendered access to and 
control over specifi cally natural resources often means that women have 
rights of renewable use (such as harvesting leaves from trees), while men have 
rights of consumption (harvesting the tree itself, for example). For female 
heads of household, their access to resources is often limited to those of 
poorer quality, and the consequence is lower agricultural production levels 
compared with male heads of household. Box 1.9 and Box 1.10 detail urban 
Box 1.9 Accessing credit in Accra, Ghana
In general, urban farmers do not have access to formal credit schemes in Ghana. This is 
mainly because farmers, particularly women, cannot meet the collateral demands of the 
fi nancial institutions. In addition, most of the urban female farmers have limited space for 
cultivation and do not own land. In spite of these problems, some have managed to create 
a win–win situation with the vegetable sellers in terms of access to informal credit. Sellers 
pre-fi nance farming activities by providing seeds, fertilizers, pesticides, or cash in order 
to obtain the vegetables subsequently produced. Sometimes sellers order the products 
before cultivation, through verbal agreements based on trust and confi dence. The fi nal 
sum of money received by the farmer may differ from the initial sum agreed on, as demand 
and supply might have changed during the growing period. Similar situations have been 
observed in Lomé, Togo, and Cotonou, Benin, in West Africa. (Hope et al., Chapter 4 this 
volume)
 GENDER IN URBAN AGRICULTURE: AN INTRODUCTION 21
Box 1.10 Accessing education in Kampala, Uganda
In Kampala, most of the women involved in urban farming have only primary education, or 
none at all. Only a few have received a secondary education. This determines what kind of 
work they do, and it explains why poverty is a great problem among women: few of them 
participate in the formal sector, and many either work at home as housewives, or farm 
in their backyards, or trade foodstuffs at evening candlelight markets by the roadsides. 
(Nabulo, Chapter 5 this volume)
farmers’ circumstances in relation to credit in Accra, Ghana, and education 
in Kampala, Uganda, respectively, in order to emphasize the implications for 
participation and potential success in the urban agriculture sector. 
Access and control are highly infl uenced by structures and processes at 
the macro level, where socio-cultural ideas determine which roles men and 
women play, what responsibilities they each have, and the value placed on 
these roles. According to Moser (1993), external factors such as ideology, 
culture, and economics underlie intra-household resource allocation. Both 
de facto traditions and formal laws may prevent women from inheriting and 
controlling land on an equal basis with men. Traditions of patrilineal property 
inheritance limit women’s access to a secure place to live, their ability to 
produce food for their families, and their ability to generate income. An 
example of the infl uence of culture and traditions on women’s access to land 
is described in Box 1.11.
In contrast, urban areas facilitate a culture of individualist political and 
economic circumstances such that a ‘survival of the fi ttest’ scenario prevails. 
Box 1.12 illustrates this scenario in terms of land access in Ghana that is not 
consonant with gender traditions. 
Box 1.11 Women’s access to land in Hyderabad, India 
The city of Hyderabad, India, is one of the fastest-growing cities in the world. Spread out 
over an area of 500 km², it has a population of six million. Various crops irrigated with 
wastewater are cultivated in the urban and peri-urban areas of the city along the Musi 
River, which fl ows through the centre of the city. Here, land is considered to be a resource 
for men, with legal inheritance of land equally distributed between sons and daughters. 
Land title, however, is usually in the name of the male head of the household, and after 
he dies it is inherited by the male members of the family (his sons). Indians still adhere to 
the dowry system, whereby a bride’s father has to pay the family of the bridegroom before 
or during the wedding. Parents of the bride give cash and jewellery to the bridegroom and 
retain their land for their son, as he is the one who will support them in their old age. 
Women usually do not fi le cases against their fathers or brothers, even if they do not get 
their share of the land. The main reason is that a father pays a dowry to the bridegroom for 
the wedding of his daughter, which is supposed to compensate for the land that will go to 
his son. Culturally, women are taught that land is a man’s property. Women get land titles 
only if their husbands die and their sons are too young (less than 18 years old) to work the 
land. Divorce is not a common phenomenon in the study area; even in the rare event of a 
divorce, the land remains with the husband. (Devi and Buechler, Chapter 2 this volume)
22 WOMEN FEEDING CITIES
Box 1.12 Accessing land for urban agriculture in Accra, Ghana 
Even though some communities disallow women from owning land, this restriction 
pertains mainly to communal land in peri-urban and rural areas and has little or no effect 
on access to land for farming in the open spaces within the cities in Ghana. Seventy 
per cent of the land cultivated in urban areas belongs to the government, and access to 
these lands is not based on gender differences. This is very interesting, as it would mean 
that established culture and traditions did not prevail in the urban situation, or at least 
that they would be less important. In a recent study, 87 per cent of the farmers in Accra 
indicated that men and women have equal access to government lands in urban open 
spaces. In essence, access to government land is based on availability and the lobbying 
strategies of individuals. In most cases, access is achieved via direct contact with the 
owner or caretaker, or through a third party working with the government institutions in 
the area. In some peri-urban areas of Accra, where share-cropping is used as payment for 
cultivating land owned by individuals, landowners or traditional leaders (such as chiefs) 
prefer men rather than women to cultivate larger plots, because they believe that men are 
likely to produce higher yields than women. (Hope et al., Chapter 4 this volume)
In many instances, men and women must compete with each other for 
scarce resources such as land and water for urban agriculture, given that these 
structures undermine traditionally established inheritance rules. In many 
of these scenarios, men out-compete women, given their generally elevated 
socio-economic status in cities. Women producers who are not landowners 
may demand their share of revenue derived from production, because they 
are the ones who are primarily responsible for the care of children (Hovorka, 
1998). If they are not successful in persuading their husbands to share the 
earnings, women may retain part of the money from their vegetable produce 
sales without the knowledge or consent of their husbands (Maxwell, 1994). 
Box 1.13 illustrates access to and control of the benefi ts of urban agricultural 
production.
Additionally, female producers cannot always get access to transportation 
when distances from available plots of land may be considerable. The physical 
time and effort involved in such journeys is high and therefore proves to be 
a signifi cant constraint for women, especially the elderly or those with young 
children, who aspire to become involved in food production. Lack of inputs 
Box 1.13 Benefi ting from urban agriculture in Kampala, Uganda 
In Uganda it is the men who control the major source of household income and determine 
how to use it. The men purchase the farm inputs and equipment such as hoes and pangas. 
They have a strong hold on the household budget and allocate a certain amount of money 
to women, who in turn decide on household-expenditure priorities. One woman explained 
(focus-group discussion, Kigobe zone, Rubaga Division, Kampala, 2003): ‘You grow the 
crops, but when it comes to selling it is your husband or male relative who sells and 
decides on how to spend the money. If you complain, he asks you if you are the one who 
owns the land. He then goes to spend the money on local brew.’ (Nabulo et al., Chapter 
5 this volume)
 GENDER IN URBAN AGRICULTURE: AN INTRODUCTION 23
Women fetching water in Tamale
By IWMI Ghana
and working capital, as well as lack of information on the use of modern 
inputs and technologies, also limits women’s ability to participate in urban 
agriculture activities. Women tend to have limited exposure to commercial 
urban agriculture or training courses offered by institutions or non-government 
organizations; they may also benefi t less from research or extension services 
that fail to consider gender-specifi c differences regarding methods of plant 
production, crop species, and use of composts, manure, and fertilizer. 
Decision-making power 
There is a close relationship between access to resources and control over their 
use, and the power to make decisions; but they are distinguishable issues. 
Within the household, decisions are taken on the sale of products, land, or 
animals, the production process itself (what to produce, when, where, why, 
how), development of the infrastructure, whether to save or invest, and 
whether some members of the household should work on the farm or take 
other jobs outside the household. Productive activities can help to strengthen 
the position of women in the decision-making process within the household. 
For example, in Kampala, farming activities represent a means to economic 
self-reliance, as was found in the research of Maxwell (1994). For married 
24 WOMEN FEEDING CITIES
women in particular, urban farming offers more than the opportunity to 
augment their family’s food supply: while still within the margins of what is 
culturally expected of these women, participation in urban agriculture gives 
them access to their own source of income and thereby strengthens their 
position in intra-household confl icts. Culturally, urban agriculture is seen 
as a marginal economic activity, and the women may have good reason to 
maintain this image (Hetterschijt 2001; Maxwell 1994). Box 1.14 illustrates 
how men’s views on urban agriculture can change once it has proven to be a 
profi table activity. 
Within the community, contacts and participation in local networks and 
organizations often facilitate access to and control over productive resources. 
Women’s groups play a pivotal role in this context, such that their activities are 
often co-operative mechanisms through which individual women successfully 
pool resources, skills, information, time, and energy. Box 1.15 provides an 
example of this scenario. In some societies, however, women’s groups depend 
on a male chairman to represent their interests to the rest of the community, 
which may not be the best possible arrangement for addressing women’s 
strategic needs (Peters, 1998). 
Given the gender-related differences in the division of labour, knowledge 
and preferences, resource access, and decision making, urban agriculture 
research and development projects can have quite different impacts on men 
and women. If such gender aspects are not taken into account, projects may for 
example have positive effects on family income and thus reduce poverty, but 
they may also increase the workload of women, negatively affect the nutrition 
Box 1.14 Men’s views on urban agriculture in Lima
Of the total number of productive family units (PFUs) in Villa María del Triunfo, a 
municipality in the southern part of Lima, Peru, 76 per cent are controlled by women and 
24 per cent by men. Of the total number of PFUs, 82 per cent practise urban agriculture 
recreationally and consume what they produce, while 3 per cent (all headed by women) 
practise urban agriculture with the goal of supplementing their family income. Fifteen per 
cent (all headed by women) see urban agriculture as a strategy for the potential generation 
of supplementary family income. Fewer men than women participate in urban agriculture, 
because men generally do not see this activity as a viable strategy for the generation of 
direct income. They therefore dedicate little time to it and give priority to other income-
generating activities. However, they are interested in taking the next step and using the 
products of urban agriculture to generate income, particularly through processing activities. 
The current purposes (recreation and self-consumption) of urban agriculture in Villa María 
del Triunfo avoid confl icts within families about access to and control over resources 
and benefi ts of home gardens. Women make decisions without intervention from men, 
since this activity does not at present generate visible economic income and is therefore 
not relevant to men. However, when the possibility of generating visible income through 
commercialization arises, men want to take part in decision making. When striving to 
make urban agriculture an income-generating activity, it is necessary to identify strategies 
to avoid confl icts and inequalities in control over the benefi ts arising from home gardens. 
(Soto et al., Chapter 8 this volume)
 GENDER IN URBAN AGRICULTURE: AN INTRODUCTION 25
Box 1.15 The Kachi Women’s Association in Hyderabad, India
Kachiguda is an urban neighbourhood located almost in the centre of Hyderabad. Many 
of its inhabitants farm along the Musi river. There are four community associations in the 
neighbourhood: the Hyderabad Farmers’ Association, Kachi Association, Kachi Women’s 
Association, and Yadava Sangham. The Kachi Association and Yadava Sangham are caste-
based associations, and only those belonging to the Kachi and Yadava castes respectively 
can become members; membership is completely male. The Kachi Women’s Association 
is exclusively a women’s association, formed in 2004 to help the women belonging to the 
Kachi caste to solve their domestic problems. According to the Secretary of the Women’s 
Association, Ms Madhumathi Bai: ‘The Kachi Association is entirely a men’s association, 
and women cannot talk freely about their problems in front of the men. So the chairman 
of the Kachi Association himself encouraged us women to form a separate women’s 
association, where we can freely discuss our problems such as domestic violence, access 
to water, blocked sewage drains, lack of electricity, disputes with neighbours, etc. If the 
problem cannot be solved, then we take it to the men. We still do not have a savings group, 
but plan to start one soon. As for agriculture, it is the only source of livelihood for some of 
the Kachi women, as they do not have any other skills or courage to go out and search for 
other jobs.’ (Devi and Buechler, Chapter 2 this volume)
and health of the women and children, or leave women’s strategic interests 
unaddressed. Literature suggests that urban agriculture projects that integrate 
gender issues to a high degree tend to have more positive effects, not only on 
the position of women but also on poverty alleviation, household food security, 
and health. For example, according to Talukder et al. (2001), home gardening 
activities in Bangladesh increase the income-earning capacity of the women 
and thus contribute to their empowerment; such activities provide important 
socio-economic returns through lower health and welfare costs, lower fertility 
rates, and lower maternal and infant mortality rates. Maxwell and Armar-
Klemesu (1998) show that female-headed households in Accra have lower 
mean incomes than male-headed households, but their food-budget shares 
and calorie availability are signifi cantly higher than those of the male-headed 
households. Female-headed households spend 60 per cent of their household 
budgets on food, compared with 50 per cent in male-headed households. 
Gender analysis, as featured in this section, helps to diagnose issues that 
need to be addressed in order to bring about gender equality and women’s 
empowerment. Going one step further, the concept of ‘gender mainstreaming’, 
as featured in the following section, proposes a comprehensive approach to 
this aspect of social change. Gender mainstreaming can provide a means 
of establishing urban agriculture research and project-planning methods 
that facilitate appropriate, effective, and benefi cial policy and planning 
interventions in urban centres. Ultimately the goal is to ensure that urban 
agriculture activities help women to feed cities through their daily activities, 
as well as facilitating women’s self-empowerment such that it allows them to 
change their inequitable circumstances relative to men and determine their 
own paths of development.
26 WOMEN FEEDING CITIES
Mainstreaming gender in urban agriculture efforts
At the Social Development Summit organized by the United Nations in 
Copenhagen, national governments, NGOs, and international organizations 
agreed that the principle of equality of all rights for all people forms the basis 
for social inclusion. Specifi cally, all human beings are born free and equal 
in dignity and rights, and everyone is entitled to all human rights without 
distinction of any kind, such as race, colour, sex, language, religion, political 
or other opinion, national or social origin, property, birth, or other (United 
Nations, 1995).  
A society where certain population groups are not part of the decision-
making system is an unjust society. Male representatives normally do not 
automatically represent women’s interests. Women’s active participation 
in decision making is essential in order to ensure that women can promote 
and defend their specifi c needs and interests (for example, land rights and 
reproductive rights, their right not be subjected to violence, and their need for 
child-care services). Women can be prime actors in promoting gender-sensitive 
governance that addresses their needs as well as men’s, thus enhancing access 
to and control over local resources for both. In some countries, women have 
succeeded in putting women’s issues on the political agenda. But recognizing 
the need to enable the participation of all population groups in society is 
not enough. One also needs to know what strategies can be implemented to 
achieve a just and equal society, and how it can be done. 
Gender mainstreaming is not only thorough in its documentation and 
analysis, but prescriptive in its method and comprehensive in its operation at 
all levels of a process or organization. It entails collecting gender-disaggregated 
data, identifying gaps, identifying strategies to close those gaps, investing 
resources in implementing the strategies, monitoring the implementation, 
and holding individuals and institutions accountable for the results (UNDP, 
2003). For urban agriculture, it means that gender is considered in every aspect 
and at every step along the way in any initiative. 
It is important to stress that, in empowering women and making them 
visible, gender mainstreaming is not aimed at excluding men, and certainly 
not at disempowering them. Rather it aims for the inclusion of men in the 
process. Set within the context of men’s and women’s circumstances and 
Box 1.16 UN defi nition of gender mainstreaming
The United Nations (ECOSOC, 1997) defi nes gender mainstreaming as follows. 
‘Mainstreaming a gender perspective is the process of assessing the implications for 
women and men of any planned action, including legislation, policies or programmes, in 
all areas and at all levels. It is a strategy for making women’s as well as men’s concerns 
and experiences an integral dimension of the design, implementation, monitoring and 
evaluation of policies and programmes in all political, economic and societal spheres so 
that women and men benefi t equally and inequality is not perpetuated. The ultimate goal 
is to achieve gender equality.’
 GENDER IN URBAN AGRICULTURE: AN INTRODUCTION 27
experiences, gender mainstreaming aims to intervene in the gender dynamics 
within which food production, processing, and marketing take place in urban 
areas, for the purpose of creating greater social equality. 
Gender mainstreaming must be taken into account in each of the various 
phases of research and development processes, including situational diagnosis 
and identifi cation of problems, potentials, and actors; in-depth analytical 
research; intervention action planning, implementation, and monitoring/
evaluation; and policy development. To this end, the following measures are 
important: 
• Recognize that women and men have different needs. 
• Identify the mechanisms that keep women in a disadvantageous 
position.
• Identify the possible impacts of urban agriculture on the reproductive, 
productive, community, political, and cultural roles and areas of social 
interaction of women and men.
• Identify the practical and strategic needs of men and women and respond 
to both, paying particular attention to the strategic needs, given that 
meeting them tends to create more of a balance in gender relations.
• Defi ne equality policies and affi rmative actions that make gender 
equality a reality in the urban agriculture process. 
Mainstreaming gender issues into development policy, planning, and 
decision-making mechanisms has proved challenging at all scales. As noted by 
UNDP (2003: 3), nowhere is the gap between stated intentions and operational 
reality as wide as it has been in the promotion of equality between men and 
women. Gender inequality is still continuously recreated by the ’mainstream’, 
given that existing policies and practices are based on dominant and 
stereotyped views of the respective roles and status of men and women. While 
organizations and institutions continue to grapple with the incorporation of 
gender dynamics, the needs and priorities of one half of humankind have yet 
to feature on the development agenda.
As an emerging development strategy, the realm of urban agriculture is well 
poised to accommodate just and equitable guidelines for addressing the needs 
and interests of both men and women. Practitioners, planners, and policy 
makers can make a concerted effort to fully acknowledge and incorporate 
gender into the promotion and support of urban agriculture globally (Hovorka 
and Lee-Smith, 2006). Urban agriculture could and should be based on 
practices that generate more equitable social relations (Palacios, 2002: 1-2). 
If the data in a diagnosis are not disaggregated by gender, the project, plan, 
or policy will be based on an overall vision that disregards the differences 
between genders. It will thus suggest common answers to problems that, in 
practice, are different, and as a result it will risk deepening those differences 
and inequalities. 
The urban agriculture research or development project cycle,requires 
consistent application of gender tools at every step. At the outset, gender analysis 
28 WOMEN FEEDING CITIES
allows for planning and implementation of ’people-centred’ development 
interventions, based on exact information of who these ‘people’ are. ‘The 
people’ never comprise one homogeneous group, but rather consist of diverse 
sub-groups as a consequence of differences in age, culture, geography, socio-
economic positions, and ethnicity. Without such data on the differentiations 
within the population with whom and for whom they are working, research 
and intervention projects are not as relevant as they could and should be. 
The aim of gender analysis is to understand and document the differences 
in gender roles and relations in urban agriculture in a particular location as a 
basis for the design of gender-responsive research, policies, and projects that 
increase men’s and women’s participation in and benefi ts from development. 
Gender-sensitive research should be conducted during all phases of the project 
cycle, including diagnosis, design, planning, implementation, monitoring, 
and evaluation and policy development (GWA, 2003). It is a cross-cutting 
issue that is only truly mainstreamed if applied at every stage. If it is not 
included in the earliest stages of a research initiative or a project, the result 
may be inadequate scientifi c knowledge or an entirely different project with 
different goals, strategies, and activities.
When making policy recommendations with regard to urban agriculture, 
it is important to conceptualize gender as a social, political, economic, 
and cultural issue, and as a human-rights issue, to which different actors 
(local governments, institutions, and organizations) must respond. Urban 
agriculture policies should be based on an acknowledgement of the real value 
of women’s contribution to production, and on a recognition of women’s 
economic rights. Attention should be paid to trying to establish the impact 
of urban agriculture on the well-being, dignity, and feelings of self-respect of 
both women and men. Promoting increased self-respect for women should be 
seen in the wider context of working towards gender equality as a universal 
human right. Thus development programmes and policies should strive for 
full and free participation of women in all decision making that affects their 
lives; they should target both women and men as benefi ciaries. 
Attempts have been made to develop appropriate methods for researching 
and promoting gender issues in urban agriculture (for example, Hovorka, 1998; 
UH–RUAF methodology workshop in Nairobi 2001; and the Women Feeding 
Cities meeting in Accra in 2004). Yet the development and implementation 
of gendered guidelines and instruments specifi c to urban agriculture remain 
a challenge. The cases presented in this book refl ect an attempt to further 
mainstream gender in the urban agriculture realm by encouraging insightful 
research on gender dynamics (Hovorka and Lee-Smith, 2006). Creating a 
foundation for gender mainstreaming in urban agriculture requires a solid 
research base which explores conceptual issues and provides empirical 
evidence of men’s and women’s differential and often inequitable experiences 
of food cultivation and livestock rearing in different cities around the world. 
These case studies reveal differences between men and women, identify the 
 GENDER IN URBAN AGRICULTURE: AN INTRODUCTION 29
mechanisms that often keep women in a disadvantaged position, and establish 
the signifi cance of urban agriculture in people’s everyday lives.
In turn, research on gender and urban agriculture provides a springboard for 
programming, planning, and policy initiatives whereby researchers can identify 
the practical and strategic needs of men and women in order to formulate 
action plans for urban agriculture activities (Hovorka and Lee-Smith 2006). 
The cases featured here go a long way towards making recommendations for 
research and development to enhance and achieve gender equity. For example, 
the Accra case study (Chapter 4) calls for the development of women-friendly 
technologies in urban vegetable farming to create a better gender balance, 
while in Manila (Chapter 3) action taken on health campaigns is seen as a way 
forward in addressing women’s exposure to harmful pesticides. In Kampala 
(Chapter 5) land access and protected rights to ownership for women farmers 
are encouraged by creating gender quotas in land allocation, while in Kisumu 
(Chapter 7) the focus is on legislation and policies pertaining to customs, 
practices, inheritance, and succession to ensure women’s equal rights in and 
out of marriage. 
Additionally, calls for further research by authors of cases featured in 
this book draw attention to, for example, in-depth gendered studies of the 
marketing of vegetables in Accra, in order to understand marketing dynamics 
and the lack of men engaging in marketing activities. To ensure equitable 
division of labour and responsibilities in urban agriculture, the Kisumu case 
demands gender-disaggregated calculations of the contribution of urban 
agriculture to the overall Kenyan economy. Numerous case studies recognize 
the importance of acknowledging cultural norms and power relations that 
are fully embedded in society and have implications for men’s and women’s 
circumstances and experiences of urban agriculture. As stated in the Kampala 
case study, ‘The methodologies used to integrate gender into urban agriculture 
projects need to take into consideration the cultural values that favour 
men and often render women inferior within the household and the larger 
community’. 
In addition to the experiences and insights garnered through the case studies 
in this volume, the urban agriculture development community must look 
towards two key elements to further the gender- mainstreaming agenda. First, 
political will and commitment among key stakeholders at all scales is essential, 
given that gender issues become meaningful and applicable only if and when 
the organizations and institutions promoting them actually support them 
(Hovorka and Lee-Smith, 2006). Wherever possible, gender mainstreaming 
must be a stated developmental or organizational goal, supported by those 
in leadership positions. Gender mainstreaming requires a concerted effort by 
researchers, practitioners, and decision makers in order to strengthen links 
between research, programming, and policy/planning initiatives in the fi eld 
of urban agriculture. This includes involvement and promotion of women’s 
groups engaged in urban agriculture and their collective practices so that 
they will be recognized as social and political actors, thus converting urban 
30 WOMEN FEEDING CITIES
agriculture into a citizen’s concern. Second, capacity building and resources 
must be committed and allocated to achieve gender mainstreaming; logistical 
support and material requirements are essential at municipal, regional, 
national, and international levels. Gender mainstreaming demands expertise, 
which in turn requires resources, and until practitioners and organizations 
back up their promises with money, inaction will persist.
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WHO (2001) ‘Urban and Peri-urban Food and Nutrition Action Plan, Elements 
for Community Action to Promote Social Cohesion and Reduce Inequalities 
through Local Production for Local Consumption’, WHO, ETC, Denmark.
WHO / UNEP (2006) WHO Guidelines for the Safe Reuse of Wastewater, Excreta 
and Grey Material, Geneva, Switzerland.
CHAPTER 2
Gender dimensions of urban and peri-urban 
agriculture in Hyderabad, India
Gayathri Devi and Stephanie Buechler
Abstract
This chapter attempts to understand and analyse the gender dimensions of urban 
and peri-urban agriculture in the case-study areas of Hyderabad, India. A number 
of households, especially migrants from drought-prone rural areas, depend on 
wastewater-irrigated urban or peri-urban agriculture for their livelihood and food 
security. Data have been collected by participatory rapid appraisal tools for this 
study; the tools included needs assessment; activity profi le; access and control 
profi le; and decision-making matrix. The important lessons learned from the study 
are (1) that the culturally prescribed gender division of labour in urban agriculture 
does not accord completely with what men and women do in practice; (2) that 
women contribute a signifi cant part of the household income; (3) that crops and 
activities that have higher rates of return tend to be controlled by men, whereas 
women farmers view urban agriculture more as a way of securing food security 
for the households; (4) that the location of an activity infl uences the degree and 
type of involvement of women in agriculture and dairy activities; (5) that men 
have better access to resources such as credit and land than women, owing to their 
cultural advantage in a patriarchal society; and (6) that affi liations such as caste, 
class, and ethnicity affect gender relations and gender roles in urban agriculture. 
Recommendations proposed include gender-positive / gender-sensitive allocation 
of land, training, education and capacity-building, projects, policies, and research 
which contribute to economic growth as well as to social equity. 
Introduction
Agriculture has always been associated with rural areas, even though in 
many parts of the world it has been practised in urban and peri-urban sites 
for centuries, contributing to the employment and food security of those 
involved in its production and sale. The purpose of this case study is to 
understand the gender issues in urban food production and household food 
security in the study area and to identify the strategies that the South Asia 
regional offi ce of International Water Management Institute (IWMI) should 
36 WOMEN FEEDING CITIES
apply in order to mainstream these issues in its future research projects and 
policy recommendations.
Study location
The study was conducted in Hyderabad, India, one of the fastest-growing 
cities in the world. The city is spread out over an area of 625 km2, with a 
population of 6.7 million (The Hindu newspaper, 16 April 2007). Various crops 
irrigated with wastewater are cultivated in the urban and peri-urban areas of 
the city along the Musi River, which fl ows right through the centre of the city. 
Within Hyderabad, an urban location called Kachiguda and two peri-urban 
locations called Pirzadiguda and Parvathapuram (see Figure 2.1) were chosen 
for the study in order to understand the contributions of urban and peri-
urban agriculture (UPA) to the livelihoods of the people, and especially the 
differences in gender roles and benefi ts. 
Kachiguda is an urban location almost in the centre of the city. Most 
of the urban farmers who farm along the Musi River live in the Kachiguda 
neighbourhood. Many varieties of crops are grown on the river bed (which 
usually fl oods in the monsoon season, but remains dry for the rest of the year), 
on a 5 km stretch along the Musi River. The average landholding size here is 
one acre (0.4 ha) of irrigated land (Buechler and Devi, 2002). The main crops 
grown in urban areas are Para grass, green leafy vegetables, banana plants, and 
coconut palms. Para grass is cultivated as fodder for cows and buffaloes that are 
raised in urban areas for milk. Much of the land dedicated to fodder production 
is rented to dairy producers from the yadava caste, whereas most of the land 
in the urban areas on the Musi fl ood-plains is owned by people from the kachi 
caste, whose members came originally from Uttar Pradesh state and are Hindi-
speaking. At present there is no provision to transfer the land titles, because 
the government stipulates that this land is a riverbed and cannot be bought or 
sold. Therefore, the names on the land titles have not changed even with the 
deaths of two or three generations of titleholders (Buechler et al., 2002). 
Pirzadiguda and Parvathapuram, two peri-urban study areas in Hyderabad, 
are located about half a kilometre away from each other. Many of the Muslim 
and Hindu families in these areas were dependent on urban agriculture in 
2004. About 150 households have migrated in the last 15–20 years from the 
district of Kurnool, a drought-prone area. Although they originally came as 
fi eld labourers who cut wastewater-irrigated fodder grass, many have been 
able to buy livestock and rent land for fodder grass and vegetable production. 
As the city increases in size, most of the land under cultivation in this location 
is now being converted into plots for construction (Buechler and Devi, 2003). 
The key farming activities in the urban and peri-urban areas are still dairy, Para 
grass (fodder grass), and leafy vegetable production. Most farmers in this area 
lease between half an acre and one acre of land to cultivate leafy vegetables or 
Para grass. Since 2004, however, this scenario has changed considerably. There 
is a signifi cant decrease in wastewater-irrigated areas in the urban and peri-
 CASE STUDY: HYDERABAD, INDIA 37
N
Hyderabad
Pirzadiguda
Kachiguda
Musi River
Parvathapuram
Wastewater
irrigated areas
Map not to scale
Figure 2.1 Urban and peri-urban study sites and area under wastewater irrigation in 2007
urban study locations, for various reasons: the increasing value of land for real 
estate; the booming economy of the city, which offers numerous employment 
opportunities; and the high opportunity cost of working on a farm versus other 
types of employment. Exact estimates of the land lost under cultivation to real 
estate are not available, but the current research approximates that more than 
50 per cent of the land previously under vegetable and Para grass production 
in the study locations is now lost to real estate and other commercial purposes 
and displaced to areas farther away from the city. 
Methodology
Data collected over different years have been used to present the results in 
this study. From August to October 2002, for a larger study sponsored by 
the UK government’s Department for International Development (DFID),on 
livelihoods along the Musi River, 105 questionnaires were used to gain 
information from wastewater users (one male and one female member of 
each household) as well as to vendors in urban, peri-urban and rural sites. 
From March to April 2003, data were collected about household food 
security, through the application of a new questionnaire on income and 
food expenditure patterns in the urban and peri-urban sites of the city. 
In August 2004, new questionnaires were applied to a sub-sample of the 
respondents who had been interviewed previously, with the breakdown as 
follows: 22 respondents (12 women and 10 men) for the urban sites and 30 
respondents (18 women and 12 men) for the peri-urban sites. The activity 
38 WOMEN FEEDING CITIES
profi le, access and control profi le, and the decision-making matrix were 
applied to all the respondents interviewed for the urban sites in August 2004, 
and the reasons for their responses were discussed. The results of the two 
profi les and the decision matrix were triangulated with previous interviews in 
2002 and 2003, and all the different views are considered and incorporated in 
the analysis. This chapter is based on the knowledge and experience gained 
from the previous studies and the new data collected from the study sites in 
January 2008. Additional participatory rapid appraisal (PRA) tools are applied 
to a smaller group of urban and peri-urban farmers in the current study sites, 
with a total sample size of 52 (29 women and 19 men) farmers and four key 
informants (two women and two men). The participatory appraisal tools 
used for this study are preference ranking; problem matrix; needs assessment; 
activity profi le; access and control profi le; and decision-making matrix. 
Gender analysis in peri-urban study areas 
The current section presents the outcomes of the analysis related to each of 
the tools used in this study.
Gender differences in farming preferences
By direct matrix ranking, the participants identifi ed and prioritized their 
farming activities and discussed their related preferences, opportunities, and 
constraints associated with them. Understanding preferences is critical for 
choosing appropriate and effective interventions (World Bank, 2001). Results 
show that men gave their fi rst preference to dairy, their second to vegetable 
production, and their third to both Para grass and paddy. Higher profi t 
margins and marketability of the product were important criteria for men. 
Women gave their fi rst preference to leafy vegetable production, their second 
to Para grass production, and their third to dairy. Important criteria for the 
women’s ranking were the degree of risk and the ability to manage the activity 
independently while still being able to manage their household chores and 
child-care responsibilities. 
Gender division of labour
The livelihoods of urban farmers are dynamic, and the activities of the farmers 
change rapidly in response to changes in the local economy, availability of 
new opportunities, and rising education levels of the family members who 
want to move out of farming to desk or offi ce-based jobs. However, little 
change has been seen in the division of labour between men and women or 
the kind of activity that they perform in agricultural fi elds, in the household 
compound, or in the community in general. Key-informant interviews and 
data from the questionnaires have been analysed to produce a profi le of the 
division of labour between female and male urban farmers (see Table 2.1).
 CASE STUDY: HYDERABAD, INDIA 39
Table 2.1 Gender division of labour in urban agriculture in the study areas
 Females (♀) Male (♂)
Socio-economic activity Locus
1. Production of goods and services
a) Para grass
Irrigation  +   +++ + Within the fi eld
Harvesting  ++  + +++ + Within the fi eld
Transport as head loads  ++   +++  Field to transport vehicle
Driver of fodder transport vehicle     +++  Field to market yard
Sale in the market     +++  In market yard
b) Dairy       
Bringing fodder from market to
cattle shed     +++  Market to home
Feeding the cattle  ++   +++  Within home/cattle shed
Cleaning the shed  ++   ++  Within home/cattle shed
Milking the cows  +   +++  Within home
Cleaning the milk cans  +++   +  Within home
Taking cattle to river for bathing  +  + +++  Outside the house
Selling the milk   +++ +  +  At home
Selling the milk   +  ++ +++ + Outside the house
c) Leafy vegetables       
Land preparation and planting  ++   +++  Within the fi eld
Weeding ++ +++  + +  Within the fi eld
Irrigation  ++   +++  Within the fi eld
Harvesting ++ +++  + +  Within the fi eld
Transport  ++   +++  Field to market
Sale in the market ++ +++  + +  In market 
2. Social reproduction       
Child care ++ +++ ++  +  Within home
Care of sick children + +++     Taking children to hospital
Care of the elderly  +++   +  Within home
Care of the elderly  +   +++  Taking elderly to hospital
Household management  ++ +++ ++    Within home
Collect water +++ +++ + + ++  In house, nearby water tap
3. Community management
Participation (Part.) in
Hyderabad Farmers’ Association  +   +++ + In the local community
Part. In Kachi Association     +++ + In the local community
Part. In Kachi Women’s Association  +++     
Part. In Yadava Caste
Association     +++ + In the local community
Part. In Fodder Grass Farmers’
Committee     +++  In the local community
Part. In Uppal Farmers’
Association     +++  In the local community
Part. In Self Help Saving Groups  +++     In the village
A child is a girl or boy below the age of 16 years. An elderly person is a person 60 years old 
and above
+++ indicates that frequency is high
++  indicates that frequency is medium
+   indicates that frequency is low 
No major differences were noticed in the activity profi le of men and women in the urban and 
peri-urban areas, except in dairy production, and they are therefore not listed separately.
Child
Adult
Elder
Child
Adult
Elder
40 WOMEN FEEDING CITIES
Production of goods and services
• Para grass: In Para grass production, men are more involved than 
women. Women harvest the crop and also carry it to the truck that 
transports the grass to the market. A man carries a head-load of 70 kg 
per trip, and a woman carries 30 kg of head-load per trip from the fi eld 
to the truck. Women’s participation in the grass market is limited by a 
number of factors. The profi t margins are higher for fodder grass than 
for other crops such as leafy vegetables. Therefore men want to control 
the income from fodder grass. It would not seem to be a limiting factor 
that heavy loads of grass have to be loaded and un-loaded from transport 
vehicles, since women carry loads of grass from the fi eld to the trucks. 
However, the kind of garment that is culturally acceptable for women to 
wear (the sari) limits movement of the legs, restricting women’s ability 
to climb into and out of the trucks to unload the fodder grass (Buechler 
et al., 2003).
• Milk: In milk production, men and women play equally important 
roles. In intra-urban areas most dairy producers belong to the yadava 
caste community. The economic status of the household infl uences 
the extent to which women are involved in production activities. In 
intra-urban areas, since the yadavas are reasonably well-off, women are 
less involved, whereas in the peri-urban areas, where households are 
Man carrying Para grass in Hyderabad 
By Henk de Zeeuw
 CASE STUDY: HYDERABAD, INDIA 41
classifi ed as poor, the involvement of women in dairy activities is greater 
than in intra-urban areas. 
• Vegetables: Most of the land under vegetable cultivation is rented, 
and the vegetable farmers are usually women, assisted by young boys 
and girls (Buechler et al., 2003). Most of the urban and peri-urban 
vegetable farmers are women, because production of leafy vegetables is 
economically viable when undertaken at a small scale, the plants can be 
grown in small, manageable plots, and all operations from ploughing to 
harvesting can be done by women without any help from the male family 
members (Buechler and Devi, 2008a, 2008b). In addition, agriculture is 
the only skill that these women have, due to the strong gender bias in 
favour of boys in the provision of formal education and training (for 
occupations such as driving, tailoring, technical/industrial training) 
which would otherwise help them to procure more profi table jobs.
Social reproduction 
All activities associated with social reproduction (see Table 2.1) such as 
cooking, house cleaning, washing dishes and clothes, child care, collection 
of water, and care of the elderly are done by women. Young girls between the 
ages of 10 and 17 years (or sometimes even younger) help their mothers in all 
household chores. Young boys also help their mothers in buying groceries and 
sometimes fetching water by bicycle if the distance to the public tap is great. 
Men very rarely participate in these activities. Culturally, women are supposed 
to take care of all activities within the boundaries of the house, and men are 
responsible for all activities outside the house. However, these prescribed roles 
and responsibilities are changing with time. 
Community participation
Most community activities are dominated by men. In the urban study location 
there are four associations – the Hyderabad Farmers’ Association, Kachi 
Association, Kachi Women’s Association, and Yadava Sangham. The Hyderabad 
Farmers’ Association is an informal organization formed by the farmers who 
own land along the Musi in Hyderabad city. It was mainly formed to fi ght 
against the government when the latter wanted to take away their land and 
convert it into a public area for parks. Since the criterion for membership was 
land ownership, there are very few women members in this group; the few 
women who are members do not participate in any of the meetings, since 
women perceive the association as a men’s organization, and because they 
face social barriers which discourage them from speaking in public.
The Kachi Association and Yadava Sangham are caste-based associations, 
and the members are all male. The Kachi Women’s Association is exclusively 
a women’s association, formed in 2004 to help the women belonging to the 
42 WOMEN FEEDING CITIES
Kachi caste to solve their domestic problems. Asked why the Kachi women had 
to form a separate association, when the kachis already had an association, the 
Secretary of this association, Ms Madhumathi Bai, said, ‘Kachi Association is 
a men’s association and women cannot talk freely about their problems in 
front of the men. So the chairman of the Kachi association encouraged us 
to form a separate association where women could freely discuss and solve 
their problems.’ This clearly indicates the cultural barriers that limit women’s 
mobility and freedom of speech in public gatherings.
In the peri-urban area, there are three associations: the Fodder Grass Farmers 
Committee (FGFC), the Uppal Farmers Association (UFA) and the DWACRA 
women’s Self Help Groups (SHGs) in Parvathapuram. All of the members of 
FGFC and UFA are male. Formation of the DWACRA women’s SHG has been 
a successful government initiative, aimed at encouraging savings and credit 
for the productive and reproductive needs of women and their families in 
Parvathapuram. Most women in the study area are members of these SHGs 
and are benefi ting from their membership. It was also found that the loans 
taken by women from households dependent on dairy were spent on buying 
more cattle, since most of the dairy activities were done and controlled by 
men. Men have a strong infl uence on decisions taken about their households’ 
fi nances and credit utilization. 
Access to and control of resources and benefi ts 
An access and control profi le of the male and female farmers in relation to 
various resources was constructed after the analysis of data from questionnaires 
and key-informant interviews (see Table 2.2). The access profi le helps 
researchers to understand the extent to which a resource is available for use by 
a household member, and a control profi le tells us who has the power to make 
decisions about how a resource can be used. 
Table 2.2 Male and female access to and control of household resources in the study areas
 Access Control
Resources Female Male Female Male
Productive resources
Land xx xxx x xxx
Credit (mainly through friends or relatives or moneylenders) xx xxx xx xxx
Labour xx xxx x xxx
Information x xx x xx
Benefi ts of resources
Income from sale of milk x xxx x xxx
Income from sale of leafy vegetables xxx xx xx xx
Income from casual labour xxx xxx xx xx
xxx Indicates complete access / control
xx  Indicates partial access / control
x   Indicates limited or no access / control
 CASE STUDY: HYDERABAD, INDIA 43
Access to and control of productive resources
The various resources essential for production are land, capital, labour, and 
information (related to market prices, new technologies of production, etc.). 
• Land: Land is considered to be a resource for men. Legally, the land 
inherited by a person should be equally distributed between the son(s) 
and the daughter(s). But the land title is usually in the name of the man, 
and after him it is inherited by the male members of the family (sons). 
Indians still follow the dowry system, whereby a bride’s father has to 
pay the family of the bridegroom before/during the wedding. Parents of 
the bride present cash and jewellery to the bridegroom and retain land 
for their son, because he is the one who will support them in their old 
age. Women usually do not fi le a case against their father or brothers, 
even if they do not get their share of the land. The main reason behind 
it is that a father pays a dowry to the bridegroom for the wedding of 
his daughter, and that is supposed to compensate for the land that goes 
to the son. Culturally, women are taught that land is a man’s property. 
Women get land titles only if the husband dies and the son is too young 
(less than 18 years old) to work the land. Divorce is not a common 
phenomenon in the study area, and even in the rare event of a divorce 
the land remains with the husband. Renting land for agriculture (mainly 
for leafy vegetables) is done by a male or a female farmer irrespective of 
sex. Women renters are considered more reliable. 
• Credit: In both the urban and peri-urban locations, it was found that 
there are no formal sources of credit. People lend and borrow among 
themselves. The amount of money that is usually borrowed ranges 
from Indian Rupee (INR) 500 to INR 5,000 (approx Euro 10 to 100). 
There are a few moneylenders, who charge very high interest rates of 
fi ve to ten per cent per month. The high rates are due to the fact that 
the poor farmers do not have collateral to pledge and have no other 
source of credit. In extreme cases, women pledge their gold ornaments 
as collateral for small debts owed to the local moneylenders, who are 
the traditional informal moneylenders. Female farmers are considered 
more credit-worthy and reliable than the men. But male farmers have 
better access because of the higher social capital that they control. Men 
know greater numbers of people and have a wider network of friends; 
therefore their reach is greater than that of female farmers. In terms of 
control, the female farmers have only partial control over the money 
that they borrow if it is a male-headed household. This is because the 
male head usually controls all household resources and can divert them 
for things that he considers to be a priority, rather than for the purpose 
for which the woman borrowed it. The implication of this is that women 
farmers have to compromise on the extent of their investments in urban 
agriculture activities and therefore have to forego the benefi ts which 
they otherwise would have reaped with increased investments. However, 
44 WOMEN FEEDING CITIES
the male farmers would not face this problem; they have higher chances 
of realizing the full potential of their entrepreneurial skills and will have 
higher risk-taking ability.
• Information: Information gives people the capacity to negotiate 
and make informed choices. The education level of the farmers, the 
extent to which they are exposed to information, and their ability to 
use information infl uence the extent to which they can access and 
use information appropriately. Sixty to 70 per cent of the farmers are 
uneducated, and 30 per cent are educated only to secondary level. 
Men have greater access to and control of information than women, 
due to their higher education levels and greater social capital. this 
suggests that it is more probable that, compared with female farmers, 
male farmers will make informed choices and benefi t from them. 
The information needs of the men and women farmers are further 
elaborated in Table 2.3.
• Labour: Differential wages for men and women in the agricultural sector 
are common in rural India (Labour Bureau of India, 2003), and the same 
is true for wage labourers in urban agriculture. In the study locations, 
male casual labourers are paid more for their labour (INR 100–120 for 
eight hours of work) than female labourers (Rs 60 for eight hours of 
work). However, in urban areas women labourers fi nd more days of 
work (30–40 work days per year) than male labourers (10–15 work days), 
due to the kind of work for which the women are employed (weeding 
and harvesting of vegetables) and the nature of the crops (mainly leafy 
vegetables). In peri-urban areas, where Para grass production is great, 
both male and female casual labourers fi nd employment year-round and 
are paid on a piece-rate basis (INR 4 per 15 kg bundle of grass harvested). 
A married couple earns INR 200–250 per day in a Para grass fi eld. 
Access to and control of the benefi ts of the resources
From the interviews, it was seen that women had complete access to the income 
that they receive directly, but had only partial control over decisions on how 
to spend it. The income that men collected for the women was controlled 
more fully by men. For example, women who work as casual labourers and 
women who sell vegetables in the market receive money directly from their 
employers or customers. In the case of milk, it is men who collect the money 
from their customers on a monthly basis, and women have less access to 
and control over this money. The interviews showed that women can make 
decisions about spending money if the amount spent is a small sum. For all 
larger expenses, they have to get the permission of the household head, who 
is usually a man (Buechler and Devi, 2008a). Control over resources can be 
better understood by analysing the decision making in a household.
 CASE STUDY: HYDERABAD, INDIA 45
Table 2.3 Decision making in the farm-households in the study areas
 Male/female Comments/explanation
 member jointly
Decisions
Inputs      Combined decision. If there are young 
children at home, the man spends 
more time in the fi eld. 
Use of family labour   x   Both men and women. Also, the crop 
determines what inputs to buy.
What inputs to buy?   x   Men have more say, but also depend 
on the availability of crop and 
household labour and its affordability 
for the family.
Hire additional labour  x
Production      Combined decision; also depends 
on soil conditions, water availability, 
demand for the crop, and economic 
capacity of household. 
Which crop to grow?   x   Decision taken by men and 
women together, depending on soil 
conditions, water availability, and 
demand for the crop. 
Where to plant what?   x   This decision is not in people’s hands. 
It depends on when the crop is ready 
for harvest.
When to harvest?   x   Household head decides, depending 
upon the availability of household 
labour, skills of household members, 
and prior knowledge of the crop/
animal production; but the women 
in household also have a say and can 
infl uence this decision. Cash needs 
and market demand for the products 
also infl uence this decision.
Choice between crop  x    Head of the household, who is 
production or dairy       generally the man, decides the number 
of cattle to be kept, depending upon 
the household labour and capital 
available. 
Number of milk  x
cattle to be bought
Marketing
What part of the    x  Women decide how much of the 
harvest is sold and      produce (vegetables and milk) will 
how?       be kept for household consumption.
Male
Male
dominates
decision
Equal
infl uence
Female
dominates
decision
Female
46 WOMEN FEEDING CITIES
 Male/female Comments/explanation
 member jointly
When should a cow/  x    Men generally take any decision that 
buffalo be sold?      involves a lot of money e.g. selling a 
cow, but women can infl uence this 
decision.
Investments
Equipment and tools x     Men are more aware of tools (what 
       tools required, where to buy, and 
      prices) and equipment and therefore 
they buy them.
Loan  x    It depends on the purpose of the loan, 
but in general the man dominates the 
decision making 
Buy or rent  x    All land-related decisions are taken
additional land       by men as they involve major 
investment, but these decisions can 
be infl uenced by women.
Buy more animals  x    Depending on labour availability in 
the house, space to keep animals, 
and availability of capital, men 
decide to buy more cattle; but their 
decision is infl uenced by women.
Reproduction
Whether a child goes  x    Both mother and father decide, but 
to school or not       the father has the upper hand in the 
decision. If it comes to prioritizing 
between the education of a girl and a 
boy, a girl’s education is given a lower 
priority.
To go to a doctor or  x    Men dominate this decision, because
not?       consulting a doctor is expensive.
Whether or not to  x    It used to be a man’s decision. With 
apply birth control       changing attitudes and awareness 
among women and men of the 
importance of family planning, this is 
changing and women have more say.
Male
Male
dominates
decision
Equal
infl uence
Female
dominates
decision
Female
 CASE STUDY: HYDERABAD, INDIA 47
Decision-making powers and their distribution in a household
A decision-making matrix illustrates power relations between the men and the 
women in a household. The matrix in Table 2.3 has been constructed on the 
basis of fi eld interviews and fi eld observations.
Men make most decisions related to production and all decisions related to 
investment and reproduction. There are very few decisions in which women 
have an equal say, and most of these decisions are by default, not by design (as 
noted in Table 2.3). The women respondents said that most decision making 
is male-dominated because men are the household heads, and culturally the 
household head makes all decisions.
Gender-differentiated problems/constraints/needs and opportunities
Men and women perceive situations and associated problems differently. 
Social roles and responsibilities, awareness levels, mobility, and cultural taboos 
strongly infl uence their perceptions and preferences. 
Scarcity of land for cultivation, lack of credit facilities, and poor quality 
of irrigation water were mentioned by both men and women as the main 
constraints limiting agricultural production. Real-estate developments have 
pushed agricultural land farther and farther away from the city. This increasing 
distance between the fi elds and the residential areas was mentioned as one 
of the important problems for the women farmers, because they need to go 
back and forth frequently between the fi elds and their homes to perform their 
multiple tasks of household work, child care, care for the elderly, and working 
in the fi elds (tasks that together constitute a triple day for women). Further, 
cultural norms (for example: women should be confi ned to the private domain, 
or if they go outside of the home they must go with an escort; education is 
not important for women; women should not talk with strangers, especially 
men; women’s main role is to serve the husband and take care of children; 
women should not speak out in public) restrict women’s mobility and affect 
the business and entrepreneurial capabilities of women farmers. While male 
farmers expressed the need for knowledge about more profi table crops, new 
skills, and credit to enable them to move out of agricultural activities to more 
profi table occupations, women farmers wanted information on non-land- 
based occupations, how to avoid problems of poor-quality irrigation water, 
and education and health facilities for their children and family. 
As the city population grows, demand for fresh vegetables and milk is 
on the rise. This provides a good opportunity for men and women farmers, 
especially women vegetable farmers, to tap new markets and increase their 
incomes. Various NGOs and fi nancial institutions are promoting micro-credit, 
working especially with women’s Self Help Groups. Women farmers and 
vegetable vendors could tap this resource for investments in micro-enterprises 
and purchase of inputs for their crops. With deteriorating conditions in the 
rural areas, irrigated urban agriculture will seem even more attractive; a further 
advantage is that it offers employment throughout the year.
48 WOMEN FEEDING CITIES
Lessons learned and recommendations 
The fi ndings and lessons learned in this study were disseminated at the Multi-
stakeholder Policy Design and Action Planning workshops undertaken in the 
context of the RUAF–Cities Farming for the Future Programme in Hyderabad 
in order to stimulate gender-sensitive action planning for urban and peri-
urban agriculture.
The key lessons learned from the study are as follows.
• The culturally prescribed gender division of labour in urban agriculture 
does not match completely with what men and women do in practice. 
For example, women do perform activities that are culturally defi ned 
as men’s work, such as irrigation, whenever the need arises. However, 
women will often not admit to performing work that is culturally defi ned 
as a male preserve. This shows that women are capable of doing ’male’ 
work but often refrain from performing such tasks simply because it is 
socially unacceptable.
• Having only one income in the household is not suffi cient for a minimum 
livelihood; therefore even in households where the husband or father 
has a job in another sector, women’s income from urban agriculture is 
important for the maintenance of the household and the class position 
of the household.
• Crops that have higher rates of return (such as fodder grass) tend to be 
controlled by men, whereas women view urban agriculture more as a 
way of ensuring food security for their households.
• Location infl uences the degree and type of involvement of women in 
agriculture and dairy activities. For example, in the urban area, the sale 
of dairy products takes place mainly outside of the home and is therefore 
a male-dominated activity, whereas in the peri-urban areas most of the 
sales occur from the home and most often are managed by women. This 
has implications for who (the man or the woman) has access to and 
control over the income from dairy products.
• Men involved in urban agriculture are better connected with infl uential 
persons in the local government and can thus more easily obtain the 
goods and services that they need, whereas women cannot negotiate 
with infl uential persons so easily, because of the limitations placed on 
their freedom of movement and speech in the public arena.
• Affi liations such as caste, class, and ethnicity affect gender relations and 
gender roles in urban agriculture (as in other sectors), although these 
effects are partly determined by educational attainment, exposure to 
media, changing environmental and policy conditions, availability of 
opportunities, and other urban infl uences (Buechler and Devi, 2008b). 
The following recommendations were made to the Multi-stakeholder 
Platform on Urban Agriculture for the development of a gender-positive 
 CASE STUDY: HYDERABAD, INDIA 49
Strategic Agenda for the sustainable development of urban and peri-urban 
agriculture and alleviation of urban poverty.
• Allocation of land: allow poor farmers (especially tenant farmers, a 
large proportion of whom are women) to cultivate land in the green-
belt areas around the city and any unused land areas within the city. 
Authorities could lease out vacant land especially to (groups of) female-
headed households on a priority basis to encourage and support them.
• Credit facilities: stimulate the organization of female producers without 
collateral in Self Help Groups and enhance provision of credit to these 
groups by NGOs (now mainly operating in rural areas) and government 
organizations. 
• Training: tailor the training programmes of the Ministry of Agriculture 
to the needs of women as intra-urban and peri-urban farmers, and 
encourage agricultural training activities as part of the Support to 
Training and Employment Projects (STEP) of the Department of Women 
and Child Development (DWCD). Also as part of the Socio-Economic 
Programme (SEP), poor female urban producers could be trained in 
value-added processing and packaging of products in food-processing 
units (Surinder, 1998).
• Education and capacity building: most urban and peri-urban female 
farmers are illiterate, a fact which impedes their capacity to infl uence the 
decisions taken in their households and the capacity to use information 
effectively. The DWCD scheme of condensed courses of education and 
vocational training for adult women could reach out more effectively 
to illiterate women farmers in order to build their capacities through 
intensive courses.
• Projects: all urban agriculture projects should be developed with a 
gender focus in order to ensure that they contribute to women’s welfare 
across the four dimensions of gender-sensitive poverty alleviation. That 
is to say that such projects should (World Bank 2001) increase women’s 
opportunities to access resources and gain employment; increase women’s 
capabilities and skills to perform more effi ciently and gain from them; 
strengthen women’s security (their risk-bearing capacities); and empower 
women at the household and community levels.
• New ways of coping with land and water scarcity: methods that 
increase the productivity of crops (more yield per hectare), as well as 
the effi ciency and safety of wastewater irrigation, should be developed 
together with the female farmers, who generally operate on a small scale 
and have less access to land and water than male farmers. Special crops 
such as mushrooms and herbs could be introduced, because they can be 
grown in closed rooms or in small spaces and at the same time generate 
high income. 
Men and women experience poverty differently. When policymakers and 
planners realize this, they can make signifi cant contributions to the lives of 
50 WOMEN FEEDING CITIES
the poor men and women. Evidence is growing that gender-sensitive research, 
development initiatives/projects, and policies contribute to economic growth 
as well as to equity objectives. 
References
Buechler, S. and Devi, G. (2002) ’Highlighting the User in Wastewater Use 
Research: A Livelihoods Approach to the Study of Wastewater Users in 
Hyderabad’. Presentation at an IWMI–IDRC Wastewater Experts Meeting: 
‘Wastewater Use in Irrigated Agriculture: Confronting the Livelihood and 
Environmental Realities’, Hyderabad, India, 11–14 November.
Buechler, S. and Devi, G. (2003) ‘Household Food Security and Wastewater-
dependent Livelihood Activities Along the Musi River in Andhra Pradesh, 
India’. Report used as an input for review and publication of the second 
volume on guidelines for wastewater use for agriculture, Geneva, 
Switzerland: World Health Organisation. Available from http://www.who.
int/water_sanitation_health/wastewater/gwwufoodsecurity.pdf
Buechler, S. and Devi, G. (2008a) ‘Gender, Water and Agriculture in the 
Context of Urban Growth in Central Mexico and South India’, special issue 
on gender and water, Gender, Place and Culture.
Buechler, S. and Devi, G. (2008b) ‘Highlighting the user in wastewater research: 
gender, caste and class in the study of wastewater-dependent livelihoods in 
Hyderabad, India’, in S. Ahmed, S. Rimal Gautam and M. Zwarteveen (eds.), 
Engendering Integrated Water Management in South Asia: Policy, Practice and 
Institutions, Sage Press, New Delhi.
Buechler, S., Devi, G., and Devi, R. (2003) Making a Living Along the Musi River 
near Hyderabad, India, Video co-produced by IWMI, with funding support 
of DFID and RUAF Foundation of ETC, the Netherlands.
Buechler, S., Devi, G., and Raschid, L. S. (2002) ’Livelihoods and wastewater 
irrigated agriculture along the Musi River in Hyderabad City, Andhra 
Pradesh, India’, Urban Agriculture Magazine 8, Wastewater Use for Urban 
Agriculture: 14–17.
Labour Bureau Government of India (2003) Wage rates in rural India for year 
2002–2003 [online]. Available from http://www.labourbureau.nic.in/
wrr2t5a.htm
Surinder, S. (1998) ‘India’s revolutionary progress in food production’, India 
Perspectives.
World Bank (2001) Engendering Development: Through Gender Equality in Rights, 
Resources and Voice, Oxford University Press, New York. Consultation version 
available from http://www.worldbank.org/gender
About the authors
Gayathri Devi is a Researcher at the International Water Management Institute, 
Hyderabad, India.
Stephanie Buechler is a Research Associate at the Bureau of Applied Research 
in Anthropology, University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona.
CHAPTER 3
Gender in jasmine fl ower-garland 
livelihoods in peri-urban Metro Manila, 
Philippines 
Raul M. Boncodin, Arma R. Bertuso, Jaime A. 
Gallentes, Dindo M. Campilan, Rehan Abeyratne  
and Helen F. Dayo 
Abstract
This chapter analyses the role of women in jasmine fl ower-garland livelihoods, 
with emphasis on division of labour, household decision making, access to and 
control over resources, health, and other interlocking issues relating to gender and 
urban agriculture. It draws from results of collaborative research in the Philippines 
by Urban Harvest and UPWARD, along with the University of the Philippines Los 
Baños–National Crop Protection Centre and the local and city governments of 
Laguna and Quezon provinces. In addition to gender issues, the chapter briefl y 
tackles salient problems that affect the jasmine fl ower-garland livelihoods in peri-
urban and urban Metro Manila, Philippines. 
Introduction
Background of the case study
This case study is part of a project on sampaguita (Jasmine) production in 
Metro Manila, implemented by the International Potato Center–Users’ 
Perspectives With Agricultural Research and Development (CIP–UPWARD), 
the Consultative Group on International Agriculture Research (CGIAR)–
Urban Harvest programme, and the National Crop Protection Center and 
Department of Horticulture of the University of the Philippines Los Baños 
(UPLB), in partnership with the local and city governments of Laguna and 
Lucena City, as well as the sampaguita farmers.
The project’s overall objective is to improve sampaguita-based livelihoods 
through technological, socio-economic, and institutional innovations that 
benefi t poor urban and peri-urban households in Metro Manila. Since 2001, the 
project has undergone fi ve key phases, covering socio-economic and technical 
52 WOMEN FEEDING CITIES
assessment, technology development, market assessment, and farmer training 
and capacity building (Table 3.1).
Gender considerations were incorporated in project design and 
implementation only after the livelihood assessment, which revealed women’s 
distinct roles. Gender-disaggregated data were targeted in subsequent fi eld 
assessments of fl ower/garland production, management, and marketing. In the 
conduct of farmer fi eld schools (FFSs), gender balance among the participants 
Table 3.1 Key results of the fi ve project phases
Project phase Results/fi ndings
Sampaguita fl ower • Eight major actors are involved in the sampaguita livelihood
production and  system: farmer, fl ower picker, supplier, vendor, abaca fi bre cleaner, 
garland-making  garland-making contractor, garland maker, and garland vendor.
enterprise in peri- • The garland-making activity in peri-urban San Pedro serves as the
urban Metro  focal point linking rural economies to urban centres.
Manila: assessing • Sampaguita livelihood is a viable peri-urban enterprise that
livelihoods and  provides employment, income, and non-monetary benefi ts to the
pest-management  poor.
issues  • Key problems are associated with crop production, post-production,
(2001–2002)   production, and economics, requiring the help of research and 
academic institutions.
 • Farmers heavily rely on extensive use of chemical pesticides for pest 
management.
Assessment of • Pesticide residues were detected in sampaguita fl owers from
pesticide-residue  traders, vendors, garland makers, and garland sellers.
level in the • There was higher frequency of detection and higher residue
production of  concentrations during lean months, compared with the peak
sampaguita fl owers  season of sampaguita fl ower production.
(2002–2003) • Organophosphate, carbamate, and pyrethoid were the primary 
residues detected. 
Development of pest- • Seasonal occurrence and abundance patterns of various insect
management  pests associated with sampaguita were determined and compared
schemes for peri-  in relation to fl ower production and cultural management practices
urban sampaguita  of sampaguita growers.
production • Participatory on-farm trials identifi ed appropriate practices relating
(2003–2004)  to judicious application of chemicals, while promoting use of 
biological control agents.
Sampaguita garland- • Garland selling makes a signifi cant contribution to livelihoods of
selling business in  poor urban and peri-urban households, particularly women and
Metro Manila: rapid  children.
market assessment • Garland marketing is beset by problems of: health and safety for
(2005)  street children selling garlands, competition among vendors, lack of 
institutional support, and poor quality of garlands.
Training and • A fi eld manual, synthesizing results of earlier pest-management
information support  experiments, was developed to serve as key reference for farmers
to improve crop-  and extensionists.
management • Farmer fi eld schools served as an effective training strategy to
practices  improve knowledge and practices of jasmine producers.
(2006–2008)
 CASE STUDY: FLOWER GARLANDS IN METRO MANILA, PHILIPPINES 53
was a key consideration, so that, for example, both husbands and wives were 
invited to participate. Gender analysis was also included in the FFS baseline 
and preparatory activities.
This chapter is based on three sets of data:
1. The case study of gender roles in sampaguita production implemented 
in 2004 by interviewing eight key informants.
2. Review of the reports on studies undertaken during 2003–2005, 
including:
• the rapid assessment of the livelihoods and marketing system of 
sampaguita growers (survey among 65 growers plus case studies);
• a study among 20 farmers of the way they produce knowledge 
(participant observation, case studies, network analysis);
• focus-group discussions (applying participatory tools such as activity 
analysis, seasonal calendar, resource and benefi ts analysis chart, 
problem ranking) during farmer fi eld schools in the years 2005–
2007.  
3. A gender-analysis workshop with 18 participants implemented in 2008, 
applying similar tools.
Women producers analysing gender aspects of jasmine production during a workshop in 
Manila
By CIP–UPWARD
54 WOMEN FEEDING CITIES
Jasmine production in Metro Manila
Sampaguita, a local name for the Jasmine plant (Jasminum sambac (L.) Ait), 
bears white, dainty, and fragrant fl ower buds. Strung together into garlands, 
they are widely used by Filipinos to venerate religious icons in churches 
and homes, adorn wedding and funeral ceremonies, welcome visitors, and 
congratulate new graduates. The small size and simplicity of sampaguita, 
considered the Philippine national fl ower, belie its role as an important source 
of livelihood for poor peri-urban and urban households in Metro Manila. 
A livelihood-system analysis conducted by De Guzman (2003) described 
the extent of this agricultural activity. The analysis identifi ed eight key actors 
in the system, from the peri-urban farmers producing fl oral buds to garland 
sellers in the streets of Metro Manila. Sampaguita fl owers are produced in 
nearby provinces surrounding Metro Manila. The nexus of the entire livelihood 
system, however, is in San Pedro, Laguna, a suburban town 29 km south of 
Manila, where most sampaguita fl owers and other raw materials for garland 
making are traded. It is also here where the big garland-making contractors 
and garland makers are located.
Nearly 3 million fl ower buds are traded daily in San Pedro, resulting in 
multifarious livelihood activities that provide fi nancial and socio-economic 
benefi ts to various livelihood actors. In terms of fi nancial benefi ts, farmers and 
garland-making contractors are the highest earners, while fl ower pickers and 
fi bre cleaners earn the least money. Livelihood actors face various problems: 
pests and diseases; poor crop-management practices; low prices of fl owers 
during the peak fl owering season; sick and old sampaguita plants; skin allergies 
for fl ower pickers, garland makers, and garland vendors; hand injuries for fi bre 
cleaners and garland makers; irregular price fl uctuations and competition 
among suppliers; the need for better methods for storing fl owers for suppliers 
and dealers; and lack of capital to increase business and competition in the 
sourcing of raw materials for garland makers. 
Women play vital roles in this livelihood system, but their impact in the 
system has not been particularly studied. Previous studies analysed neither the 
gender differentiation among the actors nor the decision-making processes 
within households. Thus, this chapter aims to examine gender differentiation 
in labour, access to and control over resources and benefi ts, and decision 
making.
Laguna and Quezon provinces, which are part of peri-urban Metro Manila, 
are major sites for fl ower-buds production. Project sites in Laguna include the 
municipalities/cities of San Pedro, Cabuyao, Calamba City, and Santa Cruz. 
San Pedro, the nearest town to Metro Manila, is the regional market centre for 
buds. In Quezon, on the other hand, project sites are located in the outskirts 
of Lucena City, the province’s business capital. Metro Manila, the capital city 
of the Philippines with about 11.5 million inhabitants spread out over an area 
of 636 km² (NSO, 2008), serves as the ‘receiving hub’ of the garlands, the fi nal 
product of the jasmine fl ower-garland livelihood system, where the garland-
 CASE STUDY: FLOWER GARLANDS IN METRO MANILA, PHILIPPINES 55
Flower-production areas Garland-seling areas
Laguna (Calamba City, Flower-trading and Metro Manila (major
Cabuyao, Sta. Cruz) garland-making centre thoroughfares, churches,
Lucena City (outskirts, San Pedro, Laguna residential areas, local
villages) markets)
Figure 3.1 Sampaguita fl ower production and marketing sites
selling enterprise is widely prevalent, particularly in major thoroughfares, 
churches, and residential establishments. 
Gender analysis of the sampaguita livelihood system
In most cases, the members of a single household pursue multiple activities: 
sampaguita production, picking/harvesting, packaging, transport, and garland 
making. This study follows the defi nition of ’household’ proposed by Rudie 
(1995 as cited by Niehof, 1998): ‘a co-residential unit, usually family-based in 
some way, which takes care of resource management and primary needs of 
its members’. Niehof (1998) further stipulates that household members may 
share household budgets and resource management without living under one 
roof. 
Four typical households
Below we feature four households, to show the diversity of activities and roles 
played by the members of a household involved in the sampaguita livelihood 
system, and to highlight the gender role differences, household resource-
allocation, and decision-making processes.
Household 1
Renato and Gina Ernas are a married couple in their mid-30s, both of whom 
are high-school graduates. Aside from a 2 ha rice farm, the family cultivates 
a 3,000 m2 sampaguita farm in Santa Cruz, Laguna (80 km south of Manila). 
They are tenants of these lands, and Renato annually negotiates land use with 
the owners. Farming is their main source of livelihood, providing enough 
income to raise three school-age children. 
Renato and Gina consider sampaguita farming as their primary source of 
income, while rice farming is secondary. They harvest 60–70 tabos (a one-
litre motor-oil can, which can contain approximately 1,000 fl owers) per day 
(during the peak season from February to May), which earns a net profi t of 
US$ 125 per month during the peak season, and $36–54 per month in the lean 
season.1 This constitutes about 70 per cent of the family’s income. Renato also 
earns $57 per month by serving as a village councillor. Renato says that he 
56 WOMEN FEEDING CITIES
barely earns any money from rice farming, only producing enough rice for his 
household consumption. He has been producing sampaguita for 12 years and 
plans to continue, because it provides his family with a steady income.
Household 2
Mario and Elizabeth Alemania are a married couple in their mid-60s who 
are both high-school graduates. They own and cultivate a 1,500 m2 plot of 
land in Mamatid, Cabuyao, Laguna (40 km south of Manila). Mario has used 
the land for sampaguita farming for the last 15 years, but on account of his 
advancing age he has gradually shifted to growing camia (a fragrant white 
fl ower, often used as pendants in sampaguita garlands). Sampaguita is more 
labour-intensive to maintain than camia. At present, half of the land is planted 
with sampaguita and the other half with camia. Mario plans to switch entirely 
to camia production in the next few years, fi nding it more profi table than 
sampaguita production. Camia, however, is a seasonal crop, unlike sampaguita, 
which fl owers year-round. Being the main camia producers in Cabuyao, where 
only a few farmers have planted the crop, Mario and Elizabeth can sell the 
fl owers for higher prices in San Pedro. 
Mario and Elizabeth earn daily an average of $9 from the combined 
production of sampaguita and camia. They have also started raising 200 
ducks for egg production.2 The family is fi nancially secure. Two of their three 
children have fi nished college and earned their degrees; they are married and 
are no longer living with their parents. The youngest is still studying in the 
university and is staying with Mario and Elizabeth.
Household 3 
Norlito and Erlinda Ramos are a married couple in their 50s, both of whom 
completed elementary education. They cultivate a strip of land along an 
irrigation canal owned by the government in Victoria, Laguna (70 km south 
of Manila). Norlito does not pay rent, but he does have permission from the 
National Irrigation Authority to use the land, provided that he keeps local 
irrigation canals clean. 
Within this land, he cultivates a 2,000 m2 plot of sampaguita. He produces 
on average 40–50 tabos per day, which earns the family between $89 and $268 
monthly, depending on the season. This represents his net income, factoring 
in the costs of farm maintenance and workers’ wages that are deducted from 
the total. This is the family’s main source of income. Erlinda earns additional 
money from acting as supplier for nearby sampaguita farmers: she transports 
their daily produce, getting a 10 per cent share of their total sale.
The eldest daughter, Babylin Puno, is married and lives in a nearby house. 
She is a garland maker, and Norlito provides her with free fl owers (1–3 tabos 
per day) so that she can earn income to support her own family. Her husband 
is unemployed. She earns about $5–$7 per day. 
 CASE STUDY: FLOWER GARLANDS IN METRO MANILA, PHILIPPINES 57
Norlito used to be a carpenter, but he switched to sampaguita production 
10 years ago because it was a more profi table venture. Carpentry is a very 
seasonal job, and often he found himself unemployed. He observed sampaguita 
farming while doing a carpentry job in Santa Cruz and asked a local farmer 
how to plant it. He then experimented and was able to develop his own way 
of managing the crop. He plans to continue sampaguita farming, because he 
has enjoyed consistently high profi ts over the last three years. 
Household 4
Nestor and Maria Avenue are a married couple in their 40s, both of whom are 
high-school graduates. They live on government-owned land next to a railroad 
track in Banlic, Calamba, Laguna (40 km south of Manila). The Avenue family 
is what the Philippine government refers to as ‘informal settlers’ (squatters), 
as they neither own the land nor pay rent to occupy it. 
Maria runs a garland-contracting business. She buys sampaguita fl owers 
daily from a neighbouring farmer and then contracts fi ve of her neighbours, 
all unemployed housewives, to produce garlands. Once the garlands are ready, 
Maria transports them to downtown Calamba, where she sells them to local 
sampaguita sellers. 
She purchases two tabos per day (about 2,000 fl owers), which she supplies 
to garland makers who make about 1,000 garlands daily. Her neighbours earn 
as much as $1 each daily from this garland-making activity.3 On the other 
hand, Maria earns a net income of $7 daily from the garland-contracting 
venture, which constitutes 60 per cent of her family’s income. The remaining 
income comes from a small food canteen that Maria runs from her house. Her 
husband has been ill for the past two years and unable to work, but he helps 
to run the canteen. 
The Avenue family is economically secure, as two of their children have 
earned their degrees and are already married. The youngest daughter, who 
still lives with them, is in her fi nal year in college. Maria has been involved 
in the garland-contracting business for 10 years, and she plans to continue. 
The family used to grow sampaguita on the land near the railroads, but that 
land became non-tillable in 1994, due to an increase in gravel deposits caused 
by railroad repairs. This change prompted Maria to shift to garland-making 
contracting, because her family could no longer produce sampaguita.
Division of labour in the sampaguita-producing households
In all on-farm activities, there was a consistent division of labour among 
household members. Male members are responsible for farm maintenance, 
while women usually transport the daily harvest of fl owers to the San Pedro 
market and pick up the payment from traders. Elizabeth Alemania and Erlinda 
Ramos act as local suppliers in their vicinities. They transport the sampaguita 
58 WOMEN FEEDING CITIES
harvests of several farmers and receive 10 per cent commission from the total 
sales. 
In the case-study households, fl ower pickers tend to be women and young 
children, as the task requires small and agile hands. Renato Ernas hires 15 
women and children to pick sampaguita fl owers on his farm on a daily basis. 
Norlito Ramos employs two of his nephews to help on the farm, although his 
wife and daughter assist in fl ower picking. On the other hand, Mario Alemania 
hires male pickers, because camia is a tall shrub and picking camia fl owers is 
considered too dangerous for women. Nevertheless, he hires fi ve women to 
sort and bundle these fl owers. Women working in farming-related activities 
earn modest incomes, but their families are often very poor, and these incomes 
make a signifi cant contribution to their households. For reference, the latest 
offi cial Annual Per Capita Poverty Thresholds fi gure for Metro Manila is set at 
$285, while for the province of Laguna it is $253 (NSCB, 2004).
In the garland-contracting business, the gender roles are not so well defi ned. 
Garland-making contractors and traders may be men or women, and there is 
no established gender differentiation among these roles. But in the case of 
her household, Maria Avenue is solely responsible for the activities related 
to garland contracting. Garland makers, however, tend to be women, usually 
unemployed housewives. As mentioned, Maria contracts fi ve women to make 
garlands; they work for approximately four hours per day.4
In all cases, the wives receive and handle the money generated from 
sampaguita livelihood activity. It follows that women are responsible for most 
of the household reproductive tasks. In general, the women buy and cook 
the food, clean the house, and take care of the young children. They are also 
responsible for monitoring the children’s education. Children, even adult 
ones, are dependent on their parents, especially their mothers, for as long as 
they live in the same house. 
Data gathered from the gender analysis workshop support the above 
fi ndings. Men and women farmers, including their children, contribute to 
sampaguita production, making the activity a household enterprise. Men are 
responsible for tasks requiring heavier physical exertion, as well as for seasonal 
activities such as clearing the land and land cultivation. Men spend more 
time in preparing planting materials, planting, weeding, watering, fertilizer 
application, pesticide spraying, and hilling up. Meanwhile women make 
signifi cant contributions in terms of daily tasks such as fl ower picking and 
preparing the fl ower buds for market. In addition, tasks such as leaf stripping 
are primarily women’s work. 
Both men and women agreed that clearing and cultivating land are 
men’s domain. Men’s labour contribution to the preparation of planting 
materials was estimated at 70 per cent, compared with 30 per cent for women. 
However, women tended to underestimate their contribution to tasks that are 
mainly their responsibility; for example, for fl ower picking, women claimed 
their contribution as only 60 per cent, but men estimated it as 80 per cent. 
Meanwhile for men-dominated tasks such as planting and weeding, women’s 
 CASE STUDY: FLOWER GARLANDS IN METRO MANILA, PHILIPPINES 59
Table 3.2 Comparison of male and female responses on the gender division of labour
Activity Male (% of contribution) Female (% of contribution)
 Men Women Male Female Men Women Male Female
   children children   children children
Preparation of
planting materials 70 30   70 30
Planting  70 30   70 30  
Weeding 50 50 * * 25 25 25 25
Watering 30 30 20 20 90 10 ** **
Fertilizer application 60 40   90 10  
Hilling up 90 10   70 30 *** 
Flower picking 10 40 10 40 20 40 20 20
Leaf stripping 10 90   10 90  
Pruning 90 10   100   
Selling 10 90   30 70  
* Occasionally, 25% for male and female children
** Occasionally, 20% for male and female children
*** Occasionally, 10% for male children
estimations of their labour contribution were higher than the estimates made 
by men. Furthermore, only the men mentioned hired and contract workers as 
an additional labour source.
Gender division of access to and control over resources
In all the case-study households, women have a high level of control over 
productive resources. While the men in sampaguita-farming households 
control most of the assets (such as land, livestock, water, equipment), the 
women control much of the market information and the cash income. 
Elizabeth Alemania and Erlinda Ramos deliver the daily harvest of fl owers 
to San Pedro, and they therefore decide what price to pay and they negotiate 
market prices with the traders. Moreover, they receive the payment from the 
traders and are responsible for allocating this income as they see fi t. Although 
women are mainly responsible for the fi nances, major expenditures are a matter 
for consultation with their husband. Gina Ernas also receives daily payment 
from San Pedro5 and, much like the above-mentioned women, she spends the 
money on supplies and food, allocates some of it to farm maintenance, and 
pays the children’s tuition fees.
Loans for as much as $179 can be obtained from the traders in San Pedro. 
Both husband and wife decide when to access loans, which are often used 
for the educational needs of the children.6 It is the women, however, who 
negotiate loan terms with the traders, usually repayment within six months, 
with traders entitled to a certain percentage of the farmer’s daily sale. These 
women may not control the land, but they do control the income and how 
60 WOMEN FEEDING CITIES
it is consumed. Thus, the sampaguita livelihood system empowers them with 
important decision-making capabilities. 
Maria Avenue has complete control over all productive resources. She 
personally buys raw materials for the garlands, hires garland makers, and sells 
the fi nished products in Calamba. She alone decides how much to spend on 
materials and how to allocate the income that she earns. As a garland-making 
contractor, Maria has critical decision-making capabilities that affect her 
entire community. The garland makers and their families rely on her for their 
income and well-being. 
The garland makers too have control over their income and situation, albeit 
on a much smaller scale. They can only produce what Maria (the contractor) 
provides, and they are paid on a piecemeal basis. However, in times of urgent 
need, the garland makers can take loans from Maria or be paid in advance. 
The fact that this money, plus the amount that they earn from fl ower picking, 
constitutes the total household income gives these garland-making housewives 
a high degree of discretion in allocating their household’s meagre resources.
During the gender analysis workshops, both male and female farmers 
mentioned that resources such as land, inputs, and information services 
(including training) are accessed less by women and controlled more usually 
by men. Men, however, have less access to the benefi ts, particularly income, 
which are more typically controlled by women (Table 3.3). The wife is mainly 
responsible for budgeting the sales and household expenses. Most of the 
income is spent on production inputs for the farm, food, and the children’s 
school allowances and expenses. However, both male and female respondents 
said that 10 per cent of the income is automatically given to the husband, 
and the use of this money is solely decided by him: the wife has no say about 
it. They said that this money is mostly spent on cigarettes and drinking with 
peers. For their part, women occasionally use the income for social gatherings 
Table 3.3 Resource analysis according to male and female farmers
 % Access  % Control
 Accord. to Accord. to Accord. to Accord. to
 men women men women
 Men Women Men Women Men Women Men Women
Resources
Land  70 30 70 30 70 30 70 30
Inputs        
– planting materials 80 20 70 30 100 – 100 –
– fertilizer   70 30   100 –
– pesticide 80 20 70 30 80 20 70 30
– water (irrigation) – – 70 30 – – 100 –
Information sources 100 – 50 50 100 – 70 30
Benefi ts
Income from sales 10 90 10 90 10 90 10 90
 CASE STUDY: FLOWER GARLANDS IN METRO MANILA, PHILIPPINES 61
such as birthdays. Both husbands and wives agree that these are essential 
aspects of socialization in the community.
There are also slight differences in men’s and women’s perceptions of the 
access to and control over resources. Male farmers estimated husbands’ access 
to and control over resources more highly than the female farmers did. A 
similar difference is very clearly highlighted in replies to questions about 
access to and control of information services: according to men, they have 
full control, but women said otherwise. 
Gender differences in estimations of access to and control of information 
depend on the role that the husband and wife play in their sampaguita 
production. In some households, the husband played a greater role, while in 
some cases women are more actively involved; thus their access to and control 
over resources and benefi ts varies. 
Problems encountered by male and female farmers
The gender-analysis workshop identifi ed three key problems in sampaguita 
production: (1) lack of fi nancial capital, (2) pests and diseases causing rotting 
and stunting, and (3) high input costs (see Table 3.4).
Table 3.4 Gender-disaggregated problem ranking
  Score   Rank
Problems Male Female Total Male Female Total
1. Occurrence of pest and diseases  5 11 16 3 2 2
2. Weather disturbances cause poor quality
 of fl owers  1 3 4 7 5 7
3. Lack of or limited fi nance  10 18 28 1 1 1
4. Seasonal fl owering 0 6 6 0 4 6
5. Price and market  4 7 11 4 3 4
6. Yellowing, too much water 1 7 8 7 3 5
7. Expensive inputs (pesticide and fertilizers) 8 7 15 2 3 3
8. Land security (most are tenants) 1 0 1 7 0 9
9. Pest identifi cation  2 0 2 6 0 8
10. Judicious use of pesticides 3 1 4 5 6 7
Total 35 60 95
Gender-related health risks in sampaguita farming
One of the main concerns of the sampaguita livelihood system is the overuse 
or misuse of pesticides, because farmers spray as often as four times a week. 
Farmers are often oblivious to the negative health effects that can result from 
using very toxic or unsafe pesticides, or from simply using too much pesticide 
(Navasero et. al., 2004). The women and children, who pick the sampaguita 
buds, re-enter the farm less than 12 hours after spraying and are therefore 
62 WOMEN FEEDING CITIES
the most exposed to health risks associated with pesticide use, including skin 
rashes and diffi culties in breathing.
Conclusions and recommendations
Lessons learned
• The initial case studies of households provide a deeper understanding 
of gender differences in sampaguita livelihoods, although the data were 
not completely gender-disaggregated. Thus, additional gender-analysis 
tools were used to elicit information from men and women. The use of 
gender-analysis tools in a participatory manner facilitated interactions 
in same-sex groups of farmers. 
• Gender analysis focused on sampaguita farmers and fl ower pickers. A 
similar analysis for traders, garland makers, and vendors would help to 
complete the picture for the entire livelihood system.
• The mainstreaming of gender concerns in project activities related to 
sampaguita production is still in its initial stage. Preliminary results 
indicate its potential value for group learning activities – from design 
and implementation to documentation and dissemination. 
Recommendations
The full extent of the sampaguita garland industry and its total contribution to 
the economy has yet to be fully recognized by policy makers and the general 
public. Towards achieving this goal, further research and development efforts 
on the following are recommended: 
• Additional technology components for crop management are needed to 
improve sampaguita fl ower production, and for better environment and 
health protection. There is an on-going project to develop integrated 
pest-management schemes for sampaguita to rationalize the use of 
pesticides near urban households. The immediate aims are to reduce the 
frequency of pesticide applications and to encourage selection of less 
toxic pesticides. Non-pesticide-based management techniques are also 
being introduced, such as the use of biological pest controls, better farm-
management practices that minimize pest infestations, and replacement 
of sick and old sampaguita plants. Furthermore, to address gender issues 
there should be gender-balanced participation so as to inform those who 
are most signifi cantly affected by improper pesticide use (for example, 
men when spraying, women and children when picking). 
• Follow-up initiatives to infl uence policy would provide an enabling 
environment to reduce exposure of sampaguita actors, especially women 
and children, to harmful pesticides. Less pesticide use will also mean 
additional income for the household. Health information campaigns are 
 CASE STUDY: FLOWER GARLANDS IN METRO MANILA, PHILIPPINES 63
needed to provide women with better knowledge about the effects of 
pesticides on their health and environment.
• At the post-production level, there is a need to identify better storage 
methods. Sampaguita can be stored only for 48 hours with the existing 
practice of using styrofoam containers with ice. This limits garland 
makers and contractors to buying only what they can process in one 
day. Most often, they have to complete the tasks immediately to avoid 
spoilage, which prevents them from carrying out reproductive tasks. 
Better storage methods would allow women to manage their time more 
effi ciently.
• The full extent of the sampaguita garland industry is yet to be established 
and recognized. Thus local government units do not provide any 
direct support for sampaguita livelihoods. A detailed industry study 
for sampaguita is needed, which among other benefi ts will highlight 
women’s roles and contributions.
• Sampaguita market prices are highly unstable. In San Pedro, prices 
vary from one place to another within an hour of travel, depending on 
daily supply and demand. There is need to diversify uses/products of 
sampaguita besides garlands. One possibility is the use of sampaguita 
in decorating venues for social events, which are presently dominated 
by roses and chrysanthemums. This would further boost women’s roles, 
since they are traditionally tasked with making the bouquets, corsages, 
and other decorations required in these social events.
Notes
1. Renato splits the profi ts from sampaguita farming with his neighbour, who 
owns the land. Hence, the total profi t from sampaguita farming is US$250 
per month in the peak season, and US$71–107 in the lean season. 
2. Duck eggs, called balut, are eaten just before they hatch and are considered 
a delicacy in the Philippines. 
3. Maria pays the garland makers 10–15 centavos per garland. They also pick 
sampaguita fl owers daily in nearby farms, earning an additional $0.89 to 
$1.07. These women thus earn as much as $2.14 daily, money which is 
often the only source of family income.
4. Garland makers work from 10:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m., so that they can cook 
and take care of children in the afternoon. 
5. Gina Ernas does not personally travel to San Pedro, but pays a young man 
on a motorbike to deliver the fl owers for her. When he returns from San 
Pedro, it is she who receives the payment, rather than her husband. 
6 All case-study households said that they use part of the money earned 
from sampaguita to pay for their children’s education. Considering that 
the sampaguita income accounts for 70 per cent of household income, we 
can safely say that sampaguita pays for half of children’s education.
64 WOMEN FEEDING CITIES
References
De Guzman, C. (2003) ‘Sampaguita livelihoods of peri-urban Metro Manila, 
Philippines: Key actors, activities, benefi ts, and constraints’, in CIP–
UPWARD, From Cultivators to Consumers: Participatory Research with Various 
User Groups, CIP-UPWARD, Los Baños, Laguna, Philippines.
National Statistics Offi ce (NSO) (2008) 2007 census population [online]. 
Available at http://www.census.gov.ph/data/sectordata/2007/ncr.pdf 
National Statistical Co-ordination Board (NSCB) (2004) Highlights of the 
Philippines offi cial poverty estimates for 2000–2002 [online]. Available at 
http://www.nscb.gov.ph/poverty/2002/2002povTreshold.asp
Navasero, M. V., Navasero, M. M., Daquioag, V., De Guzman, C., Bajet, C., 
Navarro, M., and Boncodin, R. (2004) ‘Sustaining the Sampaguita Flower-
garland Livelihood System in Peri-urban Metro Manila’. Paper presented 
at the Philippine National Academy of Science and Technology 26th 
Annual Scientifi c Meeting, 14–15 July 2004, The Manila Hotel, Manila, 
Philippines.
Niehof, A. (1998) ‘Households and the food chain: how do they relate?’, in 
CIP–UPWARD, Sustainable Livelihood for Rural Households: Contributions from 
Root Crop Agriculture, CIP–UPWARD, Los Baños, the Philippines. 
About the authors
Raul M. Boncodin is Assistant Manager at the Intellectual Property Management 
Unit, IRRI, Los Baños, the Philippines.
Arma R. Bertuso is Network Affi liate for the International Potato Center (CIP)–
Users’ Perspectives With Agricultural Research and Development (UPWARD), 
Manila, the Philippines.
Jaime A. Gallentes is a Research Fellow at CIP–UPWARD, Manila, the 
Philippines.
Dindo M. Campilan is Programme Leader for CIP–UPWARD, Manila, the 
Philippines.
Rehan Abeyratne is a BSc. Economics student at Brown University, Providence, 
RI, USA.
Helen F. Dayo is a Researcher at the Agricultural Systems Cluster, College of 
Agriculture, University of the Philippines Los Baños.
CHAPTER 4
Gender and urban agriculture: the case of 
Accra, Ghana
Lesley Hope, Olufunke Cofi e, Bernard Keraita and 
Pay Drechsel
Abstract
Gender analysis in agricultural production is important for creating a level 
playing fi eld for both men and women farmers. This is especially important in 
urban agriculture which is commercialized and characterized by competition for 
resources. This study was conducted in Accra, Ghana, with a focus on open-
space urban vegetable production. Gender-disaggregated data were collected from 
farmers at both household and farm levels on key issues such as access to and 
control of resources, division of tasks, decision-making process, and challenges 
faced. Data were collected by using qualitative methods such as semi-structured 
interviews and focus-group discussions, in which participatory tools were used. 
Two clear facts emerged from the study of open-space vegetable farming: male 
dominance in farming and female dominance in marketing. (There are exceptions 
to both these general fi ndings.) While the general differentiation is attributed to 
societal norms that prevail in marketing, women farmers feel mostly constrained 
by existing irrigation practices, which are not women-friendly and consume time 
that is required equally at household level. Men feel signifi cantly oppressed by their 
dependency on credit and prices dictated by market women, but increasingly they 
are making ground in certain commodities and those areas of wholesale trading 
where overland transport is required. Improved irrigation technology and other 
practices appear to facilitate a better gender balance on farm. These initiatives 
should be supported in gender-sensitive policies. 
Introduction
The recognition and integration of gender concerns into national and 
international policies and programmes have increased over the past decade. In 
the domain of urban agriculture considerable progress has been made in terms 
of gender mainstreaming. However, it is still necessary to understand and assess 
the contributions of women and men in urban agriculture development and 
the impact of this development on both. Gender analysis in urban agriculture 
66 WOMEN FEEDING CITIES
Table 4.1 Production systems in urban agriculture in Accra
Production Description Who is involved Value chain
system
Open-space Farming is intensive on About 800–1000 Vegetables are sold in the
vegetable small plots of land,  farmers involved, farms to marketers They are
production usually 0.01–0.02 ha 80–90% of them then taken to a central point
 per farmer. About 60% men. However,  for sale and distribution. Very
 of vegetables grown are almost all lucrative, with annual
 exotic, such as lettuce, vegetable incomes US$400–800 per
 cabbage, and spring marketers are farm. Vegetables produced
 onions, for which there women. are eaten by about 200,000
 is high market demand.  Accra residents daily as a 
   supplement to certain street-
   food dishes.
Animal A wide range of animals Mainly men and Animal products such as
rearing is reared in Accra. They migrants from rural meat, milk, and eggs mainly
 include livestock such areas. Practised sold in local markets. Farmers
 as cattle, sheep, goats, mainly in low- to producing larger quantities of
 and pigs, poultry, and middle-income animal products supply
 small ruminants such areas. directly to large establishments
 as grass cutters. Poultry  such as hotels and schools. 
 farming and pig farming  Manure, especially from
 are most common,  poultry, is in great demand for
 mainly for commercial  urban vegetable production.
 purposes.
Backyard Involves both animal Practised in two of Improves household nutrition
farming and crop farming every three and saves money which can
 around households and households in be used to buy food from
 mainly for subsistence middle- to high- markets. Generally perceived
 purposes. Land sizes income areas and ‘safer and healthier’, due to
 vary but on average are also compound controlled farming conditions. 
 smaller than those used houses. Involves However, seen as a nuisance
 in other production mostly women and by non-farmers.
 systems. children.
Ornamental Wide range of Men and women Flowers are sold directly to
production ornamental plants grown are involved. Not households and commercial
 for decoration and very extensively establishments. Manure from
 ceremonies such as practised. animal rearing extensively
 weddings and funerals.  used in production.
 Done in small plots
 along major roads.
Mushroom One of the emerging Involves 250 Sold directly to households
production production systems in farmers, of whom and commercial
 Accra. Done in closed about 100 are very establishments. Used also for
 environments, usually active. About 40% medicinal purposes.
 near households and for of all farmers are
 commercial purposes. women.
Source: Cofi e et al., 2005
 CASE STUDY: VEGETABLE PRODUCTION IN ACCRA, GHANA 67
is essential for policy formulation and programme planning, to ensure equity 
in resource allocation and a balanced development which benefi ts both male 
and female urban dwellers. 
The objective of this study in Accra was to gather gender-disaggregated data 
to complement existing studies within urban and peri-urban households, in 
order to make recommendations for the formulation of appropriate policies 
on urban and peri-urban agriculture, such as the municipal by-law revision 
supported by the Resource Centres on Urban Agriculture and Food Security 
(RUAF).
Accra, the capital of Ghana, covers an area of about 240 km2. Its current 
population is about 2 million (51 per cent women and 49 per cent men), with 
an annual growth rate of about 3.4 per cent. Accra has a hot humid climate. 
Mean temperatures vary from 24ºC in August to 28ºC in March. The rainfall 
pattern is bimodal, with the major season occurring between the months of 
March and June, and a minor rainy season around October. Natural drainage 
systems in Accra include streams, ponds, and lagoons. Floodwater drains and 
gutters are used as open grey-water channels, draining into natural streams 
and the ocean. 
A number of studies have identifi ed several urban production systems in 
Accra, although the clustering of production systems has been based on the 
objectives of each individual study. These systems include open-space vegetable 
farming, seasonal crop farming, small-ruminant rearing, livestock farming, 
poultry production, mushroom farming, the customary land-rights system, 
fl oriculture, and backyard farming (Zakaria et al., 1998; Armar-Klemesu and 
Maxwell, 1998; Danso et al., 2002; Cofi e et al., 2005; Table 4.1). 
For this study, we focused on the production and marketing of vegetables 
in inner-urban open spaces, as described in detail by Obuobie et al. (2006). 
With seasonal variation, about 50–100 ha are under vegetable production 
in Accra, distributed over many open spaces, including seven larger sites, 
some of them in use for more than 50 years (Obuobie et al., 2006). Vegetables 
commonly grown include lettuce, cabbage, caulifl ower, green pepper, spring 
onions, onions, Ayoyo, Alefi , and Gboma mainly during the dry season, while 
in the wet season maize and okra are cultivated in addition. Besides these 
open spaces, there are also about 80,000 tiny backyards in Accra, some of 
them supporting the cultivation of vegetables. 
Study methodology
Farm and market surveys reported in this chapter began in 2004 and have been 
updated since then via various student surveys and focus-group discussions. 
Three key qualitative data-collection methods i.e. interviews, focus-group 
discussions, and observations, were used, with special consideration of 
methodological issues highlighted by Hovorka (1998) and RUAF (2001). 
68 WOMEN FEEDING CITIES
Interviews 
In 2004, the fi rst gender study began with semi-structured interviews targeting 
60 farming households from three major farming sites in Accra (Marine Drive, 
Dzorwulu, and La). A farming household was defi ned as a ’family whose main 
provider and decision maker is engaged in urban farming’. Farmers were 
sampled by means of the stratifi ed purposive technique. Two of the three sites 
(La and Marine Drive) have since been signifi cantly reduced in size. 
While a number of student surveys followed at farm and market levels, 
in 2008 a rapid assessment of marketing activities at Agbobloshie, the major 
vegetable wholesale and retail outlet in Accra, ended the investigations with 
the interview of key informants, such as one of the founding members of the 
market as well as women representatives at most meetings. 
Focus-group discussions (FGDs)
In 2008, two gender-disaggregated FGDs were held at one central farming 
site (Dzorwulu) in Accra, to complement the interviews. The small number 
of farming women participating in the discussions limited the value of the 
feedback received. The FDGs focused on two types of analysis:
a. Gender-task analysis: A trained facilitator made a chart, placing various 
actors in columns (women, men, joint activities, children, society) 
and tasks in rows. This was done for both household and farm-based 
tasks. Farmers identifi ed various tasks. Analysis targeted activities, 
responsibilities, decision-making process, who defi nes tasks, etc. First, 
each farmer had a chance to identify the contribution of each actor to 
the listed tasks. This was followed by group discussions and refi nement. 
A wrap-up meeting was held in which outcomes from the two FGDs 
were shared and discussed for further refi ning. 
b. Problem analysis: Challenges facing farmers were identifi ed and listed 
on a board which every participant could see and read. Discussions 
followed which generated more challenges, which were then ranked 
using semi-quantitative ranking methods. Ranking by women farmers 
was done separately. For each problem, coping strategies that farmers 
had adopted or could adopt to address the challenges were identifi ed. 
Results
Corresponding with previous reports from Ghana and most countries in 
West Africa, three out of four farm households engaged in urban vegetable 
production were found to be headed by men (Obuobie et al., 2006; Drechsel 
et al., 2006). Eighty-three per cent of the respondents were aged 40 years and 
above, while 17 per cent fell between 20 and 29 years of age. None of the 
farmers was below the age of 30. Farming was the primary occupation of most 
(90 per cent) of the farmers, although they all have other sources such as 
 CASE STUDY: VEGETABLE PRODUCTION IN ACCRA, GHANA 69
trading, teaching, etc., from which they derive supplementary income. Only 
23 per cent of farmers interviewed lacked formal education; a greater number 
had primary (33 per cent) or secondary (37 per cent) education, while 6 per 
cent had tertiary education. This confi rms previous fi ndings that people of 
all educational backgrounds are involved in urban farming in Accra (Obosu-
Mensah, 1999; Danso et al., 2002; Keraita, 2002). However, the gender ratio 
changes when wholesale and retail activities are under consideration. While in 
the wholesale trade women are facing more competition, the vegetable retail 
sector remains almost exclusively (over 98 per cent) dominated by women, 
a fact which is attributed among other things to cultural or societal norms 
(Obuobie et al., 2006). 
Access to and control of productive resources 
Access to land
Agricultural land is an important resource in urban vegetable farming. This 
is due to increasing competition from other sectors such as housing, as more 
and more space is needed for up-surging urban populations. In this study, 
87 per cent of the respondent farmers indicated that men and women had 
equal access to land for open-space vegetable production. The fi ndings were 
attributed to the fact that most farming (about 72 per cent) is done on land 
belonging to government institutions, and access is not gender-based but 
rather the result of individual lobbying. This is further illustrated in the case 
of Dzorwulu, where there is a history behind the involvement of three women 
in vegetable production. They are former employees of the Ministry of Food 
and Agriculture who worked at the same site. They were laid off during the 
government’s structural adjustment programme. As they had gained some 
experience in vegetable production, they chose to remain at the site to embark 
on their own production. 
In Dzorwulu, open-space vegetable farming is irrigated and not rain-fed, so 
access to irrigation water is important for production. While women and men 
farmers were said to have equal access to irrigation water, women farmers said 
they preferred having farms closer to water sources. This is because watering 
is strenuous, as it is in most cases done manually using watering cans which 
are carried as hand-loads (carrying one watering can in each hand) rather 
than head-loads, with which women are more comfortable. Farm plots 
farther from water sources are usually smaller, as the workload increases with 
water-transportation distance. Control of land was said to depend on each 
individual arrangement. For example, farmers may or may not be given notice 
to move off the land when the owner decides to develop it. Compensation 
arrangements are in such cases an exception.
70 WOMEN FEEDING CITIES
Access to water
Access to irrigation water largely depends on land access and location. 
In general, farmers make different kinds of informal arrangement with 
landowners to access land for irrigated urban vegetable farming in Accra. 
In most cases, access is achieved through direct contact with the owner or 
caretaker, or through a third party working with the government institutions 
in the area. In some peri-urban areas of Accra, where share-cropping is used as 
payment for cultivating land owned by individuals, landowners or traditional 
leaders (such as chiefs) prefer that men rather than women cultivate larger 
plots, hence providing them with greater benefi t (Obuobie et al., 2004). The 
landowners seemed to perceive that men are likely to produce higher yields 
than women, but there might be crop-related differences and an element of bias 
in their decisions. Farmers are limited in the kinds of crop that they grow, and 
many landowners do not permit perennial crops on their land. Also no heavy 
and long-term investments are allowed, as the installation of infrastructure 
facilitates land claims. From the farmers’ perspective, investments are very 
risky, owing to the insecure duration of tenure.
Access to credit facilities
Urban vegetable farmers in Accra, as in other parts of the country, do not 
have access to formal credit schemes. This is mainly due to the fact that 
farmers cannot meet the collateral demands (usually land) of the fi nancial 
institutions. Nevertheless, informal credit schemes are common. For example, 
urban farmers have managed to evolve a win–win situation with the vegetable 
sellers in terms of access to informal credit. Sellers, who are mostly women, 
pre-fi nance farming activities by providing seeds, fertilizer, pesticides, or cash, 
negotiated through verbal agreement based on trust and confi dence. This 
means that a farmer has to sell to the pre-fi nancing vegetable seller, and prices 
are negotiated even before cropping is completed. This is a huge problem for 
most of the farmers (usually male); they are the losers, as vegetable sellers 
dictate the price. Similar situations have been observed in Lomé, Kumasi, 
and Benin (Danso and Drechsel, 2003). In Kumasi, male farmers strongly 
believe that they are ‘cheated’ by female vegetable sellers. They proposed 
strengthening of farmers’ associations to give them more control over market 
prices and put them in a better position to obtain state funding and even gain 
access to formal credit facilities (Boateng et al., 2007). The main means of 
sourcing credit at the market level is through informal fi nancial institutions 
normally known as ‘susu collectors’. Accessing credit from this body does not 
depend on gender but is greatly determined by members’ savings record and 
factors such as consistency in saving and payback. 
 CASE STUDY: VEGETABLE PRODUCTION IN ACCRA, GHANA 71
Access to extension services, market information, and markets
Extension services for urban vegetable farming have for long been very limited, 
because this practice was largely considered an informal activity. However this 
changed with the decentralization of key ministries and the related creation 
of district directorates also in the urban districts. Accra’s Director for Food and 
Agriculture is in charge of farming, fi shing, markets, slaughterhouses, etc., 
supported by more than 10 extension offi cers. Some of their services include 
advice on best farming practices such as water management, pest control, 
improving soil fertility, and supporting marketing. Usually an extension-
service offi cer organizes meetings with farmers in each farming site. Thus, 
access to offi cial information is not gender-biased. Indeed, about 80 per cent 
of the respondents indicated that men and women have equal access to market 
information concerning the demand for their produce, as well as access to 
extension services. Information on market prices of vegetables easily circulates 
among vegetable farmers, some of whose wives are vegetable sellers. However, 
women farmers and male farmers whose wives are vegetable sellers seemed to 
have an upper hand in access to market information, because they had more 
frequent interactions with sellers. Only a few male farmers tried to market 
their produce directly (Danso and Drechsel, 2003). Successful examples are 
cabbage wholesalers in Accra; but other leafy vegetables and the retail market 
remain controlled and clearly dominated by women.
Division of labour and responsibilities
Household activities
Division of labour and responsibilities among farming households in Accra 
was found to be highly gendered. Household activities such as cooking, 
washing of clothes, taking care of children, and general household cleaning 
are done mostly by women, while men are more involved in the provision of 
household income. However, both parents undertake joint responsibility for 
disciplining the children (63 per cent) and in providing clothing for them. So 
it is important to understand and differentiate the static and dynamic roles 
and responsibilities that the society plays in determining labour divisions and 
defi ning tasks in households. It is expected that there will be a signifi cant 
difference in roles and responsibilities in non-farming households where both 
men and women are formally employed, which will tend to benefi t from more 
joint contributions. 
Farming activities
Unlike peri-urban and rural areas, where farmers live close to their plots and 
farming is a family affair, in urban areas farmers might live far from their 
plots, and farming is not done jointly. Another reason for the tendency for 
husbands and wives not to farm jointly is that the city offers more alternative 
72 WOMEN FEEDING CITIES
Table 4.2 Division of labour and responsibilities among urban vegetable-farming households 
in Accra (n=60)
Main activity  Contribution to tasks Who defi nes tasks/responsibility
 (% of respondents) (% of respondents)
 Women Men Joint Women Men Joint Tradition
Cleaning and washing  75 10 15 10 6 24 60
Cooking  90 5 5 3 3 10 84
Child care  50 30 20 14 16 42 20
Providing household income  10 80 n.a. 10 3 24 63
Source: Authors’ survey, 2005
options for income generation. However, there are many cases where husbands 
do farming and wives do marketing. Both men and women farmers involve 
their children, especially after school and at weekends. In men’s farms, all 
main activities such as land preparation, irrigation, pesticide spraying, and 
weeding are done by men. Women (sellers) come in only to harvest and 
market the produce. Those with larger farms (more than 0.02 ha) hire labour 
to work the land. Men provide all hired labour. On the other hand, women 
farmers often hire labour for land preparation and spraying of pesticides. In 
this study, half of the women interviewees hired labour for land preparation. 
Women farmers said that land preparation is ‘an energy-draining exercise 
and not good for women’, while spraying pesticides requires the sprayer to 
carry heavy backpacks, which ‘men can handle’ better. Women with limited 
fi nancial resources usually cultivate relatively smaller plots which can more 
easily be managed. 
In general, some farming equipment, such as sprayers, watering cans, and 
hoes, is not women-friendly, and its use is thus largely restricted to men. 
Nevertheless, women farmers have adapted to this problem in different ways. 
For example, while many male farmers use watering cans, where possible 
women prefer using water hoses, which they connect to pressurized water 
sources to irrigate their plots. They also plant vegetables that are less water-
demanding, such as spring onions and local vegetables. Similar observations 
were made in Kumasi, where watering as a farm activity was rated the ‘most 
arduous and time-consuming’ farming activity (Keraita et al., 2003). Obaa Yaa 
is one of the women vegetable farmers at La in Accra, where more women 
are farming than on any other site in the city, thanks to the labour-saving 
possibility of a gravity-supported furrow-irrigation system. She has been 
farming for the past 11 years; when asked the reason for the relatively small 
numbers of women farmers, she said:
I started with fi ve other women but they have all left because of the diffi culty of 
the tasks involved. Talking about land clearing and preparation, forking of beds, 
spraying of chemicals etc., it takes much determination to continue cultivating. 
 CASE STUDY: VEGETABLE PRODUCTION IN ACCRA, GHANA 73
I mostly use men hired labour for land clearing and preparation. When I have not 
got enough money to hire labour, I do the land preparation myself but then I’m 
able to cultivate only part of my plot.
Marketing activities
Urban vegetables are sold at farms and harvested by market women, not 
by the farmers. Farmers hardly engage themselves in direct marketing to 
consumers, unless the consumers go to farms, which is however very rare. 
Entry into vegetable trading depends to a great extent on availability and 
ability to pay for a place in the market. Moreover, society has determined 
which type of marketing activity each sex can undertake. While females can 
do any type of marketing, i.e. from retailing to itinerant trading, it is diffi cult 
to fi nd men retailing vegetables, because society has labelled this as ‘women’s 
work’. As exotic vegetable farming is very time-consuming, farmers are often 
not able to sell their produce themselves, unless they split the responsibilities. 
That is another reason why it is mostly women who are seen in the markets 
(Vorberg, 2004).
Women preparing harvest for the market in Accra
By IWMI Ghana
74 WOMEN FEEDING CITIES
Rapid assessment of marketing activities at Agbobloshie market, a major 
centre for trading in vegetables, showed female dominance in both retailing 
and wholesaling activities. Several reasons have been suggested for this, apart 
from cultural norms. Vegetable selling was perceived as a quicker way to make 
money, more profi table and less risky in terms of investments. Women are 
known to be better at bargaining, hence more likely to obtain better prices 
than men. Money generated from marketing activities supplements household 
incomes. Here, women engaged in wholesale trading often have higher profi t 
margins than the male farmers in their family (Drechsel et al., 2006).
However, vegetable cultivation in Accra is limited to certain traditional 
and exotic leafy species. As a result, other produce (especially cabbage and 
tomatoes) is imported from other regions, especially the Ashanti and Brong 
Ahafo regions. This situation has resulted in itinerant trading, which for these 
commodities is dominated by male wholesalers. The situation is different for 
lettuce. A large proportion of the lettuce coming from Kumasi and Lomé (Togo) 
is organized by a small group of between seven and ten female wholesalers 
who bring their produce on public buses or lorries to Abogloshie market and 
sell it there to other wholesalers and retailers (Henseler et al., 2005). 
Differences in decision making and levels of knowledge 
Decision making 
Urban vegetable farming is highly individualized, and each farmer makes 
his/her own decision on farming activities. Despite strong competition 
among farmers, they often exchange knowledge, share farming equipment, 
make bulk purchases of farm inputs, or even have joint savings (Danso and 
Drechsel, 2003). In addition, in times of crisis, such as water scarcity in the 
dry season and pest invasions, farmers make collective decisions. Therefore 
in most farming sites in Accra there are farmers’ associations (informal and 
formal), and some have elected leaders and written constitutions. There are 
also efforts to create a city-level farmers’ association (Accra Vegetable Growers 
Association). 
One of the local associations is at Dzorwulu (Accra), where farmers have 
a formal farmers’ association with clear rules and regulations governing the 
group. All farmers at the site, currently 26 men and three women, support 
the association. Its main aim is to protect the interests of the farmers. The 
members make monthly contributions for the purchase of farm equipment 
such as knapsack pesticide sprayers and water hoses for irrigation. There is no 
woman in the leadership. The chairman of the association, Mr Fusseini, said 
that the leadership positions were open to all, but, due to men’s numerical 
advantage and the unwillingness of the women farmers to take leadership 
roles, all current leaders are men. However, women participate in the meetings, 
and their suggestions are considered in the decision-making process. 
 CASE STUDY: VEGETABLE PRODUCTION IN ACCRA, GHANA 75
Just as in farming, the selling of vegetables is done on an individual 
basis, and thus decisions regarding the activity are taken by the individuals 
involved. However, events that require collective action are fi rst discussed at 
the association level. One would expect that, due to women’s dominance in 
marketing, most of the executive positions would be held by women, as is the 
case in urban farming. This is indeed the norm in retail markets, with related 
‘queen mothers’ overseeing particular commodities. However, the situation 
can also be different. In the case of the Agbobloshie market in this study, 
only two of nine executive positions in the exotic-vegetable wholesalers’ 
association were held by females. 
Knowledge-related differences
Knowledge among farmers is not gender-based, since it largely depends 
on the individual farmer’s academic level, training and experience in 
farming, including mutual knowledge exchange, and external support, be 
it from extension services or research projects. Farmers with higher levels of 
education, especially those with professional training in agriculture, appear 
more knowledgeable about current farming practices, farming technologies, 
managing cropping patterns for better markets, and coping with extreme 
weather conditions such as droughts. On the other hand, farmers with non-
agricultural backgrounds can become professional if they have the right 
entrepreneurial spirit. One such group, at La in Accra, demonstrates how 
urban vegetable farmers can use knowledge to their benefi t.
The group has seven members and is taking advantage of their experience and 
knowledge for higher productivity. The farmers’ group is headed by two leaders based 
on their knowledge: one supervising vegetable production (Production Supervisor) 
and another one dealing with marketing of vegetables (Marketing Manager). The 
marketing manager, who has long history of trading non-agricultural products, is 
responsible for input supplies, marketing of vegetables and gathering information 
on production technologies and market trends. The group has now developed a 
cropping pattern that enables the group to sell their produce at peak prices, hence 
making high profi ts. (Adapted from Danso and Drechsel, 2003)
This is however an exception. Most farmers complain strongly about 
their limited access to information on market prices and channels, and their 
fi nancial dependence on urban market women. Access to knowledge at the 
market level is signifi cantly more gender-biased than at the farm level. 
Challenges for urban vegetable farmers in Accra
A number of challenges and coping strategies were listed by farmers in Accra 
(Table 4.3) without any signifi cant gender-specifi c difference. However, 
women complained more about the time-consuming task of watering, which 
confl icted with their household tasks. To reduce the labour burden, relatively 
76 WOMEN FEEDING CITIES
Table 4.3 Challenges faced by vegetable farmers and their coping strategies
Problem  Causes  Coping strategies
Low prices fo  Abundance of  Better cropping patterns.
output vegetables in the Men involve their wives in the marketing of products.
 market. Unfair   ‘We organize ourselves to produce in sequence.’
 treatment by
 vegetable sellers
High cost of High cost of living ‘We buy in bulk as an association to reduce costs of
inputs  transportation and single purchases.’
Public criticism  Use of polluted  Working with researchers to develop risk-reduction
 irrigation-water strategies.
 sources  Inviting NGOs and government to provide safe 
  groundwater.
  Being careful not to use polluted streams at peak 
  pollution times.
  Inviting public to observe farming activities.
High irrigation- Manual irrigation Planting crops that demand less water.
labour demands methods used Using pumps and water hoses instead of watering cans.
Unreliable water For farmers using Collecting water at night or whenever there is fl ow and
supplies piped water, the storing it in drums for irrigation.
 supply from Ghana
 Water Company is
 intermittent.
Finance Inability to obtain Investing money earned from other secondary 
 loans from formal activities.
 organizations
Source: authors’ focus-group discussions, 2008
more women take advantage of the availability of piped water at this site (the 
only one in Accra with this option). This however led to complaints about the 
common unreliability of piped water supplies. Male farmers stressed on the 
other hand the poor market prices and high cost of inputs. For farmers using 
polluted water sources, there was notable concern about their public image, 
due to condemnation of their practice by the media and public offi cials. 
Conclusion: gender mainstreaming in urban vegetable production in 
Accra
This study shows that in urban Ghana both sexes have distinct roles on- and 
off-farm. Men dominate vegetable farming and women dominate vegetable 
marketing. In principle, men and women can access either sector, but it does 
not happen very often. The reasons vary between cultural tradition (which 
affects marketing) and laborious irrigation practices (which affect farming). 
However, it appears easier for women to start farming than for men to enter 
the retail market. Overlap between men and women is observed in wholesale 
marketing, where men make ground where overland transport is required. 
 CASE STUDY: VEGETABLE PRODUCTION IN ACCRA, GHANA 77
To support women in taking up urban vegetable production requires the 
provision of easier irrigation methods. On the La site in Accra, where the 
topography allows furrow irrigation, equal numbers of men and women were 
observed. Also the increasing trend to lift water by means of small pumps offers 
opportunities for women – if they have the resources to pay their share when 
the local farmers’ group rents a pump. Listening to complaints, however, one 
deduces that men farmers feel signifi cantly more oppressed than women, in 
terms of their dependency on market women who provide credit and dictate 
prices without sharing essential market information. These complaints can be 
substantiated by the observation that wholesalers especially (but also many 
retailers) can make signifi cantly higher profi ts than farmers (Vorberg, 2004). 
Issues like these have to be considered if a full gender mainstreaming is to 
be achieved, as emphasized in the RUAF–Cities Farming for the Future (CFF) 
programme. Gender mainstreaming was correspondingly incorporated in the 
City Strategic Agenda formulated by the Accra Multi-stakeholder Forum for 
Urban and Peri-Urban Agriculture, with the specifi c objective ‘To promote and 
harness increased gender representation in all aspects of UA’ (IWMI–RUAF 
Annual Report, 2006). Subsequently, efforts have been made at the city level 
to make the urban agriculture by-laws (under revision) more gender-sensitive 
than before. Both male and female farmers and marketers in urban agriculture 
were involved in the review process (which is nearly completed). For the fi rst 
time in Accra, and for that matter Ghana, the urban agricultural practitioners 
were exposed to various by-laws governing their livelihoods and were able to 
raise their concerns to effect necessary changes, at least on paper. 
References
Armar-Klemesu, M. and Maxwell , D. (eds.) (1998) Urban Agriculture in Greater 
Accra Metropolitan Area. Project: 003149, fi nal report to IDRC, Noguchi 
Memorial Institute for Medical Research, University of Ghana. Available 
from http://.fao.org/Gender/en/lab-e.htm
Boateng, O. K., Keraita, B. and Akple, S. K. (2007) ‘Gyinyase Organic Vegetable 
Growers’ Association in Kumasi, Ghana’, Urban Agricultural Magazine 17, 
Strengthening Urban Producers’ Organisations: 38–40.
Cofi e, O., Danso, G., Larbi, T., Kufogbe, S. K., Obiri-opareh, N., Abraham 
E., Schuetz, T. and Henseler, M. (2005) Urban Agriculture in Accra, Ghana: 
Assessing Livelihood Potentials and Policy Mechanisms, IWMI–RUAF Working 
Paper for Urban Agriculture in Accra, IWMI, Ghana.
Danso, G. and Drechsel, P. (2003) ‘The marketing manager in Ghana’, Urban 
Agriculture Magazine 9, Financing Urban Agriculture: 7.
Danso, G., Drechsel, P., Wiafe-Antwi, T., and Gyiele, L. (2002) ‘Income of 
farming systems around Kumasi’, Urban Agriculture Magazine 7, Economic 
Aspects of Urban Agriculture: 5–7.
Drechsel, P., Graefe, S., Sonou, M. and Cofi e, O. O. (2006) Informal irrigation 
in urban West Africa: an overview, IWMI, Colombo. Research Report 102. 
78 WOMEN FEEDING CITIES
Available from http://www.iwmi.cgiar.org/Publications/IWMI_Research_
Reports/PDF/pub102/RR102.pdf
Henseler, M., Danso, G., and Annang, L. (2005) ‘Lettuce Survey. Project Report. 
Lettuce Survey Component of CP51, CGIAR CPWF Project 51’, unpublished 
report, IWMI, Ghana.
Hovorka, A. J. (1998) Gender Resources for Urban Agriculture Research: Methodology, 
Directory and Annotated Bibliography, Cities Feeding People Series Report 26, 
IDRC, Ottawa, Canada.
Keraita, B. (2002) ‘Wastewater use in urban and peri-urban vegetable farming 
in Kumasi, Ghana’, MSc. thesis, Wageningen University, The Netherlands. 
Keraita, B., Danso, G., and Drechsel, P. (2003) ‘Irrigation methods and practices 
in urban agriculture in Ghana and Togo’, Urban Agriculture Magazine 10, 
Appropriate (micro) Technologies for Urban Agriculture: 6–7.
Obosu-Mensah, K. (1999) Food Production in Urban Areas. A Case Study of Urban 
Agriculture in Accra, Ghana, Ashgate Publishing, England. 
Obuobie, E., Drechsel, P., Danso, G., and Raschid-Sally, L. (2004) ‘Gender in 
open-space irrigated urban vegetable farming in Ghana’, Urban Agricultural 
Magazine 12, Gender and Urban Agriculture: 13–15.
Obuobie, E., Keraita, B., Danso, G., Amoah, P., Cofi e, O. O., Raschid-Sally, 
L., and Drechsel, P. (2006) Irrigated urban vegetable production in Ghana: 
characteristics, benefi ts and risks, IWMI-RUAF-IDRC-CPWF, Accra, Ghana. 
Available from www.cityfarmer.org/GhanaIrrigateVegis.html
RUAF (2001) Urban Agriculture Magazine 5, Methodologies for Urban Agriculture 
Research, Policy Development, Planning and Implementation. Available from 
http://www.ruaf.org/node/187
Vorberg, T. (2004) ‘Income Generation with Exotic Vegetable in Kumasi, 
Ghana’, unpublished survey, IWMI, Kumasi. 
Zakaria, S., Lamptey, M. G., and Maxwell, D. (1998) ‘Urban agriculture in 
Accra: a descriptive analysis’, in M. Armar-Klemesu and D. Maxwell (eds.) 
1998.
About the authors
Lesley Hope is Junior researcher at the International Water Management 
Institute (IWMI), Accra, Ghana.
Olufunke Cofi e is Senior researcher at IWMI, Accra, Ghana.
Bernard Keraita is Research offi cer at IWMI, Accra, Ghana.
Pay Drechsel is Principal researcher at IWMI, Accra, Ghana.
CHAPTER 5
Gender in urban food production in 
hazardous areas in Kampala, Uganda
Grace Nabulo, Juliet Kiguli and Lilian N. Kiguli
Abstract
Urbanization is an important development process that is linked to land access, 
food production, and food security. This chapter focuses on a gender-analysis 
study of urban agriculture, specifi cally of farmers growing food crops in hazardous 
areas in Kampala city, investigating the division of labour, relationships, 
constraints, and initiatives within urban farming households. Such a study is 
important to ensure that good policy interventions are put in place. A survey of 
202 farmers growing food crops on former rubbish tips and wastewater-irrigated 
wetlands in Kampala city was carried out, using semi-structured questionnaires 
administered by personal interview. The questionnaires were developed with the 
help of International Development Research Centre (IDRC) guidelines on gender-
analysis methods. Focus-group discussions and key-informant interviews were 
held with men and women farmers. The study sought to describe the distribution 
of activities and resources, and the benefi ts and risks of urban agriculture, based 
on gender. The main motivating benefi t of urban agriculture in Kampala city was 
food. However, more men were motivated by economic benefi ts. Women suffered 
more than men from lack of ownership and control over land. The study also 
showed that women were more likely to grow food crops on contaminated land, 
which made them more vulnerable to health risks. Many urban farmers lacked 
access to land, especially women, while men owned land in small pieces, less than 
three acres in area.
Introduction
This study was carried out in Kampala city in 2001 as part of a PhD research 
project entitled ‘Assessment of Heavy Metal Contamination of Food Crops 
and Vegetables Grown In and Around Kampala City, Uganda’ and other 
research on urban farming throughout the city, undertaken by the project 
‘Urban Agriculture and Access to Land by the Poor in Kampala’. The principal 
objective of the study was to establish the roles of men and women in urban 
agriculture and to understand how resources are distributed between them. The 
80 WOMEN FEEDING CITIES
study focused on farmers growing food crops in hazardous areas in Kampala 
city. The project received funding from the International Development 
Research Centre (IDRC) under the Agropolis Graduate Research Awards. Other 
stakeholders involved in the project were Makerere University, Municipal 
Development Programme-Harare, and Urban Harvest, a Consultative Group 
on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR) Strategic Initiative on Urban 
and Peri-urban Agriculture.
Urban agriculture in Kampala
In Kampala, urban agriculture is increasingly signifi cant as a source of livelihood 
for the urban poor, due to the high rate of urbanization, accompanied by 
the rapid growth of unemployment resulting from immigration. Kampala 
is divided into fi ve administrative divisions: Nakawa, Makindye, Rubaga, 
Kawempe, and Central, covering approximately 189 km2 of land. The district 
has a resident population of over 1.2 million inhabitants, with a population 
density of 7,378 persons per km2 (UBOS, 2003). About 35 per cent of the city 
population is involved in urban agriculture (Maxwell, 1994). 
Urban agriculture in Kampala takes place predominantly on private 
land, in backyards and on undeveloped public land. However, due to lack 
of access to agricultural land, people are growing crops on hazardous sites 
that are unsuitable for development. Such places include road reserves, banks 
of drainage channels, wetlands, and contaminated sites such as scrap yards 
and dumping sites for solid and liquid waste. Urban agricultural activities 
often take place on undeveloped land and are therefore not included in the 
urban planning and development projects. These sites often lack major public 
services such as clean water, waste-disposal facilities, and transport. 
Urban agriculture has emerged as an unplanned activity in most developing 
cities (Kaneez, 1998); conversely, urban agriculture in Kampala is recognized as 
an important livelihood activity by the Kampala City Council and is currently 
a legal activity after a protracted process involving various stakeholders which 
reviewed the ordinances regulating this activity. Studies have shown clear 
gender differences in the practice of urban agriculture in the city. 
Methodology of the study
The study was developed with the help of IDRC guidelines on Gender Analysis 
Research Methodology (Hovorka, 1998). It focused on the analysis of the 
gender division of labour in crop production, processing, transporting, and 
marketing activities, on the way in which access to and control over resources 
are distributed between men and women farmers, on the distribution of 
benefi ts among men and women farmers, and on the specifi c constraints, 
problems, and risks of urban agriculture for men and women. 
The multi-disciplinary study team comprised two male and two female 
research assistants, who received prior training in gender-sensitive survey 
 CASE STUDY: KAMPALA, UGANDA 81
work. The study team received support from a gender-resource consultant, 
Diana Lee-Smith, who built their capacity in gender-analysis methodology and 
social statistics. Two men and two women farmers were involved in the project 
to mobilize their fellow farmers. Also the local council authorities, including 
the male chairperson, a male security offi cer, and a female representative, 
supported meetings in the area aimed at identifying farming households and 
mobilizing farmers for the project activities. Both husbands and wives were 
invited to these meetings, and both men and women farmers were involved in 
identifying fellow respondents. In households where both husband and wife 
were farmers, both were invited to participate in the project as respondents. In 
total, 111 women and 99 men were included in the study. 
The study sites were selected from former rubbish tips around the city 
where farmers are actively involved in agriculture: Kinawataka, Wakaliga, and 
Lugogo, together with Namuwongo wetland, which is subjected to disposal of 
wastewater, industrial effl uents, and untreated sewage from the city catchment 
areas. The criteria for selection of these sites were based on the history of 
waste disposal from industry and municipality, irrigation with wastewater, 
and application of sewage manure on the land. 
Data were collected by use of semi-structured questionnaires through 
personal interviews, with the help of various gender-sensitive tools like the 
gender-activity and gender-benefi t analysis tools. The questionnaires were 
administered to farming households in two languages: English and the 
vernacular Luganda. Data were analysed using a Software Program for Social 
Sciences (SPSS). Qualitative research was carried out by conducting focus-
group discussions with female farmers and key informants, both males and 
females, from Kampala city. This data were analysed using Atlas-ti software 
and manually interpreted using thematic and content analyses.
Gender analysis of the local situation 
Gender relations in urban food production and access to land for urban 
agriculture
Access to and control of resources 
The study showed that a large proportion of the farmers (59 per cent) had 
limited access to land for expansion of agricultural activities. These comprised 
63 per cent of the women and 55 per cent of the men. As squatters, these 
producers have only usufruct rights on land for food production and can be 
evicted at any time. Security of tenure is non-existent; and without it the 
producers are less concerned with sustainable environmental concerns such 
as land degradation and development of the land. They live in constant fear 
of their crops being slashed, and their primary concern is the survival of their 
families from day to day. Most of these women live in the slums, are generally 
poor, and have access to polluted land such as rubbish tips and wetlands. 
They reported: ‘Fellow women occupy the wetlands/swampy areas because 
82 WOMEN FEEDING CITIES
land is cheap and readily available ...the poor access marginal lands, people 
with small means resort to the informal areas for mainly agriculture, and then 
settlements develop in these areas over time’ (married women in Kigobe–
Rubaga division).
The study showed that landowners prefer to lease land to women rather 
than to men, because they think that women are less prone to dubious acts 
than men, who are expected to build structures so that the landowner may 
have diffi culty in reclaiming the land and may eventually lose the ownership. 
On the other hand, women’s produce is consumed mostly by the household, 
while men sell most of their agricultural produce. This enables men to generate 
income, as well as to get access to credit, with which they can expand their 
agricultural production by renting and borrowing more land, and paying 
for extra labour, which is much more diffi cult for women. The women seek 
access to land for urban agriculture through borrowing and searching for free 
unused pieces of land in the neighbourhood, garbage areas or undeveloped 
land in valleys. Women tend to concentrate their agricultural activities near 
to their homes and/or seek areas farther away where they might undertake 
farming on plots close to each other. Some women travel long distances to 
claim undeveloped land. In Kololo East, women hold land near a primary 
school attended by a number of their children; on the way home the children 
can assist their mothers in the gardens.
Both men and women farmers had limited control over land: 25 per cent 
of the women having control, compared with 32 per cent of the men. Up 
to 33 per cent of the land was controlled by landlords and 21 per cent by 
institutions such as Kampala City Council. The men accessed land through 
purchase, inheritance, renting, borrowing, or squatting. Most of the women 
acquired land by squatting or borrowing, or through their husbands, who 
rented or inherited it. Women’s access to and control of land was adversely 
affected by social cultural practices, as discussed later under the role of external 
factors on gender in urban agriculture. 
The study revealed that farming is a major source of household income 
in Kampala. Sixty-six per cent of the male farmers and 47 per cent of the 
women obtained income from other forms of self-employment, but 5 per 
cent of the men and 15 per cent of the women obtained all their income 
from farming. Only 11 per cent of the men and 8 per cent of the women 
acquired their income from a regular salary and supplemented their incomes 
through urban agriculture. In this study, the majority of farmers had informal 
employment. This led to the development of a class of unskilled labourers 
with no formal vocational training, of whom 51 per cent are men and 61 per 
cent are women.
The study also showed that women would be affected more than men if 
they were prevented from farming on contaminated sites (Table 5.1).
The major benefi t that would be lost if urban agriculture were prohibited in 
Kampala city was access to food. Statistically, 31 per cent of the men and 37 per 
cent of the women would have little or no food if they were prevented from 
 CASE STUDY: KAMPALA, UGANDA 83
Table 5.1 Impact on men and women of ceasing to grow crops on dump sites
Effect of stopping farming  Frequency Proportion of men (%) Proportion of women (%)
No effect 13 14 01
Would suffer fi nancial loss 06 02 04
No school fees 09 05 05
No food 66 31 37
Economic crisis 42 12 30
Would transfer  13 12 03
Would become poor 33 14 20
Not sure  10 10 00
Total  192 100 100
farming on rubbish tips. On the other hand, 30 per cent of the women would 
suffer an economic crisis, compared with 12 per cent of the men. Generally, 
most of the farmers would experience a fi nancial crisis, and the women would 
be more affected than men. The women depended on urban agriculture to feed 
and maintain their families, while the men had other sources of income. 
Sourcing inputs
A much higher proportion of women than men spent income on purchasing 
seeds for planting. Similarly, 88.2 per cent of the women, compared with 65.5 
per cent of the men, obtained seeds from the market, while 12.6 per cent of the 
men and 2.7 per cent of the women obtained seed from the previous season’s 
crops. This is due to the fact that men grow sugar cane and cocoyam, which 
can multiply by vegetative propagation, and seeds for planting are available 
from the previous crop. Seeds for maize and vegetables, grown mainly by 
women, on the other hand are not readily available, which means that they 
must be purchased from the market. The rest of the farmers obtained seeds 
from friends or from the rural areas, depending on the type of crop grown.
Processing, transportation, and marketing of urban agricultural products
Women grow crops that are less demanding in terms of production activities, 
capital, processing, transporting, and marketing, such as maize, sweet potatoes, 
and vegetables, which they grow near households and dump sites. These crops 
are sold in the neighbourhoods either directly to consumers, or to market 
vendors, or by the roadside. However, crops grown by women fetched less 
income, because production is on a small scale and products are perishable, 
hence farmers suffer severe post-harvest losses. Men on the other hand engage 
in larger-scale farming activities such as growing sugar cane and cocoyam 
for commercial use. These are bulky and more labour-intensive in terms of 
harvesting and transport to marketing sites. For example, harvesting cocoyams 
involves uprooting from wetlands; excess mud and roots are removed from 
the rhizome before they are packed in sacks and transferred to drier areas, 
84 WOMEN FEEDING CITIES
where they are loaded on bicycles. Buyers from various markets around the 
city collect the produce from the wetlands and transport it to markets, using 
hired bicycles. 
Utilization of farm produce
This study showed that a higher proportion of men than women sold some of 
the food produced from farming activities (Table 5.2). 
A higher proportion of the farmers used the food crops mainly to feed their 
families, although a small proportion of them grew food purposely for sale. 
The proportion of farmers who sold all of the food grown on contaminated 
sites to consumers was higher among women, who consequently used the 
funds to buy other foodstuffs from the market. 
Table 5.2 Utilization of food derived from urban agriculture
Utilization of food   Proportion of farmers (%)
 Men (n = 80) Women (n = 101)  All farmers (n = 181)
Consume all (24) 30% (34) 34% ( 58)  32% 
Sell some (53) 65% (53) 52% (106) 59%
Sell all  (3)   5% (14) 14%  (17)    9%
Exposure to health hazards in urban agriculture
Women as a group, however, face particular problems in most of their 
traditional roles. For instance, a man’s hoe always has a long handle, while 
a woman’s hoe often has a short handle, which necessitates that a woman 
bends while digging. Moreover, of the 56 per cent of the farmers who did 
not use any protective clothing while working on contaminated land, 59 per 
cent were women and 41 per cent men. Additionally, most of the farmers 
did not have access to clean and adequate water supplies. This has negative 
implications for food production, the quality of food, and human health. 
Overall, women were at increased risk of exposure to occupational and health 
hazards associated with urban agriculture, compared with men. 
Gender roles and bargaining power in decision making in the community
With regard to the control of funds, this study showed that both men and 
women had control over their own funds. Budget decisions were largely 
controlled by men and women involved in income generation. Eighty-three 
per cent of respondents made budget decisions by themselves, of whom 43 
per cent were men and 57 per cent women, while 13 per cent made budget 
decisions jointly between husband and wife and only 4 per cent said that 
budget decisions were made by the head of household (husband, father, or 
mother).
 CASE STUDY: KAMPALA, UGANDA 85
Women and men contributed income to their households from urban 
agriculture on a more or less equal basis (Table 5.3).
Assessment of expenditure showed that the majority of the farmers used 
their income obtained from urban agriculture to meet domestic needs, with a 
higher proportion of women doing so than men. In fact, the outcome of this 
survey found that women contributed to all household expenses, including 
those that were traditionally male responsibilities such as housing. Equal but 
small proportions of men and women spent income accruing from farming 
activities on purchasing food. Farmers spent less of their income on food, 
because what they reaped from the gardens was not valued in monetary terms 
as it was considered free food. 
Table 5.3 Men’s and women’s utilization of income obtained from urban agriculture
Item Proportion of men (%) Proportion of women (%)
Paying school fees 26 12
Buying seeds for planting 5 9
Spending on domestic needs 38 50
Buying food 5 5
Medical treatment 0 3
Paying house rent 3 1
Savings 14 13
Development 9 7
Total 100 100
Gender division of labour
Men are slightly more involved in wastewater-fed cultivating of sugar cane 
and cocoyam in the wetlands (55 per cent of the men, compared with 45 
per cent of the women), crops that are non-perishable and therefore can be 
transported for longer distances in search of markets. According to the local 
division of labour, men open up the wetlands by cutting down the papyrus, 
while women plant the crops. 
Women are more involved (55 per cent of the women and 45 per cent of 
the men) in growing maize, sweet potatoes, and vegetables on former rubbish 
tips and road sides, crops which require less time in the fi eld, require less 
capital investment, and are perishable and hence need to be marketed closer 
by (within the neighbourhood: by the roadside, in nearby markets, or on stalls 
in front of their homes). 
Urban agriculture is being feminized as men move out of agriculture to 
other informal sectors like petty trading, while women continue as farmers, 
with a few migrant men working as hired labourers. The study showed that 
most (67.4 per cent) of the urban farmers are married, 26.3 per cent single 
(with a large proportion of men), 5.8 per cent widowed, and 0.5 per cent 
students. The married farming households included 64 per cent of the men and 
70 per cent of the women. The male-headed households had larger numbers 
86 WOMEN FEEDING CITIES
Women harvesting vegetables at Luzira, a wastewater-irrigated wetland near Lake Victoria
By Grace Nabulo
of children (0–16), compared with the women-headed households (0–12); 
on average each household had three children. Most of the women in the 
study were mothers and engaged in urban agriculture as a source of food and 
income for their families. The highest proportion of the women (26 per cent) 
had two children, while the highest proportion of the men (21 per cent) had 
none. Older children and students take part in household farming activities, 
providing free and extra labour. Conversely, most of the men engaged in urban 
agriculture as an income-generating activity.
The men spent longer hours in the garden, because the crops that they 
grow are more labour-intensive. Since most of the women (70 per cent) are 
married and have to perform traditional household roles as well, the women 
tend to grow crops that are less labour-intensive (Table 5.4).
Although women spent relatively less time in the gardens than men, the 
study revealed that women had much less leisure time than men (women 
4 per cent, men 12 per cent leisure time). This is an indication that women 
engaged in several unpaid, unrecognized, and undocumented labour tasks that 
men take for granted. Women and men were involved in different activities in 
addition to agriculture, some of which were specifi c to either men or women. 
In Uganda, house keeping, child care, nursing the sick, cooking food, and 
 CASE STUDY: KAMPALA, UGANDA 87
Table 5.4 Time spent in the garden daily by men and women
Number of working hours spent Proportion of male Proportion of female
in the garden farmers (%) farmers (%)
1 6 17
2 16 23
3 21 18
4 19 18
5 9 8
6 11 7
Whole day 18 9
Total  100 100
housework are a woman’s responsibilities. Cooking food, for example, is 
culturally unacceptable for a married man. In addition, some women carried 
out other income-generating activities such as tailoring, poultry keeping, 
shop keeping, and serving in saloons and restaurants, as well as selling food 
products. 
Only 9 per cent of the farmers had formal employment and earned a salary. 
Few women had professional training, and those that did were predominantly 
nurses and teachers. Men were often carpenters, shopkeepers, builders, drivers, 
stone breakers, bricklayers, cattle keepers, hawkers, and security guards in 
addition to being farmers.
Men’s and women’s interests, constraints, and knowledge of urban farming
The main motivating benefi t of urban agriculture for most of the farmers was 
food. Asked what motivated them to practise urban farming, 41 per cent of 
the respondents said they benefi ted from getting food, 21 per cent from easy 
access to markets, and 9 per cent from economic benefi ts. As discussed earlier, 
35 per cent of the farmers would have no food if prevented from growing food, 
including 37 per cent of the women and 31 per cent of the men. Moreover, 22 
per cent of the farmers (30 per cent of the women and 12 per cent of the men) 
would suffer an economic crisis if they had to stop urban agriculture. 
As indicated before, men and women are generally interested in – and have 
better knowledge of – different crops: for men it is mainly sugar cane and 
cocoyam, and for women maize, sweet potatoes, and vegetables. 
The role of external factors in urban agriculture
In many countries, religious and cultural traditions restrict women from 
owning land. In Kampala city, for example, only 7 per cent of the women 
own land (Kiguli, 2004). According to customary law in Uganda, a woman 
is not entitled to land ownership. She cannot inherit family land, because 
she is expected to get married and leave her birth home for her husband’s 
88 WOMEN FEEDING CITIES
home. Even in her marital home, a woman is only allocated land where she 
can dig and produce food to feed the family, but the man remains the legal 
landowner. This puts the woman in an insecure and tenuous position that is 
inferior to that of her husband. 
A minor proportion of the urban farmers in the study (36 per cent of the 
men and 30 per cent of the women) have access to local organizations that 
teach them ways to expand their production and improve the quality of 
their products. Some of these organizations offer credit facilities, but a higher 
proportion of men than women obtained credit facilities, since most of the 
women’s produce is consumed by the household, while men sell most of their 
agricultural produce. This enables men to expand their agricultural production 
by renting and borrowing more land and paying for extra labour, while this is 
much more diffi cult for the women.
In addition, the traditional and reproductive roles of women hinder them 
from obtaining land far away from their homes. Most of the women use land 
that is available to them near their homes or readily available in sites that are 
not suitable for farming, such as the rubbish dumps and roadsides. Women’s 
productive capacities were therefore constrained by several negative factors, 
including limited access to expansion of land available for farming.
Potential risks and disadvantages of urban agriculture
Rubbish dumps are used for cultivation by most farmers because the land is 
public land, and easily accessible. These areas are considered ‘no man’s land’, 
which farmers may obtain by squatting or by renting it from other farmers. 
The waste-dumping sites are perceived by many urban farmers to be fertile 
because they contain high levels of nutrients; they therefore attract farmers, 
as they are considered more productive. Also wetlands that receive wastewater 
from municipal and industrial sources are utilized by urban farmers because of 
the availability of water for irrigation throughout the year. 
Under such conditions and without proper management, urban agriculture 
may lead to contamination of food crops, a reason why municipalities often 
judge urban agriculture negatively. Farmers on waste sites are exposed to a 
variety of health hazards, including chemical and biological contaminants in 
the soil, physical injury from sharp objects, and psychosocial discrimination. 
Biological agents may include bacteria, helianthus, viruses, protozoa, and 
micro-fauna. Contamination of fruits and vegetables by pollutants in the 
soil and in untreated wastewater poses a major health risk, especially when 
consumers eat raw vegetables. 
The division of labour in urban farming households exposes men and 
women to health risks in different degrees (Flynn, 1999). Women are more 
vulnerable to health hazards, although they work less time in the gardens. 
They perform various roles that expose them to health hazards, including 
contact with contaminated soil and water in the garden (no protective gloves 
or boots), contact with contaminated foods during food preparation and 
 CASE STUDY: KAMPALA, UGANDA 89
marketing, and inhaling motor-vehicle emissions during the long hours when 
they are selling food at busy roadsides
A high proportion of the farmers in Kampala are aware of the health risks 
of growing food on these contaminated sites. Asked whether they agree with 
growing food on waste sites, above 80 per cent disagreed, stating that it was 
not healthy. Some of the farmers admitted that they sell most of the food 
grown on contaminated sites and do not use it for household consumption. 
The producers, however, said that they had no alternative, since agriculture 
was their main source of livelihood, food security, and household income. The 
farmers weigh the health risks against the benefi ts. One said: ‘We have been 
eating food from these waste dump sites for several years, but we have never 
fallen ill. We have even educated our children up to University level using 
money from the sale of cocoyams grown in these areas.’ 
The farmers perceive these sites as unhealthy but also as fertile, free land 
available for farming and one of the few opportunities open to them to gain 
a minimum livelihood. They continue farming despite their awareness of the 
health risks. They are more aware of risks that have some visibility, such as 
cuts from sharp objects, sewage disposal with bad smells, and skin infections. 
However, they are less aware of the possible long-term health risks associated 
with farming on waste-disposal sites without adequate precautions.
Conclusions
Lessons learned and recommendations
Both men and women engage in urban farming in Kampala city, but a higher 
proportion of women grow food crops on rubbish tips than men. Women 
cultivate former rubbish dumps because these are cheap, accessible, and 
readily available to them. On the other hand, a higher proportion of the men 
cultivate in wastewater-fed wetlands, compared with the women.
A majority of the urban farmers sell some of their produce, and a higher 
proportion of these are men. While women constitute a larger proportion 
of those who consume all the food obtained from urban agriculture, they 
also sell to urban consumers within their neighbourhoods, hence improving 
the nutritional status of the urban poor and thereby playing a major role in 
feeding the (poor part of) the urban population in Kampala. 
Women involved in urban agriculture are disadvantaged in many aspects, 
including access to resources, distribution of labour and benefi ts, and 
protection against health hazards. 
Urban agriculture projects should target women farmers to improve 
their opportunities to access resources and their capacity to perform more 
effi ciently with minimal exposure to health risks, and to empower them 
beyond reproductive roles. There is also a need to enhance their marketing 
facilities and effi ciency for the sale of perishable vegetables and to minimize 
post-harvest losses.
90 WOMEN FEEDING CITIES
Policies should aim to enable access to productive land for women farmers, 
for example by creating quotas for women in land allocation. Urban farmers 
in Kampala, especially women, are constrained by lack of formal access to land 
and security of tenure. Urban activities are neither planned, nor monitored, 
nor guided, and hence they put consumers and urban farmers, especially 
women, at risk of exposure to health hazards from biological and chemical 
contamination. 
The study contributed knowledge and advanced understanding of chemical 
contamination in urban agriculture, complementing earlier studies on food 
security and nutrition. It increased public awareness regarding chemical 
contamination in urban agriculture, and changed the perceptions of urban 
communities and city authorities of the practice of growing food crops on 
rubbish tips and wetlands around the city. The study played a vital role in 
informing decision making regarding urban agriculture by facilitating the 
community-based review of urban agriculture ordinances in Kampala city. 
The research fi ndings were used in the development of policy guidelines for 
Kampala City Council.
Urban agriculture is currently recognized as a legal activity in Kampala. There 
is a need for immediate implementation of the newly formulated guidelines 
and urban agriculture ordinances to address urban waste management 
and administration of land for farming, especially for women, in order to 
improve productivity and enhance food safety. Dissemination of knowledge 
of adequate crop selection and improvement, and of appropriate techniques 
such as composting and low-cost wastewater-treatment technologies would 
go a long way to improve the productivity, quality, and marketing of urban 
agriculture products.
Women should be encouraged to establish groups through which they could 
form partnerships with NGOs, development agencies, and action-oriented 
researchers. Since women comprise the majority of farmers who engage in 
urban agriculture, empowerment of this group is essential. Knowledge of 
public-health issues, high-yielding crops, farming safety, and nutrition, for 
example, would improve not only the quality and quantity of food produced 
but also the health of the farmers, their families, and consumers.
On a broader scale, the government of Uganda should incorporate urban 
agriculture into the Plan for Modernisation of Agriculture (PMA), to ensure 
more sustainable and improved food production, processing, and marketing 
at local and national levels. The government should also empower women 
through protected rights to ownership of land, which is an integral part of 
urban agricultural issues. 
Urban agriculture projects should apply gender-sensitive methodologies 
and take into consideration the social-cultural values that favour men and 
often render women inferior within the household and the larger community; 
the projects should therefore specifi cally address the needs of women. This 
requires a good knowledge of the actual differences in contributions and 
 CASE STUDY: KAMPALA, UGANDA 91
problems of men and women in urban agriculture and the external infl uences 
such as culture, legislation, and policies or bylaws.
Differences in gender mainstreaming between urban and rural agriculture
Gender-mainstreaming initiatives in urban agriculture differ from those in 
rural agriculture, because the social values, structures, and institutions that 
create specifi c gender dynamics in rural agriculture are different from those 
in urban agriculture. In rural Uganda, ownership, control, and distribution of 
resources, and decision making regarding household budget are often a man’s 
responsibility as head of household. The woman automatically takes on the 
reproductive roles defi ned by the society. The rural woman is also dependent 
on her husband for resources such as land, because land legally belongs to 
the man. The man often engages in incoming-generating activities such 
as marketing cash crops or livestock that empower him economically. The 
woman has no control over resources and the family budget, which renders 
her inferior in status and dependent on her husband.
In urban agriculture there is a diversity of cultural values, involving as it 
does people from different tribes, regions, and even countries, most of whom 
have no access to or right of ownership of resources such as land or irrigation 
water. Therefore, the traditional defi nition of gender roles within each group 
makes room for a new one in which the husband and wife contribute more 
equally to the livelihood of the household, either directly through digging, 
growing food, cooking, or selling produce or indirectly through paying for 
rent, tuition for children, or domestic needs. The women now contribute to 
the family budget, which demystifi es the superiority of male over female. 
References
Flynn, K. (1999) ‘Urban Agriculture and Public Health: Risk Assessment 
and Prevention for Contamination and Zoonoses’, Cities Feeding People 
programme initiative, IDRC, Ottawa (draft). 
Hovorka, A. (1998) Gender Resources for Urban Agriculture Research: Methodology, 
Directory and Annotated Bibliography, Cities Feeding People Series Report 26, 
IDRC, Ottawa, Canada.
Kaneez, H. M. (1998) Gender Capacity in Urban Agriculture: Case Studies from 
Harare (Zimbabwe), Kampala (Uganda) and Accra (Ghana), Gender and 
Sustainable Development Unit, IDRC, Ottawa, Canada.
Kiguli, J. (2004) ‘Gender and access to land for urban agriculture in Kampala, 
Uganda’, Urban Agriculture Magazine 12, Gender and Urban Agriculture: 
34–35.
Maxwell, D. (1994) ‘Internal Struggles over Resources, External Struggles for 
survival: Urban Women and Subsistence Household Production’, paper 
presented to the 37th annual meeting of the African Studies Association, 
published by www.cityfarmer.org 
92 WOMEN FEEDING CITIES
Uganda Bureau of Statistics (UBOS) (2003) Uganda Population and Housing 
Census 2002, Kampala.
About the authors
Grace Nabulo is a Lecturer in the Department of Botany, Makerere University, 
Kampala, Uganda.
Juliet Kiguli is a Lecturer in the Department of Community Health and 
Behavioural Sciences, Makerere University School of Public Health, Kampala, 
Uganda.
Lilian N. Kiguli is a Graduate student at Rhodes University, Grahamstown, 
South Africa.
CHAPTER 6
Gender dynamics in the Musikavanhu urban 
agriculture movement, Harare, Zimbabwe
Percy Toriro
Abstract
This case study presents the gender dynamics of urban agriculture in the 
Musikavanhu Project in Harare. The project sought to understand the different 
roles and positions of men and women in urban agriculture in the Budiriro 
area, and the way in which these are changing over time. The majority of the 
producers in the area are women, males only assisting incidentally when they are 
not formally employed. While women play prominent roles in decision making 
regarding production and processing, men tend to take over when it comes to 
making decisions about the use of the income raised. The results of the study 
were used to facilitate gender sensitivity in the Musikavanhu project, in order to 
ensure that gender issues are taken into account when planning and implementing 
new activities, and to enhance gender equity in the areas where it is active. The 
positive impacts of these interventions are becoming visible as they infl uence local 
planning authorities’ considerations of policy initiatives and actions related to 
urban agriculture in and around Harare.
Introduction
This case study presents the gender dynamics of urban agriculture in the 
Musikavanhu Project in Harare. The study was undertaken in the context of 
the RUAF–Cities Farming for the Future Project. Fieldwork took place in the 
Budiriro suburb of Harare in January–February 2008 as a continuation and 
update of a participatory fi eld study done in 2004 (Mushamba and Mubvami, 
2004).
Although commonly referred to as Musikavanhu Project, it is not a project 
in a proper sense but a loose assembly of a large number of community groups 
in the urban and peri-urban area. Each has 30–50 small plot-holders who 
have realized the advantages of working together in a group: advantages such 
as access to land, the economies of scale in securing inputs and marketing 
their products, and even protecting their crops from thieves. Musikavanhu 
currently has some 50,000 registered members (6,250 households, with every 
member of the household being a de facto member of the project) in Greater 
94 WOMEN FEEDING CITIES
Harare, and this is attracting attention from government institutions, NGOs, 
and FAO. The chairperson of Musikavanhu, Mr Zunde, estimates that there are 
500 such small groups across Harare. 
Background to the project
The Musikavanhu Project was founded in 1998 in the low-income suburb 
of Budiriro, located about 10 km west of the centre of Harare, on vacant 
municipal land which was used by sand miners to dig for pit sand sold for the 
construction of houses in neighbouring new settlements. Seeing their success 
in fi ghting the illegal sand miners, the municipality granted the members 
an annually renewable permit to use the reclaimed and adjacent lands for 
agriculture, attaching a number of conditions to protect the environment. 
However, the land remains reserved for future development.
Soon many other households joined, spurred on by the increasing 
unemployment initially caused by the economic structural adjustment 
programmes of the 1990s and later by the deep political and economic crisis 
in the country, which made farming a last resort for many poor urban families. 
These urban poor became involved in farming in order to maintain their food 
security, save money on food expenditures, and generate complementary 
income from regular sales. The households involved in the Musikavanhu Project 
consider their agricultural plots an important part of their livelihood support.
The Musikavanhu Project quickly spread to other low-income suburbs of 
Harare. By 2004 it was reported to have 20,000 members, and in 2008 the 
total reached 50,000. It is argued that the membership grew exponentially 
between 2002 and 2006 because prospective members thought they would 
use the project as a vehicle to be resettled on peri-urban land during the land-
reform programme. All member households utilized vacant spaces left behind 
during the process of urban development, illegally or temporarily. 
Musikavanhu Project’s major contribution is in promoting the organization 
of the urban poor, who hitherto had farmed randomly and irregularly on any 
vacant land they could fi nd in the city, and helping them to organize their 
farming activities. The platform offered by the Musikavanhu Project also 
ensures that members can effectively interact with other institutions in an 
informed way. 
Musikavanhu has benefi ted from seed and fertilizer donations from 
commercial companies (who see this as a good marketing strategy); incidental 
training is provided by some extension workers of AREX (a government 
scheme), an agro-ecological NGO, and the staff of the commercial companies 
in relation to the hybrid seed and fertilizers provided. One organization also 
provided loans to buy farm implements. Although Musikavanhu has received 
donations from various organizations, its fi nancial base is still weak, because it 
does not tax its members, apart from charging annual subscriptions. 
Joining Musikavanhu Project has brought political and economic 
advantages to members, as well as providing much-needed unity of purpose 
 CASE STUDY: HARARE, ZIMBABWE 95
when approaching the municipality to argue for preserving their land or 
adding more. Members of the project were conveniently allied to ZANU (PF), 
so that they could easily approach ZANU (PF) politicians for protection or get 
access to some offi ces, which might otherwise have been inaccessible. The 
platform offered by the Musikavanhu Project enabled members to collectively 
approach the input-support institutions such as SEEDCO and Zimbabwe 
Fertilizer Company to persuade them to set aside inputs specifi cally for them 
at a time when it was diffi cult for individuals to get inputs at an affordable 
price and on time. 
Although 90 per cent of the farmers in the Musikavanhu Project are women, 
the project has no deliberate gender policy or mainstreaming strategy.
Farming in the Musikavanhu Project
Farming in the Musikavanhu Project is largely a seasonal activity, although 
some members grow throughout the year. Most of the members practise rain-
fed cultivation during summer, when there is plenty of rain. Additionally in 
some places individual farmers have dug wells on their plots, while others 
practise wetland cultivation or cultivate areas very close to stream banks where 
irrigation is possible.
In most cases the farming activities are taking place on municipal land and 
largely have an informal (illegal) character. The fi eld plots have an average size 
of about one acre (although, of the thousand members in the Chapter, 500 have 
been allocated 12.5 hectares of land, a measure that has been freely sanctioned 
by the local authority). The hoe is the standard tool. (In Zimbabwean culture, 
a hoe was part of dowry paid by the men for their women, indicating the place 
of women in the society: the hoe is predominantly used in tilling, weeding, and 
harvesting and seen as a symbol of womanhood.) Mixed cropping is practised 
on almost every piece of land. Maize is inter-grown with beans, pumpkins, 
and sweet potatoes, and sunfl owers are grown to maximize production per 
unit of land. Produce is both for own consumption and for sale at markets 
and to neighbours. 
Some of the members also have home gardens where they grow fruit trees, 
vegetables, herbs, and beans, mainly for home consumption with incidental 
sale of surpluses. During dry spells these home-based crops are irrigated using 
water from the Zimbabwe National Water Authority (ZINWA). However, the 
farmers say that supply is not reliable. Many households also rear poultry on 
their home plots, most keeping up to 20 birds at a time, largely for sale. 
Members have also taken up other activities like mushroom production on 
the home plot (following some training carried out by FAO) and a fi sheries 
project in Mufakose District. But such activities require investments that 
few can afford under current economic circumstances. The Project is even 
undertaking community projects like supplementary feeding schemes and 
recently established a school for training in urban agriculture in the nearby 
town of Marondera.
96 WOMEN FEEDING CITIES
Table 6.1 Household incomes of 70 farming households in Budiriro area
Type of income Sex of the earner  Annual income in Z$ % of total income
Urban agriculture Predominantly female 5 billion 23.8%
Formal work Predominantly male 264 billion 74%
Other (renting out
rooms, vending) Female /Male 7.8 billion 2.2%
Total income for 70 households interviewed 356.8 billion 100%
Source: 2008 study
This study found that most of the farmers in the Budiriro Chapter earn 
very little from farming, most of the foodstuffs grown being consumed at 
household level. Over three quarters (76.7 per cent) of the farmers earn below 
US$200 annually from farming and cannot afford to invest in the agricultural 
system because the land is not theirs and is not protected well. Households 
supplement their incomes with remittances, rents that they charge to lodgers 
who use part of their houses, and income from working relatives (see Table 
6.1).
While the respondents could easily account for the sources of their income 
and the relative contribution of agriculture to their livelihoods, they had 
diffi culty estimating the cash value of the vegetables produced, because of the 
absence of production and sales records. 
Methodology of the gender study
The study was designed to enhance understanding of the main gender 
differences in urban agriculture in the Budiriro chapter (the study area). 
The study was not designed to explore detailed gender relations within the 
households, but to shed light on men’s and women’s positions and roles 
within urban agriculture activities, and to understand how the dynamics 
within this economic sector infl uence such position and roles. The study has 
taken into account methodologies that were used in similar studies (Hovorka, 
1998 and 2006).
Primary data collection consisted of interviews with the owners of urban 
agriculture enterprises in Budiriro chapter of the Musikavanhu Project. This 
study site was large enough to generate an adequate sample size. Of the 
thousand members in the Budiriro Chapter, 500 have been allocated 12.5 
hectares of land, freely sanctioned by the local authority, while the others 
farm on an informal basis on vacant public land. The 500 farmers on offi cially 
sanctioned land formed the sample population for this study. The study 
sample consisted of a total of 70 plot holders (or leasers, as the land belongs 
to the Municipality) of whom 31 were men (44.3 per cent) and 39 women 
(55.7 per cent). In the interest of equal gender representation, we purposely 
selected nearly equal numbers of men and women plot holders, even though 
women constitute 95 per cent of the project membership. Fieldwork took 
 CASE STUDY: HARARE, ZIMBABWE 97
place in the Budiriro suburb of Harare from January 2008 to February 2008 as 
a continuation and update of a participatory fi eld study done in 2004.
The study involved the following phases:
a. Secondary data collection; interviews with key informants, as well as 
review of academic papers and other documents.
b. Structured interviews (15 minutes each); a combination of short-answer 
and open-ended questions relating to:
• net outcomes (type of agriculture production, gross earnings, and 
amount of foodstuffs produced, etc.);
• socio-economic variables (gender, age, ethnicity, citizenship, income, 
access to capital, labour, natural resources, inputs, information, 
services, social networks, etc.);
• locational variables (plot location, tenure system, cost of land, size, 
on/off plot production, process of acquisition, etc.);
• environmental variables (water sources, soil type/quality, pests/
disease, climate, etc.).
These structured interviews generated a relatively rich data set, adequate 
for both quantitative and qualitative analysis. 
Socio-economic characteristics of the farmers interviewed
The gender breakdown of farmers is different from that of plot-holders, 
indicating that it is predominantly women who engage in farming work, even 
in male-headed households. Most of the farmers interviewed were women 
(73.4 per cent), of whom 52.8 per cent were aged 50 years and above. Forty 
per cent of the farmers interviewed were widows and/or female heads of 
households. Persons under the age of 40 years are very few (16.6 per cent). 
Most of the farmers are literate, although very few have formal education 
(56.1 per cent have had no formal education). Of those who have Ordinary 
Level education, 52.8 per cent are females. 
Most of the farmers (93.3 per cent) are of the Shona tribe. All of them are 
Christians.
Table 6.2 Summary of socio-economic characteristics of the farmers interviewed
Socio-economic characteristics
Age average 48 years
%married 43%
%widowed 30%
Mean household size 6 members
Main type of farm enterprise Family
Size of the land per family 1 acre
Annual average income from crops US$ 215
Annual average amount of crops produced 1.5 tonnes
Source: 2008 study
98 WOMEN FEEDING CITIES
Gender analysis of the Musikavanhu Project 
Role in decision making
Decision making at the household level is a refl ection of the distribution of 
power at that level (Feldstein Sims and Poats., 1989). Due to the fact that the 
men have not been very involved in agricultural activities, the women take 
most of the decisions on crop choice, cultivation practices, and marketing. 
However, decisions on fi nancial investments in the household are dominated 
by men, who do not see agriculture as a priority. Since many married women 
are unaware of how much their husbands earn, it is diffi cult for them to obtain 
money for agricultural inputs or tools.
The participation of children in decision making is very low. The role of 
children is seen as taking instructions from adults and performing tasks set for 
them (to till, weed, harvest, and process farm produce).
Table 6.3 Decision making in farming households in Budiriro area
Decisions Male Male/female member jointly Female Comments
  Male Equal Female
  dominates infl uence dominates
  decision
Inputs    X  Normally after
      consulting the male
Production     X
Marketing     X
Investments  X
Reproduction X
Division of tasks
Women do the overwhelming majority of the farm work. The men may assist 
in the agricultural activities during the weekend or when they are not engaged 
in a formal job. 
Typically, in the early morning, women fi rst do daily household chores, 
such as cooking for the children, making sure that they are ready for school, 
and cleaning the house, before they go off to the fi elds for cultivation. After 
working in the fi eld, women normally get back to their household chores of 
looking after the children, laundry, preparing food for the family, washing 
dishes, etc. 
The history of the organization shows that men have always been sceptical 
about urban agricultural activities, and most of the women did not receive 
support from their husbands when they started. Men joined only after 
the results, in terms of harvest and income from selling produce, were 
demonstrated. But still, participation in cultivation has been largely left to 
women. Despite this obvious gender division of labour, respondents stated 
that there is no specifi c gender division of work, since tilling, planting, 
 CASE STUDY: HARARE, ZIMBABWE 99
Demonstration plot at Musikavanhu Urban Agriculture project in Harare 
By Shingirayi Mushamba
weeding, harvesting, and processing are done by both women and (the few) 
men at work.
However, when it comes to reproductive tasks in the household, the situation 
is quite different. None of the men in the sample could accept doing work in 
the household, which they think of as ’women’s duties’, like cleaning dishes, 
cooking, scrubbing fl oors, cleaning children, doing the laundry, making fi re, 
etc. Only under diffi cult circumstances and in exceptional situations (if the 
wife is away or sick) will men feel free to do ’women’s duties’. However, male 
members do repair damaged property and electrical wiring and other ‘hard’ 
jobs. So of every ten tasks in the household, the male member attended to only 
three, and women shouldered the rest. However, none of those interviewed 
was able to explain how these different duties came about, although some 
pointed out that the Bible endorses such things.
Work in the fi elds takes place twice a day – in the morning and afternoon 
– which means that women are doing it on top of their daily household duties 
in the early morning, at lunchtime, and in the late afternoon and evening.
All interviewees concurred that gender roles are culturally prescribed and 
that it will take a long time to change them. The absence of a clear gender 
policy in the Project and the lack of emphasis on gender issues in the training 
workshops that are organized for farmers by supporting agencies worsen the 
situation. 
100 WOMEN FEEDING CITIES
Access to and control over resources
Access to land
Provided that cash is available for renting and the farmer has the right kinds 
of social relationship (for example, a long-standing relationship and good will, 
involving produce from farming), access to land is not a major constraint for 
either men or women in the peri-urban areas. However, since men dominate 
cash resources in the household and do not give high priority to agriculture, 
it might well be that some women willing to engage in agriculture in practice 
are not able to do so. 
Within the Musikavanhu Project, all members have equal access to plots, 
which are annually allocated. However, due to growth in membership there 
is now a shortage of land and individual plots are getting smaller, while the 
Project is continually searching for new locations. There has been increased 
pressure on land because of the increased demand for agricultural plots, 
resulting in confl icts caused by new members – mainly male – seeking to farm 
on land belonging to women (adapted from Mushamba and Mubvami, 2004). 
The main problem for all members is land tenure, since the land is municipal 
property reserved for other uses.
Access to inputs 
Agricultural inputs such as planting materials and agro-chemicals are normally 
purchased by male and female farmers from the market, although the lower 
fi nancial status of female farmers, compared with their male counterparts, 
may be a problem. Married female farmers’ control over buying inputs is 
restricted by the fact that they have to consult their husbands. As mentioned 
before, many men do not see agriculture as a priority and since they decide 
how much money will be allocated to agriculture and when it will be released, 
it is diffi cult for many married women to buy the required agricultural inputs 
or tools in a timely way. 
The 6.6 per cent of respondents who said that they had no problems in 
securing and controlling their inputs were women with sound fi nancial 
backgrounds, that is to say husbands with a regular income and who are 
supportive of the agricultural activities of their wives. 
Access to credit and investments
Lack of access to credit is a major constraint for most farmers in Musikavanhu, 
and women tend to have more diffi culties in accessing credit than men. 
Recently, the government has started a micro- credit scheme for women as a 
poverty-alleviation strategy.
Investment in fi xed assets for urban agriculture among the interviewed 
farmers was much higher for the 31 men than for the 39 women interviewed, 
while in general the men’s average overall investment in their agricultural 
enterprise was higher than the women’s. 
 CASE STUDY: HARARE, ZIMBABWE 101
Access to family labour
As explained above, farming activities are mainly performed by the women, 
with men generally reluctant to participate. This means that many female 
farmers have to hire labour for heavier tasks such as tilling, clearing, ploughing, 
seedbed preparation, terracing, and the repair of terraces. Also, male-led farms 
employ more family labour, whereas female-led enterprises receive less labour 
from the household. 
Access to information and services
Most of the members (87 per cent) indicated that their access to information 
and services was limited because of poorly developed extension services. 
The access of females to relevant information and services is further limited 
by problems of illiteracy and cultural factors. A large proportion (56.7 per 
cent) of the members has no education at all, or only a few years of primary 
education. This fact is not taken into account by most extension workers, 
who provide information in English (with a lot of jargon), rather than in the 
native language. Many husbands will not allow their wives to attend a training 
programme or meetings that would take them away from home for a whole 
day or more. 
The above factors have prevented women from acquiring relevant skills and 
have inhibited their potential to take on leadership roles in the organization. As 
a consequence, while the level of enthusiasm regarding agricultural activities 
is high among women, their levels of knowledge and skills are relatively low 
(technical skills, organization and management, market information, relevant 
legal and policy issues). However, whenever such skills and information are 
imparted, uptake is very quick (as in the mushroom project, for example).
Impact of external factors on gender in urban agriculture
Generally agricultural yields in Musikavanhu are very low, despite the 
high percentage of the population that is engaged in agriculture. The basic 
constraints for the farmers are the limited access to land, capital, information, 
and support services. Lack of access to urban farmland and insecurity of 
tenure undermine the Musikavanhu Project members’ capacity to make urban 
agriculture more profi table. 
In Musikavanhu the farmers are fully aware that the land is not theirs and 
that the Council can take it away as and when it is needed. Most of the off-
plot land is earmarked for future construction of schools and other urban 
development uses. Lack of secure tenure over the land negatively affects the 
capacity of the farmers to secure support for their farming enterprises. 
Another constraint is the lack of attention to the specifi c needs of female 
farmers (training, input supply, research, etc).
102 WOMEN FEEDING CITIES
Gender perspectives and strategies of the Musikavanhu Project 
The Musikavanhu Project has no deliberate strategy of addressing gender 
issues. The Project leadership believes that because most of its members are 
women, gender concerns are automatically taken care of; and these leaders 
believe that they have done much to cater for women’s needs. For most of 
the members, ‘gender’ means women’s involvement in any form of activity. 
However, a deliberate gender strategy is required in order to ensure gender 
equity in the accessibility to and control over productive resources (land, 
credit, information and training, inputs) and in the distribution of benefi ts, as 
well as in redistribution of household chores, prevention of a ‘double burden’ 
for women, and a modernization of the farming enterprises led by women. 
The following strategies are suggested to be applied by the Musikavanhu 
Project:
• Be aware of disparities of knowledge and preference among its members 
and take these into account when planning training and development 
actions.
• Provide gender-sensitivity training activities for its members, both 
husbands and wives, in order to make them aware of actual gender 
inequalities regarding division of labour, control of income and assets, 
participation in decision making at household and community levels, 
etc., to enhance their knowledge of existing legal rights of men and 
women, and to promote more equal participation of men and women 
in farming and household activities..  
• Organize a centralized administration for easier co-ordination of training 
programmes, keeping records of who got what training, and controlling 
the costs/benefi ts of the services supplied by the Musikavanhu Project.
• Point out and correct gender imbalances in the services provided by 
organizations supporting the Project (inputs supply, extension services, 
distribution of land titles, provision of credit, etc.).
Municipal government can support the Musikavanhu Project in gender 
mainstreaming urban agriculture in the following ways: 
• Creating a conducive legal framework. The creation of a facilitating 
legal framework for urban agriculture that includes gender issues and 
removes the structural hurdles to the development of sustainable 
small-scale farming enterprises. These hurdles include the conditions 
applied by the municipality to temporary use of municipal land by the 
Musikavanhu members, for example not allowing them to establish 
boreholes or any other agricultural infrastructure, obliging them to 
obtain a licence and pay taxes as soon as part of the harvest is sold, 
forbidding livestock keeping, etc. During Operation Murambatsvina 
in 2005, all on-plot activities that were not in accordance with the 
sanctioned plan (including simple irrigation facilities, poultry and 
mushroom sheds, etc.) were demolished by the government. There is 
 CASE STUDY: HARARE, ZIMBABWE 103
a need for national and local government to recognize the role played 
by the urban farmers in mitigating urban food insecurity and the effects 
of the HIV/AIDS pandemic, and their contribution to local economic 
development. The support given by the government to the New Farmers 
through land reforms and AgriBank loans for mechanization needs to be 
extended to female urban farmers, in view of their crucial role in feeding 
so many people and their potential for local economic development. 
Government and public media should stop stigmatizing the urban 
women farmers and openly support them with political recognition and 
material support.
• Raising awareness of gender and urban agriculture. Local government, 
in co-operation with the Ministry of Gender, should organize gender-
sensitivity courses for the members of the Musikavanhu Project and their 
husbands/wives. The municipality could also promote public recognition 
of the important role that the urban farmers play in enhancing local 
food security and income raising; this could be done, for example, by 
means of television and radio programmes. Also the common myths 
about urban agriculture (that the plots are breeding places for malaria 
mosquitoes and hiding places for thieves) could be tackled in this way. 
• Improving land tenure. The government needs to review the existing 
land-tenure system and designate zones for permanent urban agriculture. 
Special attention should be given to giving women farmers not only 
access to land but also the ownership or leasehold of the farm land 
(rather than granting it to their husbands, as is the current practice).
• Stimulating adequate support services. The municipality should lobby 
national government and private organizations (NGOs, enterprises, 
research organizations) to enhance their assistance to female urban 
farmers. The government could stimulate such assistance by co-funding 
NGO programmes that provide training and technical assistance to 
female urban farmers, providing tax incentives for private enterprises 
that provide inputs and equipment on a cost-sharing basis to women 
farmers, making a risk-sharing arrangement with organizations that 
provide cheap credit to female urban farmers, and stimulating the 
provision of irrigation water. 
• Providing protection. Theft of agricultural produce is a major problem 
for poor female urban producers, who cannot protect their fi elds at night 
themselves and cannot afford to pay watchmen. The local government 
could provide more protection until the Musikavanhu farmer groups are 
able to organize effective security services themselves.
• Giving access to free medical support. Most of the members of the 
Musikavanhu Project are providing home-based care for people affected 
by HIV/AIDS, and/or they look after orphans in addition to their farming 
activities. They need access to free medical treatment under the Primary 
Health Care Programme.
104 WOMEN FEEDING CITIES
Conclusion
Women play an important role in feeding more than 50,000 people in poor 
neighbourhoods of Harare, including HIV/AIDS patients and orphans, and 
raising some additional income to sustain their livelihoods. However, they 
receive little support from their husbands in these activities, because working 
on the land to provide food for the family is traditionally considered to be the 
task of women. 
Also government and media do not recognize the important role of women 
urban farmers, who are granted only temporary access to some municipal land, 
under such strict conditions that only traditional rain-fed crop production for 
self-consumption is possible, and the development of more productive and 
income-generating agriculture is blocked.    
In view of these structural constraints, modernization of urban agriculture 
around Harare (for example, by facilitating irrigated year-round vegetable 
production, poultry rearing, mushroom and herbs cultivation) is not taking 
off. To succeed, institutional transformation at all levels, from farmers up to 
government, needs to take place. The self-esteem and leadership capacities of 
the female producers need to be enhanced, and the social movement of which 
they are members needs to be strengthened. The political and public valuation 
of the productive role of the female producers has to change – a process which 
will require a change in attitudes to urban agriculture and to gender relations 
at household and community levels.  
References
Feldstein Sims, H. and Poats, S.V. (1989) Working Together: Gender Analysis in 
Agriculture: Volume 1 (Case Studies) and Volume 2 (Teaching Notes), Kumarian 
Press, Connecticut.
Hovorka, A. J. (1998) Gender Resources for Development Research and Programming 
in Urban Agriculture. Cities Feeding People Series, Report No. 26, IDRC, 
Ottawa, Canada.
Hovorka, A. J. (2006) Gender, commercial urban agriculture and urban food supply 
in Greater Gaborone, Botswana. Available from http://www.idrc.ca/en/ev-
85408-201-1-DO_TOPIC.html, IDRC, Canada.
Mushamba, S. and Mubvami, T. (2004) ‘Mainstreaming gender in urban 
agriculture: A case study on Musivanhu project, Harare, Zimbabwe’, in 
Proceedings of the RUAF–Urban Harvest Workshop ‘Women Feeding Cities: 
Gender Mainstreaming in Urban Food Security and Food Security’, Accra, 
Ghana.
About the author
Percy Toriro is an Urban agriculture and planning specialist for the RUAF Cities 
Farming for the Future Programme, Municipal Development Partnership 
(MDP), Harare, Zimbabwe.
CHAPTER 7
Key gender issues in urban livestock 
keeping and food security in Kisumu, 
Kenya
Zarina Ishani
Abstract
This case study was developed from a scoping study on interactions between gender 
relations and livestock keeping in Kisumu city. The focus of the scoping study was 
the improvement of gender-based division of labour, inequality between males 
and females in terms of power and resources, and gender biases in rights and 
entitlements to increased productivity, remuneration, and development of women 
livestock keepers. The study considered the following gender aspects: control and 
access to resources; roles in decision making; division of labour; knowledge; role of 
external factors; and the benefi ts and risks of livestock keeping in urban and peri-
urban areas of Kisumu. The study showed that patriarchal norms are changing, 
especially in the face of HIV/AIDS. However, women’s autonomy has not increased 
much in relation to decision making and the freedom to make choices. 
Emanating from the study, a multi-stakeholder city forum on food security, 
livestock, and agriculture in Kisumu was established, and farmers’ networks from 
the slum areas were formally set up in Nairobi and Kisumu. They continue to 
function as a major infl uence in enabling and regulating urban and peri-urban 
agriculture. Training activities for livestock keeping were undertaken to enhance 
the knowledge and skills of urban livestock keepers, which succeeded in increasing 
their capabilities and changing attitudes to gender relations.
Introduction
Background
The case study entitled ‘Scoping Study on Interactions Between Gender 
Relations and Livestock Keeping in Kisumu’ was fi rst developed in 2004, based 
on a research project carried out in 2002. The study was implemented by Zarina 
Ishani and Kuria Gathuru of Mazingira Institute, funded by Natural Resources 
International Ltd. under the UK government’s Department for International 
Development (DFID) Livestock Production Programme. 
106 WOMEN FEEDING CITIES
The study was presented at the Women Feeding Cities Workshop organized 
by ETC–RUAF, Urban Harvest, and International Water Management Institute 
(IWMI), held in Accra, Ghana, in September 2004. It was then revised and 
updated in January/February 2008 for inclusion as a chapter in this volume. 
Study area 
The study focused on livestock keeping in six poor areas of the city of Kisumu, 
Kenya. The city is located on the shores of Lake Victoria, which is the second-
largest fresh-water lake in the world. The population of Kisumu is estimated 
to be 535,664 (Republic of Kenya, Ministry of Finance and Planning, 2002a), 
with population densities ranging from 5,771 to 14,484 persons per km2. 
According to the Kenya Population Census (1999), life expectancy at the 
time was 47.2 years for males and 50.7 for females in Kisumu (country average: 
45 years). Total numbers of households were 123,341; of these, 43,169 (41.2 
per cent) were female-headed. The Analytical Report on Gender Dimensions 
shows that 60.9 per cent of females in Nyanza Province had never attended 
school, compared with 39.1 per cent of men. 
Levels of absolute poverty (rural and urban) stood at 53 per cent (Republic 
of Kenya, Ministry of Finance and Planning, 2002b). Contributions to 
household income in 2002 were recorded as follows: agriculture, 75 per cent; 
wage employment, 10 per cent; urban self-employment, 4 per cent; rural self-
employment, 3 per cent. The remainder was classifi ed as ‘Others’. Seventy-
one per cent of the female-headed households were living in owner-occupied 
houses in 1999 in Kisumu, compared with 48 per cent of male-headed 
households (Republic of Kenya, Ministry of Finance and Planning, 2002c). 
Urban livestock practised in the study area
The majority of the 55 households interviewed kept, on average, chickens (11 
per household), goats (six), pigs (fi ve), ducks (four), and cattle (two). Other 
types of livestock kept in small numbers were sheep, turkeys, geese, pigeons, 
guinea fowl, and rabbits.
The most common livestock kept were goats, in both female-headed and 
male-headed households. Goats were numerous because they do not need a 
lot of care and do not present major health problems. The main reason given 
for keeping chickens was that they are affordable and can be slaughtered when 
visitors arrive. Local cattle were kept because they were four times cheaper than 
grade cattle. Sheep and ducks were not common, because the respondents did 
not like sheep or duck meat. Pigs, where found, were many, as they were kept 
for commercial purposes by a limited number of people. Turkeys and geese 
were kept for sale and as ‘guard dogs’. 
Female-headed households kept goats, chickens, ducks, cattle, and sheep 
(in that order). They did not choose to keep pigs, because the women found 
the workload to be heavy and considered pigs to be dirty animals. Other 
 CASE STUDY: FOOD SECURITY IN KISUMU, KENYA 107
A widowed woman showing off the cows she owns in Manyatta, one of the study areas in 
Kisumu
By Zarina Ishani
livestock not kept by female-headed households were turkeys, geese, guinea 
fowl, and pigeons. These were not traditionally preferred livestock; the male-
headed households that kept them were doing so on an experimental basis. 
Methodology of the study 
The objective of the study was to acquire relevant information on the 
interactions between gender relations and livestock keeping in the city of 
Kisumu. Since this study was predominantly a gender study, the focus was not 
on women’s issues but rather on the interactions between men and women. To 
understand and assess the contributions of women and men in development, 
and the impact of development on both, the information gathered examined 
who does what, the levels of resources available for both sexes, and benefi ts 
and deprivations imposed by society on both men and women. 
The study was carried out in six informal settlements in Kisumu city: 
Manyatta, Bandani, Nyawita, Kibos, Nyalenda, and Migosi. Migosi is a low- to 
middle-income community, whereas all the others are low-income areas. The 
purpose of selecting Bandani was that it was the only Muslim settlement and 
it was necessary to obtain the views of women, especially on inheritance and 
access to and control of resources, which would perhaps give a different slant 
on the issue. 
108 WOMEN FEEDING CITIES
A questionnaire was used to gather information from 55 (39 male-headed, 
16 female-headed) households keeping livestock in the urban and peri-urban 
areas of the city of Kisumu. A deliberate selection of female-headed and male-
headed livestock-keeping households was made, which were identifi ed with 
the help of the area Chief. From the list, a random selection of the households 
was done. The data were collected by interviewing male-headed and female-
headed households. In the former, the section of the questionnaire with 
questions on women’s access to, control over, and ownership of land and 
property (including livestock) was separately administered to the wife. 
Focus-group discussions were carried out with 12 Nyalenda men and 12 
Bandani women separately. A male and a female researcher both moderated 
each of the two discussions. In addition 16 key informants, representing 
various sectors, were interviewed. 
The survey was conducted mostly in Kiswahili, as it was found that most of 
the respondents were more comfortable with speaking this language. The data 
collected were of both a quantitative and qualitative nature, with some open-
ended questions also included in the questionnaire. The point of reference 
for the Kisumu survey was the household. For the purposes of this chapter, a 
household unit is defi ned as consisting of ‘a house and the group of people 
who live in it, providing a central place for them to be fed and sheltered’. The 
Kisumu study considered a household as a dynamic institution, with different 
typologies, integrating multiple relationships and partnerships. 
In this study, if there was a polygamous household the husband was 
assumed to be the household head – the reason being that in the Luo culture 
it is customary for the husband to be the decision maker in the family. There 
was one case in which the husband was bedridden. The wife said that she 
was the household head, as she was the main bread earner and also was the 
main decision maker. Where a household had a single woman with or without 
children as minors, it was considered to be a female-headed household. Where 
there were widows with adult married sons and their families living together, 
the researchers asked the family members whom they considered to be the 
household head. In all cases they were informed that the widow was the 
household head. Thus in such cases it was not presumed that the eldest male 
was the household head. 
Limitations of the methodology
The main limitation was inadequate time to carry out an in-depth study. This 
meant that only simple techniques could be used. For instance, it was diffi cult 
to fi nd out the exact number of hours spent by each household member on 
each activity. It was not possible to interview all the female members in an 
extended family, because most of the time they were not at home, and if they 
were in, there was not adequate time to go through a full interview with them. 
The focus-group discussions were fruitful. However, it was felt that it would 
 CASE STUDY: FOOD SECURITY IN KISUMU, KENYA 109
have been better to interview men and women in one group from the same 
area in order to fi nd out the similarities and contrasts in their perceptions.
Gender analysis of the local situation
The case study concentrated on six aspects of gender relations and interactions 
in urban and peri-urban livestock keeping: access to and control over 
resources; decision making; division of tasks; differences in knowledge and 
preferences; the impact of external factors on gender in urban agriculture; and 
the potentials and risks of urban agriculture. 
In terms of age, sex, and marital status of the livestock keepers, more than 
half were over 45 years of age. Close to two thirds of the livestock keepers were 
married, about a fi fth were widows, and more than a tenth were single women. 
Twenty-nine per cent of the respondents were female heads of households. 
Access to and control over resources
The most important factor affecting women’s equal right to own, control, 
and access resources (including property) in Kenya is culture. The dominant 
ethnic group in Kisumu is the Luo, and their customary laws are patrilineal. 
The last-born son inherits the property. Women do not own land or property. 
Upon divorce, or death of the husband, the woman loses all rights to her 
property. Traditionally, a widow is ‘inherited’ by one of her brothers-in-law, 
so that family property is not fragmented and the children are looked after. 
However, these days, this is a thinly veiled excuse for taking over the land and 
property of the woman, which should rightfully be hers. 
Prior to the Kenyan Law of Succession (LSA) Act of 1981, each ethnic group 
had its customs related to inheritance. The goal of the LSA was to unify all 
inheritance laws. But it contains exemptions on inheritance of livestock and 
agricultural lands outside the municipality. These are governed by customary 
law. Fathers are under no obligation to provide for their daughters. Property 
rights are terminated for widows upon remarriage. Thus the statutory law can 
be circumvented, using the Succession Act.
It is useful to distinguish gender relations in the household with regard 
to different types of property: fi nancial property, consumption property, 
and production property. Men in male-headed households own and control 
fi nancial property. Concerning consumption property, of which livestock is 
an instance, men exercise authority on matters to do with large livestock, 
and women have authority on matters concerned with small livestock, such 
as chickens. Men also have a stronger say in practices concerning production 
property. In the case of livestock, which can also be classifi ed as production 
property, the preferences of men prevail on the choice of type of livestock, 
questions of animal health, and the disposal of livestock (whether for 
consumption or for income). 
110 WOMEN FEEDING CITIES
It was found that inequality prevails in gender relations, irrespective of the 
type of property in question. Property, in essence, is a social construct. Social 
relations regulate property, and gender relations make up a part of social 
relations. Ownership can be defi ned as right of possession, that is, who owns 
the livestock, house, land or any other property. ‘Control’ here means the 
power to direct or determine the use of a resource – in this case, livestock. In 
Kisumu, the survey found that control over property was largely determined 
by whoever was the household head. Female heads held absolute control over 
the household property. This was especially true for widows who controlled 
land, houses, and other property, including livestock. 
In female-headed households the women were free of the restraints imposed 
on their counterparts in male-headed households. They exercised their free 
will regarding fi nancial property, consumption property, and production 
property (even when there were adult sons and their families living in the same 
compound). Sometimes the sons were consulted, but not the daughters.
The survey showed that although husbands predominantly own the 
livestock in male-headed households, in more than 10 per cent there was some 
joint ownership with the wives; and also about a tenth of the wives owned 
the livestock. The joint or sole ownership of livestock by wives in male-headed 
households does not mean that women exercise control over this asset, or that 
they have the authority to make decisions, such as disposing of the livestock, 
or any income accruing from livestock keeping. 
Women in male-headed households had ownership and control over 
small livestock only. Even where the woman had bought the livestock, she 
neither owned nor controlled it: in such cases there was joint ownership and 
control.
Gender relations differed in terms of control. Livestock control was mostly 
in the hands of the male in male-headed households where the livestock 
was kept for production and fi nancial reasons. Where the livestock was for 
consumption only, the male had control if there was large livestock involved, 
but their spouses had control in the case of small livestock. 
Likewise in male-headed households, ownership and control over property 
(houses, land) were in the hands of the man. If the woman contributed more 
towards the household income, control was jointly shared. However, income 
earned and contribution to the total household income by the wife and 
children in male-headed households were not the main determining factors 
for ownership and control. Culture played a dominant role. One fi nding was 
that traditions are changing, with market liberalization and urbanization. If 
the Luo culture were to be completely adhered to, no cases of women owning 
property would have been found. Even in the case of widows, the sons would 
have had ownership and control over property. 
In the case of other properties, again gender relations differ, mainly 
according to the prevailing culture. Land and houses are in the man’s name, 
stemming from the cultural traditions of the Luo community. The Kisumu 
study found some deviations from the perceived norms dictated by Luo 
 CASE STUDY: FOOD SECURITY IN KISUMU, KENYA 111
tradition. In male-headed households, access to and control of fi nancial, 
production, and consumption property was usually the prerogative of males, 
but not in all cases. Where there was tangible contribution by the wife, say 
when the wife had bought the livestock, there was joint ownership and joint 
decision making on marketing and husbandry practices.
According to Luo tradition, inheritance of a widow and her property by a 
brother-in-law is part of their culture. The study showed that this was not so 
in all cases. The main reason is the prevalence of HIV/AIDS. The widow did 
in fact have some control over her property. Another result, contrary to other 
fi ndings, was that the widowed daughter-in-law was usually found to be living 
in the same compound as the mother–in-law, instead of being thrown out, in 
accordance with tradition. The cases that we studied showed that the mother-
in-law gave access to some of her livestock to the daughter-in-law, especially 
if there were grandchildren involved. However, further research in this area is 
required. 
In the focus-group discussion with women in Bandani (predominantly 
Muslim), there were indications that norms are changing from patriarchal 
inheritance to the prescriptions of Islamic law. Islamic laws do not discriminate 
against women, and the recent trend is for parents to bequeath land and 
other property to their daughters. However, this could not be established 
conclusively, due to the terms of reference of the scoping study. 
In female-headed households where adult male children live in the same 
compound, according to literature, ownership, access, and control are retained 
by the male children. In our study, it was found that this was not the case. 
Mothers had sole control of and access to the livestock. When it came to 
decision making on any aspect of livestock keeping, the sons were sometimes 
consulted, which shows that trends are changing and female household heads 
are not subservient, as presumed. 
As for inheritance of property by male heirs (sons), the study was not able 
to ascertain categorically that male heirs inherit the property after the death of 
the father. Our cases showed that the widow inherited the property, including 
land, houses, and livestock.
Decision making
There was more collective decision making on husbandry practices in the 
male-headed households than in female-headed households. In the former, 
husband and wife jointly made decisions regarding production and marketing 
of livestock. The wife made all the decisions in the case of small livestock. 
In female-headed households, the woman made all the decisions, even if 
there were adult sons and daughters living with her. Sometimes the sons were 
consulted, but not the daughters.
112 WOMEN FEEDING CITIES
Table 7.1 Decision making on livestock-husbandry practices in male-headed households
 Manyatta Bandani Nyawita Kibos Nyalenda Migosi Total Total%
Self 4 3 1 4 5 4 22 56
Spouse 0 1 0 2 0 1 4 10
Joint 1 1 2 0 6 3 13 33
Son 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Daughter 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Collective decision 0 0 0 1 0 0 1 2
Total number of households 5 5 3 7 11 8 39 100
Table 7.2 Decision making on livestock-husbandry practices in female-headed households
 Manyatta Bandani Nyawita Kibos Nyalenda Migosi Total Total%
Self 4 2 2 2 4 1 15 94
Son 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Daughter 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Collective decision 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 6
Total number of households 5 2 2 2 4 1 16 100
Gender division of labour in the households
In all households, livestock keeping did not require much work. Local animals 
were kept and required little care, and either roamed freely or were taken out 
by hired labourers, who were usually men. The labourers also carried out most 
of the work of tending the animals. In male-headed households, men claimed 
that they shared the work of livestock keeping with their wives, but, when 
interviewed separately, the wives indicated that they themselves did most of 
the work. 
The work that men were involved in was mainly to do with animal health. 
The routine work of animal care was left to the spouses. Children were not 
directly involved in livestock keeping, except for helping with waste disposal 
and egg collection. Girls were rarely involved.
In female-headed households both the mother and son(s) took care of animal 
health; in their absence, the other females in the household were involved. In 
Table 7.3 Gender division of labour in the households
 Husband Son Wife Daughter Labourer Total
Grazing 5 4 1 0 12 22
Getting feed 3 1 2 0 10 16
Purchasing feed 5 1 1 0 7 14
Cleaning 1 1 2 1 15 20
Milking 2 0 0 0 2 4
Treatment 2 1 1 0 16 20
Other 0 0 0 0 4 4
Total number of cases 18 8 7 1 66 100
 CASE STUDY: FOOD SECURITY IN KISUMU, KENYA 113
the female-headed households the women were the ones who were involved 
in marketing of the livestock. The children were not involved, even when they 
were married and living in the compound. In the male-headed households, 
both husband and wife were involved in the marketing of the livestock, but 
the wife could not sell without the authority of the husband.
Products were not sold in large quantities. Fewer than a dozen eggs were 
sold (to neighbours in most cases). Where the production was commercial, the 
eggs were sold in the nearby market places. Milk was sold to neighbours, and 
the volumes sold were small. 
Differences in knowledge and preferences
Knowledge and access to information were not specifi c to any one sex. Both 
men and women seemed to lack the appropriate information or knowledge 
about livestock husbandry practices. They were also not keeping any records 
pertaining to income and expenditure. Women felt that they should be 
getting training in livestock keeping, as they were around the house more 
than the men were. They were particularly interested in learning about basic 
treatments pertaining to animal health. One key fi nding was the need for 
training of the livestock keepers in basic husbandry practices, record keeping, 
environmental care, health – of both animals and humans – and sourcing 
properly formulated inputs for feed, among other matters.
Differences in benefi ts and disadvantages of urban agriculture for men and 
women
Main source of income
The scoping study revealed that the number of male-headed households 
who kept livestock purely for commercial purposes (33 per cent) was greater 
than for female-headed households. Another 33 per cent of the male-headed 
households kept livestock to supplement the family income in case of need, 
while 20 per cent held livestock for both subsistence and sale. The rest kept 
the livestock for consumption purposes during festive occasions or funerals. 
Comparing the main source of income for male- and female-headed 
households, it was noticed that one third of the male-headed households 
depended on livestock, compared with only one eighth of the female-headed 
households. Almost half of the latter depended on rental income, compared 
with one tenth of the former. The reasons could be that the female heads of 
household were mostly elderly and, having been left the property by their 
husbands, could rent the houses out. Their adult children did not seem to take 
much interest in livestock, probably due to the fact that they did not have 
control over it. The male-headed households were comparatively young and 
kept livestock for commercial purposes, as the women in the household were 
responsible for taking care of the livestock. 
114 WOMEN FEEDING CITIES
Human health and environmental pollution
Livestock keeping has certain risks attached to it, due to poor husbandry 
practices, overcrowding in the slum areas, and lack of information and 
knowledge. Limited knowledge and information about environmental 
pollution and especially waste management was a general issue. Waste disposal 
was a major problem. However, the impact of mounds of waste piling up near 
the living quarters and wells could not be assessed. We surmised that this 
environment would have a more negative impact upon women than on men, 
as the women are mostly at home and the land area is small. Further research 
is required. 
Impact of external factors on gender in urban agriculture
Unequal access to opportunities, assets, and the freedom to make decisions 
are the most important determinants of the level of poverty experienced 
by women. The main external factors infl uencing gender relations in urban 
agriculture are the following: traditional patriarchal norms related to land, 
property, and inheritance; the effect of HIV/AIDS; and legal, administrative, 
and regulatory barriers. These not only prevent women from contributing 
fully to the Kenyan economy, but also create an imbalance in the recognition 
of women’s contribution to the agricultural sector, which forms an important 
element of the economy. 
Gender and property
According to Luo custom, male heirs inherit property; but inheritance by male 
heirs was not clear in the urban setting. In the case of Muslim marriages, 
the wife was entitled to one eighth of the property. Considering livestock as 
property, in general 64 per cent of the female-headed households had bought 
the livestock, and 25 per cent had inherited it; 7 per cent was acquired as 
dowry, and 4 per cent was obtained as gifts. 
Inheritance and purchase of livestock played equal roles in the access to 
livestock of female-headed households. This was surprising, because according 
to Luo tradition wives or daughters do not inherit – and yet the females had 
inherited the livestock, mostly from their husbands. There was also one case 
of a single woman who had inherited the livestock from her parents. This 
shows that the norms are changing and that widows do inherit. The daughter-
in-law also had control of the property (the house) if she was widowed and 
living in the same compound as her mother-in-law. No cases of a widowed 
daughter–in-law owning livestock were found. One possible reason could be 
the HIV/AIDS scourge.
In male-headed households, 74 per cent had bought the livestock, and 
only 18 per cent had inherited it. These fi gures also contradict what has been 
commonly assumed about inheritance by male heirs. 
 CASE STUDY: FOOD SECURITY IN KISUMU, KENYA 115
HIV/AIDS
According to a World Bank report (2007),
HIV/AIDS has caused changes in land use, household labour, and fi nancial 
standing because of loss of fi nancial assets, higher cost of living, increased 
burden, particularly to grandparents, and disintegration of family ties. HIV/AIDS 
creates a ‘missing’ generation, distorting inheritance and transmission patterns to 
grandchildren; widows and their children can be vulnerable in terms of potential 
loss of land rights on the death of the male household head, with young widows 
being more vulnerable than old ones; and distress sales of land resulting from 
HIV/AIDS were rare as the value of family land as a safety net is recognised.
For instance, possibly one third of all deaths in Kisumu are AIDS-related, 
mostly those of married sons. Widows were not ‘inherited’, as per traditional 
custom, by brothers-in-law, for fear of spreading the HIV infection. Where 
there was no wife inheritance, there was no property inheritance either. This 
conclusion, however, cannot be generalized, and further research is required. 
In female-headed households, the mother-in-law looked after the daughter-
in-law and any grandchildren. This is contrary to Luo tradition. A widow who 
refuses to be inherited is usually thrown out of the household. But in the cases 
of our interviewees, this did not appear to be the trend. The reason given was: 
‘If I throw out my daughter-in-law, how will my grandchildren survive?’ A 
bigger sample size would make it easier to draw out fi rm conclusions.
Kenyan land and by-laws
Kenya has 75 laws governing land, many of which are obsolete, while others 
confl ict each other, supporting different land regimes within the same area. 
Thus, legal, administrative, and regulatory barriers specifi cally relating to 
insecure land rights limit women from making necessary investments in their 
land. 
At the local authority level, the by-laws of Kisumu do not bar any person 
from keeping livestock in urban and peri-urban areas. However, most of the 
regulations are outdated because they were enacted between 1925 and 1951. 
Livestock keepers are expected to obtain permits for any livestock kept. None 
of the livestock keepers knew of this by-law. By-laws pertaining to the selling 
of milk (Milk and Dairies by-laws of 1951) stipulate that no one shall sell or 
process fresh milk in the municipality of Kisumu, unless such a person obtains 
a licence from the Dairy Board of Kenya (Cap 336, revised 1984). None of 
the farmers adheres to this by-law, with the result that milk is handled in an 
unhygienic manner. 
116 WOMEN FEEDING CITIES
Credit mechanisms
Women’s limited land ownership restricts their access to formal fi nancing 
mechanisms. Only two respondents had taken credit. The others had not, 
for several reasons: fear of defaulting, lack of information about credit 
organizations, high interest rates, and misuse of loans by family members. 
Lending institutions specifi cally aiming to support livestock livelihoods 
were non-existent. However, most of the female respondents were members of 
informal groups that provide local rotating savings and credit systems (‘merry-
go-rounds’), and some men were members of welfare associations. The study 
found that when women contributed to household income, the balance of 
power shifted, as women now had more voice in (joint) decision making. Thus 
if women had the opportunity to increase their incomes by obtaining credit, 
then they would have more access, control, and ownership of livestock. 
Strategies and tools used to incorporate gender in the project cycle
Strategies and tools used to incorporate gender in the diagnosis
From its inception, the study incorporated a gender perspective, with a focus 
on gender division of labour, gender differences in power relations and 
resources, and gender biases in rights and entitlements, with specifi c reference 
to livestock keepers. The household was considered as the starting point for 
the research, with deliberate selection of female-headed households and male-
headed households. The questionnaire contained a section on women’s issues 
which was administered to women only. 
Focus-group discussions were constructed to ensure that there were 
women-only groups and men-only groups, and discussions were moderated 
by the researchers, using open-ended questions. This was deliberate, because 
it was assumed that women might not talk freely in front of their spouses, 
neighbours, or male relatives. The men-only group also was assumed to give 
more candid answers rather than the politically correct replies that they might 
have given in a mixed group. The women-only group was selected from a 
Muslim community, in order to fi nd out whether they had different views on 
property and land compared with non-Muslim women. 
Key-informant interviews were carried out to seek opinions of infl uential 
people in the communities, or those with whom the livestock keepers were 
in constant contact, to discover their gender biases and the extent of their 
knowledge. 
Strategies and tools used to incorporate gender in policy infl uencing
Regional policy-oriented workshop
The scoping studies were followed by a workshop on ’Urban Livestock for 
Improved Livelihoods in sub-Saharan Africa’ in March 2003. Cities represented 
 CASE STUDY: FOOD SECURITY IN KISUMU, KENYA 117
were Nairobi, Kisumu, Addis Ababa, Kampala, and Dar es Salaam. Municipal 
and national government representatives, farmers and livestock keepers, civic 
and community organizations, international bodies, and donors participated 
in the workshop. The fi ndings of the scoping studies, not only the Kisumu 
study but also others from the Eastern African region, were discussed. The 
studies show that while the urban poor rely considerably on urban agriculture 
and livestock, there is a dearth of access to knowledge and information related 
to urban agriculture and livestock. The workshop led to the establishment of 
City Focal Points in each of the participating cities. For each city, a Focal Point 
was formed. Mazingira Institute was selected as the Focal Point for Nairobi to 
develop the City Forum. 
Establishment of a City Forum on Urban Food Security, Agriculture and 
Livestock
The ‘Nairobi and Environs Food Security, Agriculture and Livestock Forum’ 
(NEFSALF) was established in 2004 by Mazingira Institute. In Kisumu, the 
same multi-sectoral model was applied. Its strategy focuses on the desirable, 
acceptable, and feasible interactions among the community, government, 
and market sectors. This interaction is to enable and regulate agriculture and 
livestock-keeping practices employed by the urban poor to improve their well-
being and earn a living. The Forum envisions creating a better way to enhance 
food security and sustainability of the many, rather than the few, in Nairobi 
and its environs, through urban crop production and livestock keeping. 
Three meetings of the Forum are held annually. In the meetings policy 
issues identifi ed in the scoping study have been discussed regularly, as a 
means to facilitate discussion of the main problems encountered in urban and 
peri-urban agriculture and livestock keeping, and to stimulate refl ection and 
dialogue among the various stakeholders on possible measures to improve the 
actual situation. 
NEFSALF organized a series of training activities, where 198 farmers, 92 of 
them women, have been trained in record keeping and gross-margin analysis; 
crop husbandry; livestock husbandry; group dynamics; and the production of 
organic fertilizer from waste. The criteria for selecting trainees include gender, 
type of urban farming activity being practised, location of activity, age, and 
languages spoken. Gender balance is a key concern in the training courses, 
as is maintaining a diverse range of participants, determined by age, type of 
farming, and location. Pre-training visits were made to the trainees’ sites to 
ascertain what activities are going on, and post-training visits are made for 
assessment purposes. The courses were conducted in the form of lectures, site 
visits, and on-site demonstrations. 
The courses have not only helped to improve the capabilities of the trainees 
in urban livestock keeping and agriculture but have also enhanced their 
understanding of gender roles and the importance of involving women in 
decision making. The committee of one group adapted rules to refl ect gender 
118 WOMEN FEEDING CITIES
equity and now has representatives of youth, women, and men. Other groups 
made considerable changes in the group composition, governance, and group 
activities. Some groups formed sub-sections to address the emerging need to 
keep dairy goats. 
In terms of decision making and sharing of responsibilities, changes took 
place. For example, men now consult their spouses, and the women are given 
more control over livestock and access to bigger livestock, which previously 
was the domain of men. Men are now taking on responsibilities which 
traditionally they never used to undertake, such as marketing of livestock and 
livestock products. 
The participants achieved a measure of self-esteem and confi dence which 
did not exist before. They are now willing to approach research institutions, 
seek assistance from the government for veterinary services, and have a voice; 
and they are branching out into other urban agriculture-related activities 
such as production of yoghurt and compost making. The incomes of the 
farmers have increased, and they are reaching out to others to disseminate the 
information and knowledge gained through the Forum. 
The courses have made the women more knowledgeable, not only about 
the opportunities that exist but also about the advantages of knowing their 
rights. Through the resulting networking they have been able to form groups 
to share their experiences and be proactive. The consequence of all this is 
that women have been given more choices; they are not as dependent on 
their spouses as before and have more freedom to do what they want with the 
income that they earn. Some women have bought land and/or livestock to 
increase their incomes. 
Conclusions and recommendations
The scoping study showed that in some respects there is gender disparity, 
but it also demonstrated that norms are changing, particularly in relation to 
property rights and inheritance in the face of challenges posed by the HIV/
AIDS pandemic. Knowledge and information are crucial for people living in 
informal settlements if they are to increase their well-being and gain a sense 
of dignity. The scoping study gave rise to a number of ideas which are being 
implemented by the Institute in collaboration with local stakeholders. 
To enable and regulate urban and peri-urban livestock keeping, it is 
important to use a multi-stakeholder approach. Working with multi-
stakeholders, however, is not an easy task. Links have to be made, and patience 
and persistence are required. The regime change in Kenya in 2002 opened new 
avenues for interaction with the government. However, the resources at the 
government’s disposal are not adequate to enable it to reach out to all the 
communities. Both central and local government offi cials are willing to help, 
provided that adequate facilitation exists.
The Kisumu Forum has functioned well so far, but some challenges remain 
if sustainability is to be assured; a shortage of resources is one of them. The 
 CASE STUDY: FOOD SECURITY IN KISUMU, KENYA 119
response from the market sector and the local authorities has not been as 
expected, although those who have been attending the Forums have found the 
interactions with the farmers very useful. Both women and men have become 
very creative after attending the forums, and they are more concerned about 
animal and human health than before. Women in particular have become 
the ‘push’ factors for change, and they now take the lead in the household to 
ensure that these changes do take place. 
Suggested strategies to be applied in local policies and development projects 
on urban livestock and agriculture
• Mainstreaming of gender equity in the goal(s), objectives, activities, and 
outputs that a project aims to achieve is essential, in order to ensure 
that costs and benefi ts of an urban agriculture or livestock project, 
both economic and social, are distributed equitably among men and 
women.
• Gender equity, however, cannot be achieved at the project level if 
there is disparity in policies benefi ting one sex and not the other. All 
policies, at the local level and at the central government level, have to be 
formulated in a gender-sensitive manner. Issues such as inheritance and 
succession, especially for women, should be of paramount importance 
in order for the whole household to benefi t.
To ensure equitable division of labour and responsibilities in urban 
livestock 
• Through better knowledge of husbandry practices, women’s burden 
would diminish, leading to a higher standard of living and better mental 
and physical health. Mindsets of both women and men need to change, 
and this can be achieved through education, training, and networking 
not only on practices in livestock keeping but also on human rights. 
• There is a need to establish the cost-and-benefi t differentials existing 
between men and women; and the cost of women’s reproductive and 
productive labour vis à vis that of men has to be taken into account 
at the household level and then at the national level. Currently, the 
contribution of urban agriculture to the overall Kenyan economy 
(GNP) has not been incorporated in the ‘Strategy for Revitalisation of 
Agriculture (2004–2014)’. Urban and peri-urban agriculture needs to 
be recognized as a sector in the economy. All data accumulated for 
this purpose should be disaggregated by gender, so as to assist in the 
formulation and implementation of gender-responsive policies in urban 
agriculture.
120 WOMEN FEEDING CITIES
To ensure equitable access to and control over productive resources
• All policies pertaining to customs, practices, and confl icting laws on 
inheritance and succession need to be revised. There should be specifi c 
laws allowing acquisition, access, and ownership of land and property 
(including livestock) by HIV/AIDS widows/widowers and orphans. 
Appropriate legal measures should be put in place to ensure co-ownership 
of land by spouses, so that men and women have equal rights, before, 
during, and after marriage. Matrimonial property should comprise all 
properties acquired, developed, and invested, including livestock. 
• Access to justice should be made affordable, less time-consuming, and 
geographically accessible. Para-legal training and family courts could 
cut down on time and costs. When larger disputes pertaining to land 
and property are resolved amicably, urban agriculture will automatically 
benefi t. 
• Training for judges, magistrates, chiefs, and police in women’s rights, 
including property rights, should be provided on a regular basis to 
ensure equity in decisions relating to land and property. 
Improving women’s access to fi nance for enhanced decision-making in 
households
• Women’s access to fi nance for micro, small, and medium enterprises is 
negligible. According to a World Bank report (2007), women receive less 
than 10 per cent of the available credit. In terms of urban agriculture, 
including livestock keeping, no specifi c fi nance companies (public 
or private) exist. The government should encourage the provision of 
fi nancing for women through local fi nancial institutions, specifi cally 
for urban agriculture, and this may consequently improve women’s 
decision-making power in households. 
To enable both men and women to acquire relevant knowledge 
• All stakeholders should work together to bring about a change in 
livestock-husbandry practices so that farmers acquire relevant knowledge 
to mitigate any potential health hazards, thus reducing confl ict between 
the authorities and farmers. 
• Knowledge of one’s rights, particularly relating to land and property, 
should form part of the education and training offered to farmers. 
To ensure equality in power relations 
• Change in power relations can come about only if the fi rst three 
objectives are successfully achieved. Attitudinal changes which render 
 CASE STUDY: FOOD SECURITY IN KISUMU, KENYA 121
harmful and discriminatory cultural practices obsolete are slow to take 
root. 
• Involving all members of the family in decision making and record 
keeping, particularly adult children, would ensure women’s active 
participation in decision making.
• No strategy employed in isolation can be successful: all dimensions of 
gender inequality must be addressed. The government should include 
all affected stakeholders in its policy-making processes, to ensure that 
the policy products are favourable to both men and women.
References
Ishani, Z., Gathuru, K., and Lamba, D. (2002) ‘Scoping Study on Interactions 
between Gender Relations and Livestock Keeping in Kisumu’, unpublished 
report prepared for Natural Resources International Ltd.
Republic of Kenya, Central Bureau of Statistics, Ministry of Finance and 
Planning (2002a) Kisumu District Development Plan, 2002–2008, Government 
Printer, Kenya.
Republic of Kenya, Central Bureau of Statistics, Ministry of Finance and 
Planning (2002b) Kenya Population and Housing Census. Analytical Report 
on Housing Conditions and Household Amenities. Volume X, Government 
Printer, Kenya.
Republic of Kenya, Central Bureau of Statistics, Ministry of Finance and 
Planning (2002c) Kenya Population and Housing Census. Kenya Analytical 
Report on Gender Dimensions. Volume XI, Government Printer, Kenya.
The World Bank (2007) Gender and Economic Growth in Kenya, World Bank, 
Washington.
About the author
Zarina Ishani is Programme Offi cer for the Mazingira Institute, Kenya.

CHAPTER 8
Urban agriculture, poverty alleviation, and 
gender in Villa María del Triunfo, Peru
Noemí Soto, Gunther Merzthal, Maribel Ordoñez  
and Milagros Touzet
Abstract
This chapter describes gender mainstreaming in the multi-stakeholder action-
planning process (MPAP) in the district of Villa María del Triunfo, which began 
in 2005. It refl ects the inclusion of a gender perspective in every stage of the 
process developed, and the project’s contribution to promoting gender equity in 
urban agriculture.
The multi-stakeholder action-planning process was conceived in the city as a 
dynamic process of local development, planning, and implementation of public 
policies and strategic actions in urban agriculture, strengthening the capacities 
of local stakeholders. This process developed participatory methodologies and 
inclusive strategies which contribute to reducing inequalities and inequities affecting 
women. Urban agriculture represents an opportunity for productive activities for 
women and a decisive contribution to food security for their families.
As part of the process, an Urban Agriculture Forum was created in the city, 
providing a space for dialogue with local stakeholders concerning the planning 
and implementation of public policies and strategic actions related to urban 
agriculture. The Forum has formulated a Strategic Agenda 2007–2011 for urban 
agriculture. As a result, 570 urban farmers are organized and registered in the 
Urban Producers Network, and 86.5 per cent of this group are women.
The main references used in preparation of this chapter were the case study 
‘Urban Agriculture and Gender in Villa María del Triunfo’, conducted in 2004, and 
an update conducted in 2008. In both cases we used participatory methodologies 
which make visible the division of labour in urban agriculture, as well as access 
to and control over resources and decision making.
Introduction
The information presented in this case study is based on the results of a 
participatory analysis of urban agriculture and gender undertaken in 2005 in 
co-operation between the Municipality of María del Triunfo and the RUAF–
124 WOMEN FEEDING CITIES
Cities Farming for the Future (regionally co-ordinated by IPES – Promocion 
para el Desarrollo). In 2007 this diagnosis was upgraded by a special study of 
gender and urban agriculture in Villa María del Triunfo. 
Villa María: the local context
Villa María del Triunfo is one of the 43 municipalities that make up the city of 
Lima. It forms part of the poverty belt that surrounds the city, which is located 
in the desert area of the central Peruvian coast where it hardly ever rains (but 
the air is humid, which regularly creates fog and a monthly precipitation 
ranging between 5 and 30 mm). A major feature of the city is its rugged 
geography, with hills ranging from 200 to 1,000 m above sea level and slopes 
ranging between 7 and 43 degrees, creating harsh living conditions for much 
of the population. 
Villa María has over 350,000 inhabitants, of whom 75 per cent are under 
39 years of age. Of its population, 57.3 per cent live in poverty, and 22.2 
per cent in extreme poverty. Chronic malnutrition affects 23 per cent of 
children under the age of eight, and 25 of every 1,000 inhabitants suffer 
from tuberculosis. The offi cial unemployment rate is about 8 per cent (but it 
should be noted that the offi cial statistics consider persons engaged in street 
vending as employed, although this is a precarious and unstable activity). 
Of the employed population, 77 per cent are involved in commerce (formal 
and informal), 5 per cent in industrial activities, and 18 per cent in services 
(DESCO et al., 2005).
Villa María is divided into seven consolidated zones which include in total 
292 neighbourhoods and settlements, 60 of which are informal and without 
any basic sanitary facilities. One of the main characteristics of Villa María is 
that it is a city under constant construction. At present it has over 73,500 
houses, most of which are made of durable materials (bricks and cement) and 
24 per cent of other materials (cardboard, wood, stone). 
The response of the municipal government to the poverty and precarious 
livelihoods in the city is limited by its scarce resources: municipal revenue 
totals US$6.6 million ($27 per capita), of which the largest part must be spent 
in accordance with national government policy. 
Urban agriculture in Villa María del Triunfo
In Villa María del Triunfo, urban agriculture is understood as the agricultural 
activities (crops and livestock production, production of inputs, and 
processing and marketing of products) in the intra- and peri-urban areas of 
the municipality which make use of local resources (labour, land, water, solid 
and liquid wastes, etc.) in order to generate food products for household 
consumption as well as for sale in the market. 
In Villa María many resource-poor urban households are involved in some 
kind of urban agriculture. The total number of such households is unknown, 
 CASE STUDY: VILLA MARIA DEL TRIUNFO, PERU 125
but 570 have joined the recently established Urban Producers Network. 
Agricultural activities are conducted in family gardens, gardens belonging to 
community kitchens, community gardens, and school gardens. These gardens 
may be located on any of the following types of land:
• Private land: backyards and vacant private plots (often partially 
developed and abandoned).
• Communal areas: areas that have been recognized or earmarked by the 
municipality as communal land for use as green or sports areas.
• Public land: land owned by the municipality that is made available 
for the development of community gardens and soup-kitchen gardens. 
This includes land where construction is restricted, such as land lying 
beneath high-voltage power lines and along main roads. 
• Institutional land: land owned by institutions that may be used by the 
institutions for their own gardens to generate income or food for their 
staff, or for educational purposes (school gardens) or land that is made 
available to the community for gardening (community gardens). 
A mapping exercise identifi ed the availability in Villa María del Triunfo of 
about 175.4 acres of vacant land with some potential for urban agriculture.
The activities of the urban producers in Villa María include the following: 
• Local production of inputs for urban agriculture. Animal wastes 
(manure from chickens, guinea pigs, and other small animals) along 
with vegetable wastes are composted locally and reused in the gardens. 
No chemical inputs are used. The municipality has a greenhouse for the 
production of seed and seedlings, but its production is not suffi cient to 
meet the local demand. 
• Agricultural production. About 83 per cent of the urban farmers 
produce vegetables, 45 per cent fruits, 31 per cent aromatic plants, 18 
per cent ornamental plants, and 3 per cent fodder. About 52 per cent of 
the urban farmers raise animals, especially smaller animals (chickens, 
hens, ducks, quails, turkeys, etc.). 
• Processing and marketing the produce. About 20 per cent of the 
farmers occasionally process their products, for the most part producing 
jellies, juices, cakes, and other items. 
• Commercialization of the produce. About 20 per cent of the farmers 
sell some of their production, for the most part locally, either fresh or 
processed.
Characteristics of the urban producers in Villa María del Triunfo1 
The Urban Producers Network of Villa María del Triunfo has registered 
570 families as members. Of the 2,850 persons involved, 86 per cent are 
women. Only 17 per cent of the families engaged in urban agriculture have 
a household income above the minimum wage ($152 per month), meaning 
126 WOMEN FEEDING CITIES
that 83 per cent of the families engaged in urban farming in Villa María have 
an income per person equal to or less than $1 per day. The female-headed 
families have lower incomes than the families led by men. For these poor and 
female-headed households, urban agriculture is an opportunity to enhance 
the family’s food security, to save on food expenditures, and, for a minority, 
to generate an additional income. Most of the women in Villa María used 
to dedicate their time mainly to domestic activities and participation in the 
comedores populares (government-subsidized community kitchens). They were 
involved only sporadically in income-raising activities such as selling hand-
produced dresses and ornaments.
Of the farming households, 49 per cent do not have access to water and 
drainage services, while 23 per cent do not have electricity.
The case-study update in 2008 showed that most of the members of the 
Urban Producers Network (and especially the women) are also members of 
other programmes; for example, 72 per cent of the members participate in the 
‘Vaso de Leche’ programme2 (a government-sponsored feeding programme for 
children under 13 years and elderly people); and 44 per cent participate in the 
‘Comedores Populares’ programme and, to a lesser degree, in the Association 
of parents in schools. 
The above indicates both the great need of these households, and the 
culturally determined distribution of tasks within them. Women’s membership 
of the programmes mentioned can be understood as an extension of the 
reproductive tasks that are mainly seen as a woman’s duty, whereas men 
participate more than the women in neighbourhood organizations that 
address issues of housing, services, and infrastructure.
Eleven per cent of the members, all of them women, have never received 
any kind of formal education, and 31 per cent of the female producers have 
100
90
80
70
60 Men
50
40 Women
30
20
10
0
Figure 8.1 Crop cultivation by male and female producers
Perrcentages
 CASE STUDY: VILLA MARIA DEL TRIUNFO, PERU 127
only elementary education, compared with 15 per cent of men; women are 
also under-represented among those who have been educated beyond the 
elementary stage. This clearly indicates unequal access to education for men 
and women.
Most of the female urban farmers are between 30 and 50 years old, while 
most of the men are more than 40 years old, with a notable proportion who 
are more than 60 years old. This is probably due to the fact that younger men 
tend to dedicate themselves to other work outside the home.
Most of the urban farmers are married or cohabiting3 (77 per cent of the men 
and 76 per cent of the women). While most single men do not have children, 
most of the single women are head of a household (over 13 per cent). 
Only 18 per cent of the urban producers in Villa María were born in 
Lima; the rest were born in other provinces of the country, mainly in the 
highlands (85 per cent of the men and 64 per cent of the women), indicating 
the strong migration wave that reached Villa María and the city of Lima three 
decades ago in response to the marginalization and exclusion that affected 
the country’s provinces at that time. In addition, Peru suffered from nearly 20 
years of terrorist violence that had its focus in the country’s interior, leaving 
69,000 people dead, mostly Quechua-speakers in the mountains and forests 
in the centre and south.
The development of Villa María’s policy on urban agriculture 
The local government of Villa María began to support the development of urban 
agriculture in 2001. Before that date, urban agriculture was largely invisible; 
no data on such activities were available, and no regulatory framework or 
public policies regarding urban agriculture were in place. In 2002 the local 
government created the ‘Municipal Programme on Urban Agriculture’, and in 
2004 the programme became a sub-unit of the Economic Development Unit.
Due to the lack of information on urban agricultural producers, the initial 
supporting activities organized by the municipality were not conceived of in 
a strategic way, and they responded insuffi ciently to the priority issues of the 
different categories of urban producer; as a result, the activities had limited 
impacts. Moreover, severe restrictions in fi nancial and human resources limited 
efforts to meet the needs of the urban farmers. Several local organizations had 
initiated projects in Villa María’s neighbourhoods, but without co-ordination 
among themselves or with the municipality. Some of these initiatives were 
unsustainable and/or had low impacts.
In 2005 the local authorities of Villa María, supported by the RUAF–Cities 
Farming for the Future Programme (RUAF–CFF), initiated a process to enhance 
the effectiveness and sustainability of the efforts to promote urban agriculture, 
and to optimize the use of the scarce human and fi nancial resources of the 
municipality and of other local actors involved. The objective of this process 
was the participatory formulation and implementation of a strategic action 
plan for urban agriculture. 
128 WOMEN FEEDING CITIES
A multi-stakeholder platform on urban agriculture was established (City 
Forum on Urban Agriculture), including 21 organizations and institutions 
(the municipality, NGOs, community-based organizations, universities, 
representatives of the urban producers, etc.). The main objective of the Forum 
is to promote urban agriculture at the city level and to co-ordinate the related 
development activities undertaken by its members. The Forum, with the 
help of RUAF–CFF, elaborated a ‘Strategic Action Plan’ for the development 
of urban agriculture in Villa María. The plan contains the city’s vision for 
urban agriculture and its expected contributions to the realization of the City 
Development Plan, the principles and strategic objectives for the promotion 
and consolidation of urban agriculture in the city, and the main actions / 
projects to realize these objectives. This plan concretizes the City Policy on 
Urban Agriculture and forms the main instrument for its implementation.
In August 2007, the plan was approved by the municipality, together 
with Ordinance No. 021-2007/MVMT, which recognizes urban agriculture 
as an ongoing and legitimate activity in the city and defi nes the principles 
and strategic objectives of its promotion (social inclusion and participation, 
the promotion of equity, justice, and solidarity, and conservation of natural 
resources). When the City Development Plan of Villa María was updated in 
2007, urban agriculture was included as one of the four priorities for action in 
the fi eld of economic development.
Also a Network of Urban Producers was established which integrates 570 
households involved in urban agriculture. The Urban Producers Network is 
now representing the urban producers’ interests in the City Forum.
After the elections in January 2007, the new municipal authorities 
endorsed their commitment to the realization of the Strategic Agenda on 
Urban Agriculture and maintained the Urban Agriculture Sub-Unit in the 
municipality, indicating the importance that the urban agriculture movement 
has gained in Villa María in the past few years, 
The integration of gender in the multi-stakeholder action-planning 
process
The multi-stakeholder action-planning process was developed in the city 
of Villa María del Triunfo from August 2005 to December 2007. The main 
objective of the process was the formulation and implementation of an 
inclusive and equitable public policy and a strategic action plan to strengthen 
urban agriculture in the city, with the active participation of all stakeholders. 
The following actions were taken to ensure that the policy and action plan 
would be inclusive and equitable.
In the preparatory phase
During selection of the members of the Local Co-ordination Team (LCT), 
which would facilitate the planning process, the gender sensitivity of the 
 CASE STUDY: VILLA MARIA DEL TRIUNFO, PERU 129
candidates was taken into account as well as the representation of women. 
The LCT includes four representatives of local government departments and 
two professional staff of IPES, together forming a gender-balanced team of 
three women and three men. Two women assumed responsibility for the day-
to-day co-ordination of the LCT (one from the municipality and one from 
IPES). In this way, attention to gender issues throughout the process and the 
active participation of women in decision making were ensured.
The gender sensitivity of the staff who would play a role in the diagnostic 
phase was enhanced by giving proper attention to gender issues in urban 
agriculture during the training course on urban agriculture and multi-
stakeholder planning that was organized by IPES/RUAF–CFF. During the 
training the conceptual framework for the multi-stakeholder action planning 
(with a clear ’gender and development’ focus) and the integration of gender 
in each phase of the planning process were discussed and adopted by all 
involved. Also during this training, the capacity of the staff to work with 
gender-sensitive diagnostic methodologies and tools was enhanced. 
In the diagnostic stage
The participatory diagnosis of the existing situation of urban agriculture in 
Villa María del Triunfo was undertaken with a clear gender perspective and 
the application of participatory and gender-sensitive methodologies and 
tools.
During the stakeholder analysis, an inventory was taken of the main 
stakeholders in urban agriculture and their actual and potential roles in 
promoting urban agriculture. Attention was given to the gender sensitivity 
of these organizations and the extent to which they represent the interests 
of women – and how they do so. It became clear that there are important 
differences in the organizational linkages maintained by men and women and 
in the services offered by these organizations to women and men respectively. 
This was taken into account when selecting organizations to be invited to 
participate in the action-planning process.
In the analysis of the actual urban production systems, participatory tools 
were applied, to ensure that (a) men and women could independently voice 
their specifi c problems and interests; (b) the data collected were gender-
disaggregated; and (c) insight was developed into the local gender division 
of labour, access to resources, roles of men and women in decision making at 
household and community levels, etc. This also enabled men and women to 
recognize the existing inequities in the distribution of benefi ts and access to 
decision making, as well as the differences in the daily workload of men and 
women in urban agriculture. It made them aware of the low value accorded 
to domestic work.
The gender-specifi c analysis of problems encountered and their perspectives 
on the development of urban agriculture in homogeneous groups of men and 
women resulted in the identifi cation of gender-specifi c problems, interests, 
130 WOMEN FEEDING CITIES
Women producers analysing access to and control over resources in Villa María del Triunfo
By IPES
and priorities, next to others that were common for both groups. Such gender-
specifi c differences referred to aspects of production as well as to processing 
and marketing.
During the mapping of available open spaces (the participatory identifi cation 
of areas in the city that are vacant and have potential for urban agriculture) 
attention was given to the gender dimension. This allowed recognition of 
differences in men’s and women’s knowledge about their surroundings, with 
women displaying less knowledge than men.
The review of actual policies, norms, and regulations related to urban 
agriculture included gender as one of the six elements of the analysis, trying 
to identify differential impacts of the actual legal framework for men and 
women.
In the planning stage
This phase of the multi-stakeholder process had two stages: 
a. The establishment and strengthening of the Villa María Multi-stakeholder 
Platform on Urban Agriculture, constituting an independent forum in 
 CASE STUDY: VILLA MARIA DEL TRIUNFO, PERU 131
which the problems and proposed solutions to various issues related 
to urban agriculture in Villa María are discussed between the various 
stakeholders, and developed actions are co-ordinated.
b. The formulation of a Policy and Strategic Action Plan on Urban 
Agriculture.
When establishing the multi-stakeholder platform, gender was taken into 
account in the following ways.
• Including in the Forum organizations that are more gender-sensitive 
and involve women. 
• Including in the constitution of the Forum the statement that it is 
‘inclusive and equitable, because it seeks to involve all stakeholders, 
without exclusion or discrimination of any kind, with a focus on equity 
and gender perspective’.
• Ensuring a gender balance in the committee that co-ordinates the Forum 
and in the working committees that were formed to elaborate various 
components of the Action Plan.
• Enhancing the gender sensitivity of the members of these committees 
by giving training in participatory and gender-sensitive action planning, 
social inclusion, and gender equity.
• Assisting the urban producers (a large proportion of whom are women) 
to organize themselves to be better able to present their interests in 
the Forum and its working committees. During the diagnosis phase 
the urban producers were contacted and workshops were conducted 
to support them in electing their leaders (fi ve women and two men) 
and in defi ning the objectives and operating principles of the Network, 
including ‘to develop urban agriculture with equal opportunities for 
men and women’ and ‘to promote equitable relationships between men 
and women’. During these workshops the farmers' representatives for 
the Forum were selected, and these subsequently received training in 
gender-equity issues and citizen participation, among other topics. 
When formulating the Strategic Agenda, the integration of gender was 
facilitated as follows.
• Building a collective vision of the desired development of urban agriculture 
in Villa María del Triunfo, including a clear gender perspective as one of 
the fi ve principles of the Strategic Agenda on Urban Agriculture. This 
principle has to be taken into account when planning specifi c projects 
and actions, and each project plan should clarify how it will benefi t men 
and women. 
• Selecting appropriate meeting places and times, providing child-care 
facilities, devising working methods that encourage women to speak in 
public, and adopting gender-inclusive language which does not reaffi rm 
conventional stereotypes.
132 WOMEN FEEDING CITIES
• Presenting the main results of the diagnosis in a gender-specifi c way 
to the working committees to encourage them to develop policies and 
actions that take into account women’s specifi c needs and interests and 
contribute to achieving inclusion and equity in the local society
The formulation of the plan was worked out by the members of the Forum 
on Urban Agriculture in about three months, resulting in a Strategic Agenda, 
with six strategic objectives, each with a number of priority actions and 
projects and a set of success indicators, including the differential impacts of 
the implementation of the Strategic Agenda on men and women. 
The effects of the MPAP process on gender and urban agriculture in 
Villa María del Triunfo
In 2008 a study was undertaken to improve understanding of the changes 
brought about by the participatory and gender-sensitive planning process in 
Villa María del Triunfo described above: to what extent have changes occurred 
in the gender-differentiated division of labour, in access to and control over 
resources, and in participation in decision-making? And have the views of 
male and female urban agriculture producers changed since 2004?
The study team consisted of one representative of the Municipal 
Agricultural Unit, three representatives of IPES, seven representatives of the 
Urban Agriculture Network (fi ve women and two men; one from each of the 
seven zones of Villa María), and three support staff (students from the area). 
Techniques and tools were selected in direct relation to the main issues 
indicated in the objective of the study: the gender differentiation in the 
division of labour, access and decision making, mobility, views, knowledge, 
interests, preferences, and needs, as well as the infl uence of external factors 
(age, education level, place of origin, family composition, economic level, 
community participation). Some of these techniques were applied during 
individual semi-structured interviews (for example, gender differentiation in 
division of labour, access to resources, and decision making), while others 
were applied during a workshop (for example, gender-differentiated views on 
key problems and opportunities in urban agriculture). 
As in 2004, 20 per cent of the members of the Urban Producers Network 
were included in the survey. The following criteria were taken into account 
when selecting the respondents: 
• distribution of the network members over the seven formal zones of the 
municipality and the various neighbourhoods and settlements within 
these zones;
• distribution by sex;
• distribution by type of garden (family gardens, community gardens, and 
institutional gardens).
 CASE STUDY: VILLA MARIA DEL TRIUNFO, PERU 133
This resulted in a sample of 114 persons, of whom 86 per cent were women 
and 14 per cent men. Fifty per cent of the respondents are home gardeners, 44 
per cent are involved in community gardens, and 6 per cent are participating 
in institutional gardens.
The interviews were performed by the students, who were trained 
beforehand. One member of the Urban Producers Network accompanied the 
students during the interviews in each zone. The interviews were performed 
in a simple and easy language.
The workshop was organized in co-ordination with the Urban Producers 
Network and convened by their zonal co-ordinators. The workshop was 
attended by 22 people, of whom 17 were women and fi ve men. The president 
of the Urban Producers Network gave the introduction, and one of the 
facilitators presented the objectives and the agenda of the workshop. In order 
to achieve information disaggregated by gender, the discussions were held in 
homogeneous groups (two composed of women and one of men).
Division of work in the farming households 
The overall picture in 2008 is that male and female producers in general 
perform similar activities/roles, with men tending to engage more in raising 
animals and processing the products, and especially the commercialization 
of the products. However, women also show an increasing interest in these 
activities, are already strongly involved in the selection and packaging of crops 
to be sold (since they know the criteria of the mainly female buyers better), 
and ask for more training in these fi elds.
In comparison with the situation before the start of MPAP process, one can 
observe that the following shifts have taken place in the division of labour 
in urban agriculture. In 2004, 83 per cent of the female farmers performed 
activities on their own, and only 10 per cent of them were supported by their 
husbands and 7 per cent by their sons or daughters. Now the situation has 
considerably changed. Currently, only 29 per cent receive no support in their 
urban agriculture activities; 40 per cent are assisted by their husbands and 31 
per cent by their sons and daughters, which indicates an increase in family 
commitment to urban agriculture.
Agricultural production 
In general, in crop-production activities men and women perform the same 
tasks, with a slightly stronger tendency for the women to predominate in 
the harvesting of the vegetables. Both male and female producers tend to 
produce a diversity of crops, with the main emphasis on vegetables. However, 
we notice that male producers are more active in the production of aromatic 
plants than the female producers. On average the male producers spend 10 
hours per week on urban agriculture activities, compared with the female 
producers’ average of eight hours. This difference is explained by the extra 
134 WOMEN FEEDING CITIES
demands of women’s reproductive role in the family. It is interesting to note 
that male producers receive ample support from their sons in crop-production 
activities, and to a lesser extent from their daughters, while female producers 
are mainly supported by their daughters. 
Livestock keeping
The raising of animals is mostly done at home, and most animal-husbandry 
activities are done by both men and women, with women slightly more 
involved in providing water to the animals, most probably since the women 
are more often at home. Male producers are slightly more likely to undertake 
the rearing of animals (77 compared with 64 per cent). Both men and women 
prioritize raising poultry (54 per cent of males and 52 per cent of females), 
while guinea pigs are kept more by men (54 per cent of the men) than by 
women (21 per cent of the women). Ducks are raised by 23 per cent of the men 
and 16 per cent of the women, and rabbits are raised by 15 per cent of the men 
and 4 per cent of the women. In addition, 8 per cent of the men raise pigs, and 
4 per cent of the women raise quails.
Processing
Processing of agricultural products is undertaken by 31 per cent of the male 
producers and only 13 per cent of the women. However, we also fi nd that 
the majority of men who are processing agricultural products are supported 
by women at home (wife and daughters). The men and women involved in 
processing activities in general both perform nearly all the tasks, but women 
are more involved than men in the selection of the products that will be 
processed (90 per cent compared with 50 per cent) and in the packaging of the 
processed products (30 per cent compared with 0 per cent). Males involved 
in processing activities on average spend some six hours per week in these 
activities, while the women involved indicate that they spend on average 
some four hours per week on similar tasks.
Marketing
In 2004, the focus was mainly on production for home consumption, 
and only some women showed interest in selling part of their produce. 
Nowadays men spend more time than the female producers each week in 
the commercialization of the products, in order to earn extra income. In 
most households commercialization of urban agriculture products is mainly 
undertaken by men (62 per cent) and much less so by women (33 per cent). 
Most of the products are sold to neighbours and relatives and in local markets, 
fairs, and soup kitchens. Male producers spend on average eight hours per 
week on marketing activities, while women spend only some four hours 
 CASE STUDY: VILLA MARIA DEL TRIUNFO, PERU 135
per week on similar activities. This refl ects the fact that the male producers 
tend to be more market-oriented than the female producers, who tend to 
emphasize the home consumption of the products. However, women also 
show an increasing interest in these activities, are already strongly involved 
in the selection and packaging of crops to be sold, and ask for more training 
in these fi elds.
The support received by male and female producers from sons or daughters 
in the marketing activities is more or less equal, with men receiving more 
support from their sons (63 per cent of men and 48 per cent of women) and 
women more from their daughters (28 per cent of women and 13 per cent of 
men). 
Access to resources and decision making by gender 
The person who manages the garden, either male or female, is usually the one 
who provides the resources that are needed for production (seeds, fertilizers, 
etc.). However, various male respondents mention that they also have access 
to the resources of their wives, a fact that is hardly mentioned by the female 
producers. 
The gender-differentiated decision making in respect of various agricultural 
activities (see Table 8.1) shows the same pattern (taking into account that 86 
per cent of the gardens are run by women): the person who is in charge of 
the garden makes most of the decisions, and the fi gures indicate a growth 
in female leadership since 2005. The women estimate their role in decision 
making substantially higher than the men rate it, which seems to indicate that 
not all men yet have accepted that women take their own decisions regarding 
their gardening activities.
Table 8.1 Gender differentiation in decision making on agricultural activities in Villa María
Who decides about: Answers by the female Answers by the male
 producers (%) producers (%)
 Men  Women Both  Others Men Women  Both Others
What crops to grow 11 71 13 5 62 15 23 0
Which crops to process 20 60 10 10 25 50 25 0
What products to sell 16 76 8 0 38 37 25 0
Which products /
animals to consume  6 81 13 0 34 33 33 0
Which products /
animals to  sell  5 81 10 4 27 45 10 4
How to use income
raised from agriculture 9 80 4 7 33 44 23 0
136 WOMEN FEEDING CITIES
Mobility of male and female urban producers 
Table 8.2 shows the degrees to which male and female producers travel away 
from their homes to engage in agricultural production. The table indicates 
that most of the movements of both men and women are within their own 
zone. Women leave their zone more often for production activities, while men 
do so more often for the acquisition or production of inputs. 
Table 8.3 shows to what extent men or women have freedom of movement 
to undertake agricultural activities, indicating that men and women in general 
either inform each other or just take off, and only to a minor extent have to 
negotiate or ask permission to leave the home to farm. Some women hide 
from their husband when they are going to sell some products. 
In 2004 we noticed that women’s mobility was limited to a small local area. 
In 2007 we found that women move within a much wider area within the 
district and play a co-ordinating role at a communal organizational level.
Table 8.2 Agriculture-related mobility of male and female producers
 Production Processing Marketing Acquiring /
    producing inputs
 Men Women  Men Women Men Women Men  Women
Inside the zone 100 61 100 100 74 75 62 75
Outside the zone 0 39 0 0 26 25 38 25
Total 100 100 100 100 100 100 100 100
Table 8.3 Freedom of movement of male and female producers
 For production For marketing  For processing For input 
    acquisition & 
    production
 Men Women  Men Women Men Women Men  Women
Ask permission 15 8 0 7 0 5 15 8
Negotiate to leave 38 8 23 11 0 3 0 9
Announce that
they are leaving 0 32 26 36 43 40 38 11
Leave secretly 0 0 0 16 0 0 0 0
Just leave 57 52 51 30 57 52 46 52
Total (%) 100 100 100 100 100 100 100 100
Views of male and female producers on the strengths and weaknesses of 
urban agriculture 
In separate groups, male and female members of the Urban Producers 
Network identifi ed and prioritized strengths and weaknesses in the urban 
agriculture situation. Table 8.4 shows that male and female producers agree 
on various strengths that they have gained since 2005 (organization, technical 
 CASE STUDY: VILLA MARIA DEL TRIUNFO, PERU 137
Table 8.4 Views of male and female producers on strengths and weaknesses of urban agriculture 
in Villa María
 Strengths Weaknesses
Both Specifi c Specifi c Men Both Specifi c Specifi c Men
 Women   Women
‘We are ‘There is ‘There’s land Lack of water Special Poor
organized unity and available for  request for knowledge of
now’ commitment’ planting’ Low more how to plan
   agricultural technical production
‘We know ‘We produce ‘We know to quality of the assistance in: properly and
how to healthy whom to sell available land ecological maintain a
produce’ products our products’  pest control continuous
 without  Lack of and supply
‘There are chemicals’  capital to buy processing
now   agricultural and Weak market
institutions   inputs, seeds, marketing integration
that support   and fertilizer
us’ (the UA
Forum   Need for
members; the   more training
City Strategic   and technical
Agenda on   assistance for
urban   more people
agriculture)
knowledge, recognition by and support received from institutions) as well as 
the weaknesses that remain (lack of irrigation water, poor land quality, need for 
more training and technical assistance). However, there are also some specifi c 
differences between men and women. The women stressed organic ‘healthy’ 
production and the need for more assistance regarding pest management, 
processing, and marketing. The men stressed access to land (which remains 
predominantly a ‘male’ issue), the need to improve production planning, and 
links with the market. 
Conclusions of the case study
Over the past three years, urban agriculture in the district of Villa María has 
been developed in two respects: 
• Qualitatively, since before the multi-stakeholder planning process urban 
agriculture was a poorly recognized activity, and now it is a line of public 
policy and support; before, the urban farmers were poorly organized, and 
now they have their own organization; before, the support organizations 
hardly knew each other, and now they participate in the Forum and co-
ordinate their activities; before, women’s role in urban agriculture was 
undervalued and their participation in decision making was restricted, 
and now their leadership is widely recognized.
138 WOMEN FEEDING CITIES
• Quantitatively, because the number of urban farmers has increased, as 
has the size of the urban area in use by agricultural producers.
The Network of Urban Producers is an active member of the Multi-
stakeholder Forum on Urban Agriculture in Villa María del Triunfo and is 
actively promoting the strategic interests of women producers in this Forum. 
One result is that the City Strategic Action Plan on Urban Agriculture includes 
gender equity as one of its key values and includes among its main strategies 
high-priority attention to women producers, providing them with technical 
and social training, and promoting women to leadership positions in the 
community gardens. 
Drawing on the analysis of the information presented in this chapter, we 
can conclude that the gender-sensitive action-planning process for urban 
agriculture in Villa María del Triunfo has contributed to the empowerment 
of women; has improved their self-esteem, leadership, and capacity building; 
and has increased the independence and freedom of mobility of the women 
involved. In the past two years, women’s participation in urban agriculture 
has increased; currently 86 per cent of all farmers are women, running home 
gardens as well as community or institutional gardens. It is important to 
note that for these women urban agriculture is not resulting in an overload 
of activities but rather constitutes a means by which to build their personal 
development and their capacity for social interaction and organization, and to 
overcome conditions of devaluation, subordination, and exclusion.
However, some inequities in urban agriculture still remain, like the fact that 
agricultural activities performed by men – which tend to be market-oriented 
and result in cash income – are still more highly valued in the local social 
context than those performed by women, which are more oriented to home 
consumption and barter and are often seen by the community as an extension 
of the household duties of women. However, female producers at present are 
engaging more in market-oriented gardening and income generation, and 
further changes in gender relations may be expected. 
Although the participation of women in community roles has grown in 
recent years, women are still better represented in community organizations 
that relate to reproductive activities, while men are better represented in 
community organizations associated with the management of the territory, 
infrastructure development, and the political sphere.
Notes
1. The data in this paragraph are taken from the survey implemented by the 
authors in 2008 in the updated case study of Villa María del Triunfo 
2. The ‘Vaso de Leche’ (Glass of Milk) programme was initiated by the left-
wing city government of Lima in 1984 and later extended to the whole 
country, with state funding. The programme benefi ts some 4.3 million 
people, of whom 1.8 million live in Lima, including children between 
0 and 13 years, pregnant and lactating mothers, older people, and TB 
 CASE STUDY: VILLA MARIA DEL TRIUNFO, PERU 139
patients. The comedores populares (community kitchens) were created in 
the late 1970s as a survival strategy of the poor in the slums of the larger 
cities of Peru. Women provide the required labour without payment. 
Actually there are some 15,000 comedores populares in the country, many 
supported by churches and NGOs and (about 20 per cent) by the state. 
Many others are run by the women without any external fi nancial support. 
In both programmes the women were the ones who took the initiative 
to organize themselves. The groups attend to problems of nutrition and 
food security, as well as social and gender problems such as domestic 
violence. In Villa María del Triunfo, various comedores populares have taken 
up urban agriculture. At the moment, some 40 comedores populares belong 
to the Urban Producers Network. Part of their production is used in the 
community kitchens and part is used by the participating women to feed 
their families. 
3. For this study, we use ’cohabiting’ to refer to couples whose relationship is 
not legalized.
References
DESCO, FOVIDA, IPES and SEDES (2005) Concerted Plan of the Local Economic 
Development, Municipality Villa María del Triunfo, Lima, Peru.
About the authors
Noemí Soto is Adviser to the Urban Agriculture Projects, IPES–Promoción del 
Desarrollo Sostenible, Lima, Peru.
Gunther Merzthal is Regional Co-ordinator at the RUAF Cities Farming for the 
Future Programme, IPES, Lima, Peru.
Maribel Ordoñez is Adviser to the Urban Agriculture Projects, IPES, Lima, 
Peru.
Milagros Touzet is Adviser to the Urban Agriculture Projects, IPES, Lima, 
Peru.

CHAPTER 9
Gender perspectives in organic waste 
recycling for urban agriculture in Nairobi, 
Kenya
Kuria Gathuru, Mary Njenga, Nancy Karanja and 
Patrick Munyao
Abstract
This case study presents strategies to identify and address gender issues in the project 
cycle of community-based compost production and briquette-making initiatives in 
Nairobi, Kenya. Community-based waste management and composting activities 
were studied in Nairobi, using a semi-structured questionnaire in a research project 
on organic waste management for urban and peri-urban agriculture, implemented 
by Urban Harvest and partners in 2003–2004. Gender issues within waste 
management and composting groups were documented through gender-focused 
group discussions, guided by a checklist, and also through interviews with key 
informants. As a follow-up to the organic waste-management research project, 
Soweto Youth in Action initiated a briquette-making action-research project in 
partnership with Urban Harvest and Kenya Green Towns Partnership Association 
in February 2007. Two baseline surveys (one on potential sources of raw materials 
and another on market opportunities) were carried out, using semi-structured 
questionnaires. Gender-responsive training courses in group development and 
governance (including issues of leadership, confl ict resolutions, networking and 
advocacy, and project management) and fuel-briquette production and marketing 
were conducted, and a business plan and marketing brand for the fuel-briquette 
initiative were developed.
Introduction
The study area
Nairobi is located in southern Kenya, 500 km from the coast at an elevation 
of 1,670 m above sea level. The city covers an area of 700 km2. Mean annual 
temperature is 17ºC, while the mean daily maximum and minimum are 23ºC 
and 12ºC respectively. Mean annual rainfall ranges from about 800 mm to 
about 1,050 mm, depending on altitude (Situma, 1992). Most of it falls in two 
142 WOMEN FEEDING CITIES
distinct seasons: the long rains from mid-March to June, and the short rains 
from mid-October to early December (Hide et al., 2001).
The current population of Nairobi is estimated at 3 million people, with an 
annual growth of 4.5 per cent (Ministry of Planning and National Development, 
2003). Sixty per cent of Nairobi’s population live in very low-income informal 
settlements; this group of urban poor is projected to increase to 65 per cent 
by 2015 if the trend continues. Unemployment rates are estimated at 14.5 per 
cent for males and 25 per cent for females (Ministry of Planning and National 
Development, 2003). It is estimated that over 1,740 tonnes of solid waste are 
generated daily, of which 60 to 70 per cent is organic (JICA, 1997).
Kahawa Soweto, the centre of the briquette project which is examined in 
this chapter, is located 21 km north-east of Nairobi city centre in Kahawa 
location, Kasarani division, Nairobi North district. It is classifi ed as an 
informal settlement by the local authorities. According to the 1999 National 
Population census, there were 1,000 households within the village, occupying 
700 dwelling units and constituting a population of about 8,000 people. A 
majority of the residents were former workers on a sisal farm, but they settled 
in the area after the business closed down, and the population now includes 
the second and third generations of the original workforce. The village has 
high unemployment levels, coupled with a 15 per cent HIV/AIDS prevalence. 
Kahawa Soweto has a village committee that oversees the running of the 
village, a slum-upgrading committee linked to work by UN-Habitat, and a 
community policing group (six women and 24 men) that is paid a fee for 
guarding slum-upgrading structures such as the public toilets and social hall. 
All the three organs of village governance are recognized by the government 
of Kenya.
Despite the legal restrictions on urban agriculture, Nairobi has always 
hosted many urban farmers,  from Maasai pastoralists in the 1800s to zero-
grazing units (with dairy cattle confi ned to a stall and fed by a cut-and-carry 
fodder system) and kitchen gardens and distance gardens that now dot the 
landscape, occupying road and railway reserves. In the mid-1980s, 20 per cent 
of Nairobi households were growing crops within the city limits, and 17 per 
cent of the households kept livestock in the urban areas (Lee-Smith et al., 
1987). In the 1990s, the number of households involved in urban agriculture 
in Nairobi rose to 30 per cent (Foeken and Mwangi, 2000). In 1998, there 
were about 24,000 dairy cattle in Nairobi, worth roughly US$13 million, 
producing annually about 42 million litres of milk worth about $11 million 
(priced at $0.3/litre) (Ayaga et al., 2005). Estimates indicate that 50,000 bags 
of maize and 15,000 bags of beans are produced in Nairobi annually (Ministry 
of Agriculture, 2002). 
Methodology of the study 
This case study is based on two research projects. The fi rst is entitled 
‘Management of Organic Waste and Livestock Manure for Enhancing 
 CASE STUDY: ORGANIC WASTE RECYCLING IN NAIROBI, KENYA 143
Agricultural Productivity in Urban and Peri–urban Nairobi’. It was carried out 
in 2003–2004 by Urban Harvest in partnership with International Livestock 
Research Institute (ILRI), World Agroforestry Centre (ICRAF), Kenya Agricultural 
Research Institute (KARI), and Kenya Green Towns Partnership Association 
(KGTPA). Fourteen community-based compost-production initiatives were 
identifi ed and studied. Gendered focus-group discussions and interviews with 
key informants were held and guided by a gender-responsive checklist and a 
semi-structured questionnaire, involving 155 male and 87 female respondents. 
Composting techniques were documented, nutrient movements were mapped, 
links between compost producers and urban agriculture producers were 
studied, and challenges in compost production and marketing were identifi ed. 
Also gender issues within waste management and composting groups were 
documented through gender-focused group discussions guided by a checklist 
and also through interviewing key informants. 
In 2005, a stakeholder feedback workshop was conducted, in which Urban 
Harvest and partners presented the outcomes of the waste-management 
project to a variety of stakeholders. 
As a follow-up to the organic waste-management research project, an 
action-research project entitled ‘Enhancing Livelihoods of the Urban Youth 
through Recycling of Organic Waste for Energy Briquette Making’ was 
implemented in 2007–2008 at Kahawa Soweto informal settlement by Soweto 
Youth in Action (SOYIA), in partnership with Urban Harvest and Kenya Green 
Towns Partnership Association, the University of Nairobi, and Terra Nuova. 
The overall objective of this project was to enhance income generation, food 
security, and urban environmental management through community-based 
energy-briquette production. The briquette-making project involved seven 
young women and 13 young men, members of SOYIA group. Eight thousand 
people living in Kahawa Soweto village and about 200,000 from other 
neighbourhoods gained a cheap and convenient source of high-quality fuel. 
The initiative would also be benefi cial to the charcoal dealers and waste-paper 
collectors through the sale of waste paper and charcoal dust. 
Two baseline surveys were carried out, using semi-structured questionnaires: 
one on potential sources of raw materials and another on market opportunities, 
including customers’ willingness to pay and perceptions of fuel briquettes 
among households, institutions, eating places, and charcoal sellers in low-, 
medium-, and high-income areas. The resources study involved 160 households 
(22 male and 137 female respondents) and 100 persons from institutions and 
enterprises (61 male and 39 female). Six members of SOYIA, four males and 
two females, were trained in research skills and participated in the survey as 
enumerators. In the market a survey was carried out to establish the perception 
of customers, including willingness to pay, and to identify potential traders 
among individuals and supermarkets. This survey involved 26 male and 24 
female respondents.
Two training courses were organized for fi ve female and 12 male members 
of the SOYIA youth group, who were trained (1) in community organization 
144 WOMEN FEEDING CITIES
and group development and governance (including issues of leadership, 
confl ict resolutions, networking, advocacy, and project management) and 
(2) in fuel-briquette production and marketing, including environmental 
management aspects. The training courses applied a gender-responsive and 
participatory learning approach (see Njenga et al., 2008). Also a business plan 
and marketing brand for the fuel-briquette initiative were developed with the 
SOYIA members through participatory planning and budgeting activities. 
Over 300 members of the village, including men, women, youth, and school 
children, were introduced to the idea of briquettes as an alternative source of 
fuel, through meetings, demonstrations, and household visits. 
Some members of the composting groups and the briquette-making group 
also received training on urban crop production, livestock keeping, and waste 
management and re-use, organized by the Nairobi and Environs Food Security 
Agriculture and Livestock Forum (NEFSALF), involving resource persons from 
the Ministry of Agriculture, Ministry of Livestock and Fisheries Development, 
and Kenya Green Towns Partnership Association and Urban Harvest. 
In addition, partnerships were developed with organizations and individuals 
with ample experience in fuel-briquette making, including Terra Nuova, an 
Italian NGO, two private individuals also working in briquette technology, 
and the University of Nairobi. These partners assisted in the development of 
training materials, sourcing of appropriate briquette-making machines, and 
improving the quality of the briquettes. 
Analysis of gender relations in compost production, fuel-briquette 
making, and marketing by urban community-based organizations 
(CBOs)
Access to and control of resources in compost and fuel-briquette making
Results from the diagnostic survey of potential sources of organic waste for 
use as raw materials in briquette making showed that women (69 per cent) 
and youth (20 per cent) play a signifi cant role in the re-use of household 
wastes. Organic kitchen waste was re-used for feeding livestock and compost 
making, while waste paper was sold to recyclers. The survey also revealed that 
in the majority of households, especially in middle-income settlements, men 
contributed more money for purchasing fuel than women, while in informal 
settlements in half of the households women contributed money. 
Lack of composting space was the main drawback to compost making 
by community groups, because the existing activities were taking place on 
rented or temporally leased public land. There was one group that had been 
offi cially allocated a plot by the Nairobi City Council. Supplies of water, which 
is a major ingredient in both briquette and compost making, were a major 
constraint at most of the places where recycling activities are taking place. 
When SOYIA youth groups started their waste-recovery activities in early 
2002, the Kenya Railways Corporation had allowed them to use some space 
 CASE STUDY: ORGANIC WASTE RECYCLING IN NAIROBI, KENYA 145
near the railway line for waste sorting and compost making, but they were 
not allowed to construct on the site. This constrained the group, because they 
had to shift the tools and the compost to their living quarters, which had 
very limited free space. Compost production was also frustrated by lack of 
markets, and so the group lost interest. Recently, the group has started an 
initiative involving energy-briquette making at a new site that was allocated 
to them by the Kahawa Soweto Slum upgrading committee. Here they have 
constructed an offi ce, briquette production shed, and a store. SOYIA group 
also had discussions with the community policing group, who offered to 
provide security for the briquette-making enterprise at a subsidized fee. The 
project team played a key role during these negotiations between the youth 
group and the slum-upgrading committee and the community policing group. 
SOYIA youth group now has a good working relationship with these other 
local development groups, with whom in the past their relationships were full 
of mistrust and confl ict.
SOYIA youth group preparing briquettes
By Mary Njenga
146 WOMEN FEEDING CITIES
As for the sourcing of organic materials for making compost, most of the 
groups obtain the waste materials for free, but they do incur transport costs. 
In briquette production, the SOYIA group use sawdust, which they purchase, 
while charcoal dust and paper are collected at no cost from the Kahawa Soweto 
village and environs by all group members, irrespective of sex (members are 
obliged to deliver a certain volume of organic materials). Urban Harvest, 
jointly with International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI), is exploring 
ways for the SOYIA group to access the large amounts of waste paper that are 
generated by the institutions based on the ILRI campus. Income realized from 
sales of compost and fuel briquettes were shared among the group members, 
following guidelines set by the group.
SOYIA members’ involvement in the two research projects enhanced 
their skills in research and development work, and many of its members are 
now being hired by other development organizations such as World Vision, 
Rainbow (a faith-based organization), and Farmers Choice (a factory that 
processes pig products). However, female SOYIA members cannot participate, 
because they do not have the required educational qualifi cations, while most 
of their male counterparts did receive basic education.
Gender composition and decision making in compost and fuel-briquette 
making 
Of the 14 community-based organizations studied in the fi rst research project, 
11 were making compost and three were practising waste management, as well 
as crop production or livestock keeping. An analysis of group composition 
and decision making showed that gender and age were major determinants of 
what took place in the groups. Six of the studied groups had more males than 
females, three had more females than males, one had equal numbers of males 
and females, two had females alone, and two had males alone. Eight groups 
had a mixture of both youth and elderly people, with their ages ranging from 
25 to 71, with the exception of one group which had 32 children below 15 
years of age. There were six youth groups, four of which had both male and 
female members, and two of which had male members only (Njenga et al., 
2004).
Internal confl icts were reported in six out of the 14 CBOs mainly 
originating from gender and age differences and relating to duty allocation and 
management of fi nances. Most confl icts occurred in groups with members of 
both sexes, while age difference as a cause of confl ict was noted only in groups 
with male members. Three types of group which had low degrees of internal 
confl ict are (a) youth groups, whether mixed or of one sex only; (b) groups 
with females of different ages (elderly and young); and (c) mixed groups where 
women remain silent and assume all the work, while the men only share in 
the benefi ts. 
SOYIA youth group, involved in fuel-briquette making, had an umbrella 
committee that consisted of a male chairperson and a female vice-chairperson; 
 CASE STUDY: ORGANIC WASTE RECYCLING IN NAIROBI, KENYA 147
SOWETO YOUTH GROUP (SOYIA)
(13 Male and 7 Female)
Executive Committee
Chairperson (M), Vice Chair (F), Treasurer (M), Secretary (F)
Co-ordinators
1 (M), 1 (F)
Resource Mobilization Production Sales and Marketing
4 (M), 2 (F) 5 (M), 2 (F) 4 (M), 3 (F)
Figure 9.1 SOYIA Youth Group decision-making and management structure
both the treasurer and the secretary were men. During the community 
organizational development and institutional strengthening (CODIS) 
training course, the youth group developed a governance structure for the 
management of the briquette-making project as part of the practical session. 
They also established various sub-committees for resource mobilization, 
production, and sales and marketing. The selection of the members was based 
on the skills and capabilities of each member for effective and effi cient project 
management. The three sub-committees were co-ordinated by two directors, 
all under the executive committee of SOYIA youth group, as illustrated in 
Figure 9.1. The duties and decisions of each committee are based on agreed set 
rules and regulations (Njenga et al., 2008).
SOYIA members belong to development networks such as Pamoja Trust and 
Nairobi and Environs Food Security Agriculture and Livestock Forum (NEFSALF) 
and Muungano wa Wanavijiji (a human-rights advocacy group). Through their 
participation in these activities they are able to contribute to the local and 
national agricultural and environmental policy-development processes. The 
youth group is also working closely with the village committees at Soweto and 
directly giving ideas on security, waste management, and slum upgrading.
Division of tasks/labour
Composting involves a number of activities, including collection and sorting 
of waste, preparation of waste heaps through systematic layering of different 
waste materials, periodic turning of waste heaps for aeration, sourcing water, 
and application to compost stacks. Once ready, the compost is sieved, packed, 
stored, and sold. 
Allocation of duties among the composting members was done on an ad hoc 
basis, determined by the availability of individual members on their activity 
148 WOMEN FEEDING CITIES
days. However, sharing of manual labour and leadership roles was observed in 
the youth groups: fi ve out of the six had planned schedules and duty rosters. 
An example was the Tuff Gong Garbage Recycling youth group, which had a 
clear duty roster; the women had been allocated the tasks that were considered 
‘less dirty’, such as fetching water from a tap, while the men were involved 
in sorting, turning, and sieving the compost. Most of the women did not 
wear protective clothing, unlike their men counterparts, who had overalls and 
gumboots.
Illustrations of the gender division of tasks/labour in compost and fuel-
briquette making initiatives are presented in Boxes 9.1 and 9.2. 
Box 9.1 Division of labour in compost production, packaging and marketing by City Park 
Environmental Group
City Park Environmental Group is located at the City Park Asian Market in Parklands, about 
5 km south of Nairobi. The composting group was started in 1993 with a membership of 
four men and eight women and the objectives of generating income, supporting destitute 
children, and cleaning the market. The challenges of uncollected market waste led to 
the formation of the composting group, which was supported by UN–Habitat Nairobi 
offi ce, whose staff trained the group. Asian Foundation constructed the shaded area where 
waste sorting and composting takes place and also assists the group in advertising for the 
compost. The group is guided by a constitution which governs its management and sharing 
of roles/tasks, decision making, and income. 
At the beginning of the compost-making initiative, females were allocated the role 
of sorting the waste and transferring it to the shade, where males heaped it. The men 
also turned and watered the heaps on a weekly basis until maturity. Sieving and packing, 
including storage, were done by the whole group. One male member whose stall in the 
market was closest to the store was allocated the duties of selling the compost and keeping 
the store keys. The cash obtained from the sales was handed to a female cashier for 
banking. At the start, income accrued from the sale of compost was shared equally among 
the members at the end of the year, irrespective of their participation. However, during the 
study there was a lack of male participation in the manual work of heaping the materials, 
turning, and watering them. The male members preferred to do record keeping, which 
prompted confl icts among the group members. There were complaints that the men were 
reported to attend meetings whenever visitors with potential funding appeared. In 2002 
four males and the chairperson, a woman, took some compost to the Kenya Agricultural 
Show, where they made some sales but failed to remit the cash for banking according to 
the agreed procedures. This brought further confl ict among group members, and the group 
went into a decline as a result. 
Only eight women, almost half of whom are over the age of 65, remained active. This 
affected the productivity of the composting activity, since they are unable to perform the 
heavy duties that are crucial to production of good-quality compost: for instance collecting 
different types of organic material, watering and turning it regularly, and packaging it. The 
women no longer follow composting techniques that they had learned but have reverted 
to their local know-how. They argue that the techniques are labour-intensive and time-
consuming. The store keys are kept by one of the elderly women, who opens the store 
twice a week and sells the compost; the money is shared among the women without being 
banked. The group had not kept records of quantities of compost produced or the income 
generated in the last three years.
 CASE STUDY: ORGANIC WASTE RECYCLING IN NAIROBI, KENYA 149
Box 9.2 Division of labour in briquette making by Soyia youth group
The SOYIA youth group chose to embark on fuel-briquette making because the marketing 
of compost had run into diffi culties. The briquette-making process involves sourcing the 
raw materials i.e. charcoal dust, sawdust, and waste paper; preparing materials, such as 
shredding the waste paper and soaking it for two–three nights, and sorting charcoal and 
sawdust to remove impurities; mixing materials and binding them with the soaked waste 
paper; measuring the materials and putting them into the PVC cylinder; pressing the 
briquettes to dry on racks; packaging them; and marketing them. These tasks of resource 
mobilization, production, and sales and marketing are carried out under the three sub-
committees that were formed during training sessions offered to the group. The sub-
committees give instructions to the group members and keep records, while the actual 
processing is done by all members, irrespective of gender. Members’ daily participation in 
these activities depends on each individual’s availability: young women have been more 
involved than the young men, because the latter are involved in other casual jobs. To 
address gender inequalities in the sharing of income, the group has set guidelines which 
specify that income sharing should be based on each member’s participation in production 
and selling of the briquettes. Records of the numbers of briquettes produced and income 
realized from their sales are kept by the respective sub-committees.
Differences in knowledge and preferences 
The SOYIA group’s inadequate skills of governance and group cohesion had 
been identifi ed as threats to its sustainability, so members were offered a 
training course in community organizational development. Women were more 
active and consistent in attending to group activities than the men, because 
the women have a better understanding of the importance of the collective 
approach to sharing ideas and overcoming burdens. The SOYIA members 
defi ned ‘gender’ as the roles played by men and women, the rights of young 
and old, inequalities in opportunities, involvement of men and women, the 
issue of employed and unemployed males and females, and discrimination 
against and exploitation of males and females. 
During the formation of sub-committees to manage the briquette-making 
project, members voluntarily joined specifi c committees, depending on their 
individual skills and preferences. For instance, those who liked being involved 
in business preferred to be on the sales and marketing committee, while those 
who liked being involved in making products chose to be in the processing 
committee. When leadership in each of the sub-committee was analysed, 
it was found that members elected people who had been involved in other 
development works in the village, such as projects involving non-government 
organizations. These women commanded respect and trust from the local/
village leaders, and through frequent participation in the village advocacy 
meetings they had acquired skills and were being elected to leadership positions 
within the villages, as well as on the SOYIA group management committee.
In case of the compost-making groups, the low level of education and 
communication skills of women and elderly people limited their involvement 
150 WOMEN FEEDING CITIES
in leadership activities. Composting groups were made up of young and elderly 
persons. The young men, due to the common belief that they are fl exible 
and agile and the fact that they are more educated, represented the groups in 
meetings and workshops, which resulted in unequal empowerment within 
the composting groups. An example is the City Park Environmental Group, 
whose male members were young and educated and thus better placed to 
get involved in marketing and public relations activities, while women, most 
of whom were illiterate and elderly, were left to do all the diffi cult compost-
processing activities. The group, though located in an ideal compost-making 
facility, collapsed because the roles and responsibilities were not allocated in 
a participatory manner, which created mistrust due to lack of transparency 
(see Box 9.1). 
The training courses organized by Nairobi and Environs Food Security, 
Agriculture and Livestock Forum (NEFSALF) have enabled the organic waste 
recycling groups to overcome such problems and to involve women in the 
representation to NGOs, government departments, and research institutions. 
In the case of SOYIA, the women are more articulate in their management and 
decision making, and this is because of their better advocacy skills acquired 
over time through training and participation in other groups’ neighbourhood 
meetings and in leadership roles of their groups. 
Traditional compost making produces bad smells, which result in negative 
attitudes among neighbours; complaints are presented to city enforcement 
offi cers, who are frequently in confl ict with community-based organizations 
like the SOYIA group. Handling of solid waste without proper protective 
clothing such as gumboots and gloves may result in physical injuries. This is 
made worse if organic waste or naturally decomposed compost is sourced from 
rubbish tips where waste products from industries, hospitals, and markets 
are dumped together. This results in contamination of compost with heavy 
metals, which may degrade the health of the soil. 
The gender strategies of the project 
The following strategies were applied in order to encourage gender awareness 
in the two projects.
Inclusion of gender-equity concerns in the project objectives 
The objectives of the organic waste management and the briquette-making 
projects were formulated with gender equity in mind, and efforts were made 
to obtain a clear understanding of how men and women were involved in the 
composting and briquette-making activities, and to ensure that gender was 
taken into account in all stages of the project. 
 CASE STUDY: ORGANIC WASTE RECYCLING IN NAIROBI, KENYA 151
Inclusion of gender in the diagnosis
Gender-sensitive checklists were applied in order to obtain gender-disaggregated 
data and to develop understanding of key gender issues such as access to land, 
participation in decision making, and the division of labour. 
Inclusion of gender in the design of the interventions
The SOYIA youth group, which was one of the 14 CBOs involved in the organic 
waste-management research project, was selected to represent all other groups 
in a pilot project on making fuel-briquettes from urban organic wastes, based 
on their previous involvement in waste recovery, the cohesiveness of the group, 
and their location in an informal poor suburb. Male and female members were 
invited to participate in the prioritization of possible initiatives. The options 
presented were crop production, compost making, and fuel-briquette making. 
The briquette making ranked highest, based on its potential to contribute to 
a clean neighbourhood, income generation, and self-employment for young 
people. Leaders of the SOYIA youth group directly participated in the action 
planning undertaken by Urban Harvest and Kenya Green Towns Partnership 
Association. In this process, gender-responsive activities and desired outputs 
were defi ned, in addition to related monitoring indicators (see below). 
Attention to gender in the implementation stage
During the implementation, male and female members of the various sub-
committees participated in the day-to-day planning and budgeting of project 
activities. As indicated above, initially men tended to dominate the internal 
and external roles in the groups. During planning meetings, women from the 
SOYIA group expressed fears that the male members would frustrate their efforts. 
These concerns were addressed in the community development and leadership 
training provided by the project team, during which resource mobilization, 
production, and marketing sub-committees were formed according to skills 
and capabilities, irrespective of sex. Guidelines were also set to govern income 
sharing, whereby a member will get 25 per cent if involved in production 
and another 25 per cent if involved in selling, and 50 per cent of the price 
of each briquette is retained in the group’s account. To enhance community 
support through purchase of the fuel briquettes, a community sensitization 
and project launch meeting was held in the second month of the project at 
the Kahawa Soweto village (Njenga et al., 2008). During this meeting, men 
and women in the village were requested to support the initiative, particularly 
by purchasing the fuel briquettes. Terra Nuova participated in identifi cation 
of gender-friendly briquette pressers and locally assembled paper shredders. 
Participatory testing of the cooking qualities of the energy briquettes was 
conducted at the village in January 2008, when men, women, youth, and 
children were involved in preparing a traditional mixture of maize and beans 
152 WOMEN FEEDING CITIES
called Githeri. One male participant commented: ‘When my wife asks for 
money to buy the briquettes, at least it will be something that I know and 
have seen cook so well without smoke and very fast’. Due to this open forum, 
the village committees have developed interest in the activity and have been 
creating awareness of the briquettes, as well as referring interested visitors to 
the project site.
Defi ning gender-sensitive project indicators
Gender-sensitive indicators were selected, including the numbers of men and 
women participating in meetings and training sessions; the numbers of issues 
raised by men and women during such meetings; the numbers of men and 
women occupying leadership roles in the groups; the involvement of men 
and women in the production and selling activities; and the production and 
sales realized by them. Also changes in the behaviour of men and women were 
observed qualitatively, for example, men’s views on women’s involvement in 
leadership.
Monitoring and evaluation activities in the fuel briquette-making project 
helped the group and project team to track performance of the project in order 
to remain focused on the set objectives, including the gender focus. Resource 
mobilization, production, and sale and marketing sub-committees kept records 
of their activities. The three sub-committees hold regular meetings to evaluate 
progress against set milestones, and to plan and budget for activities, guided 
by the minutes taken during group meetings. Some of the research-team 
members also participate in these meetings, and they also provided technical 
support during site visits two or three times per month. 
Inclusion of women in networking and policy infl uencing activities
Most of the waste-composting groups and the SOYIA youth group are 
affi liated to the Nairobi and Environs Food Security, Agriculture and Livestock 
Forum (NEFSALF). The forum has a large and diverse membership which 
includes government ministries and departments, NGOs, development 
partners, and research organizations. The forum presents an environment 
for the composting groups and the urban producers to discuss policy issues 
informally with policy makers in face-to-face dialogue. As a result of this, a 
national policy platform on urban agriculture has been formed which will 
review the national urban agriculture policies. The forum is also used by 
researchers to disseminate research fi ndings and technology dissemination. As 
indicated above, the project partners systematically promoted the inclusion 
of more women in the Forum and in other external contacts with support 
organizations and government departments, among other means by training 
members in networking and advocacy skills.
 CASE STUDY: ORGANIC WASTE RECYCLING IN NAIROBI, KENYA 153
Main conclusions and recommendations
Principal lessons learned
• Gender and age differences in composting groups are likely to lead to 
internal confl icts about labour division and fi nancial matters. 
• Young people were willing to share responsibilities and benefi ts equally 
between male and female members. 
• Access to and control of publicly owned resources requires community-
based approaches and advocacy, while roles and regulation need to be 
set within the groups to ensure equal sharing of benefi ts, tasks, and 
decision making between male and female members. 
• Well-structured participatory training sessions based on needs assessment 
can play a signifi cant role in identifying and addressing gender issues in 
research and development. 
• Community training in advocacy and networking in urban agriculture 
interventions may enhance women’s participation in policy-development 
processes. 
• Involvement of men and women benefi ciaries in project development 
and implementation builds benefi ciaries’ skills in both technology and 
project management, and hence improves the sustainability of the 
project results.
• Consideration of gender issues in all phases of research and development 
projects is important for enhanced gender-responsive impact. Gender 
inequalities in sharing benefi ts and decision making, if not addressed, 
may adversely affect the success of the project and /or result in gender 
inequalities. 
• The study of the 14 compost-making groups identifi ed gender 
inequalities in participation and benefi t sharing. This knowledge was 
used in developing the briquette-making project with the SOIYA youth 
group. However, little was done to address these issues among the other 
13 studied groups. Research projects should create room for follow-up 
studies with actions to address gender inequalities identifi ed in the 
study; otherwise the status quo remains unchanged, despite the gender 
analysis being carried out. 
Differences between gender mainstreaming in urban agriculture and rural 
agriculture 
Mireri (2007) argues that although men ‘offi cially appear’ as the owners of 
the farms, women are responsible for the success of urban agriculture. African 
culture bestows ownership of land and land resources on men, even though 
men’s contribution to farm production is limited. Women undertake day-to-
day management of the farms and invest fi nancial capital in them. According 
to Smit (1996), urban farming provides jobs disproportionately for women, 
youth, and the elderly. It requires co-operation and partnership and so creates 
154 WOMEN FEEDING CITIES
communities and reconnects urban people with nature. Urban agriculture 
produces three to 15 times as much per hectare as common rural methods. 
It is more organic and sustainable, because urban wastes – which are 70 per 
cent organic – are more abundant than rural waste, while the urban farmer’s 
labour-intensive methods use less land and water per unit of production than 
industrial agriculture (Lee-Smith et al. 1987; Karanja et al. forthcoming). 
Mainstreaming of gender issues in urban agriculture appears to be easier 
due to the ’softening’ of cultural attitudes, especially towards women farmers 
whose cultivation of certain crops and keeping of certain livestock would have 
been restricted in rural settings. However, vulnerability to new forms of urban 
violence is common, and there are frequent confl icts among women and youth 
working on old garbage dumps, for example over wastewater supplies and 
space to display their agricultural products. Social and economic exclusion of 
urban farmers, mainly women, children, and youth, make it diffi cult for them 
to participate in making decisions and infl uencing policy. The rural farmer is 
’protected’ by social ties, while urban farmers have to fi ght for both physical 
and institutional space. 
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About the authors
Kuria Gathuru is National Co-ordinator at the Kenya Green Towns Partnership 
Association, Nairobi, Kenya.
Mary Njenga is Research Offi cer for Urban Harvest, International Potato 
Center (CIP), Nairobi, Kenya.
Nancy Karanja is Regional Co-ordinator SSA for CIP–Urban Harvest, Nairobi, 
Kenya.
Patrick Munyao is Research Assistant for CIP–Urban Harvest, Nairobi, Kenya.

CHAPTER 10
Urban agriculture as a strategy to promote 
equality of opportunities and rights for men 
and women in Rosario, Argentina
Mariana Ponce and Lucrecia Donoso
Abstract
The Urban Agriculture Programme of the Municipality of Rosario was developed 
in response to high levels of unemployment, especially among poor women, due to 
economic and social unrest dating back to the 1980s. This case study refl ects on 
the results of the programme (2001–2004), which aimed to enhance the incomes, 
quality of life, and equal opportunities of men and women, through urban 
agriculture production, processing, and marketing activities. Strategies applied 
in the programme included the installation of community gardens on vacant 
municipal land, the establishment of a network of producers, the establishment 
of agro-industries, and the enhancing of links between producers and consumers. 
The chapter elaborates on the background of the programme and the process of 
integrating gender in these activities; it concludes with the eventual effects of the 
programme and the lessons learned in terms of gender.
Introduction
This chapter presents the results of an analysis of the lessons learned from 
the Urban Agriculture Programme (UAP) of the Municipality of Rosario 
concerning urban agriculture as a strategy to achieve equal opportunities and 
rights for women and men. This analysis was conducted in 2007, involving 
representatives of the UAP and the Women’s Services (both belonging to the 
Department of Social Advancement of the Municipality of Rosario) and the 
Urban Agriculture Producers Network of Rosario (Red de Huerteros y Huerteras). 
We would like to thank the following authors for their contributions: Vanesa 
Calvin, Andrea Mazzucca, Graciela Veliz, and Analia Santa Cruz, technicians 
from the Urban Agriculture Programme, and Sandra Tolsa from Women’s 
Services.
158 WOMEN FEEDING CITIES
Background of Rosario’s Urban Agriculture Programme 
Rosario is the third most populated city in Argentina. Since the 1980s, the 
systematic application of neo-liberal policies has caused a downsizing of the 
major local industries and the disappearance of many small and medium-
sized businesses which had stimulated the local economy and were crucial 
providers of employment. On top of this, migration from rural areas to the 
city increased, owing to the implementation of an agricultural policy that 
stimulated a ‘modernization’ of agriculture, introducing technological packages 
that enhanced mechanization, created high dependency on external supplies, 
promoted mono-cropping, and expelled manual labour. This led to large 
groups of urban people outside the formal labour market establishing homes 
in informal settlements surrounding the urban centres, including Rosario. The 
sharp social and economic crisis that hit Argentina in 2001 further worsened 
the situation, increasing poverty by more than 60 per cent. 
It was during this profound crisis that the urban poor, and especially 
women, engaged extensively in urban agriculture as a strategy to overcome 
the emergency. The women began to occupy vacant public and private land 
in order to cultivate food to meet their families’ needs. Some of these women 
had a mainly domestic role before they got involved in urban agriculture, 
whereas others had worked in various (often precarious) jobs away from 
the home, mainly in the informal sector without social security or medical 
coverage (working, for example, as housekeepers, hospital aids, and street 
food vendors). 
In response to this situation, the Municipality of Rosario (Department of 
Social Advancement) developed the Urban Agriculture Programme, with the 
goal of responding to the needs of the unemployed in a productive manner. 
In 2001, the Women’s Services Department initiated the Plan of Equal 
Opportunities for Men and Women (2001–2004), and within the framework of 
this plan the Urban Agriculture Programme was launched. The Department of 
Social Advancement signed an agreement with the Centre of Studies of Agro-
Ecological Production (CEPAR, an NGO with vast experience in developing 
urban irrigated land) and the National Programme Pro-Huerta (garden) Food 
Security Programme, led by the National Institute of Agricultural Technologies 
(INTA), which constituted the Urban Agriculture Programme as an alliance 
between civil society and local and national government. 
Objectives of the Urban Agriculture Programme of Rosario
The goals of the Urban Agriculture Programme (UAP) are to promote the 
social integration of poor and vulnerable urban families, to enhance their 
incomes, and to improve their quality of life through group and individual 
agricultural production, processing, and marketing. The programme also 
seeks to promote equal opportunities for men and women, applying a gender-
sensitive approach.
 CASE STUDY: ROSARIO, ARGENTINA 159
Vegetables produced by urban farmers in Rosario
By Hans Peter Reinders
The following priorities were established between the Municipality and the 
responsible organizations of the UAP:
• To make municipal vacant land available to poor or vulnerable urban 
households (women, youth, and the elderly) and assist them to put 
these lands into production.
• To introduce production methods that will be easy for poor urban dwellers 
to adopt and will provide good results without creating dependency on 
external resources.
• To produce nutritious food in order to improve the diet of indigent 
families.
• To establish a system of direct marketing from producers to consumers 
at strategic locations in the city, with attractive presentation of the 
products.
• To promote the sustainability of the UAP by institutionalizing urban 
agriculture as a public policy.
• To promote equal opportunities for men and women.
Strategies and methodology of the Urban Agriculture Programme 
The UAP applied the following strategies.
• Installing community gardens on vacant municipal land (often after 
cleaning up informal waste dumps) and training households in the 
production of vegetables and medicinal and aromatic plants. 
160 WOMEN FEEDING CITIES
• Establishing an independent network of producers (Red de Huerteros y 
Huerteras).
• Organizing groups that produce the tools, fence poles, bio-fertilizers, 
and compost required by the producers.
• Subsidizing these groups’ purchases of seeds and seedlings, wires and 
posts for fences, tanks and hoses for irrigation, and tools.
• Establishing two Social Agro-industries (SUAs) to add value to the 
products obtained from urban agricultural activities. 
• Assisting producers and groups in the commercialization of their products, 
including training to prepare the products for sale and marketing; the 
creation of weekly markets for organic vegetables and processed food 
products (sweets, baked goods, jams, wine, medicinal and aromatic 
plants, and natural cosmetics); and transport of their products to the 
market.
• Promoting producer–consumer linkages through the public media 
and the organization of practical demonstrations and meetings with 
consumers. These actions also result in further strengthening of the 
confi dence and self-esteem of the producers.
• Enhancing co-ordination of activities among municipal departments and 
with other public institutions, universities, NGOs, and neighbourhood 
organizations, favouring the optimization of resources and achieving a 
more integrated development approach.
• Incorporating agriculture into the city's territorial planning.
The approach applied by the Urban Agriculture Programme is characterized 
by working methods that favour participatory learning, derived from 
community education, such as interactive workshops, exchange meetings, 
and discussion groups, which allow for exchange, dialogue, and collective 
construction of knowledge among the participants. Capacity building to 
develop group organization and leadership skills was continuous. Equal 
participation of men and women in all project activities was promoted, in 
addition to applying a gender-sensitive approach to daily practices (such 
as encouraging male and female producers to accompany each other in all 
tasks), enabling the development of trust and new relationships. The short- 
and medium-term plans were fl exible and took into account the specifi c 
social context of each district where the activities were taking place. This 
participative and horizontal form of project organization was quite innovative 
in government circles. 
The results of the Urban Agriculture Programme
Urban agriculture proved to be a valid strategy for the reduction of poverty and 
for social integration, bringing together and involving different city sectors. 
The following impacts were achieved.
 CASE STUDY: ROSARIO, ARGENTINA 161
• Access to land for the urban poor has been improved, mainly by the 
creation of fi ve ‘garden-parks’ in various city zones (new multi-functional 
spaces which incorporate the production of food in the use of public 
spaces) and by cleaning up informal waste dumps on vacant municipal 
land (which also improves local living conditions).
• Vulnerable families (especially women) feel more valued and recognized 
and better included in the local society and economy.
• A network of some 500 groups has been created, involving more than 
2,500 producers of organic vegetables, of whom 1,000 are women, 
producing vegetables for approximately 12,500 people.
• Each productive group generates a monthly revenue equivalent to 
between US$100 and $500 per member, a substantial sum compared 
with an average monthly income of $90 for the urban poor.
• In addition, families have made important savings on food expenditures.
• Six marketplaces have been established, as well as a home delivery 
scheme for bagged vegetables.
• Two social urban agro-industries have been established: one for processing 
vegetables and one for producing natural cosmetics, aromatics, and 
medicines; 300 small bakeries have been installed; and the development 
of community and school cafeterias has been stimulated.
• The local government has formulated a public policy on urban 
agriculture which includes new norms and regulations pertaining to 
urban agriculture.
• The gender approach adopted in the UAP helped to strengthen the 
integration of gender in the public policies of the local government 
(concerning urban agriculture and other sectors). 
The gender perspective in the Urban Agriculture Programme
The gender-mainstreaming process
A technical interdisciplinary team was formed, including staff of the Women’s 
Services, the Urban Agriculture Programme, and the Services of Employment 
and Social Entrepreneurship, to design an action plan to make the urban 
producers more gender-conscious and to help them to contribute positively 
to the modifi cation of asymmetrical gender relations. The plan included the 
following activities.
Surveys of the roles and functions of male and female producers
In early 2003 an extensive study was made in 13 gardens, investigating the roles 
that women (and men) fulfi l as producers (productive role), in the domestic 
fi eld (reproductive role), and in their organizations and in community services 
(community role). In later years such surveys will be repeated to document 
162 WOMEN FEEDING CITIES
the changes in roles and functions that men and women fulfi l in production, 
processing, and marketing activities. 
Photographic report 
Based on the results of this survey, a photographic report was produced on the 
Female Producers of Rosario, their role in urban agriculture, and their rights 
regarding the possession of productive land.
Training in new forms of female leadership
Participatory workshops were held district by district, to enhance women’s 
potential to act as group co-ordinators and to improve their technical skills. 
Three hundred women were trained. 
‘First Encounter of Female Producers’
The Urban Agriculture Programme and the Women’s Services of the Department 
of Social Advancement of the city of Rosario jointly organized in August 2003 
the ‘First Encounter of Female Producers’ with the motto ‘Constructing new 
forms of leadership; towards secure possession of fertile land’. The purpose of this 
meeting was to acknowledge the important role of female producers in Rosario 
and give them institutional recognition. During the encounter, workshops 
were organized to enhance the self-esteem and confi dence of the women so 
that they would be encouraged to participate actively in the organization of 
the gardens. Group dynamics were applied to refl ect on ‘How I am’ in personal 
matters, as well as in the role of producer and with regard to the ownership 
of land. Also the capacity of the women gardeners to act as co-ordinators of 
training workshops was developed. The workshop enhanced female leadership 
and capacity to effectively exercise their political, social, and economic rights, 
to democratize the garden groups, and to secure their co-ownership of the 
land that they work. The encounter also identifi ed the demand of the female 
producers for training in marketing of the products and equal distribution of 
the profi ts.
‘Second Encounter of Female Producers‘
The second encounter was organized to consolidate the democratization of the 
garden groups and the new forms of female leadership, as well as to provide 
training in marketing and distribution of benefi ts. 
 CASE STUDY: ROSARIO, ARGENTINA 163
Gender mainstreaming in the Network
Gender was integrated in the construction and consolidation of the Urban 
Agriculture Producers Network of Rosario. The above-mentioned activities 
enabled the female producers to achieve the following:
• Refl ect on actual conditions and signifi cance of domestic, productive, 
and community roles.
• Analyse the roles and functions of male and female members of the 
garden groups.
• Analyse diffi culties encountered in achieving access to and possession 
of fertile land, and in the marketing of products and distribution of 
benefi ts. 
• Initiate a process of gaining equality between men and women by 
modifi cation of some aspects of their daily life: personal, family, and 
work. 
• Strengthen their role in the community by creating opportunities to 
assume leadership in the various programme activities in the public 
arena (group leadership, training workshops, marketing activities, group 
exchanges). 
The strengths and weaknesses of gender mainstreaming in the Urban 
Agriculture Programme
The achievements
It has been clearly established that women’s role in the management and 
operation of the community gardens has gradually grown, and that they at 
present make a major contribution to ensuring the continuity of the garden 
activity:
• 70 per cent of the group leaders are women.
• 100 per cent of the women participate in marketing activities and 
consider it a positive experience.
• 49 per cent of women producers manage the income derived from the 
gardens.
• 44 per cent of them have received training and considered it a very good 
experience.
• 93 per cent consider work in the garden as a job.
• 92 per cent feel that the garden work has improved their family’s 
nutrition.
Through their roles as leaders in training, marketing, and community 
activities, starting with their work in the garden and participation in group 
meetings, the women have discovered and strengthened their capacities 
and knowledge, have enhanced their self-esteem, and have increased their 
presence in the public arena (in social and cultural terms).
164 WOMEN FEEDING CITIES
The producers organize the work of the groups, taking gender into account. 
The groups refl ect on the asymmetric relationships of power and the unequal 
allocation of roles that are socially established between men and women, and 
they search for ways to address such inequalities. As a result, the tasks are 
distributed and performed equally by men and women. The producers share 
activities of training, production, marketing, consumption, and processing of 
the products and jointly agree on the tasks in order to develop and share the 
same workspace with equal responsibility and ability.
The productive role of the female producers in the generation of income and 
in the making of decisions concerning the use of income generated has been 
strengthened. Earning their own income has generated, in some cases, greater 
levels of independence. Greater participation in income generation and in the 
management of the garden groups has contributed to women’s growth and has 
strengthened their roles in personal, family, and social spheres. It has enabled 
them to acquire a fundamental role in the construction and consolidation of 
the Producers’ Network, thus further enhancing their social status. 
The limitations
The Urban Agriculture Programme, although it promotes equality of 
opportunities for men and women, is problematic in that for some female 
producers who are heads of their household their active participation in 
production, marketing, and organizational activities overloads them with 
work, and they have little chance of sharing the burden of labour and 
responsibilities with others. The expansion of the spaces for action and 
participation by the female producers requires new forms of organization in 
the domestic and public arenas in order to avoid the imposition of extra work 
and responsibilities. 
On the other hand, female producers sometimes fi nd themselves in a 
situation where their work in the garden identifi es them even more strongly 
with their reproductive role, in that women are socially ascribed the task of 
feeding the family. In such cases, more emphasis needs to be given to the 
income-generation and cost-saving aspects of women’s gardening activities, 
rather than the nutritional and food-security value of those activities. Although 
the Programme incorporates a gender-sensitive approach, it needs to identify 
more affi rmative actions, in order to consolidate egalitarian practices between 
men and women, as much within the gardening groups as in the wider 
community. It will also need to assist women to widen their areas of action. 
This year, the Urban Agriculture Programme will review its lines of action 
regarding gender equity and will set up a new series of training workshops.
Although the local government has made some progress towards 
mainstreaming gender issues when designing public policies and programmes, 
there is still scope for further efforts to address the strategic and practical needs 
of women. During the implementation phase it was noted that the political 
and institutional process takes a long time, which may lead to demoralization 
 CASE STUDY: ROSARIO, ARGENTINA 165
and a loss of trust on the part of the poor and vulnerable participating 
producers. Harmonizing the political process and the needs of the producers 
requires close attention from the start. 
Enabling secure access to vacant land in the city is another crucial factor 
in the success of urban agriculture. Vacant municipal land that is not suitable 
for construction (for example, land under power lines, on fl ood plains, and in 
earthquake zones) and derelict open spaces (illegal or formal rubbish dumps, 
former industrial areas, etc.) had been identifi ed as the most appropriate for 
urban agriculture in Rosario. The creation of community gardens in public 
parks, developed in Rosario as another valuable option for the development 
of urban agriculture with the urban poor, constitutes an example to be 
followed. 
Although urban agriculture is in a process of consolidation as local-
government public policy, it is not included in policy or planning at provincial 
or national level. Since 2007 this process has been undergoing revision, as the 
provincial authorities are showing themselves to be in favour of the change.
Lessons learned
The integration of gender-sensitive approaches in the Urban Agriculture 
Programme (UAP) has contributed to an enriched vision of development at 
both local and policy levels. The search for better living conditions for poor 
and vulnerable people requires development planning that is rooted at the 
micro level and takes the specifi c needs and interests of women into account, 
applying their knowledge and experience to the realization and management 
of the development activities.
The UAP has demonstrated that urban agriculture can form an important 
strategy for poverty alleviation and a signifi cant opportunity both to promote a 
process of equitable local development, including men and women on an equal 
basis in production, processing, marketing, and organization-management 
activities, and also to ensure equal access to resources and income for men and 
women. Urban agriculture is an activity appropriate for women, given that it 
allows them to organize themselves in a manner that fi ts in with the demands 
of the multiple functions that they fulfi l in the household. However, to make 
a positive impact on gender relations, various affi rmative actions have to be 
undertaken: the actual roles and contributions of women in agriculture, in 
the household, and in the community have to be acknowledged, men’s and 
women’s awareness of gender issues has to be raised, women have to be trained 
in leadership skills, and opportunities have to be created for them to assume 
leadership roles in training, group management, production, and marketing.  
The opportunity to generate an income through urban agricultural 
production or related processing or input-producing activities allows the 
women to gain recognition and independence within the family and 
community spheres. Assuming roles as producers and generators of income also 
allows women to call into question the actual division of roles in the domestic 
166 WOMEN FEEDING CITIES
sphere and re-negotiate the organization of domestic chores between men, 
women, and children in the household. It is important to foster encounters 
between female producers (workshops, exchange visits, etc.), and to facilitate 
exchange and refl ection on crucial themes (such as leadership, ownership 
of land, distribution of benefi ts, and redistribution of household chores). 
Gardening is related to women’s strategic interests, such that the construction 
of their identity as women and producers is supported. Strengthening the role 
of female producers in the garden groups also contributes to strengthening 
their role and recognition in the community as persons capable of acting and 
making decisions in their own right.
About the authors
Mariana Ponce is Gender adviser at the Centro de Estudios de Producciones 
Agroecológicas (CEPAR), Rosario, Argentina.
Lucrecia Donoso is Psychologist at the Women’s Services Unit, Social 
Development Department, Municipality of Rosario, Argentina.
CHAPTER 11
The role of women-led micro-farming 
activities in combating HIV/AIDS in Nakuru, 
Kenya
Mary Njenga, Nancy Karanja, Kuria Gathuru,  
Samwel Mbugua, Naomi Fedha and Bernard Ngoda
Abstract
The case study is based on an action-research project entitled ‘Combating HIV/
AIDS in Urban Communities through Food and Nutrition Security: The Role of 
Women-led Micro-livestock Enterprises and Horticultural Production’, which is 
being implemented in Nakuru, Kenya. Nakuru is the fourth largest town in Kenya, 
with a multi-ethnic composition of about 320,000 residents. Crops are cultivated 
in people’s compounds, along roads and railways, and under power lines; livestock 
are kept in compounds or on vacant land, while others are free-range. The main 
objective of the project was to improve the food and nutrition security of households 
in HIV/AIDS-affected communities in Nakuru Township, in order to contribute 
to mitigation of the impact of HIV/AIDS on the livelihoods of households. The 
case study describes how gender was incorporated in diagnosis, design, planning, 
implementation, monitoring and evaluation, and policy-infl uencing phases of the 
project.
A baseline survey was conducted in 11 out of 15 wards of Nakuru municipality, 
where 85 male-headed and 70 female-headed households were interviewed. 
Results of the diagnostic study were used to design two interventions: a vegetable 
intervention currently involving six male and 44 female representatives of 
households, of whom 40 are also participating in a dairy-goat project. Households 
that actively participated in the vegetable project were selected to receive the dairy 
goats. Produce from both interventions are for domestic consumption, and any 
surplus is sold. Benefi ciaries received basic training in vegetable production and 
dairy-goat husbandry techniques including feeding, housing, and detection of 
basic diseases; and they were assisted with initial inputs such as seeds, pesticides, 
land preparation, and irrigation networks.
168 WOMEN FEEDING CITIES
Introduction
Nakuru
Nakuru Municipality is a mid-sized town, the fourth largest town in Kenya. It 
has a multi-ethnic composition due to its location at the crossroads of many 
of Kenya’s ethnic groups. It is located in the heart of the Great Rift Valley 
between latitude 0º10’ and 0º20’ South and Longitude 36º and 36º10’ East, at a 
distance of 160 km north-west of the capital city Nairobi (Foeken and Owour, 
2000). According to the latest population census, the population of Nakuru 
stood at 239,000 people in 1999, with a growth rate of 4 per cent. The main 
economic activities in Nakuru are commerce, industry, tourism, agriculture, 
and tertiary services (MCN, 1999).
It is estimated that the poverty level in Nakuru is 65 per cent of the 
population, with the poverty line defi ned as a per capita income of less than 
one US dollar a day (MPND Kenya, 2003). Sub-Saharan Africa continues to 
bear the brunt of the HIV/AIDS pandemic; the region is home to almost two 
thirds (63 per cent) of the global HIV-positive population (UNAIDS, 2006). 
Almost two thirds of people living with HIV/AIDS are women, who also have 
to live with the related social stigma. In many countries moral judgements 
are passed upon HIV-positive women, much more than on HIV-positive men, 
regardless of how they contracted the disease (ILO, 2003). HIV/AIDS continues 
to be a signifi cant problem for Nakuru, where it is estimated that one in four 
adults is infected with the virus (FHI, 2000 in Anderson, 2007). 
The action-research project described in this case study was carried out 
in 11 out of 15 wards in Nakuru Municipality: namely Kaptembo, Shabab, 
Rhonda, Shauri Yako, Langa Langa, Lakeview, Bondeni, Kivumbini, Menengai, 
and Nakuru East.
Urban agriculture in Nakuru
Foeken and Owour (2000) established that 35 per cent of Nakuru households 
were engaged in urban farming, 27 per cent of whom were growing crops, 
while 20 per cent kept livestock. In 1998, it was estimated that about 5,200 
acres of land were cultivated within the built-up urban area. The most common 
crops grown were maize, kale (sukuma wiki), beans, onions, spinach, tomatoes, 
Irish potatoes, cowpeas, bananas, and a local vegetable commonly referred to 
as sageti (Foeken and Owuor, 2000). In the built-up areas, crops were being 
cultivated not only in people’s compounds but also along roads and railways, 
under power lines, and on every piece of vacant land (Ibid. 2000). There 
were about 160,000 head of poultry, 25,000 head of cattle, 3,000 goats, 3,500 
sheep, and 1,500 pigs within the municipality (Ibid. 2000). Livestock are kept 
in residential compounds, and free-range grazing is also a common sight as 
animals roam around in open spaces and streets. 
 CASE STUDY: HIV/AIDS IN NAKURU, KENYA 169
The action-research project
The main objective of the project is to improve the food and nutrition security 
of HIV/AIDS-affected households in Nakuru Township, in order to mitigate 
the impact of the pandemic on people’s livelihoods. The project commenced 
in May 2006 and is expected to end in April 2009. 
The project includes a diagnostic study and two urban agriculture 
interventions. The projects are implemented through Badili Mawazo Self 
Help Group (BMSHG), an HIV/AIDS psycho-social and welfare development 
group for People Living with HIV/AIDS (PLWHA). Badili Mawazo has 200 
clients, who came together as a group to fi ght stigma, isolation, and loss 
of livelihoods caused by their HIV status. The Presbyterian Church of East 
Africa (PCEA)–Nakuru West Parish offered land at no cost for the production 
of vegetables and fodder, and hosted one cluster of 15 benefi ciaries for the 
dairy-goat project. The church also offered spiritual support and space at the 
church compound for people to hold their Friday support-group meetings. 
The project received technical support from the Urban Harvest programme 
of the International Potato Center (CIP) and several other organizations 
(universities, national government, Catholic dioceses of Nakuru, and others). 
In addition to contributing technical support, the Ministry of Agriculture 
offered land at no cost for the production of vegetables and fodder.
The diagnostic study: livelihood and nutrition survey
A cross-sectional study design, involving both qualitative and quantitative 
measurement, was used. A total of 85 male-headed and 70 female-headed 
households were interviewed. These households were drawn from all the HIV/
AIDS-affected households with a child aged between two to fi ve years known 
to three main HIV/AIDS support organizations working in Nakuru, namely 
Catholic Diocese of Nakuru (Love and Hope Centre), International Community 
for the Relief of Suffering and Starvation (ICROSS), and Family Health 
International (FHI). Livelihoods status was determined by administration of a 
gender-responsive questionnaire based on the Sustainable Livelihoods Approach 
framework (Chambers and Conway, 1991), as well as outcome measures of 
age-specifi c mortality and child illness. Nutrition status was determined by 
anthropometric measures (weight, height, mid–upper arm circumference, and 
triceps skin-fold measures) and an interactive 24-hour dietary recall; food- 
insecurity status was determined by the household dietary-diversity scale 
and household food-insecurity access status tools. A potential health-risks 
assessment was done for the vegetables and dairy-goat interventions, which 
included identifi cation of potential impacts on human health (hazards and 
benefi ts), opportunities for health promotion and disease prevention through 
policy and practice implementation, and opportunities for monitoring and 
evaluation. The survey was used to advise the project on potentially good urban 
agriculture interventions.
170 WOMEN FEEDING CITIES
The majority of households in the study live below the Kenyan urban 
poverty level of US$31 per month, and female-headed households had less 
income than male-headed households (Andersen, 2007). Seventy-three per 
cent of the households were found to be severely food-insecure (Mbugua and 
Andersen, 2007). The female heads on average were older (41.69 yrs) than 
male heads (38.89 yrs). Elderly female heads of households may experience 
greater-than-average labour problems on their plots, and the resulting food 
shortages may be made worse if they have to take care of children, most of 
whom are grandsons and granddaughters. 
The baseline survey also revealed that only 35 per cent of the HIV/AIDS-
affected households had access to land. Female-headed households had less 
access to land (23 per cent) than male-headed households (45 per cent) 
(Andersen, 2007). These fi ndings are in accordance with the results of the 
study of crop–livestock–waste interaction by the Urban Harvest Programme 
which also found that land ownership was higher for men than for women-
headed households (Karanja et al., forthcoming). This could be explained by 
Kenyan traditions which dictate that women do not inherit land, a fact which 
increases their vulnerability to poverty. 
The vegetable-production scheme
Eighty households were identifi ed for participation in the vegetable project 
and then divided into two categories: those with their own farming space and 
those without. Those without space were clustered into four groups, based on 
their geographical location, and allocated communally managed plots that 
were rented or donated by the project partners. Inputs in the form of seed, 
fertilizer, manure, and tools, together with labour for initial land preparation, 
were supplied to the four group farms and to the individual farmers working 
their own plots. Before introduction of the vegetables, the benefi ciaries were 
trained in vegetable production, utilization, and marketing. 
In the vegetable-production groups, the work is divided among the members 
according to a duty roster. Land preparation is done using tractors and hired 
casual labourers. The group members carry out planting and application of 
manure, and casual labourers are occasionally hired to assist in weeding, 
due to periodic illnesses of the members. Use of short-handed hoes may 
cause backache and members are advised to use long-handed hoes. Pest and 
disease control is carried out using both traditional methods and pesticides. 
Pesticides are used only when absolutely necessary; otherwise, Integrated Pest 
Management practices are emphasized. The Manyani plot, formerly used as a 
rubbish tip, was strewn with pieces of broken glasses and batteries, which the 
members are encouraged to collect. The Friday support-group meetings are 
used as a place for discussing any issues or observations pertaining to potential 
health risks, and remedial measures are then taken. 
Vegetables are harvested by the members, who also decide what should 
be used for household consumption and what for sale. All the Badili Mawazo 
 CASE STUDY: HIV/AIDS IN NAKURU, KENYA 171
Women working in an irrigated vegetable garden in Nakuru
By Samwel Mbugua
members have access to the vegetables being produced on the four farms, but 
at variable prices which are based on members’ involvement in production 
activities: active members working daily on the farm were allowed to take 
home 0.25 kg free; all other members paid 3 KSH per bunch, while non-members 
paid 5 KSH). Female members particularly are buying vegetables from the 
group for resale in kiosks to their neighbours. The groups also sell vegetables to 
NGOs for preparing lunch when they are conducting training and workshops 
on HIV/AIDS advocacy, treatment, and prevention. A small part of the income 
generated from vegetables is put towards the group’s savings account for the 
maintenance of the irrigation equipment. 
At the beginning of the vegetable project, some people were reluctant to get 
involved in farm activities because they had become used to the dependency 
syndrome created by the handouts that many HIV/AIDS projects give to 
affected people. HIV/AIDS-affected people also have a tendency to favour 
initiatives that have immediate benefi ts, on account of their uncertainty and 
desperation. The other factor that was observed to affect participation in the 
farm activities was social and cultural diversity among benefi ciaries. These 
challenges were addressed as described below (see under ‘Strategies and tools 
used to incorporate gender in the project implementation’). However, the 
number of active members now stands at six men and 44 women. 
172 WOMEN FEEDING CITIES
The dairy scheme
For the dairy-goats rearing scheme four men and 36 women household 
representatives were selected, based on their degree of commitment shown 
in the vegetable-production scheme during the fi rst six months. The 40 
households were clustered according to their geographical location into two 
groups of 15 members and two groups of fi ve members. A goat house was 
constructed in each of the four clusters, and each participating household 
received one Kenyan-Toggenburg goat, which they would repay in kind by 
donating the fi rst female kid to another project member. Sweet potato vines 
(Ipomea batata) and napier grass (Pennisetum cladistenum) were established as 
fodder banks in three farms.
All men and women benefi ciaries are involved in all husbandry activities, 
which include feeding, milking, and weighing. Health care, such as 
immunizations and attendance at births, is provided by a veterinary doctor, 
whose services are paid for. Feed is transported on bicycles to farms without 
adequate fodder banks by male members, who are compensated for this 
service. 
Results of the two interventions
The two interventions have increased self-esteem and hope among the 
participating households through their involvement in social-economic 
activities. For instance, during one meeting a woman member said: ‘I now 
have something to do on a daily basis and going to the farms, in addition 
to getting food, has also given me an opportunity to meet and chat with my 
fellow HIV/AIDS affected people’. Another one commented: ‘I am now not 
hopeless, worthless and rejected but energetic. I am now able to effectively 
participate in other social groups, feeling good like any other human being.’ 
Sub-committees, elected by the farm members and including men and 
women, manage the activities in each of the farms of the four vegetable 
and dairy-goat groups. Also the involvement of Badili Mawazo members in 
the workshops with various institutions has contributed to their self-esteem 
and has given them a chance to contribute to policy development in urban 
agriculture.
The participation of men and women in the project has helped them to 
share their knowledge and skills in vegetable production and dairy-goat rearing. 
Women have a lot of experience in tending to vegetables, including production 
of traditional African vegetable seeds, while men know more about milking 
and the reproductive health of the dairy goats. The knowledge and skills of 
both men and women in the vegetable production and dairy-goat rearing have 
been complemented through training provided by the project. With the skills 
they have learned, the farmers are now able to implement environmentally 
sound practices such as reuse of goat manure as organic fertilizer in the 
vegetable and seed-production plots. The participating households have also 
 CASE STUDY: HIV/AIDS IN NAKURU, KENYA 173
learned the nutritional value of vegetables and dairy-goat milk. Both men and 
women who are directly involved in the interventions are now able to keep 
records for monitoring and evaluating the performance of the projects. 
The increased supply of vegetables for the household meals and the 
increased use of goat milk as a substitute by HIV-positive breastfeeding women 
and have helped to enhance the nutrition and health of the members of HIV/
AIDS-affected households.
Strategies applied to incorporate gender into the project
The following strategies were applied to ensure attention to gender issues in 
the project.
In the diagnosis
The review of available secondary data and discussions with affected 
community-based organizations and NGOs working with people living with 
HIV/AIDS showed that women are most vulnerable to the effects of the HIV/
AIDS pandemic and most likely to be infected and affected. It also showed that 
most organizations involved in HIV/AIDS programmes focus on advocacy and 
care giving, but pay little attention to enhancing access to food and nutrition, 
although this is critical for mitigating the effects of the HIV/AIDS pandemic. 
Accordingly, this project sought to empower women in HIV/AIDS-affected 
households through vegetable production and livestock rearing activities, with 
the hypothesis that the benefi ts would trickle down to the whole household.
All data gathered during the diagnostic survey were gender-specifi ed (derived 
from both male and female heads of households). Also a gender-responsive 
semi-structured questionnaire was applied which paid special attention to 
crucial issues like access to land, income, and food security among the male- 
and female-headed households, which formed the basis for the design of the 
interventions component of the project.
Male and female enumerators were trained to conduct the interviews 
in Kiswahili, which is the national language which many communities 
understand. 
In the project design
At the inception of the project in 2006, a stakeholder workshop was held 
in Nakuru, bringing together 25 women and 16 men from self-help groups, 
various government ministries, academic partners, NGOs, and Urban Harvest. 
The workshop defi ned priority interventions for enhancing income and food 
and nutrition security among HIV/AIDS-affected households and it established 
that support for safe infant feeding to prevent mother-to-child transmission 
had to be strengthened. The workshop also identifi ed gender-responsive 
strategies for implementing the same objectives. 
174 WOMEN FEEDING CITIES
After the diagnostic study, vegetable and dairy-goat interventions were 
chosen as the most appropriate interventions focusing on HIV/AIDS-affected 
households with at least one child aged 2–5 years. 
Male and female direct benefi ciaries of the vegetable intervention were 
selected after discussions between the project team and Badili Mawazo 
community leaders regarding the ways to promote equal benefi t sharing and 
participation by men and women. For instance, members (mainly female 
heads of household) without land for vegetable production or goat rearing 
were grouped together and given access to land rented or borrowed on their 
behalf by the project.
Other concerns addressed during the project-planning stage to ensure 
gender equity included the following:
• Interventions were identifi ed that would not require intensive labour.
• The combination of a dairy-goat project and a vegetable-production 
project (with largely the same households) was chosen in order to meet 
the needs of both men and women. 
• A training-needs assessment was carried out among men and women 
benefi ciaries for the two projects, and the results informed the preparation 
of the training sessions. 
• All farming activities were planned to be managed by sub-committees in 
each group farm, applying gender-responsive rules and regulations. 
• Technical support and co-ordination roles in the project were shared 
among the male and female members of the project team.
During project implementation
To ensure participation of women in the project implementation, all 
households were given equal access to starter inputs, while a continued supply 
of vegetable seed was ensured by training the members in seed production. 
All activities were carried out by male and female participants, following a 
fl exible duty roster on each farm, constructed to ensure an equitable division 
of labour between men and women, and managed through a participatory 
elected sub-committee, including both men and women.
Equitable benefi t-sharing strategies based on member participation were 
developed by the direct benefi ciaries, as discussed above. The 36 women and 
four men raising dairy goats have all been empowered with skills to manage 
the goats. Although livestock rearing is believed to be a male domain, the 
women have been keen to own the goats and have managed them with 
minimal supervision. 
The social-cultural diversity among the benefi ciaries in both vegetable and 
dairy-goat interventions affected participation, particularly in provision of 
labour. For instance, those with an agricultural background took good care 
of the vegetables, while those from a fi shing background were reluctant to 
do weeding and harvesting. To address these challenges, a Community 
 CASE STUDY: HIV/AIDS IN NAKURU, KENYA 175
Organisational Development and Institutional Strengthening (CODIS) course 
(Gathuru et al., 2007) was conducted by Urban Harvest in conjunction with 
Kenya Green Towns Partnership Association. During the course, benefi ciaries 
were taught the importance of working as a group and the need for everybody’s 
participation for the good of the whole group, in addition to individual benefi t 
sharing. The CODIS training course addressed topics such as group formation 
and development, personality, leadership, confl ict resolution, division of 
labour, networking and advocacy, and project management.
The active participation of men and women was noted to be affected by 
their dairy calendars and health status. Duty rosters and meeting schedules 
were developed in a participatory manner and were reviewed from time to 
time. To cope with the fact that women could not transport animal feed from 
one farm to another, the project purchased bicycles to be used by the men, 
who received compensation in recognition of the fact that they had to put 
aside their own daily chores in order to perform this service for the group. 
The diverse communities’ differing preferences for traditional or exotic 
vegetables were addressed in training sessions which emphasized the higher 
nutritional value of traditional African vegetables. 
Handout-dependence syndrome was common among the benefi ciaries, 
and it affected their participation in activities that require a lot of attention, 
such as goat rearing. Awareness raising and counselling sessions were held, 
particularly during the Friday meetings and training sessions, to improve 
benefi ciaries’ attitudes towards vegetable production and goat keeping as 
sustainable means of improving the social, natural, and fi nancial capital of 
men and women, especially people affected by HIV/AIDS.    
Whenever necessary, members were allowed to use vernacular language in 
meetings and training sessions in order to prevent members with low literacy 
levels being intimidated by other people who were fl uent in Kiswahili and/or 
English.
In monitoring and evaluation
All the monitoring information is disaggregated by gender: for instance, the 
numbers of men and women trained, the number of benefi ciaries by gender 
per household for both projects, members’ involvement in farm activities by 
gender, time, and date. Records are maintained on the performance of dairy 
goats belonging to men and women (on feeding, weight gain/loss, and health). 
The yields of vegetables, milk, and income produced per (male- or female-led) 
household are recorded. 
In scaling up and infl uencing policy 
In August 2007 a workshop was held in Nakuru during which the results 
of the baseline livelihood and nutrition survey were discussed with policy 
makers from the Ministry of Agriculture and the Municipal Council. Urban 
176 WOMEN FEEDING CITIES
agriculture was presented as a productive sector that needs to be planned 
for and supported with extension services. In September 2007 a second 
workshop was held, involving Badili Mawazo members and stakeholders from 
NGOs, government departments, researchers, trainers, policy makers, and 
representatives of the private sector to discuss the potential benefi ts of the 
two projects and provide an opportunity for Badili Mawazo to share their 
agricultural policy-related concerns. In this way the project has infl uenced 
other support groups to consider urban agriculture as a viable initiative for 
people living with HIV/AIDS and to give special attention to female-headed 
households. As a result, among others, UNGA (Ltd.) Kenya Company has 
provided the Badili Mawazo members with layer chicks. 
Through testimonies by male and female project members regarding their 
HIV/AIDS status, more people in the Presbyterian Church of East Africa have 
declared their HIV/AIDS status and consequently can be assisted by the church 
and the project. 
Conclusions
Lessons learned about gender mainstreaming in urban agriculture
• Acceptability, viability, and impacts of agricultural interventions among 
men and women depend on the benefi ciary’s involvement in their 
identifi cation and prioritization.
• The social and cultural background of the potential benefi ciaries of 
urban agricultural projects should be well understood, because it affects 
their participation.
• Gender needs to be addressed in agricultural projects throughout the 
project cycle. 
• Gender issues arising during project implementation need to be 
addressed even if not planned for, otherwise the intended outcomes and 
impact will not be realized. Some research organizations may shy away 
from addressing gender issues, viewing it as a task for NGOs than for 
research organizations. However, it is more effi cient for these issues to 
be addressed directly by the research organization, rather than seeking 
to involve an NGO partner to do so. 
• Various gender issues emerging during implementation can be addressed 
through capacity building: for instance, through courses in community 
organizational development and institutional strengthening (CODIS).
• Access to land, although crucial to the success of any urban agriculture 
intervention and especially for poor female-headed households, is a big 
challenge in urban areas. There is a need for timely identifi cation of 
project partners / institutions who could play a role in securing access 
to land; and a need to allocate money and time for the identifi cation of 
available vacant land. 
 CASE STUDY: HIV/AIDS IN NAKURU, KENYA 177
• Agricultural interventions with disadvantaged groups such as people 
living with HIV/AIDS require broad partnerships with agencies including 
faith-based organizations that can offer them spiritual support. 
• Equal benefi t sharing, division of labour, and participation in decision 
making in urban farming groups is best addressed through rules and 
regulations set by the benefi ciaries themselves, taking into consideration 
their challenges and opportunities.
• Previous studies, for instance in Kisumu by Ishani (2002) and by Urban 
Harvest in Nakuru (Gathuru et al., 2005; Karanja et al., forthcoming) 
have indicated that decisions about livestock are normally made by 
men. Hence there is a need to ensure that women’s right to own dairy 
goats is ensured, particularly in households where the direct benefi ciary 
is female. Agreements and/or contracts could be developed between 
the Badili Mawazo group and the benefi ciaries in order to protect 
the right of women to own the dairy goats, as well as protecting the 
household members from losing the animals in case of death of the 
direct benefi ciaries. The agreements and/or contracts will also ensure 
appropriate use of the dairy goats and avoid the chances of their being 
used for unintended purposes such as slaughtering for meat and as 
security for loans.  
• Research and development organizations targeting disadvantaged 
groups such as those affected by HIV/AIDS should adopt sustainable 
approaches, such as household empowerment through skills and 
training and provision of opportunities other than food donations 
which create a dependency syndrome while promoting a feeling of 
helplessness. Agricultural projects provide HIV/AIDS-infected people 
with an opportunity to grow their own food and generate an income, 
and also give them a chance to fulfi l their strategic needs of socializing 
and supporting each other. 
Gender mainstreaming in urban vs rural agriculture
• There is more social and cultural diversity among urban farmers than 
rural farmers, which increases the challenge of introducing gender 
equity into project management. However, the social and cultural beliefs 
are weaker in urban areas than in rural areas, and discussions of gender 
issues such as access to income and land are more open in urban areas.  
• Urban producers have more opportunities for interaction and networking 
and thus better changes of gender mainstreaming, due to the availability 
of better infrastructure, especially communication facilities, and a greater 
presence of institutions. 
• As in rural agriculture, women face greater challenges than men when 
aspiring to access and own land and livestock. In rural areas the traditional 
land tenure and inheritance system gives women no chance to inherit 
land, while in urban areas the competition for open spaces is fi erce, and 
178 WOMEN FEEDING CITIES
women are disadvantaged in this ‘survival of the fi ttest’ scenario in which 
masculinity prevails. The insecurity of the roadsides and riverbeds where 
urban agriculture is taking place is another disadvantage for women. 
• Urban agriculture is more commercialized and hence provides better 
opportunities for the empowerment of women. 
References
Andersen, N. (2007) ‘Assessment of Sustainable Livelihoods, Foods Security 
and Illness in HIV/AIDS Affected Households in Nakuru, Kenya’, Research 
Paper, University of Toronto, Canada.
Chambers, R. and Conway, G.R. (1991) Sustainable Rural Livelihoods: Practical 
Concepts for the 21st Century, Institute of Development Studies Discussion 
Paper, IDS, Brighton.
Foeken, D. and Owuor, S. (2000) Urban Farmers in Nakuru, Kenya, ASC Working 
Paper No. 45, Africa Studies Centre, Leiden, and Centre for Urban Research, 
University of Nairobi, Kenya.
Gathuru, K., Njenga, M., Karanja, N., and Githe, E. (2005) Community-Based 
Research and Development Centre Urban Agriculture and Waste Management 
Nakuru, supported by International Development Research Centre (IDRC). 
Project Report, IDRC, Canada.
Gathuru, K., Njenga, M., and Karanja, N. (2007) ‘Community Based 
Organisational Development and Institutional Strengthening’, draft 
training manual.
ILO (2003) Socio-economic Impact of HIV/AIDS on People Living with HIV/AIDS 
and their Families, New Delhi, Delhi Network of Positive People, Manipur 
Network of People Living with HIV/AIDS, Network of Maharashtra by 
People Living with HIV/AIDS, Positive Women’s Network of Southern 
India, International Labour Organisation, New Delhi.
Ishani, Z., Gathuru, K., and Lamba, D. (2002) ‘Scoping Study on Interactions 
between Gender Relations and Livestock Keeping in Kisumu’, unpublished 
report prepared for Natural Resources International Ltd. 
Karanja, N., Njenga, M., Gathuru, K., and Karanja, A. (forthcoming) ‘Crop–
Livestock–Waste Interactions in Nakuru: A Scoping Study’, in Prain, G., 
Karanja, N. and Lee-Smith, D. (eds.) Urban and Peri-Urban Agriculture in Sub-
Saharan Africa – 20 Years On: Case Studies and Perspectives, Chapter 10. 
Mbugua, S. and Andersen, N. (2007) ‘Sustainable Environments and Health 
Through Urban Agriculture (SEHTUA)’, Nakuru Project, feedback workshop 
fl yer.
MCN (1999) Strategic Nakuru Structure Plan. Action Plan for Sustainable Urban 
Development of Nakuru Town and its Environs, Municipal Council of Nakuru, 
Nakuru, Kenya.
Ministry of Planning and National Development (MPND) (2003) Economic 
Survey, MPND, Kenya.
UNAIDS (2006) Report on the Global AIDS Epidemic, UNAIDS, Geneva.
 CASE STUDY: HIV/AIDS IN NAKURU, KENYA 179
About the authors
Kuria Gathuru is National Coordinator for the Kenya Green Towns Partnership 
Association, Nairobi, Kenya.
Mary Njenga is Research Offi cer for the Urban Harvest, International Potato 
Center (CIP), Nairobi, Kenya.
Nancy Karanja is Regional Coordinator SSA at the CIP-Urban Harvest, Nairobi, 
Kenya.
Patrick Munyao is Research Assistant at the CIP-Urban Harvest, Nairobi, 
Kenya.

CHAPTER 12
Gender dynamics of fruit and vegetable 
production and processing in peri-urban 
Magdalena, Sonora, Mexico
Stephanie Buechler
Abstract
The gender dynamics of fruit and vegetable production and processing in San 
Ignacio, a peri-urban area of Magdalena, Mexico, are the focus of this applied 
research project. The cities of Magdalena and Nogales, in close proximity to the 
community studied, infl uenced the volume of water available for agriculture. Water 
scarcity and climate change are negatively affecting fruit production. The reduction 
in fruit production is in turn affecting the small fruit-processing businesses run 
by women and men. Some of these women and men have their own fruit orchards 
and vegetable plots, some purchase the fruit and vegetables they process, and 
some both produce and purchase the fruit and vegetables. The involvement of 
women and men in processing is infl uenced by gender. Women are more involved 
than men in canning fruit, making sauces, and pickling vegetables. They sell these 
items to larger processing businesses within their community and/or to vendors 
in cities located nearby, or to the state capital. Women also use these products to 
maintain important social networks. Men dominate quince-jelly production and 
sale. The major production constraint reported by women was the rising costs of 
inputs such as sugar and glass jars, whereas men tended to emphasize the high 
cost of labour and lack of capital to produce suffi cient quantities of the jelly. 
Both women and men expressed their concern about increasing water scarcity 
and rising temperatures. Women were especially interested in learning new ways 
of processing the fruits and vegetables in order to be able to offer more unique 
products. Recommendations are made to improve the natural-resource base in 
this community and the production and processing of these fruits and vegetables, 
particularly for those activities performed by women. Women are more vulnerable 
than men to water scarcity and climate-change effects on these agricultural 
processing businesses, owing to gender inequities that include prevailing lower 
wages for women in alternative employment. 
182 WOMEN FEEDING CITIES
Introduction
This case study of the gendered production and processing of fruit and 
vegetables in San Ignacio, a peri-urban community of the city of Magdalena 
in Mexico, is based on a research project which examines the effect of 
water scarcity and climate change on gendered agriculture-based livelihood 
strategies. Fruits and vegetables are preserved by several different methods 
in San Ignacio, and men and women are involved in different phases of the 
processing. With some products, women direct and dominate production; 
with other products, men dominate production. Women and men also use the 
products for different purposes. The research was conducted by Dr Stephanie 
Buechler of the Bureau of Applied Research in Anthropology at the University 
of Arizona. The study was funded by the Resource Centre on Urban Agriculture 
and Food Security (RUAF) Foundation and a Magellan Circle Fellowship Award 
from the University of Arizona. The project was carried out between October 
2007 and April 2008. 
San Ignacio – the study area
The peri-urban community of San Ignacio, with a population of 720 people 
(INEGI, 2006b), is located about six kilometres from the city of Magdalena 
(which had a population of approximately 30,000 people in 2005) and 30 km 
from the city of Santa Ana (with a population of 14,538 in 2005).
The study area is located in the northern state of Sonora, approximately 
75 km to the south of the 350-mile border that this state shares with the 
state of Arizona in the United States. The entire stretch of the US–Mexico 
border area is gaining population, and some have projected that this area 
will become the largest urbanized area in North America or even in the world 
(Weaver, 2001: 110).
The close proximity to the border has affected agriculture-based livelihoods 
in this area in a variety of ways. Most agriculture-dependent households in the 
study site have at least one immediate or extended family member residing in 
the US. In 2007, Mexicans working in the US sent back an estimated US$24 
billion to their families (Malkin, 2008). In the fi rst quarter of 2008, however, 
remittances from Mexican migrants in the US to Mexico dropped 2.9 per cent 
from the fi rst quarter of 2007, representing the fi rst major decline since the 
Mexican Central Bank began tracking the transfers in 1995. This decline is 
mainly attributed to fear of job loss on the part of legal and illegal migrants, 
to fewer jobs for migrants, and to lower real incomes as a result of infl ation 
(Preston, 2008). Due to stricter border controls, it is now less common than 
it was a year ago to have family members work in the US during the week 
and return to their community at the weekend. Instead, family members 
must engage in permanent migration to the US or seek employment in other 
Mexican cities. In addition to obtaining remittance income from migrant 
relatives, direct economic benefi ts from the proximity of the US are derived 
 CASE STUDY: MAGDALENA, MEXICO 183
from the sale of crops to truckers, who take the produce directly to the US. The 
fruit and vegetable preserves are occasionally sold to vendors on the border, 
who sell them in the US; most of these vendors sell the goods in Nogales, 
Arizona.    
The community of San Ignacio is situated approximately 780 m above sea 
level (INEGI, 2006a) in the Sonora (semi-) desert, which has an average rainfall 
of approximately 330 mm per year. Temperatures in recent years have been 
above normal and erratic, with unpredictable, heavy rainfall which makes the 
area vulnerable to erosion (Vásquez-León and Bracamonte, 2005). 
Increasing competition for water from urban centres, industry, and 
agriculture is putting pressure on water resources in the area (Magaña and 
Conde, 2000). Water from the Los Alisos basin/River Magdalena is piped to 
supply the nearby (75 km) twin cities of Nogales (on both sides of the Mexican–
US border) with a combined population of 300,000 (INEGI, 2006a and US 
Census Bureau, 2007). The domestic water supply of these cities reduces the 
availability of groundwater and surface water for agriculture. The cropped area 
in the state diminished by 40 per cent from 1996 to 2004 (Bracamonte et al., 
2007: 54). Water for irrigation in the peri-urban community in this case study 
comes from springs channelled into irrigation canals, from wells, and from 
municipal domestic supply (groundwater). 
Dynamic agricultural production in San Ignacio 
Agricultural production has experienced vast change in the area. Until 
approximately 55 years ago cotton was produced, but cotton blight caused 
farmers to switch to producing mainly wheat. A widespread pest attack 
approximately 40 years ago caused the closure of the surrounding wheat-
grinding mills and another shift to vegetable production. Gradually, fruit trees 
were planted in response to fl uctuating vegetable prices. Orchards are now 
common in many of the towns surrounding the city of Magdalena. However, 
the cropped area is becoming smaller as a result of internal and international 
migration, water scarcity, climate change, and off-farm employment in 
Magdalena and other surrounding cities. Today, fruits, olives, vegetables, 
fl owers (for cut fl owers), alfalfa, and grains are cultivated. Flowers and trees are 
also grown in small nurseries and sold in pots. Ranching is another agricultural 
livelihood activity in this community. The varieties of fruit that are grown 
are changing. At present, mainly quince, peaches, persimmons, pears, and 
citrus fruits such as oranges, pomelo, grapefruit, lemons, and various types 
of orange are produced. Plum and apricot production once predominated; 
however, these fruits have almost completely disappeared. Fig and olive trees 
have also become much rarer in the area. The producers in the area attributed 
this change in cropping pattern to water scarcity, particularly evident in the 
last seven years, to warmer average temperatures, and to nematode infections 
of the tree roots. Olive trees were infected with a white fl y. Community 
members with tree nurseries noted that an increased number of small trees are 
184 WOMEN FEEDING CITIES
dying because of higher temperatures. Other factors involved in the change in 
cropping patterns include the abandoning of farming for other occupations 
in urban areas in Mexico or in the US. This has a negative impact on labour 
availability for farming. 
Fruits are canned and also made into jams or preserves. Quince jelly, a kind 
of sweet that is sliced before being consumed, is also produced. A wide variety 
of vegetables are preserved by pickling and canning methods. Chiles, nopales 
(edible cactus), green and red onions, radishes, cilantro, cabbage, lettuce, 
spinach, and quelite blanco, a vegetable with small waxy leaves and stems, are 
the principal vegetables produced. Chiles, nopales, and onions are the main 
vegetables that are pickled and canned.
Fruits and vegetables as well as canned fruit, jams, and jelly are sold to a wide 
variety of buyers. The main marketing channels for vegetables include buyers 
who come with their trucks to the fi elds; municipal markets in Hermosillo, 
the capital city of Sonora state, with a population in 2005 of 707,838 people 
(INEGI, 2006a), located about 200 km from the community; and the municipal 
market in the city of Nogales on the border with the US. For fruits and fruit 
products, the main marketing outlets are local vendors with stands next to 
the highway in and near Magdalena and Santa Ana (30 km away), who often 
come to the homes of canned-goods producers; individuals who come to the 
producers’ homes or fi elds (such as religious pilgrims walking to area mission 
churches in the month of October); community members; urban grocery 
chain stores; smaller urban grocery stores; and urban municipal markets in 
Woman producing canned fruits
By Stephanie Buechler
 CASE STUDY: MAGDALENA, MEXICO 185
Hermosillo and Nogales. Bakeries in Hermosillo also purchase the quince jam 
for a particular type of pastry named coyotes. In the case of some contracts, for 
example between smaller grocery stores and quince-jelly producers, sugar is 
exchanged for quince jelly, so the producers do not need to have large sums of 
cash for this important ingredient. 
Study methodologies
The methodologies used in this study included fi eld observations, participant 
observation, semi-structured, in-depth qualitative interviews, and informal 
conversations with female and male adults living in the peri-urban community 
studied. Observations were also made in the nearby cities where the produce and 
processed products were sold. For example, visits were made to supermarkets, 
smaller grocery stores, and highway fruit stands in Magdalena, to learn about 
the effect of the city on the marketing of fruit and vegetable preserves. A 
snowball sampling method was used to select most interviewees for the study. 
The author also selected interviewees via fi eld observations of women and men 
working in orchards. Sixteen women and ten men were interviewed in depth, 
and follow-up interviews took place with many of them. Each interviewee 
sold fruits and/or vegetables and fruit and vegetable preserves; most grew part 
or all of the produce that they preserved. Statistics on the state’s agriculture 
sector and water resources were also collected. 
Semi-structured interviews were framed as conversations: the interviewer 
included common points of reference, including experiences of producing 
canned fruit, pickled vegetables, jam, and olives, and experiences of mothering 
and the juggling of family and work. Women were interviewed alone, without 
the presence of men. This helped to foster an atmosphere in which women felt 
freer to speak without being interrupted or overshadowed by male household 
members. In the interviews with women, questions were asked to probe the 
way in which women’s work (including agricultural work) interacts with the 
work of other household members. Women and men were asked separately 
about gender divisions of labour and any fl exibility in these divisions. 
The interviews and follow-up interviews were multi-seasonal and multi-
local, in order to gain a better sense of the changes in agriculture-based 
livelihoods according to the month of the year. Interviews were also conducted 
at different times of day. Women’s ‘triple day’ became very apparent as a result. 
In the evening women were still cooking dinner, washing dishes, taking care 
of children, and preparing for the next day. Interviews took place at a range of 
locations, such as the home and the fi elds. This gave a much better indication 
of the normally wide gamut of agricultural and other activities such as food 
processing in which the interviewee engages. It also provided insight into 
the activities of other household members and an opportunity for future 
interviews with those family members. Transect walks along waterways and 
participatory mapping of water sources were other methodologies used for the 
study.
186 WOMEN FEEDING CITIES
Gender analysis of the local urban agriculture situation
Access to labour
Women and men are employed in both agricultural and non-agricultural 
activities. Due to the lack of public transportation to the surrounding areas, 
women’s ability to obtain employment in the city is limited. This is particularly 
the case if they have small children, which means that they cannot come and 
go with ease. The landless and women and men with small landholdings work 
in a variety of on- and off-farm employment in the fruit orchards, vegetable 
fi elds, and cattle ranches, and in the production of canned goods, quince 
jelly, and cheese. They also work as managers and workers in nearby foreign-
owned greenhouses which produce tomatoes and cucumbers. Men’s non-farm 
employment includes work in copper mines and other types of mine, usually 
entailing a two-hour commute each way every day in a company van to a 
mining area within Sonora. Women and men fi nd work also in construction 
jobs and in grocery stores, auto-repair shops, and other local businesses in 
Magdalena. Some young women work in maquiladoras (assembly plants) in 
Magdalena which provide transportation to and from the plants, but one was 
rumoured to be closing soon. Others make the long daily commute to Nogales; 
however, they must have access to private transport to Magdalena in order 
to catch a public bus from Magdalena to Nogales. Many who go to Nogales 
are women who work as housekeepers and nannies. Many households have 
members who are living and working in the US, but remittance levels are 
being threatened by a poor economy over the border and stricter immigration 
enforcement. Women in Mexico in general earn less than men for comparable 
work and they advance much less quickly, thus contributing to Mexico’s low 
ranking (109 out of 128 countries surveyed) with respect to gender equality in 
economic participation and opportunity (Hausmann et al., 2007: 4; 9). This 
helps to explain why, even if women or their daughters in San Ignacio are 
employed in the formal sector, additional sources of income and food are 
usually necessary to sustain their households. 
Access to land and control over resources
Agricultural land in the community is mostly in the hands of men. This is 
mainly due to a patriarchal and patrilineal system of land ownership whereby 
land is passed down between generations from father to sons. The plots of 
land that are farmed (many are left unfarmed due to absentee landowners) 
average 3 ha in size; fruit orchards vary greatly in size, ranging from 200 m² to 
8 ha. Some of the fruit orchards are located in the back patio or solar near the 
house. Others are located at a distance from the house in areas with agricultural 
fi elds. Vegetable plots are frequently rented in a share-cropping arrangement 
in which the landowner invests in the groundwater-pumping costs and the 
plants, while the share-cropper pays for a tractor and driver to prepare the 
land, and for the labour to plant the crops. The share-cropper and landowner 
 CASE STUDY: MAGDALENA, MEXICO 187
invest equal sums in the costs of pesticide, fertilizer, and harvesting (by fi eld 
labourers). After expenses are deducted, half of the profi ts go to the landowner 
and half goes to the renter. Tree and fl ower nurseries are frequently located in 
the back patio. 
Canned-fruit producers, as well as jelly producers who do not grow suffi cient 
quantities or who do not have any orchards, purchase the fruit from growers 
in San Ignacio or from neighbouring communities. Arrangements vary; either 
the fruit is purchased, or the canned-fruit or jelly producer goes to the orchard 
with his/her own labourers and picks the fruit. In the latter case, the fruit is 
then purchased at a discounted rate from the owner of the orchard. Men and 
women producers of canned fruit and jelly often put their own as well as 
family labour into picking the fruit. If family members are hired as labourers, 
they are often paid by the bucket or bag of fruit. Men and women are paid the 
same rate for each bucket or bag. One woman proudly claimed that she was 
able to pick more than most men; she said that she picked rapidly because 
she had ‘six hungry children to feed’ with the income that she earned from 
canning and jelly production.
Gender division of tasks in processing and marketing of fruits and vegetables
Quince jelly and jam production
Men dominate the production of quince jelly (cajeta de membrillo) and quince 
jam (jalea de membrillo), and women tend to control canned-goods production 
(see Table 12.1). Although women and men initially reported a strict division 
of labour in the production of canned fruit and vegetable and quince jelly, in 
practice there is substantial sharing of tasks. In fact, one woman explained 
that the main reason why she engaged in canned-fruit production and jelly 
production with her husband and children was so that they could all work 
together. Even when sons and daughters graduated and then continued their 
studies in another city, or lived and worked in another city, or commuted 
from the community to the city to work, they often helped their parents and 
other family members in the production of these goods during peak times in 
the year. It was very evident that this type of production fostered a sense of 
family unity. 
In quince jelly and jam production, women and men wash the quince 
and cut it. Children and elderly family members also often share the tasks of 
washing and cutting the quince. The tasks most consistently divided by gender 
in quince jelly production are the stirring of the hot quince jelly in the huge 
open copper pots over the wood-burning fi re or stove, which is considered to 
be heavy work, and the cutting of the cooled jelly into blocks that are later 
individually wrapped. Men mainly perform those tasks. However, workers 
are hired for a daily rate to help with the heavy work of stirring. Most of 
the workers hired for this particular part of the production process are men. 
Women and men wrap the blocks of quince jelly in plastic and place them 
188 WOMEN FEEDING CITIES
in boxes for sale. Mainly female workers are hired to do the wrapping and 
packing. In the case of one quince jelly producer family, the son-in-law pours 
the jelly into moulds to create quince jelly shaped into designs for sale to 
customers who buy this product for special occasions. 
The quince jam is produced by boiling the quince seeds that remain after 
the fruit is used for the quince jelly. These seeds are ground, then boiled with 
sugar. Men and women share in most of these tasks except for the grinding, 
which the men tend to do. Hired labourers help at different stages of the 
production process, again following gendered divisions of labour, so that 
only men, for example, are hired to do the grinding. Whenever possible, 
relatives such as nephews or nieces are hired. Household members are not 
paid, however, for their work, and it is frequently daughters-in-law who help 
in quince jelly and jam production. 
Canned-goods production
Women control the production of canned goods (see Table 12.1). They boil 
and stir the fruit and vegetables for the canned fruit and pickled vegetables. 
Women and their sons and daughters and/or their daughters-in-law wash and 
generally prepare the fruit. Unlike the case of male-dominated quince jelly 
and jam production, very little or no labour is hired. Women mainly perform 
the tasks related to the boiling process, which include adding the sugar and 
stirring it with the fruit, as well as continuously skimming the froth off the 
top and discarding it. They cook the chillis that go into the pickled vegetables, 
wash and cut the vegetables, and add the vinegar. They perform these tasks in 
their kitchens on the same stove that they use for cooking their family’s food. 
They are also the primary vendors of these products. 
Marketing
Women display greater knowledge of customer preferences in canned goods. 
For example, women rotate the peaches and quince in the jar so that the part 
where the stem originates faces inward. They undertake this labour-intensive 
activity because customers have told them that this makes the fruit look more 
appealing in the jar. They also painstakingly skim the froth and impurities 
from the top as they boil the fruit, for visual appeal.
The locus of women’s marketing is more circumscribed than men’s; women 
mainly use their community and family networks to sell their products, 
whereas men tend to have more far-fl ung networks, garnered from their 
participation in employment in Magdalena as well as larger cities in Sonora. 
It is also easier for men than for women to leave their homes to travel to 
cities that are farther away, and they are thus more able to take their produce 
and processed products to markets and businesses in these more distant areas. 
Women are responsible for performing a far greater number of household tasks 
than men, including child care, cooking, cleaning, and washing clothes, which 
 CASE STUDY: MAGDALENA, MEXICO 189
Table 12.1 Gender division of labour in the peri-urban study area
 Females (♀) Male (♂)
Socio-economic activity Locus
1. Production of goods and services
a) Fruit
Irrigation  +   +++ + Within the fi eld
Harvesting + ++  + +++ + Within the fi eld
Transport  + ++  + +++  Field to transport vehicle
Sale in the market (vendors  +   +++  Municipal market; roadside
different from farmers/producers)       stand; to businesses 
Sale from home  +++ +  +++ + Within home
b) Vegetables
Irrigation     +++  Market to home
Harvesting  ++   +++  Within the fi eld
Transport  ++   +++  Field to transport vehicle
Sale from the fi eld  +   +++  Within the fi eld
Sale in the market  +   +++  Municipal market; roadside
       stand; to businesses
c) Canned fruit
Fruit preparation  + +++ ++ + +++ ++ Within home
Boiling of fruit with sugar  +++ +  +  In kitchen
Skimming off impurities  +++     In kitchen
Sterilizing jars  +++ ++  +  In kitchen 
Placing fruit and syrup in jars  +++ +  +  In kitchen
Sale in market  +   +++  Municipal market; roadside
       stand; to businesses
Sale from home ++ +++ ++  +  Within home
d) Jam  ++   +++
Fruit preparation (and grinding
seeds in case of quince jam)  + +++ ++ + +++ ++ Within home
Boiling of fruit or seeds   + +  +++  In kitchen
Boiling of fruit or seeds with sugar  +++   ++  In kitchen
Sterilizing jars  +++ ++  +  In kitchen 
Placing jam in jars  +++ +  +  In kitchen
Marketing of jam  +   +++  In municipal markets; 
       bakeries; roadside stands; 
       to businesses
Sale from home ++ +++ ++  +  From home
e) Quince Jelly
Fruit preparation ++ +++ +++ + +++ +++ Within home or garden
Stirring of thick fruit and sugar  +   +++  Outside in garden or in
mixture in large copper cauldron       separate shed
Pouring of jelly into pans     +++  In home kitchen
Cutting jelly into rectangular bars  +   +++  In home kitchen
Wrapping jelly in plastic   +++ ++  +  In home kitchen
Marketing of jelly (producers  +   +++  In municipal markets;
sell to vendors; they don’t sell it        roadside stands; to
themselves)       businesses
Marketing of jelly  +++ +    From home
Child
Adult
Elder
Child
Adult
Elder
190 WOMEN FEEDING CITIES
 Females (♀) Male (♂)
Socio-economic activity Locus
f) Pickled vegetables or sauces
Vegetable preparation  + +++ ++    In home kitchen
Cooking vegetables  +++ ++    In home kitchen
Sterilizing jars  ++   ++  In home kitchen
Placing vegetables in vinegar + +++ ++    In home kitchen
Marketing of pickled vegetables  ++   +++  In municipal market; 
       roadside stand; to 
       businesses
Marketing of pickled vegetables + +++ ++    From home
2. Social reproduction and
maintenance of human resources
Child care ++ +++ ++  +  Within home
Care of sick children + +++     Taking children to hospital
Care of the elderly  +++   +  Within home
Care of the elderly  +++   +  Taking the elderly to clinic 
or hospital
Household management ++ +++ +    Within home
(cooking, cleaning, washing)
Collecting water during dry
summer months ++ +++ + + ++  To springs and other well
3. Community management
Participation in local institutions/
associations
Ejido meetings *  + ++  +++ ++ In community hall
Community meetings of
comuneros (those who do not
have ejido rights)  + ++  +++ ++ In community hall
Women’s church group  + +++ +++    In community hall or 
       church
* The ejido system is a process whereby the government promotes the use of communal land 
shared by the people of the community.
A child is a girl or boy below the age of 16 years. An elderly person is a person 60 years old 
and above.
+++ indicates that frequency is high
++  indicates that frequency is medium
+   indicates that frequency is low 
constrains their ability to take the time to travel to distant markets. However, 
men take products produced by women to market, which aids women who 
have older sons, husbands, or other adult male household members. 
Social dimension of canned-fruit production
Canned-fruit production supports household food security, gift exchanges, and 
income generation. Women in particular are responsible for household food 
Child
Adult
Elder
Child
Adult
Elder
 CASE STUDY: MAGDALENA, MEXICO 191
security. Fruit is retained for snacks and desserts, and fruit juices are made from 
the fruit for family consumption. Canned fruits are retained for special family 
occasions and holidays. They are also given as gifts to maintain reciprocal 
relationships, particularly in kin and fi ctive kin networks, or are presented 
to important social fi gures such as the community priest. For example, one 
woman explained: ‘I cannot give birthday gifts because of the cost, so I bring 
along a can of my peaches when I attend a birthday party’. Another woman, 
who makes canned fruit with the help of several extended-family members 
and whose husband produces quince jelly, explained her methodical approach 
to gift giving and to retaining food for home consumption:
I keep two boxes of canned peach jars and four boxes of quince jelly bars to give 
as gifts. I also keep one box of canned peaches and a few pieces of quince jelly, but 
these are for the house [her household members]. I keep some fruit to make fruit 
juice for my family and also to eat as snacks (Field interviews, November–April 
2008, author’s translation). 
These exchanges are important to women, because they depend on 
mutual aid arrangements in the form of reciprocal gifts and labour inputs 
in agriculture and small-scale enterprises. Women and men invest in their 
fruit and vegetable processing businesses and also use the income from these 
products for household expenses. The woman whose words are quoted above 
produced a total of 70 boxes or 840 jars of canned fruit in 2007 (20 boxes were 
produced with fruit from her own orchard, and the remaining 50 boxes were 
produced with fruit that she purchased). She and her husband produced about 
450 boxes of quince jelly, or about 23,400 bars of the jelly in 2007. Women 
interviewees consistently maintained that one of the principal ways in which 
they invested their money was to pay for their children’s education. As one 
woman explained: ‘Men work in the orchards, but women kill themselves 
doing these things [canning fruits and vegetables and helping with quince 
jelly production] so that their children can get an education’ (fi eld interviews 
by author, November–April 2008, author’s translation). 
Constraints on production
Fruit producers mentioned numerous constraints on production. These 
problems include the length of time that elapses between tree planting and 
fruit production. Trees must also be replanted after a certain number of years. 
Quince trees, for example, take three years to begin to bear fruit and must 
be replanted every 15–20 years. There are also fewer orchards, a fact which 
producers attribute to owners taking land out of orchard production due to 
water scarcity and higher temperatures, the sale of orchards for ranching 
activities, or the abandonment of the land by migrant families. 
Another major problem is increasing water scarcity. This causes many 
related problems, such as greater susceptibility of plants and trees to pests, 
lower production, decreased life-span of the trees, and, frequently, the need 
192 WOMEN FEEDING CITIES
to reduce the cropped area. The response of one woman when asked why she 
did not replant the old peach and quince trees that had to be cut down in her 
orchard was: ‘ya no hay agua’, ’There is no water any more’. The canal that 
helped to irrigate the community for more than one hundred years no longer 
has water, and the well owned by her neighbour, on which she and her family 
depend, has less and less water. Women depend to a much greater degree than 
men on fruit produced in their home gardens. Women irrigate and generally 
care for these orchards. The orchards near their homes enable them to combine 
farming, child care, and household tasks more easily. These are the orchards 
where water scarcity is currently most severe; most are not located within easy 
access of the springs used to irrigate the fi elds farther from the homes. Instead, 
these home orchards depend primarily on municipal water (obtained from 
a community well), which is insuffi cient even for household use in the dry 
season. As the locus of production moves farther from the home, it is likely 
that women will have less control over access to produce for their canned 
goods and for household consumption. Costs of production are also likely to 
increase, as more of the produce for the preserves is purchased.
Women and men who canned fruits and vegetables mentioned the obstacles 
that they faced in their efforts to achieve a decent and steady income from 
the sale of their products. A major problem cited by the women is the lack of 
affordable jars in Mexico. A woman in the community sells jars purchased by 
her son, who lives in the US. These are considered to be expensive. Therefore, 
when possible the female producers often travel to the US to purchase the jars 
in large quantities in chain stores such as Walmart. However, border customs 
regulations restrict the number of boxes of jars that can be taken across the 
border into Mexico without duties. Women reported that they also made 
use of social networks to obtain glass jars (either used or new jars), usually 
from relatives in the US. Men producers tended to emphasize the problem 
of the high cost of labour and the signifi cant amounts of capital necessary to 
produce quince jelly in large enough quantities to earn suffi cient profi t. These 
men noted that it was not normally possible to borrow money, due to the lack 
of available sources of credit in the community. A bank in Magdalena extends 
credit, but male fruit producers and processors complained that ‘one pays 
double because of the high interest payments’. Some of the male farmers with 
fi elds and orchards irrigated by the springs operated a rotating credit fund in 
order to obtain more capital to purchase inputs, but this fund was temporarily 
suspended in 2008 by the government when a few of the farmers (reportedly 
the better-off farmers) did not repay their loans. Women operated with less 
capital than men and did not attempt to obtain credit. Both men and women 
stated that there was a need for a municipal market in Magdalena where they 
could sell their fruits, vegetables, and derivative products. Producers must 
instead go to Hermosillo, approximately three hours’ journey away, to sell their 
crops to vendors in the municipal market. As mentioned, men are more able 
than women to make this trip, for reasons related to women’s greater burden 
 CASE STUDY: MAGDALENA, MEXICO 193
of household responsibilities as well as to greater restrictions on women’s 
movements away from the watchful eyes of their community members. 
Both women and men also mentioned other barriers. These included costs 
of production, competition with other producers, and diffi culties in obtaining 
legal permits required for labels. These barriers included the rising costs of 
sugar, gas, and wood for cooking, and rising labour costs. Labour costs are 
signifi cantly higher on the border than elsewhere in Mexico. Female and male 
producers mentioned that there was a lot of competition for their products 
from other producers in the community. Another limitation is the lack of 
knowledge, the cost, and the bureaucracy involved in obtaining a government 
permit from the local offi ce of the Ministry of Finance in order to be able to 
label their products and sell them directly to supermarkets. Most must sell their 
products therefore to intermediaries who are able to sell the products with a 
label to large supermarkets. One larger quince jelly producer in the community 
grows his own quince and purchases some quince fruit to make jelly. He also 
purchases additional quince jelly, which he markets under his label. However, 
there were no women who had this label. As one woman stated, even though 
her daughter works in Magdalena in Hacienda (the Ministry of Finance, which 
administers labels) she does not know what obtaining a label for her canned 
products and her quince jelly would entail in terms of bureaucratic procedures, 
paperwork, and cost. 
Another constraint for producers of both jelly and canned goods is the 
limited demand for these products. This is caused by the generally low 
purchasing power of most customers – a state of affairs that is becoming worse 
with the recession in the US, which affects the level of migrant remittances 
sent from the US to Mexico. In a recession, non-essential food items such as 
the ones produced are either eliminated from the list of goods purchased by 
households or are bought for special occasions only. Restrictions on border 
crossings and long queues at border crossings have also limited the number of 
customers. Relatives, friends, and tourists used to come more frequently to the 
community and buy the products. In addition, canned products and quince 
jelly used to be sold to buyers who would come to the border and purchase the 
goods to sell them in Nogales and other cities in Arizona.
Recommendations based on study fi ndings
The position of female producers in San Ignacio could be strengthened by 
means of a variety of programmes and projects. The general and increasingly 
common problem of water scarcity could be addressed through a project 
similar to a current initiative in Mexico. A project in eight villages in the 
Mixteca region of Oaxaca, with a farmer organization called the Centre for 
Integral Small Farmer Development in the Mixteca (CEDICAM), provides a 
guide to what could be accomplished in the study area in Sonora. Farmers 
are planting native, drought-tolerant trees (raised in local nurseries) to help 
to prevent erosion, improve water fi ltration into the ground, provide carbon 
194 WOMEN FEEDING CITIES
capture and green areas, add organic material to enrich the soil, and provide 
more sustainable, cleaner-burning wood for wood-burning stoves. CEDICAM 
is also working with farmers to construct contour ditches, retention walls, and 
terraces to capture rainfall to recharge groundwater and help to revive springs 
as well as to contribute to erosion control on the surrounding hillsides. Local 
production and use of organic fertilizers is also being undertaken; crop rotation 
is encouraged, as is the local selection of seeds. Women are taking part in the 
construction of these structures and may start reaping some of the benefi ts 
(Reider, 2006: 56). In San Ignacio, such measures would help to retain water 
from rainfall to recharge aquifers and might also increase fl ow in the springs. 
Such measures may also help to control erosion, which has been documented 
in other areas in Sonora due to heavy rainfall (Vásquez-León and Bracamonte, 
2005) and is also a problem in San Ignacio. Planting trees on hillsides would 
also produce wood for cleaner fuel for the wood-burning stoves that are used 
to produce the quince jelly. This would make production cheaper in terms 
of labour time in collecting and/or purchasing wood. The use of organic 
fertilizers instead of chemical fertilizers, the production of less water-intensive 
crops, and a move away from monoculture (particularly evident in vegetable 
production in San Ignacio) would also help to reduce the negative impacts 
that chemical- and water-intensive agriculture have on climate (Shiva, 2005). 
The scarcity of credit in general and the fact that women own little of the 
community’s land which would serve as collateral creates a disadvantageous 
situation for women who wish to expand/improve their business. Credit 
programmes would help female producers to gain access to additional capital 
in order to produce more varied goods, helping to generate steady incomes to 
reduce vulnerability to environmental, economic, social, and demographic 
change. An initiative to aid female producers could include the formation of 
rotating savings and credit associations among groups of women and/or other 
forms of credit programmes such as government-subsidized credit programmes 
(Rogaly et al., 2004). Mainly male members of the association of spring-water 
irrigation users are members of a government-sponsored village banking 
association (cajas solidarias). Female canned-fruit and vegetable producers 
could become members of the cajas solidarias. Training designed for women 
would include courses in marketing and product design for new products and 
innovations in existing products. Research projects could be developed, using 
participatory research methods including research by the women themselves 
into existing marketing outlets and products on the market competing with 
their products; the project could also include the training of women by women 
in the community (Girón Hernández et al., 2004). Training courses could be 
varied and geared towards the needs of small groups of female producers, in 
order to reduce competition between producers and expand their customer 
base. 
The establishment of a municipal market in Magdalena would attract 
customers from Magdalena and surrounding cities, towns, and villages. The 
fruit, vegetables, and processed products could be sold in the municipal market. 
 CASE STUDY: MAGDALENA, MEXICO 195
No additional product labelling would be necessary for the sale of these items 
in the market. The producers could also act as vendors of their products, or 
have a family member or employee sell the products from a stand in the 
market. This would minimize middle-man costs, as well as transaction costs 
such as transportation from San Ignacio to the market, because Magdalena 
is much closer to San Ignacio than the cities of Hermosillo or Nogales, 
where products are currently sold (mainly in their municipal markets). The 
existence of a municipal market would be likely to boost the local economy 
by providing greater infl ows of people into the city of Magdalena. This would 
help to stimulate local businesses and services that would extend beyond the 
municipal market. 
Conclusions
This study focused on gender differences in the benefi ts of agriculture-based 
activities in terms of labour supply, income, social ties, and food security. 
Labour is garnered from family members within and outside the community. 
Daughters-in-law constitute the most frequently unpaid family labourers, 
whereas male relatives tend to be remunerated for their work in quince 
jelly and jam production. Labour is also obtained by hiring labourers. For 
those tasks normally considered to be ’male’, male labourers are hired; and 
for those culturally defi ned as female, women labourers are hired. The study 
also examined the gendered effects of water scarcity and climate change on 
these agricultural activities, which are an understudied area of inquiry and 
action. These have been studied mainly by male researchers, focusing on male 
actors, leaving out key information about the effects on women and their 
responses to these impacts. Water scarcity and climate change are threatening 
the sustainability of these agriculture-based activities. Higher temperatures are 
already affecting fruit trees and reducing supplies of water for irrigation, leading 
in turn to increased pest attacks. Orchards near homes have been more severely 
affected to date than those farther from residential areas, due to competition 
from domestic water use. Fruit trees are now frequently not replaced when 
they become too old to produce or are damaged by unfavourable conditions. 
Vegetable fi elds are increasingly left barren. Reduced local production limits 
the production of preserves. 
Social networks that are currently fortifi ed by means of extended family 
members working together to produce these goods, and by means of women’s 
exchange or gifting of the products within social circles in the community, 
will be weakened. Women’s vulnerability in particular is likely to increase in 
the absence of strong social networks. Women depend more than men on 
these social networks for a wide variety of needs, such as being able to fulfi l 
their responsibilities towards their children, other household members, and 
family members living outside the community and even outside Mexico. In 
return, women gain the multi-dimensional support of these family members, 
which includes important inputs into the production process such as labour 
196 WOMEN FEEDING CITIES
and containers. In an individualized system, women, and to a lesser extent 
men, would be responsible for earning an income and supporting themselves 
and household members with that income. However, the interviewees in 
this study reported that such income, derived from stable, well-remunerated 
employment, is impossible to obtain in this Mexico–US border area. 
Women will also become more vulnerable without fruits and vegetables 
that they can retain for household food consumption. Canned products can 
currently be retained for times of the year when there is no harvest, thus 
increasing household food security as well as income fl ows. Women in the 
community of San Ignacio, like women worldwide, play a critical role in food 
provision and processing for their families, often achieving household food 
security despite low household income. It has also been well documented 
globally that women spend a far greater share of their income on the 
sustenance of their household members than men do (Elson, 1995; Dwyer and 
Bruce, 1988; Benería and Roldán, 1987; Eswaran and Kotwal, 2004). Thus, if 
women earn less from canned fruit and vegetable production and sale because 
these crops become less readily available in the area, their household members 
may be adversely affected because women will have less to spend on critical 
household needs. 
In gender analysis of urban agriculture, it is important to ask how the urban 
and peri-urban context affects employment of different family members, 
their educational opportunities, social networks, marketing, processing, and 
product demand (Buechler and Devi, forthcoming, 2008). For this type of 
analysis, many different family members (of different ages, sexes, and places 
of residence) were interviewed in multiple locations (urban and peri-urban; 
home, back yard, and fi elds) at different times of day and season. This context 
has a strong infl uence on opportunities and constraints for women and men 
in peri-urban agricultural production. In this case study it was clear that the 
small city nearby had some marketing outlets. However, the volume of demand 
was limited by the size of the city and the services that it provided, such as 
markets, necessitating dependence on surrounding small and larger cities. The 
education of younger generations of women and men and the availability 
of alternative employment opportunities in the surrounding urban areas is 
causing a reduction in the numbers of people engaged in farming and in 
produce processing. However, these family members still depend on mainly 
female relatives engaged in the processing of fruits and vegetables for food, for 
additional income to supplement their low and often unstable urban wages, 
and for social support. The sustainability of this production, however, is at risk 
from water scarcity and climate change, as well as changes in labour markets 
and demand. Women and men will be affected differently by these physical, 
demographic, and social changes. 
 CASE STUDY: MAGDALENA, MEXICO 197
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in Cohn, A., Cook, J., Fernández, M., Reider, R., and Steward, C. (eds.), 
Agroecology and the Struggle for Food Sovereignty in the Americas, International 
Institute for Environment and Development (IIED), the IUCN Commission 
on Environment, Economic and Social Policy (CEES), and the Yale School 
198 WOMEN FEEDING CITIES
of Forestry and Environmental Studies, pp. 55–59. Available from http://
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reduce vulnerability: microfi nance provision by a rural working people’s 
union in Mexico’, Development in Practice 14 (3): 381–395. 
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Press, USA.
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and micropolitan statistical areas: April 1, 2000 to July 1, 2007 (online), US 
Census Bureau, Population Division. Available from http://www.census.
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la Agricultura Sustentable : Un Estudio del Noreste de Sonora’, report for 
CONAHEC. El Colegio de Sonora. Sonora, Mexico, and the University of 
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60 (2): 105–120.
About the author
Stephanie Buechler is Research Associate at the Bureau of Applied Research in 
Anthropology, University of Arizona, Tucson, USA.
CHAPTER 13
Urban agriculture and gender in 
Carapongo, Lima, Peru
Blanca Arce, Gordon Prain and Luis Maldonado
Abstract
The emergence in recent decades in Latin America of urban agriculture as an 
important strategy for both food security and income generation for poor urban 
households raises a number of questions about the roles of men and women in 
this phenomenon. This chapter explores these questions through a case study 
of Carapongo, a neighbourhood in the eastern shantytowns of Lima, Peru. The 
study used an integrated methodology, involving quantitative and qualitative 
characterizations of the agricultural production system and producer households 
through a baseline survey of 125 Carapongo producers from April to October 
2004 and through use of participatory workshops and other tools, which were 
adapted to the urban gender characteristics of the producers of the study area. To 
facilitate equitable development of urban agriculture in Carapongo, co-operation 
is recommended between municipal policy makers, civil-society organizations, 
and the producers. Although a basic function of municipal leaders is to recognize 
and address the needs of different constituencies in their district, the needs of 
agricultural producers of either sex have only rarely been addressed in urban 
municipalities. It is essential that data generated through gender analyses are 
fed back into municipal decision making to improve the numbers and design of 
projects that address this sector. 
Introduction
The emergence in recent decades in Latin America of urban agriculture as 
a strategy for both food security and income generation for poor urban 
households raises a number of questions about the roles of men and women 
in this phenomenon. Who has been most instrumental in gaining access to 
land for household food production? Who has invested more labour time 
in cultivation and animal production? Who determines crop and animal 
production choices, the sale or consumption of the produce, and the use of 
income earned? Most importantly, how do different gender roles in agriculture 
affect the livelihoods of the household as a whole, and the relation of 
agriculture to other livelihoods strategies? This chapter seeks to answer these 
200 WOMEN FEEDING CITIES
questions through a case study of Carapongo, a neighbourhood in the eastern 
shantytowns of Lima, Peru. 
Urban Harvest implemented the research project in collaboration with 
government and non-government research and development organizations 
and local municipal institutions, with fi nancial support from the Spanish 
government, the City of Madrid, and the Province of Madrid through CESAL, 
a Spanish NGO. 
The study area
Lima Metropolitan area has more than 7.5 million inhabitants, one third 
of Peru’s total population. Among developing regions, Latin America has 
experienced the highest levels of urbanization over recent decades. The origins 
of this large urban growth are connected to import-substitution policies widely 
adopted after the Second World War, which led to rapid industrialization 
in urban centres (Lipman, 1977). A corresponding lack of investment in 
agriculture in rural areas resulted in high levels of rural–urban migration, as 
people sought access to the new industrial employment opportunities. This 
trend combined with relatively high overall population growth to create the 
large urban populations that we see today. 
Not only has there been a major shift of total population from village to 
city over recent years, there has also been a migration of poverty, as cities have 
proved unable to provide full employment for newly arrived migrants and the 
natural growth of the urban population. Recent fi gures show that, whereas 
between 2001 and 2004 the level of poverty in Peru went down from 54.3 per 
cent to 51.6 per cent, in Lima it increased from 31.8 to 36.6 per cent over the 
same period (INEI, 2005). This may even underestimate the levels of poverty 
in the capital, since it is notoriously diffi cult to capture adequately the higher 
costs of the ‘basic family basket’ in metropolitan centres (Amis, 2002).
Carapongo, the neighbourhood involved in this case study, is located at 
about 200 m above sea level in the lower zone of the Rimac watershed. It 
covers approximately 464 ha, of which 46 per cent is cultivated land mainly 
under vegetable production, with limited areas devoted to large-scale livestock 
rearing or forestry (Table 13.1).
Table 13.1 Characteristics of the study area (2006)
 Land type Carapongo
 Total area (hectares) 463.8
 Population (000) 3,200
 Land use (%): 
  • Residential/roads 42
  • Cultivated land 46
  • Livestock 4
  • Agro-forestry 2
  • Uncultivated land 1
  • Commercial/industrial,recreational 4
Source: Castro, 2007
 URBAN AGRICULTURE AND GENDER IN CARAPONGO, LIMA, PERU 201
Most of Carapongo’s population is literate (95.6 per cent). Just over half of 
the population are migrants from the Andean region. The average Carapongo 
family has fi ve members, and three quarters of the population are aged over 35 
(76 per cent). Almost half of the male population is married, compared with 18 
per cent of women. For both men and women, legal marriage is more common 
than co-residence (convivientes) (men 11 per cent, women 6 per cent).
Agriculture in Carapongo
Lima is located in the coastal desert of Peru, with one of the lowest rainfall 
regimes on earth. Carapongo receives water for agriculture mainly from the 
Rimac River, through a system of irrigation canals which permit farmers to 
produce three to four crops per year. Agriculture constitutes an important 
part of the urban population’s income, in addition to other jobs, some in the 
public sector but most in the informal private sector. 
Of the total population of Carapongo, 60 per cent of the population is 
involved in agriculture, mainly in the same neighbourhood. In these farming 
families, men were reported to be ‘mainly responsible’ for the farm in 70 per 
cent of cases, and women in 30 per cent. Just over half of the men and women 
involved in agriculture in Carapongo are immigrants from the rural areas of 
Woman feeding piglets in Carapongo
By Urban Harvest Programme
202 WOMEN FEEDING CITIES
the Andean region and were previously involved in agriculture. It is therefore 
probable that they continue to be strongly infl uenced by gender divisions 
of labour that prevail in rural areas. However, in Carapongo family labour is 
rarely supplemented by casual labour, which increases the responsibilities of 
the women in the household.
Forty-two per cent of the men and 34 per cent of the women indicate that 
farming is one of the few sources of regular employment available to them in 
the city. Almost 40 per cent identify a major benefi t of farming as the ability 
to pay for education of their children, while 31 per cent regard it as their main 
source of food security. 
Absentee landlords who rent to local farmers for agriculture hold a 
signifi cant proportion of the land. Although 30 per cent of the agricultural land 
in Carapongo has been lost to urban sprawl over the past two years, farming 
persists, is still very important, and is mainly characterized by mixed cropping 
of vegetables. Farm plots are similar in size and planted with vegetables such 
as beet, lettuce, turnip, radish, basil, and other herbs (huacatay), mainly for 
commercial sale, while livestock is raised for family consumption and for sale. 
Poultry, guinea pig or cuy, and pigs are the most popular animals kept. 
Carapongo people are likely to be part-time farmers (48 per cent), combining 
farming with other employment. Part of the reason for this is the limited 
access to land, with mean ownership of 1.9 plots or 0.81 ha per family. Many 
families cannot fi nd suffi cient farm employment in the locality. Among the 
working population, 45 per cent of men commute outside the Carapongo area 
to look for other work, mostly casual labour and especially in the informal and 
labour-intensive transport sector. 
In Carapongo, agricultural production for subsistence/food security and 
production for income and employment generation are by no means mutually 
exclusive. They co-exist in a range of different combinations. In rearing animals, 
the women tend to emphasize the importance of production for subsistence, 
while men (husbands) emphasize it as a source of additional income. In crop 
production both emphasize the importance of the market, although they also 
consume a small part of the harvest. Three functional groups can be identifi ed 
by their production systems: crop–livestock production systems (65 per cent); 
crop production systems (33 per cent); and livestock production systems 
(2 per cent). 
Methodology
The study of the agricultural production system used an integrated 
methodology. At the farm level, data related to land-use practices, crop and 
livestock management practices, and gender division of labour (in agricultural 
work, non-farm work, and reproductive responsibilities) were collected. The 
data were then used to identify the main types of production system prevailing 
within the study area, and the gender division of labour in Carapongo 
households.
 URBAN AGRICULTURE AND GENDER IN CARAPONGO, LIMA, PERU 203
A baseline survey was conducted, involving 125 Carapongo producers. 
Of the households surveyed, the person mainly responsible for the farming 
activities was interviewed. In 70 per cent of households a man was identifi ed 
as the main person responsible for the farm.
The random survey, implemented from April to October 2004, covered 
the following issues: (1) family composition and household characteristics, 
(2) migration, (3) production systems, (4) food security and health, (5) 
environmental attitudes and behaviour, (6) family planning and reproductive 
decisions, and (7) gender division of labour.
Also a wide range of qualitative participatory tools, adapted to the urban 
gender characteristics of the producers of the study area, was used both to 
facilitate and to complement quantitative data-collection methods (Table 
13.2). These tools were used to identify the role played by gender in the 
division of labour, the access to and control over resources, and the decision-
making processes in Carapongo households, and to identify gender-specifi c 
problems, constraints, and opportunities. 
Work with key informants proved particularly important. We selected 
key informants from different categories of the farming population by 
differentiating the length of time that families had lived in the area, whether 
they had come directly from rural settings or had moved from other parts 
of the city, whether they were primarily crop producers or livestock keepers, 
etc. 
Women proved to be the best informants in most situations, and methods 
were adjusted to adapt to their availability. Information or data from women 
were more specifi c and clearer than those obtained from men. This may be 
because women are more conscious of their different roles in the organization 
of the family, and their desire to improve the economic situation of themselves 
and of their families. In order to benefi t from their contributions, given their 
limited availability, in some cases it was necessary to conduct interviews with 
groups of informants in workshops. However, this is also often a challenge in 
Table 13.2 Specifi c tools applied
Specifi c tools Main gender-related issue
Seasonal calendar Division of (urban-agriculture related) labour, 
Survey tasks, and responsibilities
Daily activity clock
Gender consultation Decision-making power
Survey Access to and control over resources  
Transect walk
Household resource-fl ow diagram
Organizational linkages diagram External factors
(Venn diagram)
Problem drawing Constraints, problems, and opportunities
204 WOMEN FEEDING CITIES
the urban setting, where the time constraint seems much more severe than in 
rural contexts. Because of the diffi culties described above, sensitization and 
motivation were important strategies preceding interviews with individual 
key informants or informant workshops. Also, intervention by staff of the 
municipality (local government) has been very important.
An important factor which infl uenced the study was the rapidly changing 
urban market. Frequently a decline in the value of agricultural commodities 
leads to one or other adult, mostly the man, leaving agricultural activities and 
seeking work in or near the city. Although in most cases the woman continues 
to farm, it may be in a different form. 
Gender analysis of the local situation
Gender division of labour 
In agricultural work
The division of tasks between men and women differs according to their 
agricultural production system, the cultural group to which they belong, the 
socio-economic status of the household, and the location of the household in 
the city. (The same factors are found to infl uence the decision-making power 
of women and men too.) 
The division of labour in agricultural tasks between men and women is 
summarized in Table 13.3.
In only two types of task – land preparation and pest control – is there 
a clear assignment of responsibility to men. Only in special circumstances 
Table 13.3 Primary responsibility for agricultural tasks in Carapongo
Activities  Men Women Shared No Total
  (%) (%) (%) agricultural (%)
     activity (%)
Crops Land preparation 78 3 16 3 100
 Planting  36 6 55 3 100
 Fertilization, weeding,
 hilling, irrigation 30 6 62 2 100
 Pest control 87 3 6 4 100
 Harvesting  14 5 75 6 100
Livestock Raising small animals  6 23 28 43 100
 Raising larger livestock 7 12 25 56 100
Purchase of inputs 46 22 30 2 100
Marketing products  23 41 36 0 100
Household   4 76 15 5 100
Day labourer (jornalero) 14 3 11 72 100
Off-farm activities  19 11 8 62 100
Source: Baseline survey project ‘Agricultores en la Ciudad’, Carapongo, Lima-Peru (2004); 
n=125.
 URBAN AGRICULTURE AND GENDER IN CARAPONGO, LIMA, PERU 205
are women responsible for these tasks or share responsibility for them: these 
women are either widows or are unmarried. Where land preparation is shared, 
women help to prepare vegetable beds, which cannot be done by ploughing 
alone. Many other tasks are more frequently shared than assigned specifi cally 
to men or women. Moreover, men and women do not always have the same 
perception of the division of tasks. For example, only a small proportion of 
the men recognize that women play an important role in the purchase of 
inputs and in the marketing of the products. Most men see this as a prime task 
of the men, while women on the other hand clearly see themselves as having 
the major responsibility. 
Nevertheless, the data do suggest a general pattern in which men take on 
more of the crop-production activities (60 per cent, compared with 40 per cent) 
and women participate more in livestock activities (70 per cent, compared 
with 30 per cent). Men also play an important role in ensuring the availability 
of factors of production, purchasing inputs (46 per cent), and obtaining rental 
land for farming. In vegetable cultivation (beet, lettuce, turnip, for example), 
men take responsibility more frequently for land preparation, irrigation, and 
fertilizer application. Men are responsible for (a few) cash crops (beets 26 
per cent and lettuces 15 per cent) to generate cash income for the family. 
In livestock management, women are actively involved in feeding, health 
care, and marketing. For some types of livestock such as poultry, women are 
principally responsible in almost two thirds of cases. On the other hand, men 
are more commonly involved with larger livestock like cows and goats. 
Women’s management of animals is often related to securing household 
food and nutrition. Poultry and guinea pigs in particular are household food 
assets, supplementing nutritional intake. Guinea pigs, sheep, and goats are also 
often considered as a ‘savings bank‘: a ready source of cash for emergencies. 
These animals, as well as pigs and poultry, are also regular sources of monetary 
income, although, as will be discussed below, controls of that income varies 
according to circumstances. The production of pigs, as well as poultry, can 
also constitute a source of short-term food. Livestock provides both a means 
of risk aversion and a source of cash income through occasional sales. Also, 
animals provide manure, especially in the case of poultry, where the waste 
matter is an input for vegetable production. 
The stronger role of men in vegetable production does not carry through 
to post-harvest and marketing activities, where women clearly play a bigger 
part (41 per cent of producers considered marketing the main responsibility of 
women, compared with 23 per cent who regarded this as the realm of men). 
In Lima, women are considered to be the better and tougher negotiators, 
although the survey results also show that a high percentage (36 per cent) 
consider marketing to be the responsibility of both sexes. Vegetable marketing 
generates economic earnings and employment, and its complex character 
helps to explain the importance of tough negotiation by women as well as the 
mixed responsibilities. 
206 WOMEN FEEDING CITIES
In marketing activities
Women are more commonly involved in the marketing of the vegetables and 
livestock than men, although men and women perceive the extent of women’s 
control over this activity very differently. About one third of men interviewed 
thought that this is mainly a women’s responsibility, 28 per cent said that 
men do the marketing, and 42 per cent that it was a joint task. Two thirds of 
women responded that they are the ones that do the marketing. 
Beetroot, lettuce, turnip, basil, and animal products were identifi ed as 
the most important local commodities. The major destination for the crop 
products is the Lima wholesale vegetable market (Mercado Mayorista) in 
the central district of the city, about 15 km away. However, the vegetables 
grown in Carapongo reach the wholesale market complex through a diverse 
array of producer marketing strategies. The small-scale producers themselves 
identify an important difference between ’conventional’ practice, in which 
there is no stable business relationship between seller and buyer, and ’novel’ 
practice, where the producer manages to sell directly to consumers who are 
often known to him or her, or else the producer sells to the same intermediary 
on a regular basis. Although this marketing strategy appears to demand more 
frequent harvesting, and hence greater crop planning and organization, it can 
result in a more steady income fl ow for producers and access to a more regular 
supply for buyers. In terms of gender implications, conventional practice 
places a high value on tough negotiation, since there is little trust involved 
in these ad hoc trading links, which results in the important role played by 
women, whereas the novel marketing strategy relies on building stable trading 
links, which may be done either by women or by men (Tesdell, 2007). 
The prevalence of conventional, ad hoc marketing is an indication of a lack 
of social capital among producers in vegetable marketing. On the other hand, 
marketing of animal products, mostly by women, exhibited a remarkable 
aptitude for securing stable and local buyers for the meat. A wide range 
of services is provided by local traders, such as harvesting and washing of 
certain vegetables, collection and bulking up of produce, and transportation 
to different markets. Some services are especially offered to overcome post-
harvest handling diffi culties associated with particular vegetables. For example, 
the turnip is considered by producers to be a diffi cult and time-consuming 
crop to process for market. Turnip traders therefore specialize in buying the 
crop in the ground at a near-mature stage and then contract male and female 
labourers to harvest and wash the product in the early morning hours, before 
transporting it to the wholesale market by moto-tricycle (Tesdell, 2007). 
In non-farm jobs 
Over 60 per cent of the farming population engages in off-farm activities 
(work outside the farms) that provide a source of income with a guarantee of a 
 URBAN AGRICULTURE AND GENDER IN CARAPONGO, LIMA, PERU 207
minimum annual income. Of these, 80 per cent are men (working as drivers) 
and 20 per cent are women (working as market sellers and pedlars). 
In reproductive tasks
In terms of reproductive activities associated with the household, women 
clearly play the key role. Women are caretakers of the family (100 per cent) and 
are responsible for ensuring that the household is able to reproduce itself over 
time. The daily activity profi les (see Figure 13.1) indicate that women have to 
combine a large number of activities during the day when they are at home, 
before and after going to the fi eld. Women spend seven hours each day in 
agriculture activities and eight hours in household activities. Men spend nine 
hours working exclusively in agricultural activities. Women undertake the 
majority of environment-management tasks in urban households, including 
the purifi cation of drinking water. In addition, most of the women have 
identifi ed the need to learn how to better manage and recycle organic wastes 
to produce nutrient-rich fertilizer, including the treatment of black water from 
household sewage systems for use in vegetable production. 
Thus, women carry out household care and maintenance regardless of 
the time that they devote to food production or other livelihood activities. 
This is particularly diffi cult for female heads of households, who bear the sole 
responsibility for both reproductive and productive tasks.
Figure 13.1 Daily timetable of a female producer in Carapongo 
Source: Urban Harvest
208 WOMEN FEEDING CITIES
Gender-based division of access to and control over resources and benefi ts 
When considering access to and control over resources, three types of resource 
can be identifi ed (see Table 13.4):
• productive resources used by the household, such as land, water, inputs, 
credit, technical and market information, training (capacity building); 
• productive resources of organizations;
• benefi ts of production, such as cash income, food, and other products 
(for home consumption, sales or exchange). 
Access to and control over land 
In Carapongo, the key natural resources of signifi cance to the urban 
producers are land and water. Land tenancy in the area is complicated by 
the history of land occupation and the current fl uidity of land access. The 
old system of hacienda ownership was largely transformed into co-operative 
ownership during the agrarian reform process, starting in the early 1970s, 
although some households gained access to individual plots earlier than this. 
Subsequently the co-operatives were divided up as ‘parcels’ among individual 
households. Now there is a wide range of mechanisms to access land, based on 
ownership through direct purchase or inheritance, ‘pre-inheritance’ (anticipo), 
‘guardianship’ (guardianía), and share-cropping (al partir). Some families also 
access land through informal squatting (posecionarios) of land located on the 
bank of the Rimac River. Although used for agriculture, these lands are in fact 
protected by law and are inalienable. Many producers also combine different 
types of land tenure, most commonly ownership and renting, resulting in 
higher average land holdings. 
Table 13.4 Access to and control over resources in Carapongo, Lima-Peru
 Access Control
 Men Women Men Women
Productive resources
Household land xxx xx xxx x
Household access to water xxx xx xxx xx
Household agricultural inputs xxx xxx xxx xxx
Participation in organizations/access to credit  xxx xx xxx xx
Capacity building, information sources xx x xx x
Benefi ts of production
Income from sale of vegetables xxx x xxx x
Income from sale of animals xx xxx x xxx
Income from labour (from off-farm activities) x xxx x xxx
xxx Indicates complete access/control; xx Indicates partial access/control; x Indicates limited 
or no access/control
Source: Baseline survey and qualitative tools project, ‘Agricultores en la Ciudad’, Carapongo, 
Lima-Peru (2004)
 URBAN AGRICULTURE AND GENDER IN CARAPONGO, LIMA, PERU 209
Table 13.5 Land tenure by men and women
Tenancy Men Women All
 Area (ha) % Area (ha) % Area (ha) %
Ownership 0.72 (± 0.42) 38 0.72 (± 0.67) 36 0.72 (± 0.49) 37
Rental  0.68 (± 0.39) 16 0.52 (± 0.40) 28 0.61 (± 0.39) 19
Posecionarios 0.82 (± 0.98) 9 0.84 (± 0.67)   6 0.87 (± 0.93) 7
Ownership + rental 1.0 (± 0.46)  17 0.34 (± 0.22) 5 0.96 (± 0.49) 17
Ownership + posecionarios 1.52 (± 0.80) 4 1.54 (± 1.37) 11  
Others* 0.85 (± 0.10) 16 1.06 (± 0.62) 14  
Total  100  100
* guardianship, share-cropping, and combinations
Source: Baseline survey project, ‘Agricultores en la Ciudad’, Carapongo, Lima-Peru (2004); 
n=125.
Inherited resources are, theoretically, divided equally among children, both 
male and female, and owned land is the most important form of tenure for 
both men and women. Women can and do buy and rent land. The person 
accessing the land in one of these various ways is often the person who also 
administers it. As one man commented in a workshop on this issue: ‘La herencia 
se respeta, sea hombre o mujer’ (‘One respects inheritance, whether it is to a man 
or a woman’). On the other hand, there are cases in which one or other spouse 
is better capable of taking care of farming in the household. 
Among the households where a man is seen as the main person responsible 
for the farming activities, 38 per cent live on their own land, but fewer than 
half of these have a formal title to it. Among the 30 per cent of households 
where women are mainly responsible for farming, the pattern is the same. 
Although 36 per cent have their own land, only 49 per cent of these have 
a formal title. For a little under half of male and female farmers in the two 
quarters of Campo Sol and Huancayo, the Landowners Association holds the 
title to the land, with members having usufruct rights. About 23 per cent of 
the members of these associations are women, but the leadership is primarily 
male. This appears to put women who are mainly responsible for farming in 
these neighbourhoods at a double disadvantage. 
Responsibility for the farm is strongly infl uenced by whether the household 
is male- or female-headed. Of the 30 per cent of households in which women 
are mainly responsible for farming, 14 per cent are headed by women. In these 
households the woman holds absolute control over the household property. 
This is especially so for widows, who control land, house, and livestock. 
However, in this case they generally have a smaller average land area (0.31 ± 
0.22 ha), and their plots tend to be of poorer quality and are consequently less 
productive. An important added challenge for households where women are 
mainly responsible for the farm is the constraint on their labour availability 
for farm activities, due to their heavy commitments to domestic chores. 
With the city expanding rapidly, some agricultural lands are being converted 
into small residential plots, while in other places individual farm plots are 
210 WOMEN FEEDING CITIES
being used wholly or partially for extraction of earth for brick-making or as 
construction material. So far there is no evidence that men are more or less 
willing to convert land in this way than women. 
Access to and control over water
Access to water is a key component for productivity and success in urban 
agriculture. In Carapongo, the availability of water during the dry season 
in the mountains is declining. This results in low water levels in the River 
Rimac, from which irrigation water is drawn. However, only a quarter of male 
farmers and a fi fth of female farmers identifi ed water scarcity as a problem. 
But they did emphasize water quality. Increasing urban pollution and 
environmental contamination result in irrigation channels fi lled with garbage 
and pollutants.
Access to water at Carapongo is by household, and so tends to be a source 
of potential confl ict between households, rather than between a couple within 
the household. Men mostly handle management of the irrigation systems, 
both at the watershed level and at the ‘sub-sector’ level of Carapongo. Only 
8 per cent of women are members of the sub-sectoral irrigation commission 
of Carapongo. 
Access to and control over inputs
Access to and control over the inputs for crop–livestock production depends on 
the purpose of the production. Both men and women invest signifi cant inputs 
for commercial production (cash crops, animals for regular sale), whereas 
mostly women incur minimal expenditure for subsistence production (small-
scale planting of root and tuber crops, beans, green maize, and herbs and 
rearing of small animals such as poultry and guinea pigs). Pesticides, organic 
and inorganic fertilizer, and hired labour are the major expenditures for cash 
crops, and commercial feed is purchased for some animals. Control over these 
inputs is a consequence of technical specialization or specifi c responsibilities 
assigned to men and women. The purchase and use of pesticides is largely a 
male responsibility, partly because of the physical exertion involved, but also 
because of the risk of contaminating children and food if the women handle 
pesticides. 
Access to credit
In the study area, there are almost no formal sources of credit or loans, and 
65 per cent and 73 per cent of households respectively claim not to have 
any access to either. Those that do access credit do so informally through 
small kiosks (bodegas) or, for agricultural inputs, through the agricultural 
supply shops and the manure traders. Families are the main source of loans, 
which are almost exclusively obtained for farming activities. In the few cases 
 URBAN AGRICULTURE AND GENDER IN CARAPONGO, LIMA, PERU 211
where loans are obtained from moneylenders, they attract very high rates of 
interest because the farmers do not have collateral to pledge. Male farmers 
have better access than women to agricultural credit because of their more 
frequent interactions with suppliers. In almost 90 per cent of cases, men are 
responsible for crop protection, both purchasing and applying chemicals.
Gender-differentiated participation in social networks
Participation in community organization and social networks that provide 
access to credit and loans or access to knowledge is variable between men and 
women. In Carapongo, women participate very little as representatives with 
decision-making power in public or community organizations. For example, 
although women use and manage water in farming (crop–livestock activities) 
and in the home more than men do, they hardly (only 10 per cent) participate 
in the irrigation commissions and committees. It is a tradition for men to hold 
the administrative positions on those committees, but women manage water 
for domestic use in Carapongo, where most households have access to a well.
There are seven associations of landlords, in which men participate more 
than women, since land ownership is the criterion for membership, which is 
male-dominated. However, women play an important part in local community 
organizations that relate to food security. These are community kitchens and 
the ’Glass of Milk’ programme which are co-ordinated by the municipality 
through community-based committees of women.
A common perception among both men and women is that the local 
population is organizationally strong when making claims on offi cial authorities, 
whether in relation to water management, land use, or social programmes, but 
social organization for those seeking improvements in agricultural production 
or marketing systems is weak.
Access to technical information and training
Regarding the gender aspects of human-capital formation, both men and women 
indicate a lack of access to training or information about crops and livestock-
husbandry practices, although women are at a much greater disadvantage. 
Only 22 per cent of the farming population has received agricultural training, 
but of these 86 per cent are men and 14 per cent are women. Women are 
particularly interested in learning more about basic treatments pertaining to 
animal health, whereas men are more interested in information about sources 
of credit and government-sponsored training programmes.
Control over the benefi ts and risks of production
The predominance of women in the marketing of vegetables was confi rmed 
in a mixed-sex workshop discussion which also highlighted the variability 
in decisions to sell and control of the proceeds of sales. Where a woman has 
212 WOMEN FEEDING CITIES
control over land, through whatever means, she most often has the right to 
decide on the sale of the produce. On the other hand, since men are more 
commonly in control of land, they have more frequent authority in the 
decision to sell. 
Women producers who are not land owners (almost 60 per cent) demand 
their share of revenue derived from production, because they are the ones 
who are responsible for the care of the family, principally children. However, 
when they are not successful in convincing their husbands to share the 
earnings, women retain part of the money from their sales of small animals 
and vegetable produce without the knowledge or consent of their husbands. 
Given women’s greater responsibility for small livestock, they tend to have 
more say and involvement in these sales. Even where a man has taken the 
initiative to become involved commercially in animal production, he may have 
a limited say. As one wife commented ironically: ‘El decide, intelectualmente, a 
vender. Pero yo soy la que hago todo para la venta.’ (‘He decides, in theory, to sell. 
But I am the one that does everything to do with the selling.’) However, in the 
workshop discussion, women commented that they have to account to their 
husbands for money obtained from selling animals. Women make decisions 
on expenditure if the amount is a small sum. For all larger expenses, both men 
and women make the decision. 
In the study area, 39 per cent of the men indicate that the principal 
constraint that limits their vegetable production is insect pests. Evidence 
from two thesis studies in Carapongo (Milla and Palomino, 2002; Maldonado 
2006) indicates that there is wide use of toxic and highly toxic pesticides in 
this agricultural area, leading to health risks and negative environmental 
impact. Since men are mainly responsible for applying pesticides, the related 
health hazards are mainly affecting the male producers, although through 
handling and maintenance of pesticide-application equipment other 
household members can be affected (Yanggen et al., 2003). It appears that 
producers are constrained by a lack of knowledge of sustainable (integrated) 
pest-management practices, due to limited access to training courses offered 
by institutions or non-government organizations, or their limited exposure to 
sustainable commercial agricultural practices. 
Bargaining power in decision making in Carapongo households
The way in which decisions are made within the family depends on how tasks 
are assigned within the farming system. The position of individuals within the 
household and the division of labour affect an individual’s knowledge of the 
crop–livestock system which infl uences decision making. Commercial farmers 
make more decisions alone, and few in consultation with family members, 
while home-consumption farmers or non-land-owning households with only 
animals make fewer decisions alone and more in consultation with family 
members.
 URBAN AGRICULTURE AND GENDER IN CARAPONGO, LIMA, PERU 213
Table 13.6 Decision-making matrix in Carapongo households
 Men Men and women Women Comments
 decide decide jointly decide
 alone  alone
 Men Equal Women
 dominate infl uence dominate
 decision  decision
Inputs
Who decides how  •    When men work off-
the family labour       farm, women spend
will be used?       more time in the
      fi eld or hire labour
      for the farm.
What inputs to buy?   •   Who decides
      depends on the
      type of crop, type of
      of animal, and type
      use (food or cash)
To hire additional  •
labour?
Production
Who decides which  •    A female land 
crops to grow?      owner/renter may
      decide on crops.
When to harvest?  •    There is always
      some fl exibility.
Number of animals    •
to buy?
Marketing
Who decides what    •
proportion of the
vegetables is sold?
When/which animals    •  In case of
are to be sold?      commercial
      production like pigs,
      men can infl uence 
      the decision.
Investments
Who decides to buy •
equipment and tools?
To take a loan?  •    Depends on the 
      purpose of the loan.
To buy or rent  •
additional land?
To buy more animals?    •
Reproduction
Who decides whether   •
a child goes to school?
To consult a doctor?    •
214 WOMEN FEEDING CITIES
Role of external factors on gender in urban agriculture
The policy environment has differential impacts on men and women involved 
in agricultural production. Although a detailed analysis is yet to be completed, 
there does seem to be a more positive environment in relation to women’s 
situation compared with that of men; in the latter case there is quite a strong 
antagonism towards local authorities. The main contact between male 
producers and local government is through the irrigation committees, which 
tend to oppose certain policies adopted by the municipality. These primarily 
relate to the local taxation system and the desire of the Council to convert low 
’rural’ rates into much higher ’urban’ rates. The higher urban rates are justifi ed 
on the basis of the upkeep of urban amenities provided: parks, piped potable 
water, sewer systems, sanitation, refuse collection, etc. The Rimac Irrigation 
Committee is a focus of resistance to the conversion of agricultural land to 
urban status, for two reasons: the lack of such services in the agricultural 
areas, and the crippling fi nancial burden that the urban rates would impose 
on families with only half a hectare. 
The main points of contact between the Council and women are through the 
programmes dealing with Community Kitchens, the Glass of Milk programme, 
and the Mothers’ Clubs. The Council also has a special programme addressing 
violence against women. 
Recommended strategies to facilitate equitable development of urban 
agriculture in Carapongo
Municipal policy makers
A major function of municipal leaders is to recognize and address the needs 
of different population groups in their District, and there are often specifi c 
structures and functions addressing particular issues that affect women, 
youths, and children. However, it is still rare for the needs of agricultural 
producers of either sex to be addressed in urban municipalities. Thus a fi rst 
and fundamental strategy is to recognize the existence and contribution of the 
agricultural sector to the local economy and society, and to develop policies 
that support safe and sustainable production, post-production, and marketing 
of crop and livestock products. With the growing city population, due to 
migration from rural areas and natural growth, the demand for employment 
is increasing; the demand for fresh products is also on the rise, especially for 
fresh vegetables and animal products. This provides a good opportunity for 
men and women farmers to increase their income. A positive effect of urban 
agriculture for women is that their important role in family food security and 
nutrition receives greater recognition. In addition, it helps them to become 
more independent, by generating some additional income from sales of 
surpluses (of guinea pig, for example, which is a novel opportunity market in 
Carapongo) and by saving cash on food expenditures which can be used for 
 URBAN AGRICULTURE AND GENDER IN CARAPONGO, LIMA, PERU 215
other purposes. However, gender-related characteristics of urban farming in 
Carapongo are an unequal division of labour, an absence of equitable access to 
and control over productive resources, unequal access to knowledge by both 
men and women, and inequality in power relations.
Recognizing the important role of urban agricultural production, and the 
existing gender inequalities, the municipality of Lurigancho-Chosica, of which 
Carapongo is part, could take the following measures to facilitate sustainable 
and equitable development of urban agriculture:
• Allocation of a budget for the recently established Sub-division of Urban 
Agriculture.
• Redesign of municipal land-use policies, encouraging co-operation 
between the Housing and Agricultural Associations, individual 
landowners and cultivators of the plots, and participation of male and 
female stakeholders in urban land-use planning, in order to increase 
security of land tenure for both male and female producers. 
• Support for sustainable provision of irrigation water, through improved 
co-ordination and dialogue with the Irrigation Committees and 
SEDAPAL, the parastatal company responsible for water management. 
• Support for social capacity building, through provision of training and 
development of producer networks and organizations, with emphasis 
on gender-sensitive approaches.
• Co-operation with the Ministry for Women and Social Development to 
replicate their gender-specifi c strategies which support the empowerment 
of women through a range of policies and institutional actions, especially 
its programme on poverty reduction (FONCODES), which addresses 
some aspects of gender in agriculture and has recently initiated some 
preliminary work in urban areas of Lima.
• Broadening the existing programmes of the Municipal Ombudsman 
for Women, Children and Adolescents (Defensoría Municipal de la Mujer, 
Niño y Adolescente) and the various Divisions and Sub-Divisions of the 
Council, such as Education and Culture, where empowerment of women 
is targeted, to include attention to women involved in agricultural 
production in the Municipality. 
• Such gender-equity promotion programmes in urban agriculture should 
include active measures which could help women to gain greater 
access to credit services, training opportunities, and technical support. 
As part of collaborative R&D activities involving Urban Harvest, the 
Lurigancho-Chosica District Government, and the local irrigation users’ 
committee, a micro-credit scheme has been launched which combines 
capacity building, development of micro-investment proposals, and 
the awarding of small, low-interest loans to local producers. There are 
currently 46 loan recipients, of whom 17 are women, 27 are men, and 
two are mixed-sex groups. Loans range from 800 to a maximum of 2,000 
soles (approximately $280–$700).
216 WOMEN FEEDING CITIES
• To improve the contribution of agricultural production to household 
food security and especially to improved nutrition of young children, 
some key policy issues would be:
– enhancement of maternal skills in infant and child nutrition
– inclusion of weaning foods in municipal food programmes 
– improvement of linkages between agricultural production and 
municipal food programmes 
– support for and recognition of small-scale animal raising by landed 
and landless households 
– targeted training, especially in animal production for women.
• To improve the economic effi ciency of commercially oriented urban 
agriculture, some key policy issues are: 
– access to markets and market information
– support for the productive use of recycled organic wastes and 
wastewater 
– zoning and permits for commercial pig raising.
Civil-society organizations
The inequities between men and women identifi ed in the study in Carapongo 
cannot be dealt with at the policy level alone. Civil-society organizations can 
play an important role in the following ways: 
• Mobilizing all parties involved in the development process, including 
academic institutions, non-government organizations, and women's 
groups, to improve the effectiveness of anti-poverty programmes directed 
towards the poorest and most disadvantaged groups, especially women 
–and, in the present context, urban women, female heads of household, 
young women and older women, and women with disabilities, 
recognizing that social development is primarily the responsibility of 
governments.
• Engaging in lobbying and establishing monitoring mechanisms, as 
appropriate, and other relevant activities to ensure gender mainstreaming 
and implementation of the recommendations on sustainable and 
equitable urban agriculture development as a strategy to eradicate 
poverty. 
• Ensuring that data generated through gender analyses are fed back 
into decision making on the design of the projects to be undertaken. 
For example, fi ndings from studies of urban agriculture and gender 
undertaken by Urban Harvest and local NGO and government partners, 
on which this case study drew, indicated the key role of women who 
engage in livestock raising mainly for subsistence or as security. The 
subsequent livestock interventions of the project have worked largely 
with women (74 per cent of those implementing livestock modules) to 
enhance the productivity of livestock, thus contributing to household 
 URBAN AGRICULTURE AND GENDER IN CARAPONGO, LIMA, PERU 217
food and nutrition security and enhancing the income available to 
women. It also noted that a limited role for women in decision making 
about crop-production interventions in horticultural production began 
with a process of capacity building, using farmer fi eld school methods, 
which tended to refl ect the dominant role of men in this fi eld (23 of 
27 initial participants, or 85 per cent, were men). However, with the 
development of organic farming and the emphasis on alternative 
marketing strategies, increased efforts have been made to strengthen the 
participation of women. Female membership in the organic producers’ 
groups has risen from 15 to 34 per cent. 
• Developing gender-responsive working methodologies for use in 
research and the design of policies that recognize and value the full 
contribution of women to the economy, through their unremunerated 
and remunerated work, both on urban farms and off-farm. 
References
CELADE (1993) ‘Centro Latinoamericano de Demografía. Población, 
equidad y transformación productiva’, CELADE-CEPALFNUAP, LC/G.1758 
(Conf.83/3), LC/DEM/G.131.
Castro, M., Malena (2007) Incorporación de la Agricultura en la Planifi cación 
Urbana del Distrito de Lurigancho-Chosica, Final Report, Agropolis Program, 
IDRC, Canada.
INEI (2005) Encuesta Nacional de Hogares (ENAHO): 2005, Informe Técnico, 
Instituto Nacional de Estadística y Informática. Lima, Perú. 
Lipman, M. (1977) Why Poor People Stay Poor, Harvard University Press, 
Cambridge, USA.
Maldonado, L. (2006) ‘La agricultura urbana en Lima: Estrategia familiar y 
política de gestión municipal Caso: Localidad de Carapongo’, Tesis de 
Maestría en Gerencia Social, Pontifi cia Universidad Católica del Perú, 
Peru. 
Milla, O. and Palomino, W. (2002) ‘Niveles de Colinesterasa sérica en 
agricultores de la localidad de Carapongo (Perú) y determinación de residuos 
de plaguicidas inhibidores de la acetilcolinesterasa en frutas y hortalizas 
cultivadas’, Tesis para optar el grado de Químico Farmacéutico, Facultad de 
Farmacia y Bioquímica de la Universidad Nacional Mayor de San Marcos, 
Lima, Peru. 
Tesdell, O. (2007) ‘Marketing Approaches of Small-scale Urban Farmers: A 
Case Study in Lima, Peru’, unpublished technical report, Urban Harvest, 
Lima, Peru. 
Yanggen, D., Crissman, C., and Espinosa, P. (eds.) (2003) Los Plaguicidas: 
Impactos en producción, salud y medio ambiente en Carchi, Ecuador, CIP and 
INIAP, Lima, Peru. 
218 WOMEN FEEDING CITIES
About the authors
Blanca Arce is Project Leader at the Colombian Corporation of Agricultural 
Research (Corpoica), Tibaitata, Colombia.
Gordon Prain is Global Co-ordinator for Urban Harvest, International Potato 
Center (CIP), Lima, Peru.
Luis Maldonado is Research Assistant at the Impact Enhancement Division, 
CIP, Lima, Peru.
CHAPTER 14
Gender and urban agriculture in Pikine, 
Senegal
Gora Gaye and Mamadou Ndong Touré
Abstract
This case study is based on a review of exploratory research on urban agriculture 
in Pikine, conducted by IAGU in 2004, and additional data gathered in 2008 
in the context of the small project ‘Establishing a Proper Input and Equipment 
Supply System for Urban Agricultural Producers in Pikine-North’, implemented by 
PROVANIA, a farmers’ organization in Pikine, with the support of IAGU. A review 
of this pilot project shows that although gender aspects were taken into account 
during the design, planning, and implementation phases, the project nevertheless 
focused mainly on production aspects (dominated by the men) and pays little 
attention to the transport, processing, and marketing aspects (dominated by 
women). Priority constraints and interests that are specifi c to women and mainly 
related to processing and marketing were ignored.
Introduction
Background
This case study is based on the experiences gained in a pilot project entitled 
‘Supporting the Establishment of a Proper Input and Equipment Supply System 
for Urban Agricultural Producers in Pikine-North’, which was formulated and 
implemented in 2007 and 2008 by the local farmers’ organization PROVANIA, 
with co-funding from the international Resource Centres on Urban Agriculture 
and Food Security – Cities Farming for the Future programme (RUAF–CFF), 
regionally co-ordinated by the African Institute for Urban Management 
(IAGU) in Senegal. 
This pilot project is a follow-up to a Multi-stakeholder Policy formulation 
and Action Planning (MPAP) process, involving several local institutions and 
urban agricultural producers’ organizations in Pikine, supported by RUAF–CFF. 
This process started in 2005 by undertaking a (gender-sensitive) exploratory 
study of urban agriculture in the Pikine area, identifying the limited access 
of urban producers to agricultural inputs and equipment as one of the 
factors that limit the development and sustainability of urban agriculture in 
220 WOMEN FEEDING CITIES
Pikine, alongside land insecurity, poor access to credit, and other factors. The 
diagnostic phase was followed by joint development of a City Strategic Agenda 
on Urban Agriculture. This Strategic Agenda is being implemented now, co-
ordinated by the participating organizations and institutions, including this 
pilot project by PROVANIA.
The area of Pikine
Pikine is located within a system of continental dunes, broken by depressions 
and valleys, named the Niayes Valley. The physical characteristics of the 
Niayes are fairly favourable for agricultural production. The annual rainfalls 
vary considerably, between 200 and 900 mm per year. The climate is tropical, 
characterized by alternation between a dry season – eight months, from early 
November to mid-July – and a rainy season from mid-July to the end of October. 
The natural vegetation of the Niayes is abundant (MUAT, 2004). These plots of 
land are sought after by building companies, although the groundwater is close 
to the surface, because buildings nowadays are constructed on good-quality 
embankments. However, the construction of infrastructure, such as water and 
electrical-supply facilities, is hampered by the physical characteristics of the 
area. 
Pikine had around 800,000 inhabitants in 2002, 63.5 per cent of whom 
were aged under 25 (ANSD, 2004). Pikine was a dormitory town for a long 
time, but its economy has started growing in the past few years. However, 
apart from the free industrial zone, most of the economic activities still take 
place in the informal sector and, to a lesser extent, in horticulture and fi sh 
breeding in the Niayes (MUAT, 2003).
Urban agriculture in Pikine-Niayes
Urban agricultural activities in Pikine-Niayes include production, processing, 
and marketing activities. The main production systems are market-oriented 
horticulture (vegetables and fruits), small-scale (home) gardening, traditional 
fi shing and fi sh breeding, tree nurseries and forestry, local cereal processing, 
and poultry farming. 
Among the producers (over 1,500) in the Department of Pikine, horticulture 
is the main activity, due to the presence of water near the surface (céanes). In 
2001, 501 horticulture farms were present in Pikine. The size of the plots varies 
between 100 m² and 5.9 ha. Women represent 21 per cent of the producers and 
are mainly involved in the marketing of products, although some of them also 
work on the farms. The main products are aubergine, lettuce, onion, chilli, 
parsley, leek, and strawberry. 
The area of Pikine, especially the Niayes Valley, is state property, and 
therefore the producers in that area can be ejected at any time if the state 
decides to assert its rights. This land insecurity deters the producers from 
making investments. 
 CASE STUDY: PIKINE, SENEGAL 221
Land is obtained through inheritance, by purchasing it (although it is 
strictly prohibited to sell plots of land in the area, some people sell/buy land, 
knowing that it has no legal value), by renting a plot, or by entering into a 
share-cropping arrangement (métayage). 
Small-scale urban agriculture in Pikine area successfully contributes to 
better food security and nutritional status as well as generating income for 
the producing families. Nearly 95 per cent of the producers in the area claim 
that they are able to cover their family’s daily cash needs with the income 
generated by urban agriculture (Dieng, 2004). 
The main actors involved in urban agriculture in the Pikine are depicted in 
Figure 14.1. They include the following:
1. Direct stakeholders: the 1,500 producers and their organizations: 
PROVANIA and UPROVAN (larger associations of several local farmer 
groups), Mbou Gayif, Laaw Tann, Ndeck, Daan Doleé, and Feul Yeggo 
(smaller specifi c-purpose organizations), as well as the small merchants, 
larger land holders, agricultural workers, input suppliers, transporters, 
middle men, retailers, etc. 
2. Institutional actors: ministries, local government, and decentralized 
state services (Ministry of Agriculture, City Of Pikine, Commune of 
Pikine Nord).
3. The Niayes and Green Zones Development and Protection programme 
(PASDUNES).
4. NGOs and other non-government supporting organizations (IAGU, Enda 
RUP, ENDA GRAF, ANCAR, ACDEV, CEREX Locustox, etc.) and CAT (the 
IAGU–PROVANIA co-ordination team for the pilot project)
ENDA 
RUP City of  
Pikine
Mbou
Gayif 
ANCAR 
Commune of 
Pikine Nord
PASDU
NES PROVANIA Laaw 
Tann
ENDA 
GRAF UPROVAN   Ndeck
IAGU
Feul
ACDEV Yeggo
Daan
Doolé
CAT  
Ministry 
 of CEREX
Agriculture Locustox
Figure 14.1 Actors involved in urban agriculture in Pikine
222 WOMEN FEEDING CITIES
Figure 14.1 shows the various institutions that interact (to a certain extent) 
with the (second-level) farmer associations PROVANIA and UPROVAN, and 
the low level of interaction between these institutions, which sometimes 
creates duplication (as well as important gaps) in the implemented activities. 
The Multi-stakeholder Forum on Urban Agriculture that was established as a 
result of the MPAP process provides a platform for the farmer organizations 
to interact directly with these institutions and provides better institutional 
co-ordination. 
The study area
The formulation and implementation of the pilot project took place in 
North Pikine on 60 ha mainly dedicated to vegetable gardening (and some 
fl oriculture). Some of the actors are engaged in fruit and vegetable processing. 
The majority of plot supervisors are men (72.2 per cent), while 21.8 per cent 
of them are women. Their age range is from 25 to 68 years. As regards land 
occupation, 35.8 per cent are tenants and 52.8 per cent are owners, but only 3.4 
per cent have a title deed (Niang et al., 2005). The main farmers’ organization 
in this area is PROVANIA, which developed the pilot project ‘Establishment of 
a Proper Input and Equipment Supply System for Urban Agricultural Producers 
in Pikine-North’ in co-ordination with IAGU and with the political support of 
the Pikine Municipality.
Field in Pikine-Niayes
By IAGU
 CASE STUDY: PIKINE, SENEGAL 223
Analysis of gender in urban agriculture in the area of North Pikine 
Methodology applied
This case study is based on the following components.
1. A review of available qualitative and quantitative data relating to 
agriculture in the Pikine area, especially:
• An early case study of gender aspects of urban agriculture in Pikine 
(IAGU, 2004). 
• A report on the Exploratory Study on Urban Agriculture (IAGU, 
2006) carried out in the framework of the RUAF–Cities Farming for 
the Future Programme, presenting a diagnosis of the main urban 
farming systems and the actors involved, and the main constraints 
and opportunities for development of urban agriculture in Pikine 
area, as well as reviews of the actual legal and regulatory framework 
for urban agriculture in Pikine. The study includes a special chapter 
dealing with the gender aspects of urban agriculture. 
• A study on Access to Credit and Finance for male and female urban 
agricultural producers in the Niayes area (IAGU, 2007). Lack of means 
to fi nance their agricultural and marketing activities is one of the 
producers’ major constraints, especially for the women.
2. Focus-group meetings with male and female benefi ciaries of the 
above-mentioned pilot project, implemented by PROVANIA with the 
support of IAGU–RUAF. The aim of these meetings was to check the 
outcomes of the gender analysis contained in the available literature 
and to discuss to what degree women’s (and men’s) specifi c constraints 
and interests were taken into account in the design and implementation 
of the pilot project. Separate meetings were fi rst held with six female 
producers and ten male producers, followed by a mixed forum (involving 
24 women and nine men). The mixed meeting allowed men and women 
to compare their views on certain issues. During the focus-group meetings 
a number of participatory rapid appraisal tools regarding key issues in 
gender and urban agriculture were applied, including the following
• A Venn diagram which highlights the way in which communities 
perceive (the importance of the services provided by) local associations 
and external institutions and helps to analyse the existing relationships 
between local organizations and the external institutions. 
• A pyramid of constraints, which is a tool for ranking the main constraints 
identifi ed by the women involved in market-gardening activities. 
• A daily calendar of activities which shows the gender-differentiated 
distribution of tasks in the farm household. 
• A profi le of the access to and control over resources, which allows 
researchers to analyse the productive resources to which men and 
women have access, and their degree of control over those resources. 
224 WOMEN FEEDING CITIES
• A decision-making matrix which makes it possible to understand better 
how men and women take part in the decision making, and in what 
aspects of urban agriculture men and women respectively are the 
main decision makers.
• A priority-setting diagram, used to identify the priorities of male and 
female producers respectively, and/or their views on the adequacy of 
identifi ed solutions.
In the three focus-group meetings we fi rst sought to establish a climate 
of trust in order to make the participants feel comfortable about the use of 
the collected data. Furthermore we applied a tactful approach when dealing 
with socially or culturally sensitive issues (for example, decision making in 
the household), in which we fi rst raised a more general discussion on the issue 
and then slipped in the questions included in the tools one by one. During the 
meetings we had to deal with a lot of chattering and repeated digressions from 
the main subject under discussion, hence the need to be patient and refocus 
the debates on the main issues.
Results of the gender analysis
Distribution of labour
Men dominate production activities, and they normally manage most 
activities throughout the season. Women become especially involved when 
it comes to harvesting, transporting, processing, and especially marketing. 
Female heads of households (widows, unmarried, or divorced women) hire 
labourers (sourgas) for the production activities. 
Men almost never go to the market to sell their produce. They often sell 
the produce on-farm to women who collect it directly from the fi eld by 
hiring carriers to take the vegetable racks from the fi eld to the main road, 
and horse carts to bring the production to the markets or processing centre. 
Transportation costs are relatively high, which affects the production costs 
and therefore limits profi ts. The women deplore the absence of access roads 
and insist on the need to have their own means of transportation, given the 
fact that horse-cart owners are often uncooperative. 
Processing of the produce is also mainly done by women’s groups, such as 
Dan Doolé (a Wolof term meaning ‘Working to Earn One’s Living’), which 
is processing cereals, vegetables, and fruits. There are several such groups in 
the area of Pikine which have organized themselves into a network of local 
organizations involved in the processing of agricultural products.
Another of the women’s important roles is fi nancing the purchase of inputs 
needed for the next production season, often using their own money earned 
in the marketing – which is also a way to ensure that the men are selling the 
harvest to them, rather than to outsiders. 
Household duties are entirely performed by women, sometimes with the 
assistance of young girls. Some parents compel their daughters to interrupt 
 CASE STUDY: PIKINE, SENEGAL 225
Table 14.1 Gender division of labour in farm-households in North Pikine
Activity Women/Girls Men/Boys
Obtaining a piece of land x (consults men) x
Guarding the piece of land  x
Preparing fi eld (hoeing) x x
Obtaining/purchasing seeds  x
Preparing seeds x (provides the funds) x
Sowing x x
Transferring plants  x
Weeding  x
Localizing water source  x
Irrigation  x
Fertilization  x
Pest control  x
Harvesting x x
Threshing  x
Cleaning  x
Storage  x
Transporting products to the market x (hires transport)
Selling products at market x
Maintenance (e.g. irrigation system, warehouse)  x
Interacting with extension workers/local authorities  x
Exchanging information with other producers x x
Livestock feeding  x
Household chores x
Social/religious ceremonies x x
Community-political meetings/roles x x
or end their schooling in order to assist their mothers in the domestic 
chores. 
Community activities are essentially divided between family ceremonies 
(christening, funerals, marriages, circumcision, etc.) and socio-cultural and 
political activities (associative structures, political activities, community 
activities). The entire family attends family ceremonies; or, if this is not 
possible, one of the spouses represents the other in equal proportions. In 
all the ceremonies, however, there are so-called ‘female’ components (for 
example, the festivities) and others that are more ’masculine’ (for example, 
the religious activities).
Women are more inclined to participate in social and political activities than 
the men. However, they are rarely appointed as community representatives, 
and men dominate all the community authorities.
Access to and control over resources 
Men control most of the resources; only a minority of women have their own 
farms, by virtue of an inheritance. However, lately an increasing number of 
women have access to land resources, by purchasing or renting plots of land. 
226 WOMEN FEEDING CITIES
Table 14.2 shows the predominance of men in the distribution of 
decision-making power. Single female landowners generally make decisions 
Table 14.2 Access to and control over resources in farm-households in North Pikine
 Access Control
 Men Women Men Women Observations
Productive
resources
Land 75 25 75 25 Most of the land is used and controlled by men. 
Women have access to land either by inheriting it or 
by buying it, but do not easily have control over it, 
unless they are single.
Labour 75 50 75 25 Husbands often allow their wives to work outside the 
house with a view to the related economic gains. 
Widows and unmarried or divorced women have 
complete control over their activities and resources, 
and their male relatives have very little power over 
them. Such women are often involved in women’s 
associations and hire labourers for the production 
activities if they can afford it. 
Credit 25 75 75 25 Women have more access to credit than men 
(because several institutions especially target 
women engaged in small businesses), although both 
men and women judge it to be insuffi cient. The 
husband is often consulted before a woman takes a 
loan, and men often control its use.
Inputs  75 25 75 25 The men buy and control the use of the inputs, but 
it is the women who provide the funds to purchase 
the inputs
Equipment 75 75 75 25 Most equipment is collectively owned and controlled 
by the organization PROVANIA. Men dominate the 
use of equipment.
Training 25  50 75 25 Women have more training opportunities, especially 
courses in product processing and adult literacy, 
than men, but men often have a strong say in 
whether their wives may participate in a training 
course or not. 
Benefi ts
Profi ts 25 75 50 50 Men sell the produce to their wives, who market it, 
and so both get their share of the profi t. However, 
husbands often dominate decisions on how the 
profi ts will be used, including profi ts managed by 
their wives. 
Ownership   75 25 Normally the men are considered the owner of the 
of  goods     house and other main goods. However, female heads 
(e.g. house)     of household can own a house (and land) through 
inheritance. 
Community  100 100 75 25 Women actively participate in social and political 
decision     activities, but decision making is strongly dominated
making     by men.
 CASE STUDY: PIKINE, SENEGAL 227
in consultation with the hired farm labourers, which clearly indicates the 
dominant position of men in the agricultural production.
Women’s role in decision making
The decision-making power at the household level is strongly related to the 
control over means of production (land, capital, etc.), which are mainly in 
the hands of men, as has been shown above. The women have a much more 
important role in decision making when it comes to marketing activities, 
transport, and processing. 
When women have the exclusive responsibility for a family (female-headed 
households), social norms allow them more decision-making power. Since the 
number of female-headed households is increasing, nowadays more women 
have gained decision-making power.
At the community level, women are active participants in social and 
political activities. However, the main decision-making authorities are male. 
A female producer: I have been a widow for 15 years and I have been working on urban 
agriculture for all that period. I am managing a household of 20 people. I manage to feed 
them and deal with all the needs of my kids and the rest of the family, which is made up 
of young women, married or single. To summarize, I can say that I manage to deal with all 
my needs thanks to the income I get from urban agriculture. Most of the female members 
of the association are in charge of families. I have a plot of land that I inherited from my 
father, who had a lease on it. This allows me to exploit the land.
It is important to note that women often are not suffi ciently informed on 
important legal aspects related to agricultural activities, which weakens their 
position in a largely conservative society. The example of the woman quoted 
Table 14.3 Decision-making matrix among farm-households in North Pikine (for households 
with husband and wife present)
Activities Men Discussions Equal Discussions Women
 decide but the infl uence but the decide
 alone men’s  women’s alone
  opinions  opinions
  prevail  prevail
Decisions on buying inputs or equipment x
Decisions on what crops to grow  x
Decisions on taking a loan    x
Decision about which part of the harvest
will be consumed or sold   x
Decisions on training activities  x
Decisions on domestic activities     x
Family-planning decisions     x
Decisions on socio-political activities   x
Decisions on children’s schooling   x
228 WOMEN FEEDING CITIES
above perfectly illustrates the case, as she was not aware of the fact that when 
her father passed away his death automatically cancelled the lease, and that 
she had to go through some formalities in order to get it renewed.  
Main constraints encountered by male and female producers in North Pikine
During the exploratory survey in 2006 (IAGU–RUAF, 2006) two pyramids 
of constraints were elaborated, one by the women and another by the 
men, in order to identify the main constraints encountered by women and 
men respectively in urban agriculture in North Pikine. The most important 
constraints appear at the base of the pyramid, and the less pressing ones at 
the top. 
We observe that a number of problems are seen as priority constraints by 
male and female producers alike, notably insecurity of tenure, shortage of 
irrigation water, and limited access to credit. These are serious obstacles to 
sustainable urban agriculture in North Pikine. According to the agricultural 
producers, agriculture might disappear altogether, under pressure from rapid 
and uncontrolled urbanization and the subsequent building of housings and 
collective facilities. 
We also see some important differences between the main concerns of 
men and women, with the women being more preoccupied with marketing-
related issues (poor access roads, limited market places, problematic consumer 
relations, etc.) or issues related to their situation as female heads of households 
(paying hired labour); whereas the male producers are more preoccupied by 
production-related issues (lack of good seeds, crop diseases, crop and soil 
Paying for labour,
especially after
slump in sales
Gaining loyalty of customers
(get them to buy their products
on a regular basis)
Lack of market places to sell their
products (only one market available)
and instability of prices
Limited access to credit to finance the inputs for next
production season
Difficult access to water, compelling them to leave
some land uncultivated
Land-tenure insecurity
Figure 14.2 Pyramid of constraints encountered by female producers in North Pikine
 CASE STUDY: PIKINE, SENEGAL 229
Insecure tracks
to the fields
Soil and plant infections
Expensive inputs
Problems in marketing agricultural products
Expensive production equipment
Difficult access to credit to finance the inputs for next
production season
Lack of certified seeds
Insufficient access to water
Land-tenure insecurity
Figure 14.3 Pyramid of constraints encountered by male producers in North Pikine
contamination, and the high cost of equipment and inputs). Women also 
raise issues related to the employment of paid labour. Problems often occur 
during the production period, when they are faced with diffi culties in selling 
their products. 
Priorities of female producers
The female producers from North Pikine involved in the focus-group meetings 
(and the pilot project) suggested a number of measures that could improve 
their activities: 
• Organize the women involved in marketing in more formal groupings, 
in order to put pressure on the public authorities to create more local 
vegetable markets and to lease these out to them formally.
• Set up a savings and credit system (mutuelles), shared by the women’s 
groups, to provide loans to the producers. 
• Provide more capacity-building programmes, to enable women to 
improve the management of their activities, at organizational, fi nancial, 
and technical levels.
• Enhance the security of the agricultural lands.
• Provide motor-pumps to facilitate access to water resources and increase 
the value of non-cultivated plots of land. 
• Assist the female land owners to shift to a share-cropping system so that 
they can avoid the problems related to the use of paid labour.
• Improve the transport of the products from the fi elds by creating/
improving access tracks and re-organizing the plots in such a way that 
all plots can be reached.
230 WOMEN FEEDING CITIES
Review of the pilot project in the light of the gender analysis 
Drawing on the results of the exploratory survey implemented in 2006 
(IAGU–RUAF, 2006) the pilot project was focused on the main obstacles to 
the development of urban agriculture mentioned by both men and women. 
Accordingly the following objectives were chosen.
1. Enhancing security of land use by developing a plan for the regularization 
of agricultural lands, especially in depression zones and areas with high 
ecological value. These should be designated as permanent agricultural 
zones (where construction is prohibited) in the city development and 
land-use plans. The plan will be discussed in the Pikine Multi-stakeholder 
Platform on Urban Agriculture and subsequently presented to the Pikine 
City Council. 
2. Enhancing access to irrigation water by providing the farmers’ organization 
PROVANIA with a pump and irrigation equipment and establishing a 
savings scheme to pay for its maintenance and replacement. (A planned 
scheme for safe reuse of wastewater had to be postponed, due to some 
problems with a key institution involved in its implementation.)
3. Enhancing access to good-quality inputs by setting up a system managed 
by PROVANIA for collective purchase of seeds and tools/equipment and 
their provision to the producers on credit (inputs) or on hire (tools/
equipment).
So, with the results of the gender analysis now in hand, what can be said 
about the gender responsiveness of this pilot project? During the preparation 
of the project, an attempt was clearly made to understand the roles and 
contributions of men and women in urban agricultural production, processing, 
and marketing, before designing the project. The project also involved male 
and female producers in making decisions about the objectives of the project, 
resulting in a focus on issues that were identifi ed by male as well as female 
producers as key constraints limiting the development of urban agriculture. 
During implementation, equal access of male and female producers to inputs 
and equipment supplied by the project through PROVANIA was ensured. 
By doing so, the role of women in the production activities, their access to 
resources, and their participation in PROVANIA have improved.     
But we also observe that the pilot project will benefi t mainly women who 
control some land themselves (since they are more involved in production, 
can become members of PROVANIA, and have a share in the distribution 
of inputs and equipment). But there are only a few women in this category 
(mainly single women who have inherited some land). An important 
constraint indicated by these women, their problems with hiring/paying male 
farm labour, has not received attention. Another problem is that the project 
design neglects the fact that the women’s main roles in urban agriculture are 
in the organization of transport, processing, and marketing of the products, 
and only to a minor extent – and in a secondary role – in the production. The 
 CASE STUDY: PIKINE, SENEGAL 231
project focuses more on production aspects (dominated by the men) and gives 
little attention to the transport, processing, and marketing aspects (which 
are of equal importance to the men, since they sell their produce through 
the women and receive from them the fi nancial means required to buy the 
required inputs). Priority constraints and interests that are specifi c to women 
and mainly related to processing and marketing (better access roads, more 
market places, better organization of trading women and their access to sources 
of fi nancing, more capacity building related to marketing and processing, etc.) 
were left unaddressed. 
The way forward
PROVANIA is now taking up the above-mentioned issues in the context of the 
Multi-stakeholder Platform on Urban Agriculture, identifying the institutional 
actors who can contribute to solving these issues. For example:
• Efforts are made by the Pikine municipality to provide specifi c places in 
the city markets for women to sell products from urban agriculture. The 
municipality also provides better facilities (especially credit) for female 
vegetable traders through a municipal funding project.
• The credit institution PAMECAS is experimenting with a new fi nancial 
tool for urban agriculture, specifi cally women involved in the processing 
and marketing of vegetables and other products.
• The Strategic Action Plan on Urban Agriculture developed by the Multi-
stakeholder Forum gives explicit attention to gender issues; and several 
institutions, when planning actions, are now taking into consideration 
the specifi c constraints, opportunities, and benefi ts for men and women 
involved in urban agriculture.
In the design of a follow-up project by PROVANIA, the specifi c interests 
of women involved in processing and marketing of agricultural produce will 
be given more attention. A gender expert working with National Agency for 
Agricultural Development and Rural is providing advice to PROVANIA.
Main lessons learned
The main lessons from the process of integrating gender in this urban 
agriculture project are as follows:
• It is essential to demonstrate to all parties the crucial value of women’s 
contribution to the agricultural production and marketing process and 
the income that it generates. The participatory diagnosis clearly showed 
the important role that women play in pre-fi nancing the new season, in 
the production process during peak labour periods, and especially in the 
(organization of) transport, processing, and marketing of the products.
232 WOMEN FEEDING CITIES
• It is important to resist the tendency to focus diagnosis and project 
formulation on production-related aspects. Processing and marketing 
aspects should be given equal attention. 
• It is important that, during the formulation of a local project, male and 
female producers can independently formulate their priority interests 
and preferred actions, and that they jointly conclude which actions will 
be included in the project. Although initially the men still may dominate 
the fi nal prioritization (as was the case in the PROVANIA project), such 
procedure establishes the mechanism that women’s specifi c interests 
are explicitly taken into account and that men accept and support the 
implementation of related actions. 
• A gender-sensitive situation analysis does not automatically ensure that 
a project will be designed to serve the main interests of women. Gender-
responsive planning and monitoring requires more attention. Gender 
mainstreaming is to be understood as a repetitive process which results 
in small steps forward during each phase of the process. 
• To tackle priority issues regarding gender in urban agriculture requires 
complementary actions by various institutions. The Multi-stakeholder 
Platforms on urban agriculture and food security can play an important 
intermediary and co-ordinating role. 
• Tools used in the diagnosis stage (like the access to/control of resources 
tool, the decision-making matrix, and the distribution of benefi ts map) 
can be effectively used in the implementation stage to monitor gender-
differentiated distribution of participation in decision making and 
distribution of benefi ts of a project. 
References 
ANSD (2004) Situation Économique et Sociale de Dakar, Agence Nationale de la 
Statistique et de la Démographie, ANSD, Dakar.
Dieng, M (2004) La viabilité fi nancière des exploitations agricoles dans la zone 
des Niayes de Pikine (mémoire de fi n d’étude pour l’obtention du Diplôme 
d’Ingénieur des travaux en Planifi cation Économique et en Conseiller en 
Gestion des Organisations), École Nationale d’Économie Appliquée (ENEA), 
Dakar. 
IAGU (2004) Genre et agriculture urbaine dans la vallée des Niayes de Pikine 
(Sénégal), Étude de cas Exploratoire, IAGU-RUAF, Dakar. 
IAGU (2006) Rapport de l’étude exploratoire sur l’agriculture urbaine dans la ville 
de Pikine (Sénégal), IAGU–RUAF, Dakar. 
IAGU (2007) Le fi nancement des agriculteurs et agricultrices urbains de la zone des 
Niayes. Étude de Cas, IAGU, Dakar. 
IAGU–RUAF (2006) ‘Synthese du rapport de l’etude exploratoire sur l’agriculture 
urbaine dans la ville de Pikine (Senegal)’, IAGU, Dakar.
MUAT (2003) Plan directeur d’urbanisme de Dakar horizon 2005, Direction de 
l’urbanisme et de l’architecture, AUS-BCEOM, Dakar.
 CASE STUDY: PIKINE, SENEGAL 233
MUAT (2004) Élaboration du plan directeur d’aménagement et de sauvegarde des 
niayes et zones vertes de Dakar. Programme d’actions pour la sauvegarde et le 
développement urbain des Niayes, Rapport sur les études diagnostiques, Direction 
des Espaces Verts Urbains/DDH Ltée/Cabinet Prestige/GEOI, Dakar.
Niang, S. et al. (2005) Treatment of Health Risks Linked to the Use of Waste Water 
in Urban Agriculture, (Dakar –Senegal), IFAN–ENDA RUP, Dakar.
About the authors
Gora Gaye is Project Manager at the African Institute for Urban Management 
(IAGU), Dakar, Senegal.
Mamadou Ndong Touré is Geographer for the Cabinet d’Architecture et 
d’Urbanisme du Sénégal (CAUS), Dakar, Senegal.
CHAPTER 15
Incorporating gender in urban agriculture 
projects
Abstract
This chapter suggests how to include gender systematically in various phases 
of the project cycle: from diagnosis to design, action planning, implementation, 
monitoring and evaluation, and going to scale. For each project phase important 
steps are highlighted. At the end of each section some specifi c tools are suggested 
which may be used in this particular project phase (these tools are discussed in 
detail in Chapter 17), in addition to questions which can be used as a checklist 
during that phase. 
The urban agriculture project cycle
As discussed in previous chapters, the aim of gender-sensitive management 
of research and action projects is to enable men, women, and youth to 
participate in development processes on equal terms, both as agents and as 
benefi ciaries. The case studies featured in Part I refl ect this aim, and the results 
and experiences stemming from the cases form the foundation of this chapter. 
Specifi cally, lessons learned from original testing of guidelines have been used 
to adjust and improve those presented below; examples from case studies 
presented in Chapters 2 to 14 provide illustration of key points about gender 
within each specifi c phase of the project cycle.
Gender sensitivity and mainstreaming begins with the following:
• Acceptance of the principle of ‘equal human rights for all’.
• Acknowledgement of the real value of women’s contribution to 
development: production, food security, income, etc.
• Recognition of women as independent actors in and benefi ciaries of public 
policies and projects.
• Recognition that the needs of men and women are different, and that 
women’s access to and control over resources and their participation 
in decision making are restricted by socio-cultural and institutional 
traditions.
238 WOMEN FEEDING CITIES
• Recognition that public policies and projects, as well as economic and 
technological trends, can have differential effects on men and women. 
• Recognition that affi rmative actions are needed to ensure that women 
(and men) can reap equal benefi ts from public policies and projects.
• Recognition that advancing a gender-sensitive approach requires cultural 
tact and diplomacy if embedded constraints (such as traditional cultural 
norms and institutional sexism) are to be overcome and resistance 
minimized.
An effective framework for gender-sensitive project management, and the 
one chosen for the case studies and this publication, is the project cycle. A 
project ‘encompasses a specifi c range of resources and activities which are 
brought together to generate clearly defi ned outputs within a given budget 
and a specifi ed period of time. Compared to a programme, a project is more 
specifi c and has more defi ned targets and time frames’ (GWA, 2003). The 
project cycle consists of a set of steps that provide the basis for adequate 
preparation and implementation of a project, as well as opportunities to learn 
from its results.
The outputs for urban agriculture projects will be somewhat different and 
the project cycle will vary, depending whether the project is more research-
oriented, such as the case studies of Ghana (Chapter 4) and Carapongo 
(Chapter 13), or development-oriented. Even in strongly development-
oriented projects, such as the case study of Villa María del Triunfo (Chapter 
8), which features assessment of a multi-stakeholder action-planning process, 
research almost always forms at least some part of the cycle, for example 
in the diagnosis phase and in contributing to the design, planning, and 
implementation processes. In projects that are primarily research-oriented, 
not all phases of the project cycle will always be included; or there may be 
shifts in the sequence of phases. For example, projects may involve a research-
design phase (hypotheses, defi nition of research objectives, design of research 
methodology), which precedes diagnosis and implementation. 
For clarity, we present the broad phases of the project cycle as follows, 
highlighting where necessary special considerations related to research or 
development:
1. Diagnostic research. In this initial stage, local needs, problems, and 
opportunities are determined by reviewing the results of earlier research 
and undertaking additional studies (especially participatory analysis 
activities, applying rapid appraisal methods). Diagnosis focuses on 
the analysis of existing urban farming systems and broader livelihood 
strategies of farming households, as well as local conditions in the target 
areas, in order to defi ne important problems, needs, perspectives, and 
opportunities.
2. Design. During this phase the project’s goals and strategies are identifi ed 
through a joint process of ’visioning’ the desired development and project 
outcomes, and evaluating alternative strategies that might be applied to 
 INCORPORATING GENDER IN URBAN AGRICULTURE PROJECTS 239
realize those outcomes, by looking into their viability and effectiveness 
to produce the required outcomes. In research-oriented projects, some 
of the strategies identifi ed may include further (participatory) research 
into, for example, technical options. 
3. Activity planning. During this phase the goals and strategies are 
operationalized by identifying activities needed to implement the 
strategies, developing methods and tools to be applied, dividing 
responsibilities and tasks among the participating stakeholders, defi ning 
co-ordination and monitoring mechanisms, and developing a budget 
and timeframe. Also all necessary practical arrangements for the actions 
are made. Action planning may include action research to test alternative 
solutions to a given problem.
4. Implementation. During this phase the planned activities are 
implemented and, if need be, adapted to fi t the specifi c context better. 
5. Monitoring and evaluation. During implementation the project is 
monitored and periodically (auto-)evaluated in order to: 
• assess whether the project is on track with regard to the realization of 
planned goals, strategies and activities as set out previously;
• solve problems that emerge during implementation;
• enhance learning-from-actions by periodic refl ection on experiences 
gained from implementation processes, as well as results obtained 
(for example, how to get more/more relevant/better-quality results; 
how to enhance cost-effectiveness; how to enhance participation, 
local ownership, and sustainability and out/up-scaling of the results, 
etc.).
 In larger projects, external reviewers/evaluators may be involved to 
realize a mid-term and/or end- of-project evaluation, to systematize 
results obtained, and draw lessons for uptake in policies and future 
action projects. 
6. Going to scale. During this phase the focus is on planning follow-up 
actions, dissemination of results/information to relevant stakeholders, 
and infl uencing policy making in the same city or similar areas (out-
scaling) or at the national level (up-scaling). Learning from the project is 
used to plan new research or development projects and to develop new 
policies (or revise existing policies) on urban agriculture.
It is important to note that although this chapter presents key phases of 
the project cycle as a linear process, the cycle is more refl ective of a spiral 
(Figure 15.1), with the project passing several times through the phases of 
planning, action, observing or monitoring results, refl ecting on lessons, and 
re-planning. This iterative process also underlines the fact that one or several 
phases of the cycle may appear more than once within a project cycle, or 
may have strong links and cross-over with several other phases. In particular, 
monitoring and evaluation frameworks, specifi cally the indicators or questions 
used to assess realization of goals, strategies, and activities, often become an 
240 WOMEN FEEDING CITIES
OBSERVE OBSERVE OBSERVE OBSERVE
PLAN PLAN PLAN PLAN PLAN
Figure 15.1 The project cycle as a spiral process
Source: Gender and Water Alliance, 2003
integral and central focus of design, planning, and implementation phases 
of the project cycle. As such it is important to recognize and operationalize 
the fact that monitoring and evaluation is not necessarily the ‘fi fth phase’ 
of the project cycle but rather underlies, and becomes a foundation for, 
the entire project cycle. The uptake of project results into local or national 
policies or programmes can most effectively be managed if there is frequent 
communication during planning and implementation phases with relevant 
stakeholders to facilitate up- or out-scaling. Or further, results of research and 
diagnosis might be fed directly to policy makers or other planning projects; 
monitoring and evaluation during implementation can likewise identify new 
research questions and be shared with available research organizations.
Above all, the project cycle in its entirety and throughout its duration 
must refl ect a commitment to gender sensitivity and mainstreaming. This 
requires, fi rst of all, a commitment in the spirit and content of project-
cycle components such that the focal point at all phases is illuminating the 
differences and potential inequalities between men and women in urban 
agriculture, and developing and operationalizing actions that may lead to 
more gender-sensitive planning and policy-making. Second, this requires 
a commitment to training and capacity building of personnel in the use 
of gender-sensitive tools and guidelines. Those persons adopting the tools 
presented in this book, for example, must learn how to lead and facilitate, for 
example, a focus group or one-on-one interview in a way that will build trust 
among project participants and encourage people to share details about the 
roles, expectations, and experiences of men and women within a particular 
context. This also means that participants must be clear on and committed 
to the importance of highlighting gender in urban agriculture activities: the 
benefi ts of participating in a gender-sensitive project cycle must be clearly 
ACT O
BSERVE
ACT REFLECT
ACT
ACT
ACT
RE
FL
EC
T
LE
CT
RE
F
LE
CT
RE
F
EC
T
FL
RE
 INCORPORATING GENDER IN URBAN AGRICULTURE PROJECTS 241
stated up-front. Commitment to gender training and facilitation necessarily 
means that project or even programme budgets must be allocated specifi cally 
to such activities. 
In the remainder of this chapter we will describe the steps to be taken in 
each phase of the project cycle. The description of each phase ends with an 
overview of the tools that can be particularly useful in that specifi c phase. 
A full description of these tools and how they can be applied is provided 
in the Tool box in Chapter 17. While certain tools have been suggested for 
use in a certain phase, it is possible that they may also be relevant to other 
phases of the project cycle. It is also possible that guidelines or tools may 
need to be adapted to local contexts to address specifi c needs and interests. 
We encourage practitioners to approach both the guidelines and tools with 
fl exibility and creativity, to ensure that they are as relevant and insightful as 
possible. This spirit was evident during the tools-testing phase, as described in 
the Preface; project partners took a mix-and-match approach to the tool box, 
adapted tools as needed, and even created new tools by combining elements 
of those presented in the text. The result was positive, with important gender 
dynamics highlighted at different phases of the project cycle. 
Phase 1: diagnostic research
Although there are signifi cant differences between the tool boxes used in 
mainly research-oriented projects and those primarily oriented towards 
development goals (to be further discussed below), both depend on some 
form of diagnostic research to make an assessment of the social, economic, 
political, and environmental circumstances in which people live and work, 
to analyse their farming systems and livelihood strategies, and to defi ne the 
main problems, needs, resources, and opportunities. 
The framework of gender issues presented in Chapter 1 provides a guide 
for a gendered analysis of the local situation. Gender analysis provides an 
examination of the respective interests, problems, and needs of men and 
women in the community, and their implications for urban agriculture. 
Starting with a gendered analysis of the local situation offers a snapshot of the 
project’s point of departure. It recognizes that each project situation is unique: 
there is no other situation with the exact same combination of gender roles, 
resources, political circumstances, etc. Important questions to be answered 
in this phase focus on a community’s problems and challenges, but also on 
its available resources, capacities, and opportunities for development. The 
fi ndings of this phase provide the project team with valuable information 
on what kinds of intervention would be useful for whom, and on how to 
conduct these interventions. As the fi ndings of this phase lay out the map for 
the next phases, it is very important that diagnostic research be carried out 
with great care, fully involving all community members, including men and 
women equally. 
242 WOMEN FEEDING CITIES
Some of the important steps to follow in this phase are (1) the identifi cation 
of key themes, methods of data collection, and participants, and (2) the 
collection of data itself. These are detailed below. 
Identifi cation of key themes, methods of data collection, and participants
The process normally starts with a review and synthesis of available data (see 
Tool box on review of secondary data) on urban agriculture in the city or 
target location. These data may include land-use data or maps (e.g. zoning, 
actual use, planned use), socio-economic data (e.g. the number and location 
of households below poverty line or with food-security problems), data on 
food habits and nutrition status (e.g. presence and location of undernutrition 
or malnutrition in the area or within specifi c households, detailed purchasing 
and consumption patterns, farming-activity typologies, etc.). 
The data review will help in the identifi cation of important key themes for 
the participatory diagnosis of an action project, or key questions and working 
hypothesis for a research project. It will help to identify key informants and 
the different focus groups with which one will be working during participatory 
diagnosis, or the main categories of respondent for research activities. For 
example, in Rosario (Chapter 10), documenting and assessing the Urban 
Agriculture Programme in terms of its objectives and outcomes formed the 
basis of subsequent gender-data collection and analysis in the city. In Nakuru 
(Chapter 11), the review of secondary data and discussions with community-
based organizations helped to focus attention on land, income, and food 
security, which became central elements of individual interviews with men 
and women involved with urban agriculture activities.
Also during this step the methods to be used to collect the required 
information will be selected. Different methods are available, with different 
strengths and weaknesses. For example, household surveys using questionnaires 
have the advantage of quantifying fi ndings, but also the weakness of expense, 
duration, and superfi ciality. The disadvantages of formal surveys have been 
commented on at length (e.g. Pretty, 1995), but if there is a need for a baseline 
for measuring change, then they are very important (see Tool box section on 
questionnaires). In another example, more rapid and participatory appraisal 
techniques (e.g. seasonal calendars, decision-making matrices, etc.) have the 
advantage of speed, low cost, and better understanding of processes, but also 
the disadvantage of limited quantifi cation and ability to generalize results. 
Using both quantitative and qualitative tools can be an effective way 
of ensuring that data collection is comprehensive and systematic. While 
statistical fi gures are attractive to many key stakeholders, they too often lose 
their signifi cance in terms of what they mean for people on the ground. 
Qualitative or textual accounts of people’s experiences can go a long way 
towards establishing a compelling argument for a particular project strategy 
or development intervention. For example, the Pikine case study (Chapter 14) 
presents fi ndings about men’s and women’s access to and control over resources 
 INCORPORATING GENDER IN URBAN AGRICULTURE PROJECTS 243
fi rst in terms of percentages, and second in terms of brief explanations of what 
these percentages mean (see Table 14.2). While the statistical fi gures illuminate 
gender imbalance in land access (with men having access to and control over 
75 per cent of this resource), qualitative details provide insight into the fact 
that single women are in a better position than married women in this regard; 
as a result, gender differences between women have been identifi ed in this 
particular case study which may be important for understanding the local 
context and ultimately for development planning. 
How to measure particular aspects of men’s and women’s circumstances, 
experiences, and perceptions, and how to communicate them to an audience 
through information dissemination, requires some attention to the rating or 
ranking system that is used in conjunction with the methods available in the 
Tool box and elsewhere. Researchers and project staff should pay attention 
during the diagnosis phase to ensure that research fi ndings refl ect the data 
collected. For example, by using a questionnaire survey, it may be revealed 
that farmers express varying degrees of satisfaction with urban agriculture 
extension workers from a government department. In order to measure ’degrees 
of satisfaction’, a rating system based on fi ve stars is developed whereby one 
star indicates complete dissatisfaction and fi ve stars complete satisfaction. 
Standardizing such rating systems throughout the diagnosis phase will ensure 
that people’s perceptions on the ground are adequately captured through data 
collection. The rating system itself must be explained in any documents or 
scenarios where data dissemination takes place, to ensure clarity. 
In the diagnosis phase of urban agriculture projects Participatory Appraisals 
(PA) rather than formal surveys will normally be applied, with additional 
advantages of fl exibility and innovation. Teams using PA should determine the 
best combination and sequence of techniques to be used and adapt existing 
techniques or invent new techniques when needed. The Tool box in Chapter 
17 provides a selection of gender-sensitive PA tools. More examples of gender-
sensitive PA tools and discussion of their application in the diagnosis phase 
of urban agriculture projects can be found in De Zeeuw and Wilbers (2004) 
and Martin, Oudewater, and Gündel (2002). Two guides that give attention to 
making PA tools more gender-sensitive are Pretty (1994) and FAO (2001).
It is preferable to select techniques that complement each other in the type 
of information they supply and/or the effect they have on the participatory 
process. Some techniques are applied in work with individual households 
(e.g. farm diagram, household decision-making matrix, etc.), while others 
are applied with a small group of informants (e.g. transect walk, resources 
mapping, organizational linkages diagram) or a specifi c category of the 
population, to dig deeper in the analysis of certain problems/causes (e.g. focus-
group discussions) and the perspectives of informants, and to prioritise certain 
problems or opportunities (e.g. ranking exercises). The case studies in Part I of 
this publication draw on a range of techniques used in diagnosis, with many 
individual cases drawing on a combination of approaches to generate holistic 
diagnostic results that inform subsequent stages of the project cycle. 
244 WOMEN FEEDING CITIES
Although most experience with PA is in a rural setting, the techniques can 
also be applied in an urban situation. Urban Harvest partners have developed 
the methodology for and carried out a Participatory Urban Appraisal (PUA) 
in Kampala and other towns (Prain et al., forthcoming). This and other 
experiences underline the need to take care to adapt the PA techniques to the 
specifi c urban conditions. 
Some special considerations in this respect, taken from Prain and De Zeeuw 
(2007), are listed below.
• Whereas in the rural context PA is normally implemented in villages 
where people know each other and the local social and economic fabric 
reasonably well, this might not be the case in the urban situation, where 
communities are more fragmented, more complex, and subject to more 
rapid changes.
• Whereas in the rural situation farming families and their resources are 
often easy to identify (although there are exceptions), this frequently 
turns out to be a fairly complex issue in the urban context, where the 
house of a family and the plots farmed may be far apart, plots may be 
illegal and so not mentioned, and number and size of plots or animals 
raised may vary considerably over time.
• Whereas in rural farming households most members who are present 
consider farming or directly related activities their major occupation 
(and, for many, their only occupation), in urban households livelihood 
strategies often are more varied, with farming often practised by one or 
two members only and as secondary to non-agricultural activities. Many 
poor urban households are broken or scattered.
Since PA techniques enable local people to express their needs, views, 
problems, perspectives, and priorities, they are also very useful for the analysis 
of gender differences in a community if the techniques are applied in a gender-
sensitive way. This often implies that the PA exercises are implemented with 
men and women separately (often followed by discussion of results in a mixed 
group), as will be discussed in the next section.
It is also necessary to select the persons who will do the fi eldwork and, if 
needed, provide them with PA and gender training (including training on 
key gender issues in urban agriculture, adequate communication with men 
and women, the adequate use of the selected data-collection techniques, 
’what to do if …’ situations, etc.). Authors of the Manila (Chapter 3) and 
Kampala (Chapter 5) case studies noted in their comments on guidelines 
testing that training of staff to conduct gender diagnoses is a particularly 
important element of mainstreaming in order to generate meaningful gender-
disaggregated and gender-analysed data, and to ensure update of gender 
insights into subsequent stages of the project cycle. This training can be part 
of the participatory planning of fi eldwork. Women researchers and local staff 
may have better access to and rapport with local women than do men. It is 
possible that issues related to gender dynamics may be particularly sensitive 
 INCORPORATING GENDER IN URBAN AGRICULTURE PROJECTS 245
and that people may not be willing to share details or information; this is 
often dependent on who is asking the questions, and whether or not they 
are perceived as an ’insider’ or ’outsider’ by the community at hand. In these 
instances it is particularly important that researchers and staff are properly 
trained to unearth local gender dynamics in a way that is seen as helpful 
rather than harmful to participants. 
Finally, it is important for those responsible for diagnostic research to bring 
back their fi ndings to the community and to engage with ongoing processes of 
change in order to increase the impact of research fi ndings – as, for example, 
was done in the case of the Urban Harvest’s research work in Kampala and 
Nakuru (Prain et al., forthcoming). The Nairobi case study (Chapter 9) also 
features dissemination of research results as a methodological strategy; feedback 
workshops provided an opportunity for community members to discuss 
results and for further information to be collected on gender circumstances 
and experiences.
Data collection and analysis
Men and women have different views of reality, encounter different problems, 
have different interests and needs, and use other criteria to judge ‘solutions’ 
or ‘innovations’, all based on the gender differentiation of roles, tasks, and 
responsibilities. Hence, in order to arrive at a thorough understanding of the 
local situation, and a gender-balanced identifi cation of development problems 
and opportunities in urban agriculture, women and men should be equally 
involved in the diagnosis or research process. 
Only when gender-differentiated information is available (for example on 
the tasks, role in decision making, access to resources, problems encountered, 
needs, interests, perspectives of both men and women in urban agriculture) 
can project planning be made more gender-responsive, as it allows one to 
choose the right strategies for/with the right sub-sets of the urban target group. 
It further allows for monitoring and evaluation of the impacts of the project 
on men, women, children, and other groups. 
Hence, gender-disaggregation of data is an absolute requirement of getting 
good information for urban agriculture projects. The most important thing 
about collecting gender-differentiated data is asking gender-related questions 
in the fi rst place, and this is something that has not always happened in the 
past. There are numerous examples of gender-disaggregated data within the 
Part I case studies, including detailed information on division of labour, access 
to and control over resources or benefi ts of resources, and gender-differentiated 
opportunities and constraints. 
Furthermore, it is important to realize that information about what men 
and women do in urban agriculture (i.e. gender division of labour) can be 
gathered from anyone around who knows the situation. However, what men 
and women believe, prefer, and prioritize, and their perspective on the desired 
developments, can be stated only by themselves. This means that when 
246 WOMEN FEEDING CITIES
looking for more general factual information (e.g. Is there a well here? Is the 
group leader a man or a woman?), we may either interview a man or a woman 
or fi nd the answer by making observations. However, for types of information 
where the answers depend on personal knowledge or preferences, we will have 
to interview the specifi c persons (men or women) who hold that personal 
information or those personal views. 
PA techniques are the best ones to apply in many situations where 
information is needed about the different practices, preferences, and priorities 
of men and women involved in urban agriculture in a particular place. It is 
advisable to consult separate groups of women and men, since women often 
feel constrained when speaking out in public with men present. PA case 
studies often involve certain levels of quantifi cation about a specifi c location 
(for example, the participants in the focus-group meeting said that about 75 
per cent of the households keep chickens and that it is normally a woman 
who looks after them) but without making it possible to generalize to the 
whole population or city. 
Where numbers or percentages are needed, household surveys among a 
representative sample of the population are usually carried out, using written 
questionnaires and structured interviews. These provide numerical information 
about those households’ levels of wealth and health, and what they do as 
urban producers. To achieve gender-disaggregation, the results of the survey 
are usually divided into fi ndings from men-headed and from women-headed 
households. While providing much useful data, disaggregating by the sex of 
the household head will not tell you everything you need to know about 
differences in gender behaviours. Logical steps must be applied to get really 
useful results. For example, a household survey in Manila, Philippines (see 
Table 3.2) tells us that according to both men and women, women have 90 per 
cent access to and control over the income from sales. Further questions reveal 
that 10 per cent of income is specifi cally allocated to men’s social activities, 
over which the women have no say whatsoever, while women are not offered 
an equivalent benefi t. This type of insight is important to investigate in order 
to get a clear picture that goes beyond numbers into actual dynamics between 
family or community members. 
In many situations, equal involvement of men and women in the diagnosis 
is not easy to obtain, owing to the low participation of women in public 
discussions and decision making, their low level of literacy and education, 
cultural restrictions or isolation, etc. It is sometimes the case that elders are 
reluctant to name women as key informants, if tradition casts men in the 
role of community spokespersons; or men do not value the contribution 
of women, while women themselves are not always convinced about the 
usefulness of expressing their views and ideas. In some instances, those 
implementing the diagnosis phase themselves may unintentionally bias 
participation towards men at the expense of women. For example, if the 
project highlights those farmers involved in commercial urban agriculture (in 
many contexts dominated by men), then researchers may inadvertently miss 
 INCORPORATING GENDER IN URBAN AGRICULTURE PROJECTS 247
out on women’s involvement in urban agriculture (which in many contexts is 
subsistence-oriented). Or if the target population to participate is identifi ed as 
those who ‘own’ land, then more men than women (in many instances) will 
be selected to participate, given their greater access to landholdings. Women 
are often excluded from data-collection efforts when the category of ’head-
of-household’ is used to identify a participant; men are usually identifi ed as 
household heads even if women are those predominantly involved in urban 
agriculture activities (and thus their insights and perspectives are neglected). 
Therefore, special attention needs to be paid to involving women, by taking 
the following measures:
• Choose a time and place convenient for both men and women.
• Use adequate techniques that appeal to women and encourage their 
participation.
• Use male and female staff, since the latter establish easier contacts with 
urban women.
• Ensure that the agenda of interviews and focus-group discussions 
includes items which are of primary interest of women. 
• Consider the language used, given that women often do not speak the 
offi cial language. (In such a case, use translators and/or use visualization 
techniques)
• Combine a variety of techniques so as to get insight in each of the main 
gender aspects. Table 15.1 presents an overview of the main gender 
issues in urban agriculture (see also the framework presented in Chapter 
1) with a suggested PA tool to study each issue. The tools have been 
suggested for their cost-effectiveness and their ease of application. 
• Pay attention also to the historical perspective and trends to get more 
insight.
• Make sure that all data collected differentiate between men and women 
(but often also for age group, socio-economic status, etc., since the 
Table 15.1 Overview of main gender issues in urban agriculture and recommended PA tools 
to be used
Main gender issues in Recommended tools Eventually combined with
urban agriculture (see Tool box, Chapter 17) (see Tool box, Chapter 17)
Division of agriculture- Gender-activity analysis chart
related labour, tasks, and Seasonal calendars Direct observation
responsibilities  Semi-structured interviews of
Decision-making power and Decision-making matrix male and female members of
distribution of benefi ts Benefi ts analysis selected households
Access to and control Resources analysis Group interviews with women
overresources (chart and mapping) and men
Constraints, problems, Problem and opportunity
opportunities ranking and analysis
External factors Analysis of institutional
 linkages and timeline variations
248 WOMEN FEEDING CITIES
conditions and interests of men and women are not always the same). 
In that light it will be required that data are collected about (or from) 
men and women separately: interviewing men and women in separate 
(individual or group) interviews (eventually followed by a discussion in 
a mixed group). 
Analysis of the information generated in the diagnosis phase of a project 
will focus on the following: 
• Characterization of the urban farming system(s) concerned (crops grown 
and animals, type and level of technologies used, resources used and their 
origin, main cultivation practices, degree and channels of marketing, etc.).
• Characterization of household livelihoods (resources, activities, 
vulnerabilities, internal and external relationships, etc.).
• Characterization of the institutional context of urban agriculture.
• The identifi cation of key problems in the functioning of these urban 
farming systems (and their causes and consequences) as well as existing 
potentials and opportunities for their development. 
It is important at this stage, or ideally earlier, to refl ect on those participants 
featured in the diagnosis phase of the project cycle. Which social groups 
have been included or excluded? For example, does the diagnosis account 
for the circumstances, experiences, and opinions of landholders but neglect 
to account for those who cannot gain access to land? Or what household 
circumstances are left unexplained? Are only households with a male–female 
couple included, to the exclusion of female-only households? These sampling 
choices within the diagnosis phase will have a major impact on information 
gathered at this stage, in terms of what one can say about gender and urban 
agriculture dynamics, which will ultimately be used to design, plan, and 
implement project activities in subsequent phases. For example, in the Mexico 
case study (Chapter 12), women and men were interviewed separately to ensure 
that each social group had the freedom to speak without being interrupted 
or overshadowed by particular individuals; this sampling strategy aimed to 
account for both men’s and women’s opinions equally. Or in the Nairobi case 
study (Chapter 9), particular attention was paid to youth activities in urban 
agriculture as a way of diagnosing the circumstances and experiences of boys 
and girls, in relation to those of the community in general. 
In PA-based diagnosis, the analysis of the collected information will already 
start during the fi eldwork. In team meetings, early results of the fi eldwork 
are reviewed in sequence, which may reveal gaps and contradictions in the 
collected data or questions about how to interpret certain data correctly. 
This will lead to complementary information collection and ’digging deeper’ 
during farm visits, interviews, and focus-group discussions, in order to achieve 
a better understanding of existing problems and opportunities, causes and 
consequences, and related gender differences. 
The analysis should be made from a gender-sensitive point of view, 
identifying the following factors, among others:
 INCORPORATING GENDER IN URBAN AGRICULTURE PROJECTS 249
• The roles and responsibilities of men, women, and children.
• Who has access to and control over available productive resources.
• How men and women participate in decision making at farm, household, 
and community levels.
• How knowledge/skills, problems, and opportunities differ between the 
men and women involved in these urban farming activities. 
• What the strategic and practical needs and priorities of these women 
and men are.
• Social, cultural, political, legal, and economic factors related to gender-
based distinctions found in this local situation. Which of these factors 
can be expected to change in the coming period?
• What the project could/should do to incorporate gender considerations 
in the project design.
To achieve analytical depth, the key question to be raised continually 
is ’Why?’ It is not enough to document ‘what’ the differential roles and 
responsibilities of men and women in a particular context are, or ‘how’ those 
affect urban agriculture activities. It is important to understand ‘why’ this 
is so. For example, limiting diagnosis to a listing of who does what in terms 
of urban agriculture tasks can help to set the scene so that resources from 
development interventions can assist those in particular tasks (e.g. if women 
are involved in water collection, then an appropriate intervention may target 
improved access to water pumps within a neighbourhood). However, as 
revealed in case studies from Kampala (Chapter 5) and Kisumu (Chapter 7), if 
one wishes to understand why it is that only women collect water then asking 
‘why’ may reveal deeply rooted assumptions about ‘women’s work’ and ‘men’s 
work’. In this instance, ‘women’s work’ may be seen as that which is vital 
to household well-being yet is not directly paid; ‘men’s work’ may be seen 
as that which is rewarded with income, so husbands might be preoccupied 
with cash-crop production. A development intervention aimed at increasing 
women’s access to water may actually have the effect of providing men with 
closer sources of water for their production efforts, and thus the water source 
becomes controlled by men. 
In-depth analysis of gender dynamics in urban agriculture also must 
involve an investigation of intra-household relations so that the ‘behind the 
scenes’ divisions of labour, decision making, resources, etc. and their impacts 
on men’s and women’s lives can be better understood. It is important in 
gender analysis to make distinctions between social ideals and the realities of 
men’s and women’s lives. In some instances, when asked about gender roles 
and responsibilities, both men and women may speak to the broader social 
context (in other words, what men or women should be doing) rather than 
detailing what they actually do. Going into analytical depth allows researchers 
and staff to investigate differences between perceptions and reality. 
Beyond collecting in-depth gender-sensitive information regarding urban 
agriculture, it is important to recognize the broader context in which such 
250 WOMEN FEEDING CITIES
dynamics operate. For example, urban agriculture is only one livelihood 
strategy that urban residents engage in to generate income and provide for 
their families. When investigating this phenomenon specifi cally, one can also 
consider the other types of livelihood activity that an individual or a household 
may be engaged in, particularly to consider how these activities may be traded 
off or used in combination to achieve household food security or general 
welfare. In other words, what other activities beyond urban agriculture do 
urban residents participate in, and how do these activities affect – or how are 
they affected by – urban agriculture? 
Similarly, when investigating gender specifi cally, it is possible that other 
key identifi ers such as age, class, ethnicity, etc. also infl uence urban agriculture 
roles, responsibilities, and activities. In some contexts, then, it will be equally 
important to understand age and gender and to ask how these two identifying 
characteristics shape different roles and responsibilities for women/girls and 
men/boys. For example, the case study from Sonora, Mexico disaggregates the 
division of labour by both gender and age (Table 12.1), revealing the signifi cant 
extent to which young boys and girls, as well as elderly persons, are involved 
in urban agriculture activities.
In other situations it may be important to consider not only a contemporary 
snapshot of gender dynamics but also a historical overview of how urban 
agriculture has developed and how gender differences have evolved; gendered 
histories reveal that men’s and women’s roles and responsibilities are deeply 
entrenched in socio-cultural traditions (e.g. position within the household or 
community) and political-economic structures (e.g. land, legal systems). For 
example, the rich institutional history of the Musikavanhu Project in Harare 
(Chapter 6) provides insights into the key stakeholders and programme 
structure involved, and identifi es opportunities for gender mainstreaming 
based on these elements. The case of Mexico (Chapter 12) notes the ways in 
which men and women involved in urban agriculture make use of cross-border 
social networks and economic scenarios to purchase inputs for production or 
sell goods, and how that has changed over time. Thus while researchers and 
staff should remain focused on gender and urban agriculture specifi cally, it is 
vital to do so within the larger context of various livelihoods, identifying the 
characteristics, histories, and political-economic structures that shape and are 
shaped themselves by gender. 
Preliminary analysis normally will be ‘validated’ by organizing feedback 
meetings with the target population in the locations studied, to present main 
fi ndings and give informants the chance to correct the team’s observations 
and interpretations, as well as to jointly ‘dig deeper’ in the analysis of the 
main problems and potentials identifi ed. In this way the stakeholders 
themselves analyse their situation and deepen understanding of these issues. 
Such feedback workshops often mark the transfer to the design stage, since in 
the same workshop the priority of the identifi ed problems and opportunities 
may be defi ned, as well as the acceptability of and preference for certain 
solutions and intervention strategies. Note that the diagnosis should focus not 
 INCORPORATING GENDER IN URBAN AGRICULTURE PROJECTS 251
only on the analysis of problems (and identifi cation of potential solutions for 
such problems) but also on the identifi cation and analysis of opportunities: 
local innovations that can be further developed, under-utilized resources that 
might be used, new market opportunities, etc. 
It is important to note that all sources of data can be valid for gender 
analysis, even if they are not obviously gendered or gender-sensitive. For 
example, documenting men’s circumstances, experiences, and perceptions is 
as valid as documenting those of women, given that gender analysis requires 
attention to both men and women. Or interviews with key informants who are 
not gender-sensitive can be as enlightening as interviews with gender experts, 
largely because of what is not said, or in order to get a sense of how gender-
insensitivity operates. Similarly, secondary data (e.g. census, documents, 
reports, etc.) that are gender-insensitive require a ‘reading between the lines’ 
in terms of what is not said about gender and making its invisibility visible. 
Finally, one cannot assume that women know it all in terms of illuminating 
gender dynamics in a particular context, as they may not be aware of these 
themselves.
Box 15.1 Recommended tools for diagnostic research
• Activity-analysis chart 
• Seasonal calendar
• Resources-analysis chart 
• Resources mapping
• Decision-making matrix 
• Benefi ts chart
• Problems and opportunities identifi cation and ranking
Box 15.2 Gender-mainstreaming questions for diagnostic research
• Did men and women actively participate in identifying and analysing the local 
situation? 
• What methods were used in the identifi cation of the problem or situation? Did the 
analysis yield gender-disaggregated data on all issues investigated?
• Was the situation or problem analysed from a gender perspective? Did the analysis 
identify:
o Roles and responsibilities of men, women, and children?
o Who has access to and control over available productive resources?
o What the strategic and practical needs and priorities of women and men are, and 
whether these differ?
o Social, cultural, political, legal, and economic factors related to roles and 
responsibilities, and access to and control over resources?
o What the project could/should do to incorporate gender considerations?
o What changes in gender-based distinctions found in this local situation can be 
expected to change?
• Were women involved in decision making on the priority issues to be attended?
• Who are most affected by the problems selected as key priorities?
• Who will benefi t most from the opportunities selected as key priorities? 
• What is the level of preparedness of men and women to get involved in the project?
252 WOMEN FEEDING CITIES
Phase 2: project design
In the design phase, the project goals are defi ned, as well as the strategies 
through which these goals will be attained, taking as a starting point the 
needs, problems and opportunities of the local producers (men and women) 
that were identifi ed during the diagnosis phase.
It is important that female urban producers and male urban producers 
are consulted equally during the design of the project, so that the needs and 
interests of varying social groups within a particular context are identifi ed, 
strategized around, and eventually addressed. This may require special efforts 
and creativity on the part of the institutions involved in order to ensure the 
required conditions; for example through the use of female staff, working in 
separate male and female groups, selecting appropriate times and venues for 
meetings, adapting particular languages, using visual aids, etc. The Rosario 
case study (Chapter 10) highlights steps taken to gender-mainstream project 
design through ‘encounters’ with female producers; these meetings helped to 
visualize the role of women in the project-design process and provided skills 
training to enhance leadership capacity and self-confi dence.
The issue of gender training and capacity building of staff involved in the 
project team is important in the design phase, particularly in terms of facilitating 
participatory processes that encourage active collaboration during the design 
phase and give voice to those community members, in many instances women, 
who may not have had opportunities in the past to identify their concerns 
or state their opinions. The inclusion of gender balance in the project team 
is signifi cant in this participatory process, given that women may share 
information more easily with other women, while men may be more likely to 
share with other men. Also prominent at this stage of the project cycle is the issue 
of group dynamics and cohesion. Facilitators well trained in recognizing and 
mediating gender dynamics will also be aware of how power relations among 
individuals can shape project design and resulting strategies. Groups that can 
come together in a concerted vision, acknowledging and respecting views and 
circumstances of both men and women, will generally be more successful in 
their design efforts than those who cannot diffuse internal strife and confl ict.
Throughout the design phase, it is useful to take a multi-stakeholder 
approach to identifying problems and opportunities within a local community 
or context, as well as formulating objectives, results indicators, and project 
strategies to address issues raised. Engaging with persons, organizations, or 
structures beyond the locality is a step towards ensuring sustainability of the 
project as a whole and up-scaling particular strategies. A multi-stakeholder 
consultation process during the design phase, as was conducted for example 
in the Nakuru case study (Chapter 11), may involve producers, women’s 
groups, food-security coalitions, city counsellors, government ministries, 
NGOs, etc., allowing each actor to assess the opportunities and constraints 
emerging from design discussions among local male and female producers. 
Collaboration early on in the project cycle can strengthen the possibility that 
 INCORPORATING GENDER IN URBAN AGRICULTURE PROJECTS 253
more informed, appropriate, effective, and effi cient design of strategies occurs. 
An additional consideration here is the fact that urban agriculture activities 
necessarily take place within a larger urban context. Those tasked with project 
design should keep an eye on broader issues of, for example, land and water 
allocation/access, regional politics, economic trends, city planning, etc. In 
essence, the city infl uences the opportunities and constraints facing both 
male and female urban farmers. 
Important elements in the design phase are: (1) problem and opportunity 
analysis and prioritization, (2) defi nition of project objectives and results 
indicators, and (3) strategy development. These are detailed below.
Problem and opportunity analysis and prioritization
In a workshop with representatives of local producers (men and women), the 
inventories of problems and opportunities are drawn up and analysed, using 
the results of the diagnosis as well as inputs from participants. Both problems 
and opportunities in the inventories are then prioritized. 
The ranking will be conducted separately for women and men and then 
compared and discussed in order to agree on priorities that refl ect the interests 
and needs of both equally. Important criteria for prioritizing may be, for 
example, urgency, number of people affected/who will benefi t, availability of 
practical solutions or market demand, availability of local resources, etc. 
Priority problems will be analysed for key causes and consequences in order 
to identify alternative strategies to solve the problem, and to discuss their 
acceptability and preference for certain solutions and intervention strategies. 
Various options in terms of what could or needs to be done to develop such 
potentials and use such opportunities will be explored.
Defi nition of project objectives and results indicators
Based on the outcomes of the above step, it will be easier to defi ne the expected 
project results and to formulate the project objectives that must be realized to 
achieve the said results. To do so, the objectives should be formulated in a 
SMART way such that they are: specifi c, measurable, appropriate, realistic, and 
time-bound (see also the Tool box in Chapter 17). This formulation process is 
also conducive to developing monitoring indicators and tools that coincide 
with both objectives and results within the design stage (see phase 5 for more 
details on monitoring and evaluation).
Once the objectives have been formulated, one should check whether the 
problems and opportunities prioritized by the women producers are still well 
represented in the project objectives. Experience shows that the needs and 
interests of women tend to disappear as soon as information is integrated and 
we move closer to concrete action planning. As an extra assurance that gender 
will be given suffi cient attention during project implementation, an objective 
can be included that is specifi cally focused on enhanced gender equality and 
for which a special allocation of resources is made. 
254 WOMEN FEEDING CITIES
Strategy development
In this step the courses of action and related working methodologies that are 
expected to realize the objectives, based on the results of the two steps above, 
are identifi ed. 
The proposed strategies should be carefully checked for the degree to which:
• The strategy will solve the key problem or develop the identifi ed 
potential/opportunity.
• Economic resources will be needed to implement the solution. Attention 
here should be on the expected benefi ts for men relative to women 
benefi ciaries (level of benefi ts, number of people involved), as well as 
negative trade-offs and costs for men relative to women (level of benefi ts 
and negative trade-offs/individual costs, number of people involved).
• Implementing organizations have the available expertise and capacity to 
implement this solution adequately.
• Producers (men compared with women) have the knowledge, skills, 
land, water, labour, cash, and other requirements of this strategy; and 
the degree to which the intended benefi ciaries have these available to 
them. 
• The proposed strategy contributes to enhancing gender equality at farm-
household and community levels.
• This solution makes use of local knowledge and innovation capacity 
(of both men and women) and the available under-utilized natural 
resources.
• The proposed solution meets existing/expected market demands. 
The selection of strategies will depend on the type of project, but it should 
involve a dialogue between the project team, male and female producers, and 
other local stakeholders. Both women and men, including the young and the 
old, should be involved in the selection of strategies, since their conditions are 
different (e.g. responsibilities, access to resources, knowledge, etc.) and special 
constraints for women have to be taken into account (e.g. restricted mobility, 
high degree of illiteracy, inexperience with speaking in public or management 
functions).
In projects that are more research-oriented, strategies may include 
participatory evaluation of alternative technologies or practices. This requires 
careful assessment of whether women and/or men are the main users and 
main sources of innovation associated with the technologies.
Where men and women have different interests and activities, distinct 
men’s and women’s strategies may be identifi ed and carried through to 
implementation. Furthermore, it should be verifi ed whether gender-affi rmative 
strategies are necessary to overcome existing inequalities and barriers for 
female participation in order to be able to realize the project objectives. 
During the diagnosis phase, special constraints encountered by women 
or other disadvantaged groups might have emerged, and factors that limit 
 INCORPORATING GENDER IN URBAN AGRICULTURE PROJECTS 255
their participation in the project or reaping the project’s benefi ts. Affi rmative 
actions will have to be designed to overcome such constraints. 
For instance, in order to enhance participation of women in urban 
producers’ organizations and project management, most projects create 
special opportunities for women to build up their self-esteem and participatory 
competencies, such as the establishment of women’s groups to discuss their 
interests, and training of women leaders to enhance their capacities in 
management and participation in public discussions and decision making. 
Other examples of such affi rmative actions include guaranteeing a percentage 
of available credit for female producers, applying differential minimum 
requirements for male and female project staff to ensure gender balance in the 
team, and/or creating a ‘fast track’ for further capacity building and promotion 
to higher levels of responsibility for women with good potential. 
As was emphasized above, although these guidelines give the impression of 
a linear process, project design is an iterative process in which one often goes 
through the various elements more than once and not necessarily in the same 
order. It is useful, once the activity or project has been designed, to subject it 
to an evaluation to assess relevance to the critical gender issues, problems, and 
opportunities defi ned during situation analysis and for differential impacts 
on men and women. This could be done in a session headed by the gender 
specialist. 
It is important to check whether the identifi ed strategies logically lead to 
the desired results or whether alternative or complementary activities are 
needed. The preparation of an ‘intervention logic map’ or ‘logical framework’ 
might be very helpful at this time. 
Box 15.3 Recommended tools for project design
• Problem- and opportunity-analysis chart
• Problem tree; opportunity tree
• Formulation of results-based objectives
• Group defi nition
• Institutional linkages analysis
Box 15.4 Gender-mainstreaming questions for project design
• Did men and women actively participate in designing the project?
• Were men and women equally involved in decision making?
• Do project objectives refl ect priority problems and opportunities identifi ed by both men 
and women?
• Will the project contribute to achieving strategic gender needs and greater gender 
equality? How so?
• Are project strategies well adapted to the practical conditions, knowledge/skills, access 
to resources, etc. of both men and women?
• Have distinct men’s and women’s strategies been identifi ed in cases where men and 
women have clearly different interests?
• Have gender-affi rmative actions been planned to overcome existing inequalities and 
barriers against female participation in the project and its benefi ts?
256 WOMEN FEEDING CITIES
Phase 3: activity planning
In this phase of the project cycle, the strategies defi ned in the design phase 
are worked out in detailed action plans, responsibilities are divided among 
project partners, time schedules are defi ned with critical dates for the delivery 
of certain products, and the budget is prepared, together with identifi cation 
of fi nancial sources and other means required. Attention to gender issues 
already identifi ed is required throughout this planning phase. The Villa 
María del Triunfo case study (Chapter 8) provides an overview of a multi-
stakeholder planning process and incorporation of gender into a platform 
and strategic agenda focused on enhancing urban agriculture activities. In 
particular, it emphasizes the need to ensure gender-balanced participation in a 
forum organization, encourage collective efforts among producers, and build 
cohesive vision among various groups.
Important steps in this phase are: (1) detailed activity planning and division 
of labour, (2) defi ning the project management and co-ordination structure, 
(3) developing the monitoring and evaluation plan, (4) budgeting, and (5) 
thinking through and the fi nal revision. These are detailed below.
Detailed activity planning and division of labour
Here the strategies formulated and selected in the design phase are worked out 
in detailed action plans, in terms of who (specifi ed in terms of men and/or 
women) will do what when, where, how, with what means, and resulting in 
what outputs. Sometimes this is done in detail for the fi rst project year and 
more broadly for the years thereafter. 
Defi ning the project management and co-ordination structure 
This is done by:
• Defi ning how the project will be internally structured and how decisions 
will be made and activities be co-ordinated to ensure successful, 
participatory, gender-sensitive, and timely implementation. There may 
be equal gender representation on a joint committee and/or separate 
men’s and women’s management (sub-) committees.
• Defi ning the roles and expected contributions of each of the project 
partners, including milestones (moments in the project when 
certain steps are concluded and new steps are prepared), deliverables 
(concrete outputs/products to be delivered), and deadlines. Ensure 
that the project’s benefi ciaries (men and women urban producers and 
disadvantaged groups/consumers) have also been assigned a role and 
contributions in the project. Ensure that in the description of the role 
and expected contributions proper attention is given to the gender 
aspects. 
 INCORPORATING GENDER IN URBAN AGRICULTURE PROJECTS 257
• Defi ning who will report when to whom, and what the contents of the 
reports should be. Include gender as an aspect of all main items that 
must be reported on (e.g. progress and results per objective) as well as a 
separate reporting item (e.g. progress and results regarding the specifi c 
gender-equality objective and gender mainstreaming in general). 
Developing the monitoring and evaluation plan
Together with the benefi ciaries, gender-specifi ed indicators for project 
success will be defi ned for each of the project objectives (how can we measure 
whether the expected results have been realized?). This will be relatively easy 
if results-based objectives were formulated and in a SMART way. How will 
data regarding the indicators be gathered: by whom, with help of which 
methods, with what frequency? Such information can be summarized in the 
logical framework.
Gender-specifi ed indicators allow differentiation between the impacts of 
the project on men relative to women (benefi ts as well as negative trade-offs/
costs) for each of the project objectives (indicating the expected results of the 
project). Also one or more specifi c indicators might be included to monitor 
the degree to which the combined project results contribute to enhancing 
gender equality and strategic gender issues.
The indicators should preferably be developed in a participatory way, 
including both men and women. The number of indicators should be kept to 
a minimum and should cover both qualitative and quantitative aspects of the 
objectives. Both male and female urban producers should be included in the 
monitoring methodology, both for the collection of monitoring data as well 
as in the periodic refl ection on progress made/results obtained. 
As indicated earlier, it is very important that the reporting guidelines oblige 
all partners to report on ‘results obtained’, disaggregated by sex, and that the 
reporting format includes a paragraph on gender issues and the identifi cation 
of gender-related project failures and successes. It should be noted that a solid 
monitoring and evaluation plan (see phase 5 below for more details) requires 
suffi cient resources in order to be implemented well.
Budgeting
Identify the means needed to implement each activity, such as people, travel, 
equipment, materials, and offi ce costs. Ensure that suffi cient funds are included 
for gender-affi rmative actions and specifi c women’s project strategies (based 
on their specifi c interests and activities). Ensure that undifferentiated project 
resources will be available for both men and women. Gender-specifi ed targets 
and allocations may be defi ned (e.g. the minimum percentage (or absolute 
number) of the land or credit that will be allocated to women, and a minimum 
number of female producers involved in training activities).
258 WOMEN FEEDING CITIES
Budgeting is a particularly crucial element of effective and effi cient gender 
mainstreaming. Often, in order to be taken seriously, specifi c budget lines 
must be allocated for gender-focused activities or resources so that they are 
not overlooked. Monies for training manuals, capacity-building sessions, 
consultative meetings, data collection, facilitation, etc. must be earmarked 
and visible within project budgets, and even labelled as such (e.g. gender 
training rather than simply training). Minimum spending levels for women’s 
activities may go a long way to ensuring commitment to gender equality in 
the entire project cycle. Further, it is important that gender-sensitive budgetary 
elements are fl agged for all partners, in particular within multi-stakeholder 
contexts where organizations involved may not be as committed to gender 
mainstreaming as the project team itself. 
Thinking through/fi nal revision
In this step, the project team should refl ect on the following issues:
• Assumptions/risks. These are external factors beyond the control of 
the project implementers. They are related to each of the intervention 
strategies and identify ‘what if’ strategies (contingency plans). Include the 
results of this analysis in the logical framework. Adapt the project design 
if certain risks are too big or certain assumptions are not realistic. 
• Continuity/sustainability. Analyse whether/how the results of the 
project can be sustained after it fi nishes, and how the project will work 
towards this goal. Will both women and men be satisfi ed and involved? 
The way in which projects are fi nanced often has implications for their 
sustainability and for the feasibility of increasing scale and replication 
later on. Adapt the project design where needed in order to make it more 
sustainable. 
• Dissemination/replicability. Analyse what relevance the project 
results will have for wider application (beyond the direct benefi ciaries 
of the project) and the conditions for successful replication by other 
organizations and in other areas. Also determine how the project will 
work towards dissemination of the project results and their application 
to potential users. Include such dissemination activities in the project 
design and budget.
Box 15.5 Recommended tools for the activity-planning phase
• Activity-planning matrix
• Participatory budgeting
• Scheduling the work
 INCORPORATING GENDER IN URBAN AGRICULTURE PROJECTS 259
Box 15.6 Gender-mainstreaming questions for the activity-planning phase
• Planned activities
o Will the activities be undertaken in such a way that the special constraints that 
often restrict women’s participation in decision making and implementation are 
diminished (e.g. appropriate timing and location of meetings, language used, 
allowing women to develop their viewpoints in homogeneous subgroups before 
meeting at organization or project level, use of female facilitators, etc.)?
o Have both men’s and women’s interests been addressed and gender-affi rmative 
actions planned? 
• Management structure
o Have male and female farmer representatives been included in the project 
management structure?
o Have the project implementing partners agreed on a number of measures to ensure 
gender-responsive implementation of the project by their organization and staff 
(gender policy, staff training on gender and UA, gendered Terms of Reference for 
staff, gender balance of project staff, gender on the agenda of project meetings, 
etc.)?
• Monitoring
o Are the indicators gender-specifi c, so that the differential impacts of the project on 
men and women can be determined?
o Have indicators for the combined effects of the project on gender equality and 
strategic gender issues been defi ned?
o Is the direct participation of women (and men) in the monitoring and periodic 
evaluation foreseen?
• Budget
o Are the relevant budget items gender-specifi ed?
o Are both men’s and women’s priority activities funded? 
Phase 4: implementation
To ensure the active participation of women and men in the implementation 
phase, it is helpful to consider gender mainstreaming at two levels. Through 
the implementation process, tools and approaches will be generic or common to 
all kinds of situation. The process involves issues such as working with existing 
structures, group dynamics, mutual respect, empowerment, and capacity 
strengthening (especially of the marginalized), and the ‘rules of the game’ for 
implementation through written agreements or a constitution (see below). At 
the second level, particular types of implementation are engendered through 
attention to content, for example participatory technology development for 
crop-production innovations, addressing marketing policy, addressing gender 
issues in livestock production, in agro-processing, in women’s land rights, etc. 
These levels and elements are described in more detail below. 
Examples of gender-sensitive implementation phases can be found in the 
Nairobi case study (Chapter 9), which highlights both the dynamics of men 
and women participating in day-to-day planning and budgeting of project 
activities (process level) and efforts to engage both in testing of energy 
260 WOMEN FEEDING CITIES
briquettes (content level). Similarly, the Nakuru case study (Chapter 11) 
details how social-cultural diversity among the benefi ciaries in agricultural 
interventions affected participation in terms of labour distribution (process 
level), and how a Community Organizational Development and Institutional 
Strengthening (CODIS) course was used to address these challenges (content 
level).
Process: adapting/ ‘deconstructing’ existing structures
For community-level interventions, project members need to work with 
existing structures or organizations and to insert gender more strongly into 
them. This may involve working with urban agriculture programmes or 
forums, or tapping into producer organizations and informal farmer networks. 
An important opportunity exists to empower women in agricultural contexts 
through linking women’s organizations to government structures or linking 
agricultural functions to women’s organizations which are already connected 
to government (e.g. government-linked community kitchens run by women’s 
groups are being supported to add individual or communal agriculture 
activities). 
In order for existing organizations to transform themselves into engendered 
groups for implementation activities, there may need to be a ‘deconstruction’ 
of the group in terms of its life history, its political and economic structures, and 
its decision-making processes. Diagnostic tools such as timelines, calendars, 
bio-sketches, etc. can be used to help in this deconstruction process, in order 
to detail the gender dynamics. 
Process: group dynamics and group governance
Whether the group already exists or is formed for the intervention, the 
success of action research projects is very much infl uenced by the stability and 
performance of the organizations involved. Group composition during the 
implementation phase should have an even mix of men and women, or there 
should be an effort to combine men and women from same households. The 
latter option can reduce the drop-out rate, which is likely to be problematic in 
implementation activities. 
Group-dynamic issues need to be identifi ed and addressed in preparations 
for and during implementation activities. Issues such as leadership, roles and 
benefi t sharing, and participation in group meetings, project management, 
and fi nancial management have been noted to cause problems among group 
members of mixed groups, resulting in deterioration in performance or 
member drop-out. 
One tool for addressing such group-dynamic challenges is the clear 
establishment of the ‘rules of the game’ in the form of a group constitution 
to govern the behaviour of members. The constitution or by-laws should 
stipulate the following elements:
 INCORPORATING GENDER IN URBAN AGRICULTURE PROJECTS 261
• self-defi nition of the organization: who are we? 
• gendered objectives
• gender-responsive activities
• gender equity in leadership
• gender equity in participation in activities and benefi t sharing.
To mainstream gender and age in leadership and decision making, for 
instance, the constitution may state that when the chairperson is a man, the 
vice chairperson should be a woman, and vice versa in mixed-sex groups, 
while in same-sex groups, when an adult person is the chairperson the vice 
chairperson should be a youth, and vice versa. This rule is applied to all 
executive posts, including treasurer and secretary. 
Gender equity in benefi t sharing based on members’ participation in 
activities is an area that requires development of rules and norms to avoid the 
possibility that some members take advantage of those highly committed to 
the group’s objectives and activities. A constitution may state, for example, 
how much money a participating member is making from sales of the fuel 
briquettes, in order to motivate other members to contribute in terms of 
labour.  
Process: capacity development
To facilitate positive group dynamics, the implementation phase needs to 
consider capacity development of group members in leadership roles and benefi t 
sharing, business and activity planning, project and fi nancial management, and 
gender-responsiveness skills among others. These can be done through designing 
courses suitable for local organizations. Research organizations, for example, 
may implement these community-based organizational development and 
institutional strengthening courses through partnering with non-government 
organizations involved in development work.
Content: technology innovation, capacity development, and empowerment
Capacity building and training of women leads to empowerment and 
changes in gender dynamics, and to tangible benefi ts for women through 
technological innovation. Specifi c interventions have multiple components 
with gender implications, and diagnostic tools can be generally adapted for the 
implementation phase, with the same gender considerations. For example, a 
diagnostic workshop can be held to prepare a gendered curriculum addressing 
crop-management issues of importance to both men and women. Checklists 
tailored to the specifi c intervention can be used for a similar purpose. The 
development of gender indicators is similar to the elaboration of a checklist, 
but with greater precision and quantifi cation, and with a time dimension. 
During the implementation phase, regular monitoring according to the 
previously developed monitoring and evaluation plan allows one to see 
262 WOMEN FEEDING CITIES
whether the project is on track with regard to the realization of planned 
activities and the realization of achievements as set out previously, to solve 
problems that emerge during implementation, to keep track of the results 
achieved to date, to refl ect on the effectiveness and effi ciency of the strategies 
and working methods applied, and to make adaptations where needed. Such 
learning-from-actions is of special importance to enhance the relevance of 
research and development projects for women producers.
Box 15.7 Recommended tools for the implementation phase
• Implementation checklist
• Urban Producers Field Schools
• Participatory innovation development
Box 15.8 Gender-mainstreaming questions for the implementation phase
• Are representatives of men and women producers actively involved in periodic project 
planning and evaluation meetings and decision making on the course of the project?
• Is there active participation of both men and women of the target group in the 
implementation and monitoring of the project activities?
• Is there equal access for men and women to resources provided (training, credit, tools, 
land, seed, irrigation water, etc.) during project implementation?
• Are affi rmative actions taken to counterbalance gender inequalities?
• Are activities being implemented to promote gender mainstreaming in the participating 
producer organizations?
Phase 5: monitoring and evaluation
As indicated earlier, the monitoring and evaluation activities begin during the 
design phase, during which – in relation to the project objectives – adequate 
monitoring and evaluation indicators are defi ned, as well as appropriate 
measurement methods selected. 
When planning the project activities, it will be defi ned who will collect 
what monitoring information, when and how it will be collected, how these 
data will be stored and processed, at what moments the data will be used to 
refl ect on the achievements of the project to date, and who will be involved 
in such meetings (monitoring and evaluation plan).
During the implementation phase, regular monitoring according to the 
previously developed monitoring and evaluation plan shows whether the 
project is on track with regard to the realization of planned activities and 
realization of achievements as set out previously. It helps to solve problems 
that emerge during implementation, keeps track of the results achieved to 
date, and refl ects on the effectiveness and effi ciency of the strategies and 
working methods applied, so as to make adaptations where needed. 
 INCORPORATING GENDER IN URBAN AGRICULTURE PROJECTS 263
Monitoring and evaluation should be understood and organized as ‘learning-
from-actions by periodic refl ection on experiences gained’. Refl ection on the 
monitoring data allows us to identify how we can get more results and of better 
quality, how to enhance cost-effectiveness, how to enhance participation and 
local ownership, and how to enhance sustainability and up-scaling of the 
results, etc.
Such learning-from-actions is of special importance for enhancing the 
relevance of research and development projects for women producers and 
their empowerment. It should be seen as a specifi c tool of both gender analysis 
and women’s empowerment, in that it provides a forum where community 
members, both men and women, direct attention to and discuss these issues. 
When selecting indicators, it is important to ensure the following:
a. All indicators are gender-specifi c. This should be refl ected already in 
the objectives in terms of the expected results for men and women; 
for example, if the objective is to enhance access to credit, how many 
men and women have obtained a loan (and maybe what is the size 
of those loans) and not just the number of households that received 
a loan. The Nairobi case study (Chapter 9) uses the following gender-
sensitive indicators to monitor project impacts: number of men and 
women participating in meetings and training sessions, number of issues 
raised by men and women during such meetings, number of men and 
women occupying leadership roles, involvement of men and women 
in production and selling activities, as well as changes in behaviour of 
men and women observed qualitatively (e.g. men’s views on women’s 
involvement in leadership).
b. All indicators include suffi cient indicators to monitor the effects of the 
project on local gender relations and the empowerment of women. Even when 
all indicators are gender-specifi ed, these do not necessarily refl ect how 
the project infl uences the position of women. Therefore it is important 
to check this element through, for example the following indicators (the 
numbers refer to suggested rating scales explained below): 
• Plots allocated to women (1 or 3).
• Women’s control over the benefi ts (products, income) raised in urban 
agriculture activities (decisions on the use of the produce and income 
raised) (2 or 3). 
• Women in leadership positions in producers’ organizations, urban 
agriculture committees, and/or institutions established (1 or 3).
• Women in leadership positions in community organizations and 
activities (1 or 3).
• Degree to which women experience constraints in urban agriculture 
not applying to men (2). 
• Degree to which conventional constraints on women’s participation 
have been removed or altered for the better after the project (3).
• Women’s income from crop and/or livestock production (1 or 3).
264 WOMEN FEEDING CITIES
• Women’s income from other activities (1 or 3).
• Women’s freedom of movement (3).
• Respect for women and their activities in the household (3).
• Respect for women and their activities in the community (3).
• Women producers who are regularly attended by service-providing 
institutions (e.g. percentage of women participating in agricultural 
extension groups and training events, percentage of credit disbursed 
to women) (1 or 3).
c. Such monitoring data should provide a reliable image not only of the 
project’s impacts on men and women producers but also of its effects 
at institutional or policy level. In order to see the effects of the project 
on mainstreaming gender in the participating organizations, one needs 
to include indicators like the last one mentioned above. Note that this 
indicator is different from indicators monitoring the participation of 
men and women in the project activities. Have these organizations or 
institutions adopted a gender policy? Has their attention to strategic 
gender issues increased? Have their services to women producers 
improved in their regular programme and other projects?  
Examples of rating scales that can be used when measuring these effects:
(1) Proportion (percentage) of women in total:
a. 0–20%
b. 20–40%
c. 40–60%
d. 60–80%
e. 80–100%
(2) Women infl uence / control / decide:
a. Not at all or only a little
b. About the same as men
c. It is mostly women who do so
(3) Increase compared with before the project began
a. None or hardly none
b. Some
c. Very great
Many projects monitor the participation of men and women in the various 
project activities (e.g. in training and extension activities, distribution of 
inputs, distribution of loans, etc.). Such ‘gender-balanced’ data allow one to 
monitor during implementation the extent to which the project is attending 
to men and women. However, such data do not say much about the impacts 
of the project on gender relations and women’s empowerment, for which one 
requires indicators such as those mentioned above. 
Many of the tools that were used in the diagnostic phase of the project 
can also be used for monitoring and evaluation purposes. For example, the 
 INCORPORATING GENDER IN URBAN AGRICULTURE PROJECTS 265
tools to analyse men’s and women’s role in decision making or their degree of 
control over household resources and the benefi ts of productive activities can 
also be used to monitor changes effected in these key issues by comparing the 
scores before and after the project or – in projects with longer duration – to do 
so at certain moments during project implementation also. This allows one 
to monitor what changes are effected and – if needed – to adapt the project 
strategies. 
It should be ensured that all monitoring tools applied are gender-sensitive 
and allow for the collection of gender-disaggregated data. Also the reporting 
formats should be such that monitoring data can be reported easily. In the 
Nakuru case study (Chapter 11), for example, project staff were involved in 
collecting gender-disaggregated monitoring information (e.g. number of men 
and women trained, number of benefi ciaries by gender per household for both 
projects, members’ involvement in farm activities by gender, time, and date), 
while records were maintained by households on the performance of dairy 
goats belonging to men and women (on feeding, weight gain/loss and health), 
as well as amount of vegetables, milk, and income produced per (male- or 
female-led) household. 
A pre-test of the monitoring methods and indicators is often very effective in 
pointing out certain practical problems with the chosen monitoring methods 
(or operationalization of indicators) so that improvements can be made before 
the monitoring and evaluation system is made operational. Making changes 
in an on-going monitoring system often turns out to be complicated 
When planning the monitoring and evaluation activities, one should not 
only organize the data collection and reporting but also specify at which 
moments (at a minimum annually) the project partners (including male and 
female representatives of the benefi ciaries) will come together to refl ect on the 
monitoring results and on the facilitating and hampering factors that infl uenced 
the results. Gender should be made an important item on the agenda of such 
meetings. The periodic refl ection meetings on the basis of the monitoring 
results will help to identify changes that have been brought about and how 
the project activities are differentially affecting men and women. Especially in 
the fi eld of gender, such meetings are of crucial importance. Gender awareness 
and gender analysis and planning skills are not created overnight, and such 
periodic meetings are an important means to further strengthen these. Where 
such periodic refl ection does not take place, gender considerations often tend 
to fade away during implementation of the project. The refl ection on the 
monitoring data provides an opportunity to refl ect on the factors that limited 
or facilitated attention to women’s priorities and may lead to adaptations in 
the working methodologies and inclusion of new ones. For example, it may 
be decided to take actions to enable women to overcome specifi c constraints 
that limit their possibilities to participate actively and reap the benefi ts of 
the project, to shift budget allocations, to enhance gender balance in project 
actions, to strengthen alliances with women’s organizations, etc. 
266 WOMEN FEEDING CITIES
The frequency of the internal evaluations will be determined according 
to the needs of the stakeholders (including donors) and the situation of the 
project (more frequent evaluations might be needed in case of communication 
diffi culties between participating organizations, low level of trust among 
benefi ciary groups, etc.). 
In the later stages of project implementation, attention will also be given 
to the ‘systematization’ of the experiences gained and drawing ‘lessons learned’ 
regarding – in this context – gender mainstreaming in the project cycle, with 
a view to the dissemination and replication of project results and their uptake 
into local or national policies on urban agriculture. The case studies featured 
in Part I include sections on ‘lessons learned’ whereby such insights are 
used to formulate further research, interventions, and actions. For example, 
the Carapongo case study (Chapter 13) highlights the need to support 
social capacity building through provision of training and development of 
gender-sensitive producer networks based on project fi ndings that reveal low 
participation and representation of women in such organizations. 
For an externally mandated formal mid-term or end-of-project evaluation, 
additional information on the project’s results and impacts might be collected, 
in addition to the monitoring data. In that case the team that will implement 
this has to be familiar with gender-sensitive data collection and analysis. Terms 
of reference for mid-term or end-of-project evaluations should clearly specify 
the questions to be addressed in the evaluation regarding the project’s expected 
results for men and women respectively and its impact on gender equality 
in the project area. The evaluation team should have suffi cient expertise in 
recognizing the gendered differences of the project’s impacts (GWA, 2006).
Box 15.9 Recommended tool for the monitoring and evaluation phase
• Monitoring and evaluation checklist
Box 15.10 Gender-mainstreaming questions for the monitoring and evaluation phase
• Are monitoring data gender-disaggregated? 
• Does the monitoring process capture feedback and information from both men and 
women benefi ciaries and participants?
• Are monitoring data analysed with direct participation of both male and female 
representatives of the benefi ciaries? 
• Does the monitoring information show how the project is benefi ting respectively women 
and men? 
• Are remedial actions taken if the monitoring data show that women and men do not 
benefi t to the same extent from the project activities?
• Do the monitoring and evaluation teams include members who are gender-sensitive and 
have gender expertise?
 INCORPORATING GENDER IN URBAN AGRICULTURE PROJECTS 267
Phase 6: going to scale
In this phase, project results are used to plan follow-up actions, are disseminated 
to other actors and local policy makers in the same city or similar areas (out-
scaling), or are disseminated to policy makers and programme managers at 
national level (up-scaling). The list of potential users of research fi ndings or 
systematized experiences gained in a development project is extensive: urban 
producers in other areas, urban planners, agricultural research and extension 
organizations, NGOs, local authorities, national policy makers, etc. 
The Nakuru case study (Chapter 7) provides details of strategies and tools 
used to incorporate gender in policy infl uencing, including holding a regional 
policy-intervention workshop that brought together municipal and national 
government representatives, farmers and livestock keepers, civic groups, 
community organizations, international bodies, and donors. The workshop 
led to the establishment of City Focal Points in each of the participating cities, 
as well as a Forum through which meetings are held to discuss policy-related 
issues regarding urban agriculture among all stakeholders.
Such efforts can ensure that the learning experience and outcomes of a 
gender-sensitive project are integrated into the planning of new research or 
action projects and the development of new (or revision of existing) policies 
on urban agriculture. It should be noted, however, that policy development 
can cut across the entire project cycle, as was noted in the section on 
monitoring and evaluation above and is further discussed in the section on 
‘early involvement’ below. 
It is also important to be aware of the fact that in most instances going to 
scale with gender fi ndings and potential actions can be challenging and is 
often the stage of the project cycle that is left unrealized. The gender element 
tends to go missing here, because of the broader spectrum of actors that 
become involved in out- or up-scaling, and more specifi cally because many 
of those actors are not as focused on or in tuned to gender-sensitive research 
or development planning. Further, the capacity of project team members to 
network with policy makers and planners, or key stakeholders beyond their 
locality, may not be fully developed at this stage of the project cycle, thus 
inhibiting the uptake of gender issues. 
Project teams should consider how to build capacity for gender 
mainstreaming beyond their own community, project, or organization, to 
ensure that differences and inequalities between men and women remain in 
the forefront of interventions when going to scale. Efforts may begin with 
incorporating farmer networks beyond the immediate community, as was 
done in the case studies from Harare (Chapter 6), Nairobi (Chapter 9), Rosario 
(Chapter 10), and Mexico (Chapter 12); these larger-scale organizations may 
facilitate opportunities for policy impact, as was the case in Villa María del 
Triunfo (Chapter 8), which may otherwise not be realized. More attention to 
gender issues when going to scale may be obtained by making reference to UN 
Resolutions regarding women’s rights and equality (e.g. the Beijing declaration 
268 WOMEN FEEDING CITIES
and action programme for equality, development, and peace, 1995; see www.
un.org/womenwatch), and by ensuring that grassroots women’s groups and 
gender-sensitive sectors of municipal or national governments are always 
directly involved at this stage of the project cycle. 
Gender mainstreaming throughout the project cycle means that urban 
governance and policy/planning mechanisms must necessarily pay adequate 
attention to gender dynamics and issues. To that end, it is important to defi ne 
potential users of project results early on in the project cycle, getting to know 
their information needs and assessing the best ways to present information so 
that channels and formats for the dissemination are appropriate. The results of 
the project have to be ‘packaged’ and transferred in the right way, producing 
gendered materials that have high use value for the targeted audience 
(e.g. practical manuals, guidelines for professionals, planning models and 
software, policy briefs, videos, etc.) and using effective channels to convey 
the key messages and the produced materials to these publics (e.g. study visits, 
workshops/seminars, radio broadcasts, popular media, formal publications, 
e-mail lists, websites, etc.). For example, the Harare case study (Chapter 6) 
identifi es common ‘myths’ about urban agriculture that need to be dispelled 
and can be done so through municipal television and radio programming; 
to this end, project results need to be pulled together in a way that helps the 
public to understand the important role that urban farmers play in enhancing 
local food security and income raising. 
Ensuring suffi cient attention to systematization and dissemination of 
experiences gained, as well as facilitating uptake of gendered project results 
in local or national policies and programmes, means that a specifi c project 
objective should be formulated on achieving certain dissemination results and 
improvements in the actual policies and programmes on urban agriculture. 
This will spur the design of specifi c project activities regarding engagement 
with policy makers and other institutional stakeholders and facilitating the 
use of the project results in policy and programme design. 
In both RUAF and Urban Harvest, special attention is given to engagement 
with local and national authorities and most relevant government and non-
government organizations that play (or should play) a role in the development 
of safe and sustainable urban agriculture (‘institutional stakeholders’). This 
facilitates adequate policy uptake and institutionalization of the project 
results, thereby multiplying and sustaining the impacts of the project. This 
includes gender aspects. 
Few policy makers and senior offi cers read fi nal project documents or 
research reports. It is impossible for them to have up-to-date knowledge on all 
issues relevant to public-policy making and programme development. Yet they 
frequently make vital policy decisions that have widespread implications for 
urban agriculture (city development plans, land-use regulations, enhancing 
or reducing budget allocation to agricultural support programmes, etc.). So, 
the decision makers need to be adequately briefed with selected information 
 INCORPORATING GENDER IN URBAN AGRICULTURE PROJECTS 269
regarding key issues in urban agriculture to enable them to make informed 
decisions. 
This requires a well-planned strategy to engage with policy makers and 
institutional decision makers in order to achieve the following results:
• Raise their awareness on the actual and potential role of urban agriculture 
for sustainable urban development (and especially poverty alleviation, 
enhancing food security, local economic development, recycling, and 
social inclusion of disadvantaged categories of the urban population, 
including e.g. female-headed households with young children), since 
such awareness is generally low. 
• Brief these decision makers on the main results of the implemented 
project in their city/country – the fi ndings of a research project or the 
systematized experiences of a development project – and the relevance 
of these results for policy development and design of future programmes 
and projects on urban agriculture.
• Whenever required and possible, to contribute to processes of policy 
review and design of programmes on urban agriculture. 
Early involvement
As indicated earlier, gender-sensitive policy infl uencing and development 
needs to be incorporated within the entire project cycle. This offers the best way 
to engage with policy makers and senior institutional decision makers. Such 
participation throughout the project process will provide the opportunity to 
feed them bit by bit with information regarding urban agriculture and related 
policy issues, to include their questions and information needs in the project 
design and implementation, and to gradually enhance their commitment to 
urban agriculture in general and gender issues in particular. This encourages 
active use of the project results in policy and programme design or adaptation. 
During this process, it is important not to let policy makers get the upper hand 
and ‘hijack’ the project; rather the project should retain its independence and 
innovative approach for setting out new avenues for gendered development. 
The Urban Harvest research project on Health and Urban Agriculture in 
Kampala established an advisory ‘Health Co-ordination Committee’ which 
included the various actors that co-operated with the project in one way or 
another, including university departments, NGOs, Kampala County Council 
(KCC) Agricultural Extension Offi cers, the Ministry of Agriculture, Animal 
Industry and Fisheries, and the National Agricultural Research Organisation. 
Perceived policy concerns, long hampering the formal adoption of a 
number of ordinances on urban agriculture that were drafted in 1999, were 
incorporated in the project design. The presence of KCC as a major partner 
in the Health Co-ordination Committee ensured that policy-relevant research 
fi ndings could directly feed into the policy-making process. Project results 
were used in a number of consultations that were held to discuss the draft 
270 WOMEN FEEDING CITIES
ordinances, to inform the participants on the real health risks associated with 
urban agriculture and effective ways to reduce and manage such risks, which 
led to several changes in the draft ordinances. The project also contributed 
by fi eld testing the new ordinances to identify challenges faced by producers 
in observing the new ordinances and assessment of the impacts of these 
ordinances. This included a study of the gender impacts.
In the pilot cities of the RUAF programme, local authorities and various 
other stakeholders in urban agriculture are engaged in a process of Multi-
stakeholder Policy Formulation and Action Planning (MPAP) for sustainable 
urban agriculture development. The MPAP involves citizens, producers, civil 
organizations, private-sector companies, and government organizations in 
the formulation of a municipal policy on urban agriculture and the joint 
design of action plans and the establishment of a Multi-stakeholder Forum on 
Urban Agriculture. This collaboration goes beyond mere consultation, where 
stakeholders are asked for their feedback on an already defi ned line of action. 
Instead, in MPAP, the various stakeholders participate actively in the situation 
analysis, the defi nition of problems/constraints and potentials/opportunities, 
the development of possible solutions and development strategies, as well as 
the assignment of roles and expected contributions to each actor involved 
in the implementation of these strategies. For sustainable urban agriculture 
development, such multi-stakeholder participation is particularly important, 
since it is a cross-sectoral issue and its development requires the participation 
of different disciplines and a variety of actors (Dubbeling and De Zeeuw, 
2007).
The MPAP process (Ibid., 2007) not only greatly improves dialogue between 
local authorities and urban producer groups and other stakeholders on 
existing problems and the required measures to achieve the development of 
safe and sustainable urban agriculture, but also improves their knowledge of 
urban agriculture and their capacities to jointly plan, implement, and monitor 
urban agriculture projects and their commitment to contribute actively to the 
realization of such projects. 
End of project engagement 
If early involvement of senior decision makers is not possible, towards the end 
of the project various communication and lobbying strategies can be used to 
engage with and infl uence politicians and other institutional decision makers. 
First it is important to analyse existing policies regarding urban agriculture and 
the actual views of the various institutions on urban agriculture (its problems, 
its potentials, and how they see its future development) and to identify on what 
policy issues the project can provide relevant insights and recommendations. 
Second it is important to attempt to understand what triggers the interest/
attention of specifi c policy makers or other decision makers. The degree to 
which actual policies and programmes adequately address gender issues in 
 INCORPORATING GENDER IN URBAN AGRICULTURE PROJECTS 271
urban agriculture, or may have differential impacts on men and women, 
should be a key part of the review.
Once one has defi ned what relevant insights the project may provide to 
senior decision makers, what the key messages are, and how they relate to 
the existing policies and programmes and specifi c interests of the decision 
makers, including a gender analysis, adequate communication and lobbying 
strategies can be identifi ed and prepared.
Such strategies may include the following (see for more details Dubbeling, 
2004):
• Creating opportunities for direct dialogues with policy makers (oral 
briefi ngs during a personal visit or meeting, a policy seminar or a site 
visit, etc).
• Preparing a ‘fact sheet’ or ‘policy brief’ on urban agriculture and the results 
of the project. This is a short and concise document that synthesizes 
relevant information on selected key issues of a certain policy area, and 
lessons learned from action and research projects, and suggests how a 
municipal or national government or another institution may (further) 
develop their policy and programmes in this area, often illustrated by 
concrete city cases (‘building theory based on practice’). Briefi ng papers 
are less likely to be misquoted and can more easily be shared with third 
persons than oral presentations, but they offer fewer opportunities for 
interaction and dialogue. 
• Mobilizing others to communicate the message (briefi ng of accessible 
policy advisers and like-minded staff inside those institutions, linking up 
with the media and briefi ng of interested journalists, letting infl uential 
people present the story in public debates, etc.).
Often a combination of the above-mentioned strategies needs to be 
implemented. Because senior staff are often replaced after elections when 
political parties change, it is wise to diversify relations and policy approaches 
and to recognize that building relationships is an iterative process, with 
reversals as well as advances. 
When preparing policy briefs and engaging in policy dialogue, the gender 
dimensions of urban agriculture should be given proper attention, stressing 
the following:
• Recognition of women as independent actors and benefi ciaries in/of urban 
agriculture public policies and projects.
• Acknowledgement of the real value of women’s contribution to the 
development of urban agriculture: production, food security, income, 
etc.
• Recognition that the needs of men and women are different and that women’s 
access to and control over resources and participation in decision making 
are restricted by socio-cultural and institutional traditions.
272 WOMEN FEEDING CITIES
• Recognition that public policies and projects, as well as economic and 
technological trends, can have differential effects for men and women. 
• Recognition that affi rmative actions are needed to ensure that women 
(and men) can reap equal benefi ts from urban agriculture policies and 
projects.
Gender should be included as one of the ‘key issues’ for the development 
of sustainable urban agriculture discussed in policy briefs or fact sheets on 
urban agriculture. Gender dimensions of other key issues should be outlined 
carefully (e.g. women’s access to land and credit, technical and entrepreneurial 
training, etc.). Suggestions have to be made for measures to be addressed in 
a new policy or programme so that the gender dimension is included. The 
consequences of not including such measures might also be sketched. 
Finally, project team members at this stage of the project cycle should 
consider the potential unintended consequences of suggesting and even 
accomplishing up- or out-scaling of particular gendered actions. It is possible 
that what is considered a positive policy or planning initiative, as advocated 
by the project team based on their research and development planning, 
may have negative implications for men or women in the community. For 
example, the formalization of urban agriculture, which has been urged by 
lobby and producer groups globally, may not necessarily be a positive change 
for women, given that their access to this activity and its benefi ts often 
depends on its informal nature. In another instance, gendered measures may 
actually end up reproducing particular ideas about women that are not ideal 
(e.g. enhancing women’s capacity to do urban agriculture for subsistence 
purposes reinforces their place or position as food producers for the household 
only). It is important then to consider consistently and regularly the positive 
and negative implications of going to scale with gender issues. 
Box 15.11 Recommended tools for out-scaling and up-scaling gender-responsive interventions
• Scoping of gender issues for policy and planning
• Policy brief
• Policy-action matrix 
Box 15.12 Questions for gender mainstreaming in out-scaling and up-scaling interventions
• Have the gender dimensions of urban agriculture been given proper attention when 
preparing publications, fact sheets, manuals, and policy briefs?
• Have gender-research fi ndings been incorporated in policy discussions and dissemination 
activities?
• Have the project impacts on men and women urban producers been presented to policy 
makers? 
 INCORPORATING GENDER IN URBAN AGRICULTURE PROJECTS 273
References
De Zeeuw, H. and Wilbers, J. (2004) PRA tools for studying urban agriculture and 
gender, ETC–Urban Agriculture, Leusden. Available from http://www.ruaf.
org/node/97
Dubbeling, M. (2004) ‘Senior Stakeholder Engagement and Dissemination for 
Policy Change, ETC-Urban Agriculture’, paper prepared for the PAPUSSA 
project.
Dubbeling, M. and De Zeeuw, H. (2007) Multi-stakeholder Policy Formulation 
and Action Planning for Sustainable Urban Agriculture Development, RUAF 
Working Paper # 1, Leusden, The Netherlands.
FAO (2001) Field Level Handbook, Socio-Economic and Gender Analysis 
Programme (SEAGA), FAO, Rome. Available from http://www.fao.org/sd/
seaga/downloads/En/FieldEn.pdf
Gender and Water Alliance (GWA) (2003) ‘Mainstreaming gender in the 
project cycle’, in the Training of Trainers Package on Gender Mainstreaming in 
Integrated Water Resources Management, GWA, Delft, The Netherlands.
Gender and Water Alliance (GWA) (2006) Resource Guide Mainstreaming Gender 
in Water Management, version 2.1, GWA and United Nations Development 
Programme (UNDP).
Martin, A., Oudewater, N., and Gündel, S. (2002) Methodologies for Situation 
Analysis in Urban Agriculture, Topic Paper 1: RUAF–SIUPA E-conference on 
Appropriate Methods for Urban Agriculture. 
Prain, G. and De Zeeuw, H. (2007) ‘Enhancing technical, organizational and 
institutional innovation in urban agriculture’, Urban Agriculture Magazine 
19, Stimulating Innovation in Urban Agriculture: 9–15. 
Pretty, J. (1994) Gender Differences and PRA, Making a Difference: Integrating 
Gender into PRA Training, PRA Notes no 19, IIED, London, UK. 
Pretty, J. (1995) Regenerating Agriculture: Policies and Practices for Sustainability 
and Self-reliance, Earthscan, London, UK.

CHAPTER 16
Beyond the project cycle: institutionalizing 
gender mainstreaming
Abstract
In this chapter the emphasis shifts from integrating gender in the project cycle 
to mainstreaming gender in organizations and institutions. Different ways to 
promote the integration of gender into organizations (their organizational culture, 
their policies, etc.) will be discussed. Thereafter, by way of example, we present the 
process that was applied by the RUAF Foundation and Urban Harvest to promote 
gender mainstreaming in the organizations taking part in these networks.
Institutionalizing gender mainstreaming
Up to this point, we have focused on the identifi cation and analysis of critical 
gender issues in urban agriculture and the measures that can be taken in every 
phase of the project cycle to ensure that gender differences are taken into 
account in research and development projects. However, merely integrating 
gender into the project cycle is not enough. Gender responsiveness should 
also be integrated in the organizations that execute such projects, which will 
greatly facilitate gender mainstreaming at the project and activity levels and 
will also enhance its effectiveness. The current chapter focuses on how gender 
can be institutionalized and mainstreamed at the organizational level. 
Possible measures to stimulate gender mainstreaming in urban agriculture 
organizations will be discussed, followed by examples of the process applied 
in the organizations participating in the RUAF network and the Urban Harvest 
programme when attempting institutional gender mainstreaming. 
Why is gender mainstreaming in organizations important? 
There are three main reasons for giving attention to gender mainstreaming in 
organizations (e.g. our own and our partner organizations). Firstly, focusing 
on projects to improve gender equality at local level may have little impact on 
changing the wider social position of women, youth, and other disadvantaged 
groups. Secondly, it is recognized that gender inequality is continuously 
recreated by the ‘mainstream’, with existing dominant views and stereotyped 
276 WOMEN FEEDING CITIES
roles for men and women informing gender-unbalanced policies and biased 
institutional practices. Hence, thirdly, we need to infl uence policies and 
institutions to achieve greater impact.
We also should seek to bring about changes in the institutional policies, 
programmes, legislation, and resource allocations of our own organization and 
our partner organizations in order to enhance the impact on gender equality 
of our and their development programmes. 
The most important changes we seek to bring about are the following: 
• Recognition by decision makers that gender equality is a strategic objective 
of development rather than a ‘women's issue’. It should be pursued by 
leading institutions and refl ected in major policies, programmes, and 
institutional practices.
• Women as well as men are enabled to infl uence the policy agenda, 
decision making, and resource allocation, and are fully recognized as 
agents and benefi ciaries of change. 
• Institutions develop analytical, planning, and management skills to 
identify and respond to gender issues relevant to their mandate. 
• Design of policies and programmes is based on data regarding existing 
gender differences and focused on enhancing gender equality.
What can be done to promote gender mainstreaming in organizations?
When gender mainstreaming an organization, institutional commitment 
and political will are indispensable. The fi rst stage will be to ensure that 
all stakeholders are familiar with the basic concept of ‘gender’ and what 
‘gender-sensitive planning’ means. Conducting a gender audit to assess staff 
knowledge and awareness of gender responsiveness can be helpful at this 
stage. (A guideline for such a gender audit is provided by the Commission 
on the Advancement of Women, 2003.) Commitment at the management 
level needs to be sought, and a simple action/time plan for development of a 
gender policy made. 
Gender expertise should also be made available in the organization, such 
as by including a gender specialist in an advisory role. However, it should 
be ensured that a project team itself or an organization’s staff in general are 
responsible for integrating gender throughout the project cycle. The gender 
specialist should just assist and support staff in their work and should not be 
made the only one responsible for ‘integrating gender’ in project work. 
Equally important is the organization of staff gender training and the diffusion 
of gender guidelines. Enhanced capacity of staff on gender responsiveness in 
an organization will enable the formation of gender committees or task forces 
with effective representation across divisions, themes, units, and other organs 
of the organization through which institutional accountability on gender 
mainstreaming can be achieved. Sensitivity to gender issues and gender balance 
have to be taken into account when selecting the staff members who will be 
 BEYOND THE PROJECT CYCLE: INSTITUTIONALIZING GENDER MAINSTREAMING 277
involved in project planning and management, and they have to be trained in 
gender analysis and gender-sensitive project planning and management. 
Other important measures are the following:
• Facilitate development of a gender statement and ensure that promotion 
of gender equality is made an explicit aim of the organization.
• Help to ensure that gender integration becomes a routine concern of all 
units and all staff members.
• Facilitate changes in the organizational culture. 
• Promote incorporation of gender analysis and gender planning in 
standard procedures for project design and facilitate gender specifi cation 
of institutional reporting and monitoring systems.
• Promote the engendering of staff recruitment and enumeration 
policies. 
• Evaluate whether budget allocations refl ect the gender policy of the 
organization.
• Promote the inclusion of indicators for impacts on gender equality in 
the institutional monitoring system as well as periodic discussion of the 
results (self-learning).
• Stimulate exchange with other organizations regarding gender issues in 
urban agriculture and related subjects.
Gender mainstreaming in the RUAF network 
About RUAF
The International Network of Resource Centres on Urban Agriculture and 
Food Security (RUAF Foundation) consists of eight partner organizations 
spread across the globe. The RUAF partners are of two kinds:
a. Regional RUAF partners: 
• IAGU, Dakar – regional co-ordination for Francophone West Africa
• IWMI–Ghana, Accra – regional co-ordination for Anglophone West 
Africa
• MDP, Harare – regional co-ordination for Eastern and Southern 
Africa
• IWMI–India, Hyderabad – regional co-ordination for South and 
South-East Asia
• IPES, Lima – regional co-ordination for Latin America
• IGSNRR, Beijing – regional co-ordination for China
• AUB, Beirut – regional co-ordination for the Middle East and Northern 
Africa
b. International partner:
• ETC–Urban Agriculture – programme co-ordination, strategy 
development, and international linkages
278 WOMEN FEEDING CITIES
The RUAF Foundation has the following mission statement: 
The RUAF Foundation contributes to reduction of urban poverty and food insecurity 
and stimulates participatory city governance and improved urban environmental 
management, by creating enabling conditions for empowerment of male and 
female urban and peri-urban producers and by facilitating the integration of 
urban agriculture in policies and action programmes of local governments, NGO’s 
and private enterprises.
The RUAF Foundation currently is implementing the ‘Cities Farming for 
the Future’ (RUAF–CFF) programme (2005–8) in 20 cities in 15 countries. The 
regional RUAF partners closely co-operate with multi-sectoral teams of local 
partners, including municipalities, NGOs, producer organizations, research 
and training institutions, and government organizations. 
The main strategies of the RUAF–CFF programme are the following:
• Capacity development on urban agriculture: training of trainers, 
development of training modules, organization of policy workshops and 
training courses, organization of study and exchange visits, design of an 
internet-based self-learning package
• Policy development and action planning on urban agriculture: 
establishment of multi-stakeholder forums and interdisciplinary 
working group in each city, joint situation diagnosis, policy formulation 
and action planning, implementation, and monitoring of pilot projects
• Knowledge management on urban agriculture: preparation and 
publication of policy papers, production of guidelines and manuals, 
publication of the Urban Agriculture Magazine in four languages; 
dissemination of experiences to another 30 cities
• Learning from urban agriculture experiences: introduction of 
participatory impact-monitoring systems at all levels, systematization of 
experiences, participatory evaluation of pilot projects, regional partner 
consultations
• Gender mainstreaming in urban agriculture: (the activities undertaken 
in this strategy are elaborated below).
Gender mainstreaming efforts undertaken by the RUAF network
At the global level, gender mainstreaming in the RUAF network was stimulated 
by: 
a. Integrating a gender statement (see Box 16.1) in the statutes of the RUAF 
Foundation which stipulates how the RUAF partners view gender in 
relation to their work in urban agriculture, why they think it is important 
to take gender into account, and how this will be made concrete in the 
work. The gender statement is included in the co-operation agreements 
with the regional and local organizations that are participating in the 
programmes of the RUAF Foundation.
 BEYOND THE PROJECT CYCLE: INSTITUTIONALIZING GENDER MAINSTREAMING 279
b. Establishment of an Advisory Group on Gender and Urban Agriculture, 
consisting of a small group of people who have expertise and hands-
on experience in gender issues and agriculture in an urban setting, and 
who advise and guide the RUAF partners regarding the integration of 
gender issues in their activities and how to ‘gender mainstream’ urban 
agriculture.
c. Training of all international and regional RUAF staff by the following 
means:
• The organization of specifi c training on gender in Johannesburg (2003) 
for the international team and regional RUAF co-ordinators regarding 
‘Gender Issues in Urban Agriculture Research and Development 
Projects’, in order to enhance their capacity to take gender issues into 
account when planning, implementing, or monitoring their RUAF 
and other urban agriculture activities.
• The development of six case studies on gender and urban agriculture 
in the RUAF pilot cities.
• The organization of a ‘Workshop on Gender and Urban Agriculture’ 
in Accra in September 2004, together with Urban Harvest and 
with fi nancial support of the International Development and 
Research Centre (IDRC) and the CGIAR System-wide Programme on 
Participatory Research and Gender Analysis (PRGA). The workshop 
resulted in important lessons and recommendations for dealing with 
gender issues in urban agriculture projects (differentiated for capacity 
development, research, policy development, action planning, 
implementation, and monitoring).
• Production of three RUAF working papers on gender and urban 
agriculture: (a) on main gender issues in urban agriculture, (b) 
on gender mainstreaming, and (c) on gender-sensitive tools for 
participatory situation analysis.
d. Making gender equality a separate objective in the CFF programme, 
which also ensures that the topic is discussed in every progress report 
and annual work plan and during the yearly co-ordination meetings. 
During these meetings, the partners apply the Checklist for the Gender 
Mainstreaming Activities in the CFF Programme, which indicates 
for each objective of the RUAF–CFF programme how gender is to be 
integrated (see also Table 17.15 of the Tool box).
 At the regional level, the following efforts to integrate gender in RUAF–CFF 
and to mainstream gender in the organization and that of the local partners, 
are developed:
• A gender adviser was appointed in each region to provide support to the 
regional RUAF team regarding the integration of gender when drafting 
Terms of Reference of sub-contracts, developing training materials, 
preparing guidelines, etc.
280 WOMEN FEEDING CITIES
Box 16.1 The RUAF gender statement
RUAF applies the following defi nition of gender, taken from IDRC–Cities Feeding People, 
which reads as follows:
The term gender refers to the culturally-specifi c roles, rights and obligations of women 
and men, and the relationships between women and men. These roles, obligations and 
rights are not fi xed; they are contested and vary widely within and between cultures. 
They also vary according to other social factors such as class, race, ethnicity, age and 
marital status. Women and men continually participate in defi ning gender relations. It is 
therefore essential to explore the multiple meanings given to gender roles, obligations and 
relationships in historically and spatially-specifi c contexts.
The partners in the RUAF network promote the exchange of experiences and the 
generation of knowledge regarding gender issues in urban agriculture. We continue to 
educate ourselves on this topic and are committed to keeping our knowledge up-to-date 
about new developments. We share this knowledge with our local partners so that they are 
enabled to adequately address gender issues in their activities.
The RUAF partners work towards the goal of gender equity in partner countries by 
both specifi c initiatives and by ensuring that all of their activities support gender equity 
objectives. This means that gender differences relevant to urban agriculture projects and 
policies will be identifi ed in order to improve the relevance and impacts of such projects and 
policies for both women and men. RUAF partners acknowledge that in all their initiatives, 
the participation of both women and men – both quantitatively and qualitatively – needs 
to be ensured. They also promote equal access to and control over productive resources for 
urban agriculture for men and women and the development of participatory mechanisms 
that enable women, as well as men, to participate in decision making processes and to 
infl uence the policy agenda and the priority setting for development projects in the areas 
where they live.
In concrete terms, this means that the RUAF partners are committed to integrating 
gender into their strategies and their methods; showing the importance of gender differences 
by developing case studies; using gender analysis in their research activities; integrating 
gender in their training and communications activities; applying gender-sensitive project 
and policy planning and implementation; using gender-specifi c monitoring and evaluation 
methods; and building the capacity of local partner organizations in gender analysis and 
planning.
• The appointment of gender-sensitive staff in the regional RUAF teams 
and the creation of a gender balance in these teams. 
• Promoting the development of a gender policy in their own organizations.
• Networking with gender-sensitive organizations and interest groups to 
reinforce their own gender capacities.
At the local level the following strategies were applied: 
• Training of the local (multi-stakeholder) teams in major gender issues 
in urban agriculture and gender-sensitive diagnosis, policy formulation, 
action planning, and monitoring. 
• Inclusion of the RUAF gender statement in all co-operation agreements 
with local partners and stimulating them to adopt a similar gender 
statement in their organization. 
 BEYOND THE PROJECT CYCLE: INSTITUTIONALIZING GENDER MAINSTREAMING 281
• Promoting gender balance in the composition of the local teams and 
among the participants in the Multi-stakeholder Forums in each pilot 
city.
• Implementation of specifi c gender case studies in the RUAF pilot studies 
in order to strengthen the gender perspective.
• Promoting gender-balanced participation in all events organized by 
RUAF at local level, such as the training sessions, policy seminars, and 
meetings of the Multi Stakeholder Forum, inclusion of gender as a topic 
on its agenda and the use of gender-sensitive discussion methods. 
• Assisting the staff of local partner organizations involved in RUAF–CFF 
in the integration of gender issues when drafting a Municipal Policy 
or Strategic Action Plan on urban agriculture and designing urban 
agriculture projects and inclusion of gender-affi rmative actions. 
• Promoting the use of gender-sensitive tools and gender-disaggregated 
indicators for the monitoring of project results. 
• Production and/or distribution of specifi c materials like the case studies 
and RUAF working papers on gender and urban agriculture mentioned 
above, a specifi c issue of the Urban Agriculture Magazine on this topic, 
a chapter on gender mainstreaming in the RUAF publication ‘Cities 
Farming for the Future: Urban Agriculture for Green and Productive 
Cities’, and creating a specifi c page on gender and urban agriculture 
on the RUAF website that is regularly updated with newly published 
materials.
• In each region a regional gender workshop will be conducted to facilitate 
sharing and analysis of the experiences gained in each of the cities 
regarding gender mainstreaming of urban agriculture.
Results and experiences
The experiences gained and results achieved with the above vary from region 
to region, refl ecting the prior exposure and experience of the regional and local 
staff involved in RUAF, the degree of gender sensitivity of the organizations 
involved, as well as the socio-cultural context in which these operate.
One lesson learned is that applying a gender approach (rather than a 
‘Women in Development’ approach) has yielded positive results. Equally, 
placing the discussion on gender issues in the broader framework of ‘social 
inclusion’ also enhances acceptability and commitment. 
When reviewing the results of the efforts made to mainstream gender into 
the RUAF–CFF programme, it is observed that gender is well integrated in the 
training activities at all levels and is having positive effects on the participants. 
The training has changed their attitudes to gender, and most of them report 
that they know how to apply the gender concepts and tools in the planning 
and implementation of urban agriculture projects. Some of the participants 
also feel able to facilitate the integration of gender into their own institutions 
and their activities. 
282 WOMEN FEEDING CITIES
However, when reviewing the various activities undertaken by the trained 
participants, we observe that the integration of gender in diagnostic research 
activities advances relatively well but that its integration in subsequent 
policy formulation and action planning is much less strong and needs more 
attention. 
Factors that seem to play a role here are that the diagnosis stage is still 
much more controlled by the core partners in each RUAF pilot city, whereas 
in the action planning and implementation stages many other actors also take 
part, including large sectoral institutions that may have less gender sensitivity 
than the core partners. It is also observed that equal participation of men 
and women in RUAF-organized training events and workshops and in the 
Multi-Stakeholder Forum is close to equal when it concerns fi eld staff and 
producers, but when it comes to higher-level offi cers and politicians, men are 
still strongly over-represented. 
The application of the gender checklist has proved to be very useful to 
facilitate the integration of gender in the different components of the RUAF–
CFF programme and at different levels and helps to quickly identify areas that 
need to be strengthened. 
Local partners indicate that a further refi nement of the methods and tools 
used for gender-sensitive diagnosis, planning, and monitoring and evaluation 
is needed as well as looking for ways to reduce the costs involved in collecting 
gender-disaggregated data. 
In some regions the functionality of the regional gender adviser has been 
low, due to diffi culties in really involving the adviser in the planning and 
realization of the RUAF activities in this region (often the role of the gender 
adviser focused on participation in regional training events and development 
of training materials and much less so on advice regarding integration of 
gender into (draft) policies and action plans on urban agriculture).
The efforts made to mainstream gender into the organization of the regional 
RUAF partners are progressing well. All regional RUAF partners have developed 
a gender statement and policy if they did not have one yet. Stimulated by 
the experiences gained in the RUAF project (among other infl uences), most 
regional RUAF partners now also are applying a gender-sensitive approach in 
their other projects. 
The gender-mainstreaming effect in the local partner organizations in the 
pilot cities is less clear. Often the RUAF gender statement is adopted by the 
local partner organizations (or they had such a statement or policy already). 
But living up to such a statement and its active implementation still requires 
in most organizations (especially the larger institutions) an internal process 
of awareness raising, changes in the organizational culture, and further 
training that might be lengthy (and beyond the possibilities of the RUAF 
programme).
However, many local partner organizations in the RUAF programme have 
found that the application of gender-sensitive tools in the diagnosis phase 
generates valuable information and a better understanding of the actual 
 BEYOND THE PROJECT CYCLE: INSTITUTIONALIZING GENDER MAINSTREAMING 283
situation, its problems and potentials when taking women’s and men’s specifi c 
roles and interests into account, and that such information is vital for the 
design of effective development strategies. 
In conclusion: gender mainstreaming in RUAF staff training and diagnostic 
research activities is progressing well. But effective use of the insights gained 
on gender and urban agriculture in the policy formulation and strategic 
action planning in the Multi Stakeholder Forum activities needs to be further 
strengthened. The regional and local RUAF partners have an important 
role to play here, as they can provide technical assistance on gender during 
formulation of the policies and action plans, and provide examples of gender 
specifi c strategies and gender-affi rmative actions.
Gender mainstreaming in CIP–Urban Harvest
About Urban Harvest
Urban Harvest is a system-wide initiative on urban and peri-urban agriculture 
of the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR, 
the network of 15 international agricultural centres; see www.cgiar.org for an 
overview of participating institutions and their activities). Urban Harvest aims 
to mainstream urban-agriculture issues in all centres. Since its inception, it 
has developed activities with fi ve of the centres so far (CIP, CIAT, ICRAF, ILRI, 
IITA, and IWMI). 
Hosted by International Potato Centre (CIP), Urban Harvest was formally 
launched in late 1999 to focus the CGIAR issues relevant to urban and peri-
urban agriculture. Working through CIP, it has regional co-ordination offi ces 
in Kenya, Vietnam, Philippines, and Peru. 
Urban Harvest aims to enhance food and nutrition security, increase 
incomes, and reduce negative environmental and health effects among 
urban populations via agriculture. These three goals are closely related to the 
differences in the role of agriculture rural, peri-urban, and urban conditions. 
Evidence of micronutrient defi ciencies among poor urban children underlines 
the need for a sustainable means to increase the availability of micronutrient-
rich foods for this group. The highly unstable employment conditions of 
developing world cities highlight the need for fl exible, alternative employment 
opportunities that can provide access to supplementary income. Finally, while 
agriculture offers opportunities to make a positive impact on urban ecosystems 
under tremendous strain from high populations and poor infrastructure, it 
can also have negative repercussions through the unsafe use of urban organic 
wastes and the indiscriminate use of pesticides. Because agriculture in urban 
and peri-urban areas has both great potential and also certain risks, Urban 
Harvest recognizes a further goal: through engagement with the particular 
policy and planning institutions of urban areas to integrate agriculture into 
urban systems as a safe, accepted component of sustainable cities. 
 
284 WOMEN FEEDING CITIES
The main research themes of Urban Harvest are:
• the livelihoods context (urban livelihoods and markets)
• the environmental context (urban ecosystems health)
• the urban political–institutional context (stakeholder and policy analysis 
and dialogue)
• knowledge networking (knowledge exchange, sensitization, capacity 
development). 
Urban Harvest undertakes collaborative research for development projects 
with various international research centres, government ministries, local 
municipal departments and authorities, civil-society organizations, and 
private-sector companies active in urban agriculture in nine cities, as well as 
national research institutions and universities and government parastatals 
such as national environment-protection agencies, and water and sewerage 
companies in six countries. 
Gender-mainstreaming efforts undertaken by Urban Harvest 
Since its inception in 2000, Urban Harvest has undertaken the following 
gender-mainstreaming activities targeted at the programme and project 
activities level and among boundary partners:
• Urban Harvest Sub-Saharan Africa participated in the 2003 RUAF 
training on gender to upgrade the knowledge, skills, and commitment 
of staff regarding ‘Gender Issues in Urban Agriculture Research and 
Development Projects’, and to enhance its capacity to take gender issues 
into account when planning, implementing, monitoring, and evaluating 
urban agriculture research and development activities.
• Urban Harvest (in partnership with IDRC–Cities Feeding People, the 
RUAF partners ETC–Urban Agriculture in the Netherlands, Municipal 
Development Partnership in Zimbabwe and International Water 
Management Institute in Ghana, the Urban Management Programme 
(UMP) and the Research Development Department of Kenya Government) 
organized the ‘Anglophone Africa Training Course on Urban Agriculture; 
Concepts and Methods for Research and Management’ held in Nairobi 
Kenya from 8 to 26 March 2004 (the training materials of this course 
are available on-line as part of a web-based course: http://etraining.
cip.cgiar.org). The participants were three-member City Teams, a 
researcher, a local government offi cial, and a third member involved 
in project implementation – usually someone from an NGO or CBO. A 
section on gender issues related to the subject matter of each module 
was incorporated in each of the seven modules that were prepared 
and delivered by teams from different countries. In addition, a half-
day session specifi cally on gender was organized involving role-plays, 
presentations and debate, facilitated by a gender specialist. 
 BEYOND THE PROJECT CYCLE: INSTITUTIONALIZING GENDER MAINSTREAMING 285
• Urban Harvest participated in the organization of the workshop on 
‘Women Feeding Cities’ in Accra in September 2004. Urban Harvest and 
its partners prepared some of the case studies, based on previous research, 
and identifi ed a strategy for gender mainstreaming in the Urban Harvest 
programme, project activities, and boundary partners.
• As a follow-up to the 2004 Ghana workshop, two projects in Kenya 
(namely ‘Positive Selection of Potato Seeds’ and ‘Assessment of Benefi ts 
and Risks in Wastewater Reuse for Agriculture in Urban and Peri-urban 
Areas of Nairobi’) were chosen for the implementation of a project 
on gender mainstreaming in the research process of the International 
Potato Centre (CIP) between March 2006 and March 2007, supported 
by the Participatory Research and Gender Analysis (PRGA) programme 
(which aims to mainstream gender analysis and equitable participatory 
research in CGIAR centres and national agricultural research systems). 
The PRGA programme assesses, develops, and promotes methods and 
organizational innovations for gender-sensitive participatory research, 
and works to mainstream their use in plant breeding and in crop and 
natural-resource management. A staff member of Urban Harvest sits on 
the Advisory Board of the Participatory Research and Gender Analysis 
(PRGA) Programme of the CGIAR. The gender mainstreaming in 
the research process of the CIP project was led by Urban Harvest and 
implemented in collaboration with CIP and the University of Nairobi, 
Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology, Kenya 
Agricultural Research Institute, Ministry of Agriculture, and Kenya 
Green Towns Partnership Association. The project involved selection of 
appropriate gender-analysis tools from existing literature (such as the 
RUAF working paper on gender-sensitive participatory appraisal tools for 
studying gender in urban agriculture), capacity building of all partners 
in participatory research and gender-analysis tools and approaches, fi eld 
application of the tools in the collection of qualitative and quantitative 
gender-disaggregated data and development of draft guidelines for 
gender-responsive research in CIP. 
• Urban Harvest has been engendering its projects and those of CIP 
through deliberate incorporation of gender-mainstreaming activities 
into the projects’ background information, objectives, methodology, 
activities, monitoring and evaluation, budgets, feedback/publications, 
and community capacity building. Some of the results of these research 
projects are to be published in Urban Agriculture in Sub-Saharan Africa 
– 20 Years On: Case Studies and Perspectives, edited by Gordon Prain, 
Nancy Karanja, and Diana Lee-Smith (forthcoming). In the project 
‘Understanding how to Achieve Impact-at-scale through Nutrition-
focused Marketing of African Indigenous Vegetables and Orange-Fleshed 
Sweet Potatoes’, led by CIP between 2007 and 2009, Urban Harvest 
worked with Farm Concern International in engendering the former’s 
community capacity-building modules.
286 WOMEN FEEDING CITIES
• Promoting the development of a gender statement (see Box 16.2) was 
another strategy for enhancing gender mainstreaming in organizations 
that was applied by Urban Harvest for its programme partners and its 
parent research centre. 
Results and experiences
The efforts of Urban Harvest to mainstream gender analysis in its research 
for development process have resulted in capacity building of its boundary 
partners in the use of gender tools and approaches. What these experiences 
revealed was that if gender mainstreaming in research for development 
projects was to be effective, the gender-analysis skills of the research teams 
themselves needed to be enhanced. Sometimes this can be done through 
identifying existing gender-analysis skills among the partners. The aim is to 
ensure gender mainstreaming in the whole project cycle. 
The experiences with gender mainstreaming in urban agriculture gained by 
Urban Harvest have indicated the need to adapt some of the available gender-
analysis tools to the urban situation. For example, in the urban setting the 
education status of male and female participants in a participatory appraisal 
may be highly variable. The bias created by differences in literacy levels of 
men and women respectively can be limited by the use of visual methods e.g. 
Box 16.2 Urban Harvest–International Potato Center (CIP) gender statement
Despite increased attention to gender in the international development arena since the 
rise of feminism during the 1970s, few international or national agricultural research 
organisations have yet integrated gender as a central element of problem diagnosis and 
technology development. The stakeholder needs have not always been taken into account 
in research, technology development and transfer processes. This may contribute to the 
prevailing low adoption of innovations. 
The concept of gender analysis and diversity is not new in CIP, and there exists a Gender 
and Diversity Committee which works very closely with Gender and Diversity Programme 
of the CGIAR and advises the Director General on human resource issues. However, 
engendering the research agenda still remains a challenge. For this to happen there needs 
to be political will, technical capacity, organisational culture and accountability for gender 
integration in CIP’s research in all divisions. 
Recognising this, Urban Harvest led the drafting of guidelines for ensuring gender 
responsiveness in CIP’s research process, with the support of the CGIAR system-wide 
programme on Participatory Research and Gender Analysis (PRGA). 
Urban Harvest and CIP are committed to integrating gender responsiveness in their 
research and development activities with partners. Urban Harvest and CIP ensure that the 
experiences, aspirations, knowledge, opportunities, needs, concerns and constraints of 
females and males of all ages are integrated in project planning, budgeting, implementation, 
monitoring and evaluation, reporting and publications. This approach ensures that gender 
disaggregated data is available for pro-poor policy formulation processes. To achieve 
gender sensitive research teams and consequently gender responsiveness in the research 
process, CIP has set gender and diversity staffi ng, practice and policy goals targeting 
human resources. 
 BEYOND THE PROJECT CYCLE: INSTITUTIONALIZING GENDER MAINSTREAMING 287
the use of different counters for men and women (like different types of grain 
or pebbles of different colours) when doing a ranking exercise to prioritize 
certain issues. 
Another lesson learned is that inclusion of gender issues in research 
proposals is necessary but not suffi cient. Achieving this does not avert the 
danger that gender issues are being completely ignored during implementation 
and monitoring and evaluation of the project. There is a strong need for 
aggressive championing of gender issues in all steps of the project cycle, and 
opposition by some team members (e.g. by asking for evidence of the added 
value of gender mainstreaming) should be expected. We also learned that 
budget allocation is necessary to achieve gender-mainstreaming activities in 
projects.
Some lessons learned from the organization of the Anglophone Africa 
training course on urban agriculture are the following:
a. The special session by the gender specialist generated great controversy 
among participants and some heated debate and even confl ict. There was 
likewise difference of opinion in the evaluation process about whether 
this indicated success or failure, and disagreements about the causes of 
the confl ict. Some participants stated that the gender material should 
have been presented in a more ‘diplomatic’ way, given the cultural 
leanings of the participants. However, discussion among the evaluator 
and members of the management team suggested that the problem 
lay in not ascertaining whether all participants had had any previous 
exposure to gender concepts, as fi rst exposures to the subject tend to 
generate strong emotions in men and women alike who have not had to 
examine gender issues previously. 
b. The integration of gender in all modules in direct relation to the 
subject matter of each module went well. However, since the learning 
modules were delivered by teams with members from various countries, 
the integration of gender in each module presented a co-ordination 
challenge for each team, and for the course management. 
Also the experiences gained in engendering training materials for community 
capacity building indicate that incorporating gender perspectives in all modules 
is more effective than having a separate module on gender. Enhancing gender 
perspectives in already existing training materials encounters the challenge 
of property rights and ownership that needs to be addressed through proper 
acknowledgement of the contribution of each party.
Urban Harvest, through its pioneering role in gender mainstreaming in 
the research process of the two above-mentioned CIP projects in Nairobi, is 
currently taking the lead in enhancing the gender responsiveness of research 
and development activities in CIP as a whole. The CIP project on gender 
mainstreaming in the research process implemented by Urban Harvest has 
resulted in the development of guidelines for gender-responsive research that 
target the institutional set up, the organizational culture, and the research 
288 WOMEN FEEDING CITIES
project cycle; these guidelines are being applied now in the Center as a whole 
and can be found on the PRGA website http://www.pragaprogram.org. This 
could be another way of getting gender analysis on the research agenda.
There are challenges involved in getting gender mainstreaming on to 
the agenda of research and development organizations. These challenges 
could be addressed by forming gender and diversity committees with a wide 
representation across divisions, themes, programmes, regions, and men and 
women in an organization. The CIP Gender and Diversity Committee (G&D) 
provides services and resources to the CGIAR centres in order to raise the 
gender-and-diversity awareness of all CIP research staff. The committee hopes 
that this will lead to improved attitudes among staff and greater incorporation 
of gender analysis into research projects.
The experiences of the CIP Gender and Diversity Committee indicate that 
in order to infl uence institutional policy and culture it is important to win 
the support of the management. Awareness among all staff can be created 
through e-debate and round-table meetings. Equal importance should be 
given to presentation of gender-mainstreaming work during organizations’ 
general meetings where other scientifi c fi ndings are also discussed, in order to 
enhance the importance which people attach to the former as a cross-cutting 
issue in research and development.
Urban Harvest has benefi ted from the system-wide gender programmes of 
the CGIAR and has also contributed substantively to both of them through its 
active participation. In this it has been assisted by its partnership with RUAF, 
both in the form of training and in terms of collaboration on the substantive 
development of the fi eld of gender in urban agriculture, which has become 
the focus of starting gender mainstreaming in its parent research centre.
References
Commission on the Advancement of Women (2003) The Gender Audit: 
Questionnaire Handbook, InterAction, the American Council for Voluntary 
International Action, Massachusetts.
Prain, G., Karanja, N., and Lee-Smith, D. (eds.) (forthcoming) Urban Agriculture 
in Sub-Saharan Africa – 20 Years On: Case Study Results from Cameroun, Kenya 
and Uganda in a Regional Perspective, IDRC, Ottawa and CIP, Lima.
CHAPTER 17
Tool box for gender-sensitive urban 
agriculture projects
Abstract
In this chapter the tools suggested in Chapter 15 will be discussed in more detail. 
First, we consider how some general diagnostic research methods can be used in a 
gender-sensitive way. Subsequently, we will present more specifi c tools that are of 
special value to integrate gender in a particular phase of the project cycle, and we 
will provide some suggestions how to use each tool.
Introduction
In this section we present a range of tools that have been suggested for each 
phase of the project cycle in Chapter 15 of the publication. We begin by 
providing an overview of gender-sensitive main diagnostic research methods, 
followed by details of specifi c tools that can be applied as part of a main 
method (e.g. a problem tree or ranking exercise during a focus-group meeting; 
an activity-analysis checklist during a semi-structured household interview, 
etc.) or on their own. 
Specifi c tools, after certain adaptations, can often be used in project phases 
other than the one for which they are mentioned in Chapter 15. For example, 
diagnosis tools may be appropriate and useful in condition monitoring and 
evaluation tasks later in the project cycle. It is recommended that main or 
specifi c tools be adjusted according to local circumstances, interests, and needs; 
in some cases fl exibility and creativity can lead to innovative ‘new’ tools that 
are a result of mixing and matching the ones presented here. To this end, the 
tool box is a starting point from which to begin gender mainstreaming in 
urban agriculture research and development projects; practitioners should feel 
enabled rather than constrained by the tools and approaches outlined below. 
Main diagnostic research methods
Review of secondary data
Reviewing secondary data involves the collection and review of existing 
published or unpublished data and information relevant to the area or topic, 
290 WOMEN FEEDING CITIES
including reports, census data, research fi ndings, municipal and hospital 
statistics, and aerial photographs (for example on land use patterns). This 
method is useful to get an initial picture of the situation of the target group 
and socio-economic and institutional context, as well as to determine gaps 
and possible contradictions in the available data. This will help to formulate 
alternative working hypotheses for the fi eld study and to design the fi eldwork. 
With regards to gender, it is important to critically review secondary data for 
gender bias, seek out gender-disaggregated data, and ensure that data are 
sourced from as wide a range of research or development areas as possible, 
especially including those, like household food security, nutrition, and child 
health, which are sometimes negatively characterized as ‘home economics’ 
or ‘household studies’. The data review is usually done by team members 
visiting libraries, government offi ces, universities, research centres, marketing 
bodies, etc. Secondary information can be processed in two stages: fi rst, the 
identifi cation and compilation of the material, and second, the analysis of 
the collected information. Analysis often begins by grouping the information 
gathered according to the main themes of the study, followed by the analysis, 
and fi nally formulation of the working hypotheses for the fi eld study during 
which collected secondary data will be cross-checked and gaps will be fi lled in 
(Groverman, 1992; Lingen, 1997).
Direct observation
Direct observation involves collecting information by noting down the things 
one sees happening at the time that they happen (e.g. objects, conditions, 
events, processes, relationships of people). In most cases a list is used of key 
items or indicators related to the issue under investigation (e.g. how women 
participate in community discussions, the activities that men and women 
perform, decision making on use of the resources, etc.). If it is diffi cult to take 
notes at the time of observation, they can be written down later. Observations 
are analysed afterwards for patterns and trends. This research tool has 
been adapted from anthropology for problem diagnosis in projects. The 
hypotheses arising from direct observation should be cross-checked (e.g. with 
key informants or group interviews), and direct observation can be used to 
check information gathered from secondary data or interviews/focus groups. 
Direct observation is useful for gaining a better understanding of a situation, 
specifi cally those things that are diffi cult to verbalize or often go unnoticed 
because they are grounded in internalized social norms. Observation can enrich 
insight into various gender aspects of urban agriculture (e.g. the activities 
that women and men perform, the daily workload of women and men, 
women’s role in decision making in the household, women’s participation in 
community meetings, the self-confi dence of women, the behaviour of men 
vis-à-vis women, etc.). This tool can be used in any phase of the project cycle 
(Groverman, 1992; Lingen, 1997).
 TOOL BOX FOR GENDER-SENSITIVE URBAN AGRICULTURE PROJECTS 291
Semi-structured interviews
Semi-structured interviews are informal discussions and conversations 
structured by using a list of key issues prepared in advance. They can be useful 
to obtain information in general or about a specifi c topic, to analyse problems 
and opportunities, to discuss plans, or elicit perceptions (e.g. on gender 
relations). It is advisable to take not more than one hour for an individual 
interview, and not more than two hours for a focus-group interview; timing, 
venues, and language should be considered in terms of the circumstances of 
the respondents (e.g. women who work on agricultural plots during the day 
may not be able to meet for interview during these hours; women may be more 
comfortable in a particular local language). Interviews are often conducted 
by a team of two or three people of different backgrounds. Semi-structured 
interviews can be used in combination with other specifi c tools (e.g. mapping, 
ranking, making calendars or timelines, etc.).
How to conduct semi-structured interviews
• Prepare an interview guideline in advance. This is not a questionnaire 
but a list of topics to discuss with respondents (grouped in such a way 
that the sequence of the discussion will be easy to manage for those 
involved). For each topic, prepare initial questions (to introduce the 
topic and make the respondent think and talk about it) and probing 
questions (to dig deeper, to get more details: what, why, who, when, 
how, how do you mean, anything else, why, etc.).
• Select one person to lead the interview. A second person records the 
questions, answers, and discussion, making notes discreetly to avoid 
distracting the respondents. 
• Deal with topics one by one. Begin questioning by referring to something 
or someone visible. Ask questions in an open-ended and probing way. 
Intersperse with probing questions and discussions; ask for concrete 
information or examples. Ask new questions arising from the answers 
given. Allow the interviewed person also to raise her/his questions and 
discuss these too. Involve other people in the discussion, if present. Pay 
attention to group dynamics. 
• With regard to gender, it is important to include women as respondents, 
to encourage women to participate, and to look for situations and places 
where women can express themselves freely. Depending on the purpose 
of the interview and the degree to which women can express themselves 
freely in the presence of men, group interviews may or may not be 
carried out with mixed groups. Interviews with small homogeneous 
groups of women can provide valuable information on their position in 
that society or on sensitive issues.
Semi-structured interviews can be conducted at any stage of the project 
cycle (Groverman, 1992; Lingen, 1997) and can be conducted at the individual, 
292 WOMEN FEEDING CITIES
household, or community level. A brief description of the content and the use 
of these specifi c interview forms is given below; which interview format to 
select depends on the issues studied and the level on which these issues take 
place.
Key-informant interviews
Key-informant interviews are conducted with specially selected individuals 
who have long experience in a certain community or specialized knowledge 
or skills in a certain topic. Key informants should be carefully selected, on the 
basis of the issues and themes relevant to the project. One should be aware of 
possible biases of the persons interviewed, including gender bias; it is important 
in gender diagnosis to interview not only those key informants who are gender 
sensitive, but also those who are not, in order to gain understanding of a full 
range of perspectives. Information should be cross-checked with information 
from other sources. Key informants may include members of the target group, 
for example, local leaders or staff of support organizations and development 
programmes in the sector concerned (male and female), or they may be 
external to the project (e.g. municipal offi cials, NGO staff, local historians, 
academic researchers, etc.) (Groverman, 1992; Lingen,1997).
Semi-structured household interviews
These are interviews with specially selected households to get a view on the 
differences between different types of household (e.g. various socio-economic 
categories or farming-system types) in the community regarding the gender-
differentiated management of resources, division of labour, specifi c problems 
and potentials, etc. 
One technique of identifying the criteria to select the households to be 
interviewed is as follows:
• Bring together a small group of locally well-informed people (e.g. the 
local health offi cer, a school teacher, and the leader of a local women’s 
group).
• Ask them to draw a picture of a poor farming household, an intermediate 
farming household, and a wealthier farming household. The drawing 
should refl ect the main characteristics of such a family: composition and 
size, resources available (e.g. land, water, animals), farming activities, 
their non-farming activities, location, position in the community, 
origin, etc.
• Discuss the drawings with the respondents in order to detect the main 
differences between the three types of household (e.g. recent migrant/
not recent migrant, land-holding/not land-holding, with cattle/without 
cattle, family with older children/family with young children, male-
 TOOL BOX FOR GENDER-SENSITIVE URBAN AGRICULTURE PROJECTS 293
headed/female-headed, ethnicity/class, type of job in addition to 
farming).
• Select households based on factors identifi ed through this process. 
When interviewing a household, one will preferably interview adult male 
and female members separately, eventually followed by a discussion on certain 
issues with the whole household. Sometimes it is also interesting to interview 
older and younger women separately, since this might indicate on-going 
changes in the position of women. If possible, let a male member of the team 
interview the male member of the household and the female team member 
the female in the household (De Zeeuw and Dubbeling, 2004).
(Focus) group interviews
These are interviews with a specially selected (focus) group of six to ten people 
who have certain factors in common. In such sessions, specifi c topics are 
discussed under the guidance of a moderator in order to get their views and 
perspectives on a certain issue, to gain insights on the position and problems 
of this specifi c (sub-)category of the population, or to tap their specialist 
knowledge of a certain topic or problem. This might be specifi c gender or age 
groups, households with similar wealth status, owners of specifi c resources, 
people with a specifi c problem or disadvantage, people involved in a specifi c 
role or activity (e.g. women leaders, people involved in marketing of a certain 
product), etc. (Groverman, 1992).
Focus groups are often a good follow-up to household interviews in order 
to get more insight in certain topics and to check whether patterns found in 
the households are validated in the whole group. Focus-group meetings are 
also very suitable to analyse a certain situation or problem in more detail and 
to identify and evaluate potential solutions to these problems. Organize group 
interviews (four to six persons), preferably with men and women in separate 
sub-groups (each with a team member as facilitator; a female interviewing 
the women, a male interviewing the men) (Lingen, 1997: De Zeeuw and 
Dubbeling, 2004). It is important to note that when single-sex focus groups 
are brought together in a mixed plenary session, voices may be silenced, or 
people may not be so willing to share sensitive views or insights. It may be 
useful to ask a representative from each single-sex group to present a summary 
of the discussion to the mixed-sex group in a way that ensures privacy and at 
the same time ensures that all voices are heard.
Preferably, focus-group discussions should be followed by quantifi cation 
of the results of the group discussions for each issue discussed. This can be 
done with the help of a ranking technique. For example, when discussing 
the effects of a project on food availability in the household, one fi rst invites 
some people to indicate by what percentage food availability has increased 
in their household and then use the variation in the answers to establish a 
scale (see the example in Table 17.1) and invite all participants to score (men 
294 WOMEN FEEDING CITIES
Table 17.1 Example of quantifi cation of one topic in a focus-group discussion
Availability of home-grown No Less than 10-25% 25-50% Over 50% Total
food for consumption increase 10% increase increase increase increase
Male respondents 0 1 1 3 1 6
Female respondents 0 3 2 1 0 6
Total score 0 4 3 4 1 12
and women separately, for example, by giving women and men stickers of 
different colours or sticks of different lengths).
Questionnaires
Questionnaires (or surveys) are extensively used in gathering quantitative 
data on various topics related to urban agriculture. They are applied mainly 
to collect baseline data and quantitative data on production levels, economic 
costs and benefi ts, certain characteristics of the producers, etc. Questionnaires 
can be costly and time-consuming (collection and processing of the data) so 
it may be necessary to reduce the number of questions as much as possible by 
focusing on those questions for which quantifi cation is essential and which 
cannot be answered in another way (one page ‘sondeos’). 
Questionnaires are applied to a representative of the household, who is 
often the head of household or at least someone who is old enough to know the 
answers to the questions. Researchers may decide that they can ask either the 
man or woman of the household, and may prefer one or the other depending 
on who is around and easier to get hold of, or who knows the most about 
urban farming. A weakness of formal surveys is that they assume that the 
interviewee is knowledgeable about all aspects of agriculture and household 
livelihoods, whereas in many households there is gender specialization, so 
that surveys need often to be complemented with more detailed group or 
household documentation methods. A question on who is the head of the 
household should always be asked, and then the answer used to classify the 
data as coming from a man- or woman-headed household for calculations of 
the answers to all the other questions. 
It is good to include questions about who is responsible for specifi c 
agricultural tasks in the household, or whether hired help is used. Following 
the procedures of structured interviews, the answers can be classifi ed as male 
or female (or adult man, adult woman, girl, boy, or hired labourer). When 
calculating the results, this will then give tables with numbers and percentages 
engaging in different tasks. Useful questions to differentiate by gender include 
those about exposure to training, membership of groups and participation in 
other livelihood activities, where there may well be signifi cant differences in 
gender patterns, and thus an opportunity to provide good statistics. 
Not all questions need to be gender-disaggregated in a structured survey. 
Those asked about age and education levels can be made questions about 
 TOOL BOX FOR GENDER-SENSITIVE URBAN AGRICULTURE PROJECTS 295
the head of the household, with the answers classifi ed under the sex of the 
head of household. Similarly, questions about other livelihood activities or 
sources of income can be asked about the household as a totality. Where 
these questions are asked about both men and women (usually the husband 
and wife) in a household, calculating and presenting the results gets more 
complicated, because of having to process the data from women-headed 
households differently from those from men-headed households. Most such 
surveys do not do this, although some ask for the information about all 
household members and then present these as separate sets of tables, grouped 
by males and females. It is not advised in most structured surveys, as various 
complications arise such as the survey time becoming very long and data from 
children distorting the results (e.g. high proportions of people may be reported 
as not attending school – and thus classifi ed as lacking education – when in 
fact a large percentage of the population is under school age).
The interviewers (often junior students are recruited to carry out the 
interviews) should be properly trained in interview techniques and gender 
awareness, and the interviews must be implemented under the supervision 
of experienced research staff. It is important that interviewers take thorough 
notes, keep a research notebook, and are aware of any qualitative information 
that may supplement numerical or statistical data gathered through the formal 
survey method. 
The numerical information derived from questionnaires tells us about 
behaviours of the people we are interested in (namely, men and women urban 
producers in a particular place) and it may be accurate for that location, yet the 
numbers may be of limited value if we want to know what proportion of people 
in the city’s population are farming or what role they play in the city’s economy. 
Wider statistical surveys interview both producers and non-producers, mostly 
in order to determine the proportion of producers in the general population 
and to allow generalization of fi ndings at city level. In this case, the proper 
drawing of samples of the population being analysed is essential.
Although survey questions may focus on the behaviour of household 
members in relation to urban farming, questions about men’s and women’s 
interests and preferences are not appropriate for this kind of data-collection 
method. Focus groups or semi-structured interviews or other participatory 
techniques are better suited for that. The latter are better suited also for 
building understanding of main constraints and opportunities, and exploring 
the causes and effects of certain problems. 
Diagnostic tools
Activity-analysis chart
The activity-analysis chart (adapted from Hovorka, 1998: 17-19) is a tool 
that helps to explore how tasks and responsibilities in urban agriculture are 
distributed according to gender at the household and local levels. 
296 WOMEN FEEDING CITIES
It is important to accurately understand and document the activities of male 
and female urban producers in order to assess why an urban agriculture system 
functions as it does, and the implications of the division of labour for men’s 
and women’s roles, responsibilities, and obligations in a particular context. 
Eventually, gender analysis of activities can inform potential technology and 
policy options that will benefi t both men and women urban producers. 
The gender activity-analysis chart may be used to draft interview questions 
for individuals or focus-group discussions where participants can identify those 
activities they are actively or partially involved in (indicating the percentage 
of time involvement of women/girls and men/boys in each activity). 
Additionally, one may use this tool as a checklist for participant observation 
in a local neighbourhood or community, as well as when accompanying a 
producer on his/her ‘typical’ daily routine. 
This tool may also be used in the following participatory exercise: line 
up three large drawings of (a) a man, (b) a woman, (c) a man and woman. 
Below these drawings are scattered smaller cards depicting various types of 
urban agriculture activity. Include some blank cards so that participants can 
add activities. Ask participants to sort the cards by categorizing them under 
the three drawings in columns, according to whether the task is generally 
performed by a man, or a woman, or both. Facilitate the discussion among 
participants about why they made the choices they did, and why particular 
tasks are delineated in this way.
Regardless of whether the activity analysis-checklist (Table 17.2) is used 
in interviews, direct observation, or a participatory exercise, it is important 
to consider whether respondents are focusing on gender stereotypes (the 
ways in which activities are divided by gender in society at large) or on the 
reality of men’s and women’s lives (the ways in which activities are actually 
divided up on a daily basis). Further, as noted earlier in this chapter, it may be 
useful to separate men and women to gather this information, and then bring 
respondents together to discuss people’s activities in a plenary group session. 
Seasonal calendar
The gender analysis chart discussed is more apt for getting an overview of 
gender division of labour in a household, but might be more diffi cult to 
answer by the respondents for the cropping activities, since division of labour 
might differ from product to product, or at different times of the year. This 
might also apply to certain types of livestock keeping (e.g. division of labour 
in dairy might be quite different from that in poultry keeping). In such cases 
the production of a seasonal calendar for the main crops or animals produced 
might yield a better understanding. 
The seasonal calendar helps to explore issues including the following:
• division of urban agriculture tasks/labour among men and women 
(especially cropping activities) undertaken by the household (and related 
problems and possibilities);
 TOOL BOX FOR GENDER-SENSITIVE URBAN AGRICULTURE PROJECTS 297
Table 17.2 Gender-activity analysis checklist
  Activity  Women/girls Men/boys
 Horticulture Finding plot
 (this section may Securing plot (e.g. building fence)
 be further Clearing/levelling plot
 disaggregated Guarding plot
 by crop-type) Land preparation (ploughing, hoeing, etc.)
  Finding/buying seeds
  Preparing seeds
  Sowing
  Transplanting
  Weeding
  Finding water source
  Irrigating
  Fertilizing
  Pest control
  Harvesting
  Threshing
  Cleaning
  Other processing
  Storing
  Packing
  Transporting produce to market
  Selling produce from home/at market
  Maintenance (e.g. irrigation system, shed)
  Composting
  Interaction with extension workers/municipal offi cers
  Sharing information with other producers 
 Animal husbandry Finding plot
 (this section may Clearing plot
 be further Building/maintenance of enclosure/stable/fi shpond
 disaggregated by Cleaning of stable, etc.
 livestock-type) Finding/buying feed
  Feeding
  Watering
  Milking
  Vaccinations
  Other animal health care
  Slaughtering
  Selling/purchasing animals
  Processing animal products
  Selling processed animal products
  Disposal/reuse of manure
  Interaction with veterinary services/municipal offi cers
  Sharing information with other producers
 Other Collecting fi rewood
  Collecting water
  Collecting wild fruits/vegetables, nuts, herbs
  Processing fi bres, dyes (arts and crafts)
  Cooking
  Cleaning, sweeping
  Washing, laundry
  Disposing of household water
  Child care, care for elderly and infi rm
  Paying land rent
  House repair
  Household garbage disposal
  Assisting neighbours
  Attending meetings of producers’ organization(s)
  Attending other community meetings
Source: Hovorka, 1998: 17–19
298 WOMEN FEEDING CITIES
• which activities are undertaken in what periods of the year (and in what 
periods there are labour shortages or surpluses);
• in what periods of the year the households receive more benefi ts from 
the garden (food, income) and in what periods they experience food and 
income shortages.
This tool may be used as follows: fi rst, participants list the main crops grown 
and animals kept by the household (or community group) interviewed. Second, 
they are asked which are the most important ones (for food and income); these 
are then selected for further analysis with the help of the seasonal calendar. 
A matrix is established, putting along the horizontal line the months of the 
year and along the vertical line the main crops / animals that were selected for 
further analysis. Respondents are asked to identify when the growing season 
for product X starts, and which activity they normally will undertake fi rst, 
how long that activity will take, and who normally will perform it. Indicate 
the answers by drawing a line in the weeks concerned and give codes for 
the type of activity (e.g. s.p. = soil preparation, m= manuring, etc.) and the 
persons implementing it (for example o= female adult, < = male adult; * is girl 
and + is boy). One can include the estimated amount of time involved in each 
activity by using blocks /week for each activity instead of drawing a line. Once 
you have fi nished with product X, continue with product Y. 
Thereafter, discussions take place on other vital issues, for example in 
which months they (specifying men and women where relevant) experience 
food shortages or lack of income, labour peaks, periods with water shortages 
or high incidence of pests/diseases, high market demand, etc. and what might 
be done to reduce such problems, or how to make better use of periods with 
labour surpluses, high market demand, etc. The answers are included in the 
calendar.
In Figure 17.1 a (rural) example of a seasonal calendar is presented.
Key questions to consider
• How exactly are men/women/children involved in specifi c urban 
agriculture activities?
• How do men’s/boy’s workloads compare with women’s/girl’s workloads?
• How does the task distribution of urban agriculture differ in men-/
women-headed households? Which are the most burdensome tasks? 
Who is responsible for these tasks? 
• Who is responsible for reproductive tasks in the household? And for 
productive tasks?
• What urban agriculture activities face particular fi nancial or time 
constraints? Who is responsible for these activities? 
• How much fl exibility is there in changing the workloads of men/women? 
Sharing tasks? 
 TOOL BOX FOR GENDER-SENSITIVE URBAN AGRICULTURE PROJECTS 299
Climate Pattern Hot/dry Warm/wet Cool/dry
Month
Activity
Sept Oct Nov Dec Jan Feb Mar Apr May June July Aug
Food shortages xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Stumping
SP
Hybrid maize
LP W F ST FH PK
P H
TR
Traditional maize
LP P H
Sorghum
LP BP BS
TW ST H
Beer brewing
Finger millet
PS BS H
Beans
R R H
H
Groundnuts
R P L H
Sweet potatoes R P CH
Collecting
Firewood
Carrying water
Feeding small
Livestock
Coaching
Childcare
Fence and house
Construction and
repair
Cattle herding
Legend Female adult SP Stumping (pulling/digging BS Bird scaring
of trees out of fields
Female child LP Lane preparation ST Staking (cutting and
staking teepee style
R Ridging L Lifting
Male adult
Male child P Planting H Harvesting
– Continuous activity PB Planting by broadcast CH Continuous Harvesting
… Intermittent activity F Fertilizing S Shelling
T Transplanting W Welding PK Packing
TR Transporting
Figure 17.1 Example of a seasonal calendar 
Source: Sims Feldstein and Poats (1989)
• Do men/women engage in or rely on social networks to share burdens 
and workloads (e.g. sharing of equipment/tools, sharing of child -rearing 
responsibilities)?
• What are the busiest periods of the year for men/women? Boys/girls? 
• What is the relationship between surplus/shortages of resources and 
men’s/women’s responsibilities?
The following scenario illustrates how activity analysis may be applied in 
a particular context. 
300 WOMEN FEEDING CITIES
Urban Agriculture Scenario: household production of urban agriculture 
crops 
An initial survey of production of urban agriculture crops reveals that 
households are producing cassava, corn, watermelons, peppers, and okra. 
Gender-disaggregated data further reveal that men produce okra, while 
women are responsible for the production of all other crops. Interpretation 
and analysis of this division of labour reveals that women produce cassava, 
corn, watermelons, and peppers largely for home consumption. Women 
cultivate peppers, for example, because they require little maintenance and 
produce over a long period. The household division of urban agriculture crops 
is such that in being responsible for lower-maintenance crops, women have 
more time to spend on their household tasks, such as cooking and cleaning, 
in addition to their urban agriculture tasks. Women are not likely to become 
involved with okra cultivation, due to the greater time constraints and activity 
confl icts that this high-maintenance crop generates. Men, because they are 
not responsible for household tasks, grow okra, which requires more work 
than some of the women’s crops but pays better on the urban market. In this 
household urban agriculture system, men are responsible for urban agriculture 
crops for income generation and, in turn, the money generated through this 
activity. Women contribute to household food security and nutrition due to 
the variety of crops they produce. Technology and/or policy interventions 
stemming from this research should consider both profi tability and nutrition 
as measures of food security. Interventions that encourage both men and 
women to participate in okra cultivation may, in fact, lead to a decrease in 
nutritional well-being among household members.
Resources-analysis chart
The resources-analysis chart (adapted from Hovorka, 1998: 20-23) may be used 
to draft interview questions for individuals or focus-group discussions where 
participants can identify those activities in which they are actively or partially 
involved. Participants can identify those resources they are knowledgeable 
about and have access to, when these resources are available, who controls or 
owns the resource, where it is located, the quality of the resource, how often 
the resource is used, and the amount of time spent on each resource. 
This tool may also be used in the following participatory exercise: place the 
three large drawings of (a) a man, (b) a woman, (c) a man and woman in a row. 
Underneath these drawings scatter the smaller cards, each picturing a different 
urban agriculture resource. Include some blank cards so that participants can 
add resources. Ask the participants to sort the cards by placing them under the 
three large drawings, depending on who uses the resource (has access to this 
resource). Facilitate the discussion among the participants about why they 
made the choices they did, and why resources are delineated this way. 
 TOOL BOX FOR GENDER-SENSITIVE URBAN AGRICULTURE PROJECTS 301
Table 17.3 Example of a resources-analysis chart
 Resources ACCESS CONTROL
 (distinguish between individual, household, (who normally are (who decides on who
 community, organizational, etc. resources) using this resource) can use the resource)
 Women/ Men/ Women/ Men/
 Girls Boys Girls Boys
 Land
  o arable land
   – of good fertility/nearby/fl at/ well-drained
   – of lower fertility/farther away/slope/water
    logging
  o urban forest (fuel wood, grazing)
  o livestock grazing areas
 Water
  o river, stream, drain
  o piped (municipal) water
  o well/pump
  o irrigation and/or drainage systems
  o aquaculture ponds
  o household wastewater
  o trickling fi lters
 Inputs
  o seeds
  o livestock
  o bought fertilizers
  o composted farm and household wastes
  o institutional credit
  o informal loans (friends, neighbours)
  o tools (shovels, hoes, etc.)
  o building materials (for animal pens, fences, etc.)
 Infrastructure
  o on farm
   • shed
   • stable, pen
   • threshing & drying fl oors
   • storage facilities
   • latrine, septic tank, waste-treatment pond
  o off farm
   • mill
   • packing station
   • store/shop
   • co-operative
   • trading areas
   • composting site
   • sites of in-kind exchange
 Transportation
  o public buses
  o hired transport
  o bicycle
  o feet
 Information, training, and  knowledge
  o government extension services
  o private enterprises
  o veterinary services
  o informal social networks; community groups
  o co-operatives
  o information centres
  o non-government organizations
  o social services (municipal)
Source: Hovorka, 1998: 20–23
302 WOMEN FEEDING CITIES
Then put the second set of drawings and cards on the ground, close to the 
fi rst set. Repeat the exercise but this time focus on who has control, ownership, 
or decision-making power concerning each resource. Again, facilitate the 
discussion among the participants about why they made the choices they did, 
and why resources are delineated this way. Ask the participants to compare the 
ways in which they have arranged the two sets of Resources Picture Cards. 
One may also use this tool as a checklist for participant observation in 
a local neighbourhood or community, as well as when accompanying a 
producer on his/her ‘typical’ daily routine. Transect walks can complement the 
resources-analysis chart, during which one visually notes resource availability 
and location, as well as people’s access to, use of, and control over (where 
possible) this resource across the landscape. This information can be discussed 
with local people to gain in-depth understanding of what one sees during the 
walk.
Resources mapping
The resources-mapping tool can be used to explore what resources the 
household are using in their urban agriculture activities and who in the 
household has access to each of these resources and who is controlling them 
(owning, deciding on who can use it and for what purpose). 
Start by asking the participant(s) to identify the main resources they use 
in their agricultural activities, starting with the land and water resources and 
on-farm infrastructure available to them, and note this on a map. A good way 
of doing this is to go around the garden or farm with the household members 
and make a sketch of the farm/garden layout, indicating:
• boundaries of the plot and approx. length/width; in some cases the 
household or group may use several plots, for each of which a sketch 
will be made;
• on-plot and access roads, with fences and gates;
• water sources, pump, irrigation equipment; 
• tool sheds, storage facilities, plastic tunnels, greenhouses, shading nets, 
nurseries, paddocks, pens, etc.;
• locations of raised beds, manure heaps, grazing areas.
Then ask the participant(s) to draw on the map other resources that they 
use in their particular urban agriculture system. The resources chart might be 
used to give them some hints of types of resources they may think about (e.g. 
what inputs do you use and where do you get them?). 
Once all resources used have been identifi ed and drawn on the resource 
map, one will ask the participants to identify for each resource included in the 
map the individuals who are using this resource (have access to it); the answer 
will be indicated on the map with the help of simple codes (e.g.: m, f, m/f). 
 TOOL BOX FOR GENDER-SENSITIVE URBAN AGRICULTURE PROJECTS 303
Local market
(sales of
vegetables and
Horticulture group Roadside Local shops Store poultry (m)
Credit union (m)
(exchange; extension (collecting grass) (f) (sales of (input) (m)
officer) (f/m) vegetables (f)
1 km Composting site
(m)
< ½ km
< ½ km < ½ km < ½ km
road gate
Raised beds (f/m) with Nursery with shade net (f)
Drip irrigation (m)
Well / pump (m)
Tods shed (m/f)
Rabbits in cage (f)
Composting unit (m)
Fruit trees
Plot of family Quzon
Figure 17.2 Example of a resource-mapping tool 
Source: RUAF workshop, Situation Analysis Urban Agriculture, Cape Town, October 2007
This may be repeated for the question about who controls these resources 
(use the same symbols but in another colour to put this on the map). The fl ow 
of resources is a fundamental concept within an urban agriculture system. 
Key questions to consider
• What are the main land and water sources? Who makes decisions about 
who can use these resources? Who owns the land? Who controls water 
access? 
• Which other resources do men and women respectively have access 
to? Are the rights of access to resources different for men/women or 
for people from different ethnic or socio-economic groups? For male-/
female-headed households? 
• What is the quality of these resources? How does this infl uence the 
labour time they have to spend and the benefi ts they derive from it?
• What resources are underutilized? Which of these are degrading or 
improving? 
• What are the linkages between men’s/women’s labour input and their 
use and control of resources? 
304 WOMEN FEEDING CITIES
• How does increased/decreased availability of one resource alter men’s/
women’s use of and control over the other resources? Is men’s/women’s 
workload increased/decreased as a result? 
• Is it men/women who use credit? Who makes the decisions on credit 
use? What are men’s/women’s experiences with credit? 
• What is the resource-use and decision-making pattern in female-headed 
households compared with male headed-households?
The following urban agriculture scenarios illustrate how resource analysis 
may be applied in various contexts.
Urban Agriculture Scenario: the effects of environmental degradation on 
urban agriculture practitioners (adapted from Haile, 1991: summary) 
Researchers are interested in exploring the effects of environmental degradation 
on urban agriculture practitioners. A survey of men and women reveals that 
there is a decreasing amount of fuel wood, which is becoming an obstacle 
for food processing. Women are identifi ed as those persons responsible for 
fuel-wood collection: women and girls carry loads of branch wood and leaves 
from surrounding areas into the city. Analysis reveals that while drought is a 
signifi cant factor in the decreasing supply of fuel wood, women’s use of this 
resource is exacerbating the problem of depletion. This has created specifi c 
problems for women, in that they now must travel farther distances in order 
to gather adequate fuel-wood supplies. In turn, women have less time to 
spend in actually processing food for household consumption. Not only is 
the household receiving less nutritious food, the household budget is used 
to supplement foodstuff bought from street vendors. As a coping strategy, 
women have attempted to use cheaper, lower-quality, quick-burning biomass 
fuels. Unfortunately, the fuel generates more indoor pollution than fuel wood; 
thus it compromises women’s health, and is more time-consuming because it 
must be continually tended due to its quick-burning nature. Another coping 
strategy involves the removal of girl children from school to help their mothers 
with fuel-wood collection. This impedes the ability of young women to gain a 
solid education. By identifying the primary users of a particular resource, and 
the implications of this, researchers can better assess what solutions may be 
appropriate and sustainable. 
Urban Agriculture Scenario: dry-season and wet-season urban farming 
(adapted from Ofei-Aboagye, 1997: 5) 
During fi eldwork, it is observed that mainly men are involved in dry-season 
farming. Women operating as individual urban agriculture producers engage 
in wet-season farming. Those women working with husbands in dry-season 
farming do mainly in terms of weeding and harvesting. Further investigation 
reveals that in addition to women having less physical strength to clear the dry-
 TOOL BOX FOR GENDER-SENSITIVE URBAN AGRICULTURE PROJECTS 305
season farmland, their access to hired labour or a tractor is hindered because 
it is too expensive (most women heads-of-household are in lower income 
brackets). Fertilizers and irrigation pumps are also not affordable for them. 
Because fewer producers (mainly men) engage in dry-season farming, there is 
more money made due to relatively lower supply of foodstuffs and unchanged 
levels of demand in this period of the year. Women producers have recently 
started to organize a dry-season farming co-operative and intend to share 
resources and farm a single plot of land for income-generating purposes. 
Tools for the analysis of decision making and distribution of benefi ts
The decision-making and benefi ts-analysis tools presented below help to 
examine how decision-making powers about urban agriculture activities and 
resources and who benefi ts from them are distributed among the various 
members of a household and among group members. 
Understanding the gender division of decision making and the distribution 
of benefi ts (including cash and goods) generated through the urban agriculture 
activities is important, since it provides insight into power relations between 
male and female household members or in producer groups, and thus the effects 
that may be expected of certain projects if such relations remain unchanged.
Decision-making matrix
This tool can be used as a participatory exercise to assess decision-making 
power either in individual household interviews or in focus-group discussions 
(through which participants can further expand on their views and perceptions 
of household and external dynamics). 
A decision-making matrix is created by listing vertically the various issues 
on which decisions have to be taken, and by listing the decision makers 
horizontally. Table 17.4 is an example of this kind of matrix. 
One may go through the decision issues in the matrix one by one with the 
households or group members. Alternatively, one brings together community 
members and asks the people to divide into sub-groups by gender and to 
refl ect on the following key questions:
• On what aspects of the households’ agricultural activities do you 
make the decisions (as a result of your gender and your particular 
responsibilities)? 
• What decisions are you not allowed to make? 
• Are there aspects of the urban agriculture activities that you are 
responsible for but on which you do not make decisions?
• What decisions are taken jointly? 
The groups are brought together, and their answers to each of the questions 
might be compared and discussed (and fi lled into the matrix; either the 
consensus reached or both male and female perspectives).
306 WOMEN FEEDING CITIES
Table 17.4 Example of a decision-making matrix
Decisions Man      Man and woman jointly Woman Comments/
 only Man Equal Woman only Explanation
  dominates infl uence dominates
Labour
Who decide(s) how the
available family labour will be
used?
Who decide(s) whether to hire
additional labour?
Etc.
Inputs
Who decide(s) what seeds to buy?
Who decide(s) what fertilizers to
buy?
Etc.
Production
Who decide(s) which food crops
to grow?
Who decide(s) which cash crops
to grow?
Who decide(s) where to plant
what?
Who decide(s) when to harvest?
Who decide(s) whether certain
products will be processed or 
stored?
Marketing
Who decide(s) what part of the
harvest is sold and how?
Who decide(s) what animals or
animal products are sold and
how?
Etc.
Investments
Who decide(s) to buy equipment
and tools?
Who decide(s) to take a loan?
Who decide(s) to buy or rent
additional land?
Who decide(s) to buy more
animals?
Etc.
Reproduction
Who decide(s) whether a child
goes to school or not?
Who decide(s) on going to a
doctor?
Who decide(s) whether or not to
apply birth control?
Etc.
Source: De Zeeuw and Wilbers (2004)
 TOOL BOX FOR GENDER-SENSITIVE URBAN AGRICULTURE PROJECTS 307
Benefi ts chart
This technique is applied to analyse the distribution of benefi ts derived from 
the products and by-products produced by a household, and the making of 
decisions on the use of the income raised. The exercise can be done with 
the members of selected households or in a focus group. One can work with 
a mixed group, which may lead to lively discussion on household decision 
making. But if women do not speak up in a mixed group, one may choose to 
conduct separate focus groups for male and female household members.
The procedure for the benefi ts analysis is as follows:
• Products and by-products derived from the resources of the household are 
written down on index cards (one card for each product or by-product). 
In the example given in Table 17.5, the following tree by-products were 
identifi ed: fruit, fodder, fuel wood, lumber, bark, and poles. Written 
words can be replaced by pictures or drawings of the (by)products, to 
accommodate the participation of illiterate members of the household.
• Cards are discussed one by one, looking into the following questions: 
how the product is used, who uses the product, who decides how it 
should be used, and who controls the money if sold. Additional input 
is sought from other household members. The information obtained in 
this way is summarized in Table 17.5.
Table 17.5 Example of a benefi ts chart: palm-tree products
(By-) How used? Who Who carries How is cash Who
Product  decides out the used if sold? decides
  on its activity   on cash
  use (f/m)?  use? 
  (f/m)?   (f/m)
Leaf Leaf veins made into brooms f f
 Leaves wrapped around f f
 boiled rice
 Sticks anybody anybody  
Fruit Eaten at home f + m f + m   
 Sold at market f f + children To buy food +
    other basic
    necessities
 Dried and sold for f f + children
 production of coconut oil
Husk Made into charcoal for home m m
 use or sale
 Fibre used to stuff pillows m m
 and mattresses
Trunk Used as fuel wood m f + m  
Tree Shade f + m f + m  
 Ornamental use f + m f + m
Source: Lingen (1997)
308 WOMEN FEEDING CITIES
The following urban agriculture scenario illustrates how gender-benefi t 
analysis may be applied in various contexts: 
Urban Agriculture Scenario: decision making and benefi ts of urban 
vegetable production (adapted from Ofei-Aboagye, 1997: 8 and    
Mianda, 1996: 99) 
Benefi ts from vegetable production in a local urban agriculture system, as 
defi ned by urban agriculture practitioners, are considered to be earnings 
and decision-making power over these earnings. Researchers found that on 
the whole men earn more from vegetable production because of their larger 
holdings and ability to do two farming seasons, both wet and dry. Men who 
farm with their wives save on labour costs, produce greater crop yields, and 
have complete control over how profi ts are allocated. Those crops produced 
by men fetch more per acre at the local market, as compared with women’s 
crops that are more fragile and perishable. In those households where only 
the wives produced vegetables, women have more decision-making control 
over income generated than women who farmed with their husbands. 
Interviews with the wives revealed that, in some cases, husbands not involved 
in vegetable production may impinge on women’s benefi ts (i.e. cash) from 
this activity. Rather than give the profi ts to their husbands, women vegetable 
producers use strategies based on their social role as mothers to keep cash 
to purchase household needs. Researchers found that women producers who 
are not landowners demand their share of revenue derived from production, 
because they are the ones who are primarily responsible for the care of children. 
However, when they are not successful in convincing their husbands of the 
need to share earnings, women retain part of the money from their vegetable-
produce sales without the knowledge or consent of their husbands. While 
still in the marketplace, women entrust their earnings to money managers 
(e.g. fl oating banks), women friends, or their own children, or will simply 
deposit the cash in a hiding place where men are not likely to search (e.g. in 
a kitchen pot or pan, culturally associated with women’s domain). They do so 
to establish decision-making power in their own right.
Identifi cation and ranking of main problems and opportunities
For a gender-sensitive identifi cation of major problems and opportunities, one 
invites the participants in two separate groups: one of women and another of 
men. Eventually, these groups may be further divided along the lines of age, 
ethnicity, class, and so on. 
Ask the participants fi rst to think about the main problems or constraints that 
they encounter in the implementation and development of their agricultural 
activities (which might be technical, fi nancial, organizational, political, or 
other problems). 
 TOOL BOX FOR GENDER-SENSITIVE URBAN AGRICULTURE PROJECTS 309
Subsequently prioritize the problems according to their importance (in the 
view of men and women respectively) with help of a ranking method. Set up 
a matrix (on a black board or sheet of wall paper or on the fl oor) listing all 
problems identifi ed (by men and women) on the vertical axis (see column 1 in 
Table 17.6) and add a symbol to each of them (for any illiterate members of the 
group). Subsequently all participants are asked to vote on which problem(s) 
they consider the most important ones. Each participant may be given several 
votes, which can be distributed over the various items in the list according to 
individual preference. 
The voting might be done with help of small stickers (e.g. in two colours 
for men and women respectively) or pebbles or sticks (if the matrix is on 
a table or the fl oor). In the example, six male participants and six female 
participants each received fi ve stones, which they distributed among the fi ve 
impacts mentioned according to their own preferences. The example clearly 
indicates the importance of gender differentiation when doing the listing and 
ranking. If we had not done so, we would not have discovered that the key 
problems and priorities of female producers are (partly) different from those 
of the male producers. 
One may also conduct an inventory what of local potentials, opportunities, 
recent innovations, plans, ideas, and challenges the urban producers are 
identifying. Starting from opportunities normally creates a positive climate 
and is very stimulating for the participants. In this case the participants may 
be asked to think about questions such as the following:
• What things have you been trying out/experimenting with recently? 
What innovations have you observed in other urban farms/gardens that 
might be of interest for other urban farmers/gardeners too? (Think of 
technology as well as innovations in the way they process, store, and 
market their products and in the way they organize themselves.)
Table 17.6 Example of a ranking exercise
Problems encountered  Male Female Total      Ranking
 producers producers score M F T
Pests 8 3 11 3-4 6 5-7
Lack of irrigation equipment  15 1 16 1 9 1
Theft/no fence 4 7 11 6-7 4 5-7
Poor sales of surpluses  8 2 10 3-4 7-8 8
Insecure land tenure 4 4 8 6-7 5 9
Harassment by police offi cers/
illegal status of UA 6 9 15 5 2 2
Lack of technical support 10 2 12 2 7-8 4
Plots are too far away; diffi cult to
combine with tasks in the home 2 12 14 9 1 3
Low quality of irrigation water
(contaminated) 3 8 11 8 3 5-7
Total score 20 x 3 16 x 3 36 x 3
 votes = 60 = 48 = 108
310 WOMEN FEEDING CITIES
• What market opportunities/niches exist that we may utilize? Are some 
products in high demand during specifi c periods of the year? Are 
consumers asking for new products or specifi c qualities (e.g. organic 
or certifi ed products) or other ways of presenting produce (small units, 
dried, etc.)?
• What ideas/plans do you have for the development of your garden/farm 
and your group/organization? 
• What resources are available in the city that are under-utilized and might 
be accessed and applied by you?
The potentials and opportunities are listed and prioritized by men and 
women participants respectively by applying the ranking method explained 
above. 
Design tools
Problem and opportunity analysis
The problem and opportunity analysis tool helps to explore the causes of 
priority problems identifi ed by male and female urban producers, to identify 
possible solutions to such problems, to further analyse the prioritized (most 
promising) opportunities for further development of that urban system, and 
to identify the steps needed to realize such an opportunity. 
Applying gender analysis to the identifi ed problems and opportunities is a 
fundamental step in making recommendations for appropriate, sustainable, 
and equitable interventions. A solution for a problem or an opportunity 
initially may be identifi ed by one sex but may have implications for other 
household members or other households in a neighbourhood. 
Problem and opportunity analysis charts 
To conduct participatory analysis of the priority problems identifi ed in the 
diagnosis stage, a problem-analysis chart may be used. See Table 17.7. In the 
fi rst column you list the priority problems identifi ed, making sure that both 
men’s and women’s key priorities are included. Then you discuss for each of 
the priority problems: 
• What are the causes of this problem? The answers are entered in 
column 2.
• What do men and women respectively do currently to cope with this 
problem? List the coping strategies in column 3. 
• How is this problem (negatively) affecting men and women? List the 
consequences for men and women in column 4.
Similarly, an analysis chart (see Table 17.8) can be made for the priority 
opportunities that have been identifi ed, by discussing for each the following:
 TOOL BOX FOR GENDER-SENSITIVE URBAN AGRICULTURE PROJECTS 311
Table 17.7 Example of a problem-analysis chart
Priority Causes Actual coping Consequences of the problem and related
problem  strategies coping strategies for
   All Men Women
1 a. a.
 b. b.
 c. c.
 n. n.
2 etc.
3
4
• What steps/activities should be undertaken in order to realize this 
opportunity or potential or to further develop this innovation?   
• What would be the positive and/or negative effects on men and women 
when this opportunity was realized? How would these potentials, plans, 
and opportunities change existing division of men’s and women’s 
activities, access to and control over resources, distribution of benefi ts, 
etc.? 
Table 17.8 Opportunity-analysis chart
Priority opportunities Steps needed to Expected effects of realizing this potential for
identifi ed realize the potential
  All Especially Especially
   men women
Urban Agriculture Scenario: gender-sensitive problem analysis (adapted 
from Slocum et al., 1995: 172–180)
By analysing the problems identifi ed by men and women of a particular 
urban area, researchers fi nd gender-differentiated impacts of problems, coping 
strategies, and potential solutions. (See Table 17.9.) For example, the lack of 
land poses a specifi c problem for women producers. While both men and 
women face constraints due to the illegal nature of urban agriculture in this city, 
women are further disadvantaged because they traditionally have few rights 
to land tenure, as such men tend to have fi rst choice of any available vacant 
land suitable for urban agriculture. This often leaves women with low-quality 
plots of land that are located at a considerable distance from the homestead. 
312 WOMEN FEEDING CITIES
Table 17.9 A combined problem-and-opportunity analysis chart
Problem Causes Coping Resulting  Solutions and
  strategies problems opportunities
Not Urban agriculture is Men and Long distances to  Lobby municipality
enough considered illegal. women vacant plots for to legalize and
land for Women have no using land women. support urban
UA rights to land  in the peri- Only marginal land agriculture.
 tenure.  urban available for women
 Rapid urban  areas (resulting in lower
 expansion; vacant   yields). 
 land used for  Men and women
 construction of  still subject to
 buildings etc.  harassment by
   municipal
   authorities
Inadequate Drought (rationing  Women More household  Increased use of
water of water). buying cash is spent on  grey water for
supply Local pump with  water from water; women in irrigation 
 poor water quality. market charge of budget. (technology to be
 Staggered supply vendors Not enough water  managed by women
 of water by   for crop irrigation;  and applied by
 municipality  men’s activity. men)
Cattle too Shortage of cattle  Men travel Men away from Men to form co-
expensive on urban market to rural household for long operative in order
  areas to period; thus less to share available
  purchase income brought in  cattle and resulting
  cows. by men milk production
  Goats Livestock activities for household
  used for (once done by men) consumption and
  milk now women’s sale
  production responsibility (in
  by women charge of small
   animals)
The solution for increasing access, as identifi ed by the group, may improve 
access to land for urban agriculture in general. However, it will not address the 
issue of inequitable access to land between male and female urban producers. 
The problem of expensive livestock may initially be considered a problem 
for men. Yet women are also burdened by a lack of cattle, for when goats are 
substitutes as milk producers it is women who now tend to this activity. An 
appropriate solution identifi ed by the women in this group calls for the men 
to form a co-operative and share in urban dairy-farming activities.
Problem (or opportunity) tree
The problem tree is a useful tool to analyse the causes and consequences of 
a central problem that has been identifi ed and – by doing so – to identify 
possible solutions to the problem (tackling the problems) and potential effects 
of solving the problem (taking away the consequences).
 TOOL BOX FOR GENDER-SENSITIVE URBAN AGRICULTURE PROJECTS 313
If you have implemented the analysis exercise discussed above, then making 
a problem tree is quite easy since the causes and consequences have already 
been identifi ed for each core problem and can be inserted in the problem tree 
after discussing their causal linkages (see the explanation below). 
One may develop a problem tree directly after having identifi ed the 
priority problems (and without making a chart analysis fi rst). In that case it 
is recommended to subdivide the list of problems into ‘clouds’ or ‘clusters’ 
of problems that are strongly interrelated. One may do this by writing 
each problem on a card and then making the clouds, while discussing their 
relationships. Finally one chooses the core problem in each cloud (the problem 
that creates many other problems and has the most important effects on the 
lives of the participants). 
Take one core problem and place in the middle of a sheet of paper or 
blackboard (the trunk of the problem tree). Discuss now for each other 
problem within the same ‘cloud’ how it is related to the core problem: a cause 
(a root of the problem tree) or an effect (or consequence) of the core problem 
(branch of the problem tree). Also the relation between the various causes 
and respective effects are discussed (is this one causing the other?). Additional 
causes or effects may be identifi ed during the discussion and added by writing 
additional cards. The exercise will result in a diagram such as the one featured 
in Figure 17.3.
Low incomes High levels of protein malnutrition 
Effect
Limited surplus for sale Lack of protein available in local diet 
Inadequate levels of fresh-water fish production available for use 
Fingerling Low High post-
production productivity of harvest 
limited fish ponds wastage 
Inadequate Inadequate
processing marketing facilities 
Dilapidated
hatchery Poor pond technology 
centres management
practices
Poor
management Lack of investment 
Lack of knowledge and 
and lack of appropriate incentives 
investment
Cause
Figure 17.3 Example of a problem tree 
Source: AusAid (2000)
314 WOMEN FEEDING CITIES
This procedure is repeated for all ‘problem clouds’ (with a maximum of 
three or four).
When the causes and consequences of each of the core problems have 
been identifi ed, one proceeds with the identifi cation of possible ways to 
solve the core problem, by systematically analysing the different possibilities 
to infl uence each of the problem causes included in the problem tree. Some 
causes might be more diffi cult to change at the local level than others. 
Once you have identifi ed potential solutions to each core problem, you 
will enter into an assessment of these alternative problem-solving strategies. 
To do so you fi rst need to establish the criteria needed to assess and choose 
certain solutions/problem-solving strategies. Ask participants which criteria 
they want to use to assess and select certain solutions. Provide (additional) 
suggestions where needed. For example, if participants have not considered 
how equitable a particular solution is for both men and women, encourage 
them to refl ect on this issue: how might this solution affect gender division 
of labour, their role in decision making, distribution of benefi ts, etc? Also 
encourage participants to consider how much will it cost compared with the 
benefi t it will bring? What human and fi nancial resources are needed, and 
which of these are locally available and which are not? Will this solution have 
negative ecological or social effects? How long will the solution last? 
Once the criteria have been established, ask participants to rank each 
solution according to these key criteria (see the example in Table 17.10). If not 
enough information is available to assess certain options, ask participants how 
they plan to obtain more information. 
Table 17.10 Example of an assessment of proposed solutions
Proposed          Suggested evaluation criteria   Votes Rank
solutions for Low  Low price Easy to Optimal Providing Low
the irrigation investment of water (incl. manage use of enough health
problem cost maintenance) (esp. by locally water risks
   women) available
    means
Collection of
storm water 10 10 4 12 – 2 38 2/3
Use of household
waste water 14 14 10 12 – – 50 1
Digging a shallow
well plus hand
pump 6 6 6 6 6 6 36 4
Digging a deep
well plus
electrical pump – – – – 10 8 18 5
Use of municipal
piped water – – 10 – 14 14 38 2/3
Total  30 30 30 30 30 30 180
 TOOL BOX FOR GENDER-SENSITIVE URBAN AGRICULTURE PROJECTS 315
Similarly one can draw a tree to analyse the main opportunities (under-
utilized resources, local innovations that can be further developed, market 
demand/niches) that have been identifi ed. The highest-ranking opportunity is 
selected for further analysis (the trunk). In this case the roots will represent the 
activities that will have to be implemented in order to realize that opportunity, 
and the branches represent the effects or results that one expects to obtain by 
realization of that opportunity. These opportunities can be assessed in the 
same way as indicated above for the assessment of problem solutions. 
Formulation of results-based objectives
Once key problems and opportunities have been analysed, it becomes possible 
to formulate the project objectives. But before doing so it might be the right 
moment to consider whether key interests in the group are homogeneous 
enough to have one group/one project, or whether it might better to have 
more groups with more homogeneous interests, each with a separate project, 
or to have a number of (co-ordinated) sub-projects (e.g. a specifi c women’s 
sub-project next to other sub-projects for both sexes). See also the group-
defi nition tool.
The formulation of project objectives starts by reviewing the results of the 
problem-and-opportunity analysis: which problems and opportunities will be 
tackled? Include these in the fi rst column of the chart in Table 17.11. 
Subsequently discuss for each of these key problems/opportunities: 
• How can the actual situation be described in measurable terms? 
(column 2);
• What results can realistically be expected from the selected problem-
solving or opportunities- realizing strategies? (column 3).
Finally, formulate the results-based project objectives (column 4), which 
should:
• clearly refl ect the changes in the situation that are expected to be realized 
as a result of the project; 
• be formulated in measurable terms so that the results can be monitored 
(both the magnitude of the effects that will be realized as well as the 
number of benefi ciaries that will be affected); 
• be achievable in the given local conditions, with the people and means 
available (or that realistically can be expected to be generated) and 
within the project period. 
Group defi nition (adapted from Slocum et al. 1995: 120–123)
The group-defi nition tool helps a project group or producers’ group to clarify 
the limits and resources of their own group. Urban agriculture projects may 
fail either because they excluded certain members of the community, or 
316 WOMEN FEEDING CITIES
Table 17.11 Example of a chart with results-based objectives
Selected key Actual situation Realistic achievable Results-based
problems or  results at the end of objectives
opportunities  the project
Severe water Only 20% of the 60% of the households    Access of the urban 
shortages in producing households will have access to water producers to irrigation 
dry season have access to for irrigation during the water during the dry
 irrigation water during dry season. season will have been
 the dry season. Water costs involved will enhanced from 20 to
 Water costs per acre have been reduced by 60% of the producing
 are on average $ X 30% (excl. infl ation). households.
   Costs of irrigation water
   during dry season will
   have been reduced from
   $ X to $ (X-30%).
High incidence Average yield per acre Average yield per acre in By reducing losses due
of pests in dry in dry season is only dry season is about 90% to pests, the average
season about 70% of the of average wet-season yields during dry season
 average yield in the yield have risen from 70 to
 wet season  90% of average wet-
   season yields
Weak All decisions are Decision making is At the end of the
producers’ taken by the group taking place in a  project the producer
organization leader and an informal management committee. organization is led by a
 clique of friends. A strategic fi ve-year management committee
 No clear development development plan has according to fi ve-year
 plans. been made which orients strategic and annual
 Functionality of the planning and decision plans; functional sub-
 organization is low, making. committees and a
 due to poor internal Annual action plans and savings scheme are
 structuring and low budgets are being made. operational
 involvement of the Functional sub-
 members. committees are operating
 No maintenance of (buying/ selling inputs,
 equipment, due to marketing, savings
 lack of funds. scheme).
because they were too heterogeneous in terms of the priority interests of the 
group members, or because they were too small or too big to realize the set 
objectives. 
Discussion of the following questions might help to clarify the group’s 
defi nition, and eventually in rearrangements (inclusion or exclusion of new 
members, creation of more groups or sub-groups with more homogeneous key 
interests, etc.):
• Who is in this group as presently formed? How can the membership 
be characterized (e.g. main interests, socio-economic status, position in 
local community, gender, ethnicity, age)?
• Who are at present excluded from or barely included in this group as 
presently formed in terms of gender, ethnicity, class, age, etc.? Are there 
others with the same or similar key interests that should be included? 
 TOOL BOX FOR GENDER-SENSITIVE URBAN AGRICULTURE PROJECTS 317
Would any of those currently excluded from the group have resources 
to offer in terms of valuable knowledge or skills, tools or materials? Will 
we recruit others to join our group or limit participation? If we want to 
include others, what should be done to realize that? 
• What would be the optimal group size for the things we want to do; can 
all voices be heard? If the group is large, how can we use small groups to 
do some of the work? 
• How are decisions made at the present time? Who can make what kinds 
of decision? What decisions can best be made by the group as a whole? 
What other decisions can be made by sub-groups or functionaries?
• What other groups and organizations should we interact with? Why? 
What interests do they represent? How we should interact with them? 
Report to those outside? Hide certain information from those outside? 
Seek regular or occasional support and inputs from those outside? Form 
alliances or networks?
It is recommended to summarize the outcomes of the discussions in a clear 
group defi nition: who we are, how we make decisions, our potential allies, 
etc.
Mapping institutional linkages
The institutional networking tool helps a project group or producers’ group 
to identify key actors, explore their roles, and establish the perceptions that 
people have about these institutions. It clarifi es which institutions are the 
most important, which have the respect and confi dence of men and women, 
and who participates in and is represented by which ones. This tool is also a 
visioning exercise whereby participants can identify key institutions that they 
would like to engage in an urban agriculture project, and the ways in which 
linkages will be forged. 
A (non-exhaustive) listing of institutions that might be of signifi cance in a 
particular urban agriculture context is as follows: 
• Co-operative
• Producers’ association
• Marketing association
• Garden club
• Composting group
• Community kitchen
• Other community-based organizations (e.g. youth league, parents’ 
association, churches, community centres, etc.)
• Schools, local clinics, local churches
• NGOs
• Municipal authorities (e.g. Department of Housing, Land Affairs, 
Health, Local Economic Development, Social Affairs and Community 
Development, Parks and Forests and/or Agriculture, etc.)
318 WOMEN FEEDING CITIES
• Government agricultural extension and veterinary services
• Credit services (e.g. bank, lending centre)
• Private enterprises (e.g. inputs, processing, marketing, services) 
As a participatory exercise, participants in a group meeting are divided into 
two sub-groups: one representing women, one representing men. Each group 
is given four sets of different-sized circles made of coloured paper (at least six 
each of very large, large, medium, and small sizes). Participants of each group 
list the groups, organizations, or institutions with which they co-operate in 
their urban agriculture activities in one way or another. Subsequently they 
write the name of each organization in a circle (size of circle corresponding to 
the importance they give to the said organization for the development of their 
agricultural activities). Finally, the participants lay the circles in a confi guration 
which indicates the relationship between and among the different groups and 
organizations, with their own group in the middle, groups/organizations based 
in their own community close to their own group, and external institutions 
further to the outside. 
Participants then discuss: 
• Why is this organization more or less important for our urban agriculture 
activities? What is its actual role? What services does it provides? 
• What might be the potential value of this organization for the realization 
of our plans and solving our problems? What limits the actual value of 
their services for us? How they might improve, and what can we do to 
promote that? 
• What relations do we want to maintain with each of them? How will we 
do that?
The sub-groups then share and compare their results and jointly draw 
their conclusions. Participants may decide to also invite to a meeting a 
representative of one or more organizations that have been identifi ed as 
important, to establish the appropriateness and potential of collaborating 
with such institutions. Next to questions about their mandate, programmes 
they implement, services they provide, how to apply for support or come to 
an agreement to collaborate, it will be important to look into their degree of 
gender sensitivity, the availability of female staff, the degree of attention to 
female producers, and integration of gender issues in their activities. 
The following urban agriculture scenario illustrates the type of information 
garnered from this exercise: 
Urban Agriculture Scenario: assessing the effectiveness of extension 
services for urban agriculture practitioners (adapted from Hovorka, 1998: 
24-25 and Slocum, 1995: 127-131)
The Venn diagram (see Figure 17.4) shows a relatively small circle, representing 
local extension service, compared with a larger circle indicating the greater 
 TOOL BOX FOR GENDER-SENSITIVE URBAN AGRICULTURE PROJECTS 319
Men’s perceptions
Women’s perceptions
Extension
service
Credit Municipal Municipal
union Mothers’
authorities authorities Association
Veterinary
Dept of
services
Community
Services
Local
Farmers Women’s
Association Compost
Extension Church Group
services group
Figure 17.4 Men’s and women’s assessment of the importance of various organizations
importance of the local farmers’ association (men’s diagram) and the compost 
group (women’s diagram). During a focus-group discussion men and women 
participants voice their concerns regarding female extension workers’ 
unwillingness to do fi eld visits in a ‘dirty environment’, and their inability 
to handle larger livestock such as cattle. Further gender analysis, through 
individual interviews with men and women, reveals that while all persons 
share the former concern, women producers are satisfi ed with female extension 
workers’ support in gardening and poultry activities, for which women are 
largely responsible in this urban agriculture system. It is the men who are 
frustrated with extension services related to larger livestock. This distinction 
is a key element in improving extension services so that it is of benefi t to both 
men and women producers. 
Activity-planning tools
Activity-planning matrix
The activity-planning matrix is a tool that helps to establish concrete and 
realistic plans for implementation of priority development activities. To 
produce the activity-planning matrix, all urban producers who share certain 
development priorities are brought together. Interested support organizations 
and other potential partners might also be invited to participate in the 
planning activities.
The activity-planning matrix (see the example in Table 17.12) starts with 
entering the results of the design phase. In the fi rst column the group’s ‘priority 
problems or opportunities’ are stated; in the second column, are entered 
‘Solutions/Steps’, the most effective solutions to solve a problem (or steps to 
realize the opportunity) that have been previously identifi ed. Subsequently 
the participants are asked to review all the concrete activities necessary to 
achieve each of the solutions (or steps), which are fi lled in the third column, 
320 WOMEN FEEDING CITIES
‘Activities’. For the fourth column, ‘Actors’ (Who will do it?), ask participants 
to review what they can do themselves and what kinds of support they need 
from other organizations. For the fi fth column, ‘Resources needed’, ask the 
participants fi rst to identify what they can contribute themselves or what can 
be obtained from other local sources, and second to identify what external 
resources may be required. To identify the organizations that might be able 
and willing to provide such support and resources, the participants will review 
the results of the institutional linkages exercise (see above). 
It is important to ensure that women can participate equally in this exercise. 
In case there is a risk that men will dominate the planning, it might be good to 
do all steps of the planning exercise with two homogeneous subgroups, each 
of which gives its input to each step. One should also ensure that the gender-
Table 17.12 Example of a project-planning matrix
Priority Selected Activities to be Actors (Who Resources needed
problems solutions undertaken will do it?) (Who will contribute
or (steps to    what?)
opportunity realize the
 opportunity)
Water 1.Collection 1.1 Acquire and deliver 1.1 Project 1.1/1.2 200m pipes,
shortage of storm water the required materials. committee 40 water tanks, 
  1.2 Instruct group 1.2 Water  transport, and 2
  members in (a) how to Dept instructors x 1 month
  connect collection pipes 1.3 Producers by Water Dept.
  to tin roofs and link to guided by 1.3 Labour, nails, 
  water tank and (b) how Water Dept  wood for platforms,
  to maintain the system. staff hammers, etc. by
  1.3 Install the system.  producers
 2. Re-use of 2.1 Instruct the group To be To be completed
 household members on safe reuse completed
 wastewater of household waste water
 3. Link 3.1 Apply to the
 community Municipal Water
 gardens to Department.
 municipal 3.2 Organize a savings
 piped water account in order to be
 system (back- able to pay the water
 up system charges in dry season
 for dry periods)
High pest 1. Capacity 1.1 Prepare an Urban
incidence development Farmer Field School on 
in dry on IPM.
period identifi cation 1.2 Implement the
 and integrated UFFS
 pest
 management
 2. Change to 2.1 Identify potential
 resistant resistant varieties.
 varieties in  2.2 Participatory design
 dry season implementation and
  evaluation of local trials
 TOOL BOX FOR GENDER-SENSITIVE URBAN AGRICULTURE PROJECTS 321
differentiated results gained from previous diagnosis and design activities are 
fully used and that both men’s and women’s priority problems and preferred 
solutions are taken into account.
Participatory budgeting
The objective of this tool is to facilitate preparation of a budget estimate for 
projects. The exercise can be prepared by listing basic budget components and 
by preparing a template to guide group work (see Table 17.13). 
First, ask participants if they have ever participated in preparing a budget 
for a project. Ask them to identify the types of thing that they included in the 
budget. As participants respond, sort items into the major categories such as: 
• Investments (purchase of animals, equipment, and construction 
materials, and costs of construction – including local labour – of 
infrastructure like cowsheds, poultry pens, composting units, etc.). 
• Costs of training, research, and extension activities (other than 
personnel): production of educational and instructional materials and 
audio-visuals; costs of workshops, training courses, exchange visits, 
demonstrations, extension meetings (including related travel costs 
and meals of participants, allowances, costs of trainers/instructors and 
required training materials).
• Costs of co-ordination, planning, monitoring, and evaluation 
activities (other than personnel): costs of planning and evaluation 
meetings, data gathering and processing, etc..
• Personnel costs (salaries, fees, wages (plus related costs like social 
security and taxes) of persons from the producers’ organizations who 
will play a role in the project (e.g. co-operative manager, store keeper, 
secretary) and others who will be specially hired for this project either on 
a more continuous basis (e.g. project co-ordinator) or for the realization 
of specifi c activities (e.g. trainers, specialists, etc.).
• Travel expenses incurred by such personnel (transportation, lodging/
meals or DSA).
• Related offi ce and communication costs (offi ce supplies, photocopying, 
fax/telephone/mailing costs, offi ce expenses (rent/water/electricity/etc.), 
computer supplies, banking costs, etc. as far as directly related to the 
project; if that is diffi cult to defi ne, one might also opt for including a 
certain percentage (e.g. 10%) of the personnel costs as ‘overhead costs’.
• Unforeseen: (5%).
Explain that in most projects, costs can be broken down into these categories. 
Subsequently, one will use the information included in the ‘Resources needed’ 
column of the activity-planning matrix that was developed earlier to formulate 
the budget, translating person months and materials into monetary terms, as 
is illustrated in Table 17.13.
322 WOMEN FEEDING CITIES
It is good custom to add a number of columns to the right of the column 
‘(total) amount’, to specify who will contribute what (e.g. own contributions 
of the producers, Water Department, Ministry of Agriculture, an NGO) and to 
indicate what will be contributed in kind and what will be made available in 
cash.  
The ‘participatory’ in the title of this tool refers to (a) the participation of 
male and female producers in preparing the budget so that it is fully ‘owned’ 
by them; and (b) the involvement of other actors/stakeholders who commit 
part of their institutional resources to this local project in accordance with 
their own mandate and programmes. 
Finally check the following:
• Have certain budget items been gender-specifi ed where required?
• Are both men’s and women’s priority activities funded?
• Have gender-affi rmative actions been funded? 
• Are all means that are required to implement the proposed activities 
included in the budget? Are cost estimates realistic (take into account 
infl ation and salary increases over time)? 
Table 17.13 Example of participatory budgeting
Activity set Personnel Unit price # of units Amount
1. Activity #1 Personnel Rupees  Rupees
 1. Project Manager 2,000 11 22,000
Example. Establish 2. Research Offi cer 1,500 20 30,000
and support gender 3. Short-term Adviser 1,500 26 39,000
committees to work 4. Committee Clerical Support 500 50 25,000
with local government Total personnel activity #1  46 116,000
offi cials to bring more
women into the local Travel
planning and decision- 1. Trips between A and B via C 200 10 2,000
making process. 2. Accommodation  Nil 
 3. Meals while travelling 200 10 2,000
    
 Other (list specifi cs)
 Meeting expenses 5000 5 25,000
 Supplies   3,000
 Communication   3,000
    
 Total activity #1   151,000
Activity #2 (specify) As above   
Activity #3 (specify) As above   
Etc.    
Activity #X: Project As above
Management
Source: CNGO, 2003: 31; 58
 TOOL BOX FOR GENDER-SENSITIVE URBAN AGRICULTURE PROJECTS 323
• Could the same activities be implemented more effi ciently if other 
methodologies were applied or the project was organized in another 
way?
• Are resources that will be contributed by the producers themselves well 
specifi ed? Can such contributions realistically be expected?
• Can the planned contributions of other actors realistically be expected?
It should be pointed out to the participants that different funding 
organizations have different formats for preparing their budgets. So if the 
budget is prepared to apply for funding to a certain organization, they should 
fi rst enquire what budget format is preferred. 
Scheduling the work
The objective of this tool is to teach the participants how to formulate a work 
plan to implement the project and how to schedule planned activities. A 
work-plan template can be prepared to guide group work (see Table 17.14 for 
an example). The format of the work plan can be changed according to the 
needs of the project, so facilitators should give examples of how and when 
this can be done.
First, discuss and highlight the importance of a schedule that specifi es what 
will be done, when, and by whom. Then explain the format of the work plan 
you have prepared. Following this, form specifi c groups for sub-projects or 
specifi c activities and have participants begin to prepare a schedule for the 
activities they have identifi ed in their activity-planning matrix: estimate for 
each activity and sub-activity the time that will be required to realize that 
activity, the sequence required, and the best moment to start/end it. Allow 
about one hour for group work, then assemble in plenary for presentation 
and discussion.
When scheduling the work, it is important to take into account the seasonal 
calendar and division of labour, for example by asking the following:
• What are very busy times for men and women (what might prevent 
them from participating)?
• What are the best periods of the year to discuss and tackle certain issues 
(when men and women can be involved in planning or implementing 
that activity or that problem can be observed in the fi eld)?
Implementation tools
Implementation checklist
During preparation for the implementation, a checklist can be developed 
which includes the various ways in which gender will be integrated into 
project activities. This checklist can easily be shared with others and is a quick 
reminder of key things to consider when implementing a specifi c activity. The 
324 WOMEN FEEDING CITIES
Table 17.14 Example of scheduling the work
Name of Project Gender in Local Planning and Decision-Making
Implementing Agency Nepal NGO
Time Period (Year) January 2004 to December 2004, One Year 
Intended Main and Person Months of the Year 2004       Remarks
result sub- responsible J F M A M J J A S O N D T
 activities
Increased Main:
and more
effective
participation
of women in
local
planning
and
decision-
making
 Conduct Research 15            15
 baseline offi cer/
 study and monitor
 gender
 analysis
 Network Project  3          2 5
 with local Manager
 offi cials and
 agree on
 strategy for
 creating
 committees
 Create joint Project   3          3
 committees Manager
 of local
 government,
 NGOs and
 other
 community
 organizations
 Support Short-term    10 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 26
 and assist technical
 committees adviser
 to develop
 practical Clerical    10 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 50
 strategies support for
 and committees
 methods for
 increasing
 the
 involvement
 of women
 Monitor Research       2      3 5
 extent to offi cer/
 which monitor
 participation
 increases
 Adjust Project             3 3
 strategies manager
 and plans,
 as required
Source: Adapted from CNGO, 2003: 31; 58
 TOOL BOX FOR GENDER-SENSITIVE URBAN AGRICULTURE PROJECTS 325
same checklist also can help in monitoring the implementation of gender-
mainstreaming initiatives. To that effect a column might be added in which 
one can indicate the percentage of completion of each planned gender-
mainstreaming activity (progress thermometer). 
The checklist that was developed by partners for use in the RUAF–CFF 
programme is shown in Table 17.15 as an example. The checklist can be 
reviewed by the project staff when preparing new activities and during meetings 
with other team members and/or with producers and other stakeholders in 
the project.
The Urban Producer Field School (UPFS)
The Urban Producer Field School (UPFS) method applies adult-education 
thinking and experience and group-based learning processes to agricultural 
capacity building. UPFS originated as Farmer Field Schools (FFS), initially 
developed to facilitate farmer understanding and application of integrated 
pest-management principles in rice farming, for which conventional 
technology-transfer training approaches were found to be inadequate (Röling 
and Van de Fliert, 1998). The approach has subsequently been expanded for 
use with other crops and to address a wider range of issues than integrated 
pest management (Röling, 2003; Züger, 2005).
FFSs provide the setting and the materials for producers to explore and 
discover for themselves new knowledge about agricultural production. 
They are based on the presumption that knowledge actively and repeatedly 
obtained in this way will be more easily internalized, retained, and applied 
after completion of the training. Repetition is important for retention, which 
is one reason why FFSs are repeated, usually on a weekly or fortnightly basis, 
with the same structure throughout the growing season. FFS was developed in 
rural settings, and the urban situation has required some adjustments in the 
tool, especially in the major time commitment required by FFS participants, 
which can be problematic in urban conditions where agriculture may be only 
one of several livelihoods activities.
The participation of both men and women in urban fi eld schools is 
extremely important, in order to capture fully the different experiences and 
expertise present in the local population, and also the different needs that 
men and women may have. For example, evidence from fi eld schools in Lima, 
Peru indicates that women are more time-constrained than men, because of 
domestic obligations in addition to income-earning activities like petty trading 
or the provision of services. This limited their participation in horticulture-
based fi eld schools, in which both men and women have an interest. It is 
advisable to consider ways to limit the total duration of the fi eld school so as 
to better accommodate women. Since women are almost exclusively involved 
in raising small animals, it is especially important that livestock fi eld schools 
adjust themselves to women’s schedules. 
326 WOMEN FEEDING CITIES
Table 17.15 RUAF–CFF checklist: implementation of gender-mainstreaming activities
o Integration of gender in the situation analysis
 • local team trained in gender issues of urban agriculture
 • gender-sensitive and disaggregated data collection; use of gender-sensitive PRA tools
 • external gender adviser assists the team in preparing the activities and comments on 
draft results 
 • policy review to be done with attention to gender
 • implementation of gender case studies on all aspects of the gender framework
 • gender-sensitive analysis of results 
 • attention to gender in report on the situation analysis (facts and recommendations)
o Integration of gender in all training activities
 • gender-sensitive trainers
 • specifi c module on gender and UA
 • gender aspects in every other module highlighted
 • gender balance in participants
 • gender adviser advises on contents training modules
o Integration of gender in policy seminars
 • gender balance in participants
 • gender-sensitive facilitator; use of gender-sensitive discussion methods
 • gender issues are included as a separate topic on the agenda of the meeting
 • gender aspects are highlighted when dealing with other topics
o Integration of gender in knowledge materials
 • specifi c working material and/or Urban Agriculture Magazine issue on gender and UA
 • gender aspects highlighted in each of the other knowledge materials
o Integration of gender in the City Strategic Action Plan or Municipal Policy on Urban Agriculture 
 • members of the working group(s) are trained in gender-sensitive planning
 • gender adviser comments on the draft proposals of the working groups 
 • gender-sensitive facilitator of the Multi-Stakeholder Forum on urban agriculture (MSF) 
 • gender balance among participants of working groups and forum participants
 • gender capacity of each forum member is enhanced 
 • gender issues on the agenda of the MSF
 • gender-positive actions are taken and special funds earmarked
 • MSF statement on gender
o Integration of gender in M&E of RUAF
 • use of gender-sensitive indicators
 • use of gender-sensitive tools and methods for data collection
 • gender-sensitive analysis of results 
 • gender-aware researchers and facilitator
o Gender mainstreaming in own organization
 • promote adoption of a gender statement 
 • promote development of a gender policy
 • ensure gender balance among the employees of the organization (starting with the 
RUAF team)
 • announce that the RUAF gender adviser will be appointed to advise the whole 
organization
 TOOL BOX FOR GENDER-SENSITIVE URBAN AGRICULTURE PROJECTS 327
Each fi eld school session, both in its ‘classical’, rural version and in the 
adapted urban fi eld school, is structured into different parts, which – with 
their facilitation – are described in different methodological sources (see for 
example Arce et al., 2006a; 2006b) and are not discussed in detail here. It 
is important to incorporate a gender dimension in all parts of the session 
structure, and not simply add a special topic on gender in one fi eld school 
session. The typical structure for an urban producer’s fi eld school is included 
in Table 17.16. 
Table 17.16 Session structure of an (engendered) Urban Producers Field School
1. Welcome (during fi rst meeting: self-introductions of men and women participants). 
2. Review of last week’s session (gender-related issues that arose are highlighted); 
clarifi cation  and distribution of the tasks for this session (equal participation of men 
and women is ensured)
3. Sub-groups: diagnosis of a specifi c problem and identifi cation of possible solutions  
4. Presentation and discussion of results (gender-linked aspects of the identifi ed problems 
and solutions are identifi ed)  
5. Key theme of the session (gender is incorporated into each key theme)
6. Agreements on next session (the suggestions of both men and women are taken into 
account)
7. Evaluation of group process; strengthening group dynamics (attention is given to the 
contributions of men and women to the session and related gender dimensions)
Participatory innovation development (PID)
A local or farmer innovation can be described as a ‘new and better way of 
managing resources’ that is discovered through learning from own experiences, 
local experimentation, sharing with other farmers, and creative use of their 
local knowledge (including knowledge originally stemming from external 
sources that is fully internalized within local ways of thinking and doing) 
(Waters Bayer and Van Veldhuizen, 2004). A local innovator then is a person 
or group who – on their own initiative – is developing a new technology or a 
new way of doing things, using basically their own knowledge and experience 
and locally available resources.
Participatory innovation development (PID) is a process that seeks to 
stimulate and strengthen local innovation by taking farmers’ own experiences, 
knowledge, and capacities as a starting point, enhancing local innovation 
capacity and facilitating further development of local innovations by linking 
local innovators to other experiences, information, and ideas coming from 
other actors (e.g. farmers, researchers, development agents). Inspiring 
experiences with the PID approach are presented by Critchley (1999), Waters-
Bayer and Van Veldhuizen (2004), and Wettasinha (2007). See also www.
prolinnova.net.
Participatory innovation development includes participatory technology 
development (PTD) but is more comprehensive, since it goes beyond 
328 WOMEN FEEDING CITIES
technological innovation to include also innovations in the way people are 
gaining access to – or regulating the use of – natural resources, organizational 
innovations, innovations in marketing the products, and in institutional 
linkages and policies, etc. See Van Veenhuizen, Waters-Bayer and De Zeeuw 
(1997) for detailed methodological explanations of PTD. 
The PID process is usually developed through the following six stages: 
partnership building, identifying local innovation and innovators, 
documentation, local action planning, implementing local innovation 
activities, and institutionalization.
Partnership building; multi-stakeholder steering group for PID
This involves bringing together different stakeholders who have an interest in 
starting a PID process in a certain locality or region (e.g. farmer organizations, 
NGOs and government agencies involved in agricultural and natural-resource 
management research and development, and educational institutes) and/or 
are already promoting local innovation. 
It also involves the implementation of training-cum-planning workshops 
to familiarize the staff of these organizations with the PID approach and tools 
and to enhance their capacities regarding:
• identifi cation of local innovators and innovations
• documentation and sharing of local innovations and innovation 
processes
• provision of support to local design and implementation of PID 
processes
• participatory monitoring and evaluation of joint activities, outcomes, 
and impacts
• facilitation of learning from on-the-ground experiences and 
dissemination of results
• raising institutional awareness on PID and engaging in policy dialogue.
Identifying local innovations and innovators
For stimulating local innovation, a positive approach is needed. Focusing on 
problems and weaknesses will increase the negative image of the situation 
and will increase the feeling that outside intervention is necessary and 
consequently farmers will likely remain passive.
The fi rst step in this process is therefore to start from the strengths and 
capacities of the producers, to identify and recognize local innovations and to 
regard farmers as equal partners in the process of the further development and 
dissemination of these innovations. Local innovations and innovators can be 
identifi ed by the following means:
• Through observation (what efforts are people undertaking to solve 
existing problems or grasp opportunities they have already identifi ed, 
 TOOL BOX FOR GENDER-SENSITIVE URBAN AGRICULTURE PROJECTS 329
who are the people that do things differently, that do ‘strange’ things, 
that are experimenting with something on their own initiative?).
• Through identifi cation by key informants (ask extension agents, farmer 
leaders, teachers to identify local innovations and innovators with the 
help of the questions above).
• Through chain or ‘snowball’ interviews: ask farmers to identify 
innovative farmers (with the help of questions like the ones above); when 
interviewing these farmers, ask them to identify other innovators.
• Reconstructing innovation: ask a group of farmers to list one or more 
agricultural innovations that have been made in the last ten years and 
are relevant for most of the families in the area; ask them to identify 
the farmers who played an important role in introducing, adapting, 
or developing these innovations, and go and talk with these farmers 
(Wettasinha et al., 2007: 10).
There is often a male bias in identifying innovation or innovators. The 
reason for this is often a gender bias in the interviewers (male interviewers 
tend to focus on male respondents), and among the respondents (male 
producers who are used to talking on behalf of the female members of the 
household, women who lack confi dence or have not been brought up to think 
of themselves as innovators). 
Some ways to identify women innovators are listed below: 
• Analyse the gender division of responsibilities and labour and focus in 
interviews (when asking for innovators and innovations) on the activities 
that are mainly the responsibility of women (since those will be the areas 
they know most about and will probably seek to improve themselves).
• Let the female team members interview women, to make them feel more 
at ease and to encourage them to talk freely about their local innovative 
activities.
• Identify local innovations by broadcasting a radio programme in 
which women speak about their innovations and respond to phone-
in questions from listeners. This stimulates still more women to phone 
in about their own innovations or ask their children to write on their 
behalf to the radio station.
Documentation and sharing of innovations and giving recognition to 
innovators
Subsequently, the local people involved will be inspired and assisted to 
document these innovations (and the innovation process followed) so that 
these can be shared and discussed with others. There are various means of 
documenting and sharing information between farmers in an informal 
way, including for example posters, farmers’ magazines, community radio, 
participatory video, exchange visits and study tours, farmer trainers, farmer 
competitions, etc. It is important to give recognition to local innovations 
330 WOMEN FEEDING CITIES
and innovators. One way to do so is to periodically celebrate innovations 
and reward innovators (through invitations to workshops, media attention, 
awards, certifi cates) in ways that stimulate all actors involved. 
Group building and local action planning 
Once recognized as valuable partners, local innovators will be motivated to 
collaborate with each other and with outsiders, combining local and outside 
knowledge. The identifi ed local innovations/innovators become the foci for 
community groups to examine opportunities, to plan joint experiments, to 
explore the ideas further, and to evaluate the results together. Special attention 
should be given to strengthening the capacities of weaker stakeholders 
(especially women and poorer farmers) to make them equal partners in the 
PID process, starting with their active involvement in the action planning.
Where the innovation has a technological character, existing manuals on 
participatory technology development (see for example: Van Veldhuizen et 
al., 1997) may be of help in the participatory design of the local experiments. 
The joint design (and implementation and monitoring) of the innovation 
activities is enhancing the innovative capacity of the local community. In 
addition their knowledge of specifi c aspects of the innovation can be enhanced 
though training activities, demonstrations, visits to other innovative farmers 
and research centres. 
Implementing local innovation activities; capacity development; 
organizational strengthening; dissemination
In this stage the farmer groups develop their innovations further, with the 
active support of the supporting organizations, and monitor and evaluate the 
results. This process, involving concrete joint activities, also helps to strengthen 
community organization for development. The innovators’ groups are places 
where farmers regularly meet and analyse and discuss existing and new 
practices, where they learn and share experiences, and enhance collaboration 
and collective action. Results of the experiments will be documented (as well 
as the processes applied) and shared with other groups of innovators, as well 
as with other producers. That can be done in many ways: posters and picture 
guides, participatory video, farmer-to-farmer training, storytelling in radio 
programmes, etc. The shared experiences of local innovations will inspire 
other groups. Phases 3 to 5 will be reiterated. 
Institutionalization; policy infl uencing; up-scaling
As a parallel process, the partners in the process should seek to create better 
institutional and policy conditions for local PID, by engaging in policy 
dialogue and facilitating integration of the approach into the programmes of 
relevant institutions. 
 TOOL BOX FOR GENDER-SENSITIVE URBAN AGRICULTURE PROJECTS 331
Monitoring and evaluation tools
A large number of monitoring and evaluation tools may be applied to assess 
the effects of a project on practical and strategic gender issues. In fact most of 
the participatory appraisal tools described in earlier chapters might be used 
also for monitoring. To prevent overlap, we will not discuss such tools here; 
rather we will present a checklist (Table 17.17) that provides main points 
for attention when evaluating the impacts on gender of a particular urban 
agriculture project. 
Table 17.17 Monitoring and evaluation checklist
Capacity development (project staff)
• Was the gender sensitivity of the project staff enhanced and their skills in gender analysis 
planning and monitoring improved prior to the start of the project? When training them on 
other topics, were the gender dimensions of that topic reviewed? Was the gender training 
effective? What gaps were identifi ed later on? 
• Have team members responded favourably to the inclusion or expansion of gender analysis 
within the project? What diffi culties and/or successes have there been? 
• Was a gender resource person consulted throughout the process? In what form(s) did this 
take place? How effective was their involvement?
Project design and planning
• Was the project design based on a gender-sensitive situation analysis yielding gender-
disaggregated data on all issues investigated, and insight into the roles and responsibilities 
of men and women in urban agriculture, access to and control over available productive 
resources, decision making and distribution of benefi ts, etc? What proved to be very 
important? What improvements are needed?
• What were the main specifi c gender issues coming out of the analysis? Have these been 
properly incorporated in the project design? Which of these issues have been properly 
addressed by the project and which less so?
• Were women involved in decision making on the priority issues to be attended by the 
project and in the selection of the activities to be undertaken? How is this refl ected in the 
project objectives and strategies and related budget? What could have been done to further 
strengthen women’s participation in the project design?
Project implementation
• Were representatives of men and women producers actively involved in periodic project 
management/co-ordination meetings and decision making on the course of the project? 
Were gender issues regularly discussed during those meetings? How did they infl uence the 
decision-making? 
• Was there equal and active participation of both male and female staff and producers in 
the implementation of the project activities (training, experimentation, improvement of 
infrastructure, playing certain roles in the project, etc.) and the distribution of resources 
provided by the project (information/knowledge, credit, tools, land, equipment, seed, 
irrigation water, etc.) during project implementation? What hampered the full participation 
of women producers in such activities and resources? With what effects?
• Which gender-affi rmative actions have been undertaken to overcome existing inequalities 
and barriers for female participation in the project? With what effects? What else could 
have been done?
• Which activities have been implemented to promote gender mainstreaming in the 
participating producer organizations? With what effects?
332 WOMEN FEEDING CITIES
Monitoring and evaluation
• Have the monitoring data been collected in a gender-disaggregated way? What data were 
more diffi cult to collect in a gender-disaggregated way; which others were collected in that 
way but proved to be less useful?
• Have the monitoring data been collected and analysed with direct participation of both 
male and female representatives of the benefi ciaries? How did this infl uence the quality of 
the monitoring information and the use that was made of such information?
• What does the monitoring information show regarding the distribution of project benefi ts 
(enhanced income, improved nutrition, knowledge and status gained, control over resources, 
etc.) among respectively women and men? Which are and which not? Due to what factors?
• Which remedial actions were taken when monitoring data showed that women and men 
were not benefi ting equally from the project activities? With what effects? 
• What is the combined effect of the project on gender equality and strategic gender issues? 
Due to what factors mainly? 
Going to scale; institutionalization
• What has been undertaken to facilitate gender mainstreaming in the organizations that 
participate in the project? With what effects? Which mainstreaming strategies worked well 
and which did not or less so? 
• Have project fi ndings regarding gender dimensions of urban agriculture (and how to attend 
these in urban agriculture research and development projects) been given proper attention 
when preparing publications and other dissemination activities (website, seminars, etc.)? 
With whom these fi ndings have been shared (newspapers, NGOs, farmer organizations, 
municipal departments, etc.)? With what effects?
• Have efforts been made to infl uence policy makers to apply project fi ndings regarding 
gender and urban agriculture? How exactly? How? With what effects?
Going to scale (planning follow-up actions, dissemination, policy 
infl uencing)
Scoping of gender issues for policy and planning (adapted from FAO, 2003: 
186–187)
This tool helps to scope out the possibilities for integrating gender issues into 
urban agriculture planning and policy realms. Participants should represent 
both community and institutional actors if at all possible. 
In small groups, have a discussion about the implications of what you 
have learned about gender and urban agriculture during the project, and its 
relevance and use for policy and planning. The following questions may guide 
the discussion:
• What has been learned about gender and urban agriculture in this 
project? e.g. regarding the roles of and contributions of men and 
women to household and community food security, differential needs 
and priorities of male and female producers, experiences gained with 
specifi c strategies and affi rmative actions to develop urban agriculture 
in a gender-sensitive and equitable way. 
 TOOL BOX FOR GENDER-SENSITIVE URBAN AGRICULTURE PROJECTS 333
• What might be some of the implications for policy and planning of what 
has been learned about gender and urban agriculture in this project? 
What policy measures would you like to recommend? 
• What needs to be done or can be done to bring about such policy 
changes? Who should participate?
• What might be the implications of the lessons learned for your own 
organization (activities, working methods, staffi ng, training, budget 
allocation, etc.)? 
• What needs to be done to effect such change? With whom would you 
like to partner to make such changes occur?
• What might be the implications of such policy and planning changes on 
the practical and/or strategic interests of men and women?
Policy briefi ng paper
Since policy makers are busy people who have little time to read lengthy 
project documents or research reports, the preparation of a short and concise 
document that is specially designed to inform a policy maker on the main 
policy issues involved is often crucial for impact on policy development and 
planning.
A policy briefi ng paper synthesizes data on key issues most relevant 
for a certain policy area and lessons learned from the recent research or 
development project(s). It provides recommendations (i.e. suggested policy 
measures, changes needed in existing regulations, recommended actions) on 
how a municipal or national government or other institution may (further) 
develop its policy and programmes regarding the area of gender and urban 
agriculture, often illustrated by concrete city cases (‘building theory based on 
practice’). 
Below we present the process as applied in the Urban Management 
Programme for Latin America and the Caribbean (UNDP–Habitat) to develop a 
series of seven policy briefs on various aspects of urban agriculture, including 
one on ‘Urban Agriculture and Gender’ (UMP–LAC, 2004).
• Scoping exercise with topics discussed in the policy briefs defi ned by 
representatives of various partners in the project during a workshop in 
Quito–Ecuador in 2000, based on review of the results of the research 
and development activities that they had implemented to date.
• Elaboration of short ‘synthesis’ papers on each of these topics included 
in the priority list by one of the project partners, analysing the available 
information and experiences gained regarding this topic, illustrated with 
clear cases/examples. 
• Design and drafting of a four-page policy brief on each topic with 
assistance of a professional designer/social communicator.
• Discussion and ‘validation’ of the draft policy briefs with the project 
partners and elaboration of fi nal versions of the Briefs.
334 WOMEN FEEDING CITIES
• Presentation of the set of policy briefs to each of the municipal authorities 
participating in the programme, plus dissemination to other cities and 
actors.
• Monitoring of the use of policy briefs by these municipalities (in 
development of policies, norms and regulations, action plans, project 
development, training, etc.) and results of such activities.
When preparing a policy brief and engaging in policy dialogue, special 
attention should be given to the following elements.
• Recognition of women as independent actors and benefi ciaries in/of urban 
agriculture public policies and projects
• Acknowledgement of the real value of women’s contribution to the 
development of urban agriculture: production, food security, income, etc.
• Recognition that the needs of men and women are different and that women’s 
access to and control over resources and participation in decision making 
is restricted by socio-cultural and institutional traditions
• Recognition that public policies and projects, as well as economic and 
technological trends, can have differential effects for men and women 
• Recognition that affi rmative actions are needed to ensure that women (and 
men) can reap equal benefi ts from urban agriculture policies and projects.
Policy-action matrix (adapted from FAO, 2005: 48)
The policy-action matrix helps to relate policy objectives to specifi c policy 
actions, responsibility for execution, costs, and time frames. It works well 
to establish interactions among national, regional, and local stakeholders to 
make decisions on policy objectives, actions, costs, and time lines. NGOs, 
community-based organizations, producers, and private-sector service 
providers can make signifi cant inputs and decide on their roles in policy 
planning and implementation. With minimal guidance, all stakeholders can 
participate effectively in the construction of this action matrix.
The project team starts the process by organizing a stakeholder workshop 
with the following steps:
• Specify the policy objectives (and related policy measures) that are 
recommended by the project, and select one objective for further analysis.
• Review the recommended measures to achieve this objective and identify 
additional or alternative recommendations; select the most important 
recommendations for possible action.
• Defi ne at what level (local, regional, or national) each recommendation 
would be implemented.
• Determine who is responsible for deciding on each recommendation, 
and who is responsible for executing the recommendation (these are 
normally different people or institutions).
• Determine a strategy to implement each recommendation.
 TOOL BOX FOR GENDER-SENSITIVE URBAN AGRICULTURE PROJECTS 335
• Cost each recommendation, taking into account staffi ng, operational, 
and infrastructure requirements for the next three to fi ve years.
• Suggest the time frame for execution.
Repeat the same procedure for each policy recommendation. Fill in the 
form shown in Table 17.18 as the proposed plan of action is developed for the 
policy objective(s):
Table 17.18 Example of a policy-action matrix
Strategic objective 1:
 Specifi c objective 1
 Recommendation 1 Recommendation 2 Recommendation 3
Achievement targeted
Execution level
• Local
• Regional
• National
Responsible stakeholder for:
• Decision making
• Execution
Strategy to implement
recommendations
Cost
• 2006
• 2007
• 2008 +
Timeframe for execution
• Short (1–2 yrs)
• Medium (3–5 yrs)
• Long (5+ yrs)
Source: FAO, 2005
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scale change’, in N.G. Röling and M. A. E. Wagemakers (eds.) Facilitating 
Sustainable Agriculture, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK.
Sims Feldstein, H. and Poats, S. V. (eds.) (1989. Working Together: Gender Analysis 
in Agriculture, vol. 2, Kumarian Press, West Hartford, Connecticut.
Slocum, R., Wichhart, L., Rocheleau, D., and Thomas-Slayter, B. (eds.) (1995) 
Power, Process & Participation: Tools for Change, Intermediate Technology 
Publications, London. 
UMP–LAC (2005) Guidelines for Municipal Policymaking on Urban Agriculture No 
7, ‘Urban Agriculture: Fostering Equity between Men and Women’, UMP-LAC; 
Available from http://www.idrc.ca/uploads/user-S/10530124730E7.pdf.
Van Veldhuizen, L., Waters-Bayer, A., and De Zeeuw, H. (1997) Developing 
Technology with Farmers; A Trainer’s Guide to Participatory Learning, Zed 
Books, London/New York.
 TOOL BOX FOR GENDER-SENSITIVE URBAN AGRICULTURE PROJECTS 337
Waters-Bayer, A and Van Veldhuizen, L. (2004) ‘Promoting Local Innovation: 
Enhancing IK Dynamic and Links with Scientifi c Knowledge’, IK Notes no 
76 (World Bank).
Wettasinha, C. et al. (eds.) (2007) Recognising Local Innovation: Experiences of 
PROLINNOVA Partners, IIRR, The Philippines.
Züger, R. (2005) ‘Participatory Development Projects in the Andes – Looking 
for Empowerment with Q-Methodology’, paper presented at PRGA Impact 
Assessment Workshop, October 19–21, 2005, CIMMYT Headquarters, 
Mexico. Available from http://www.prgaprogram.org/index.php/module=
htmlpages&func=display&pid=65

CHAPTER 18
Resources
Abstract
This chapter offers a variety of selected resources on gender and urban agriculture, 
grouped as follows:  
• literature dealing with conceptual frameworks regarding gender in agriculture
• fi eld studies on gender and urban agriculture
• literature providing gender-sensitive methods and tools for gender 
mainstreaming
• relevant websites.
Annotated bibliography
Gender and urban agriculture: concepts
Cummings, S., H. Van Dam, and M. Valk (2002) Natural Resources 
Management and Gender: A Global Source Book, KIT, Amsterdam. 
Various ways in which women’s and gender perspectives and considerations 
have been incorporated in natural-resources management are documented 
in the case studies from Mesoamerica, India, Pakistan, Uganda, and West 
Africa. An introduction discusses the history of and contemporary thinking 
on women, gender, and environment; the country studies illustrate the 
relationship between women and land rights, gender approaches to the 
management of water and wetlands, mainstreaming gender in environmental 
policy, and the need for a gender-differentiated participatory approach. An 
annotated bibliography of printed and on-line publications, and web links 
complement the case studies. A co-production with Oxfam GB.
De Zeeuw, H., G. Prain, and J. Wilbers (2004) Women Feeding cities. Gender 
Mainstreaming in Urban Food Production and Food Security, Proceedings 
of the workshop: Women Feeding Cities, 20–23 September 2004, Accra, 
Ghana. RUAF, Leusden, The Netherlands; CIP, Lima. Available from 
www.ruaf.org.
During this workshop, participants presented 15 cases, which were critically 
reviewed in order to identify key issues in gender and urban agriculture. Also 
a priority agenda was developed with important aspects and actions that will 
need attention when integrating gender in future urban agriculture research 
activities, training activities, policy development, and action planning and 
340 WOMEN FEEDING CITIES
implementation. The workshop presented the concept of mainstreaming 
gender and identifi ed effective strategies for mainstreaming gender in the 
projects of the workshop’s organizers: RUAF and Urban Harvest. Participants 
recognized that the differentiation of the roles played by urban men and women 
in urban food production, processing, and marketing, and the documentation 
of their specifi c interests, knowledge, constraints, and opportunities, as well 
as the mechanisms of disadvantage (especially in existing values, policies, 
and institutional practices) are critical to the design of effective policies and 
interventions aiming at urban food security (as well as human and socio-
economic development).
FAO (2002) ‘Gender and access to land’, FAO Land Tenure Studies no. 4.
Women, elderly people, minorities, and other sometimes marginalized groups 
can be at risk in land reform and land administration projects. Very often, 
when land values increase as a result of external investments, women become 
marginalized in the process and risk losing former benefi ts. Women may be at 
risk even if it is intended that they share the benefi ts. For example, improving 
irrigation on women’s fi elds may have the unintended effect that these newly 
valuable fi elds are reclaimed by men in the community. Enhancing housing in 
a community or peri-urban area may have similar unintended results when the 
units become more marketable. Children and elderly people may also suffer, 
although the original intention was to include them in the intervention. The 
purpose of these guidelines is thus to provide background information for 
land administrators and other land professionals on why gender issues matter 
in land projects; and to provide guidelines to assist development specialists 
and land-administration agencies to ensure that land administration enhances 
and protects the rights of all stakeholders.
FAO (2005) Building on Gender, Agro-biodiversity and Local Knowledge: A 
Training Manual, FAO, Rome.
This training manual focuses specifi cally on the links between local knowledge 
systems, gender roles and relationships, the conservation and management of 
agro-biodiversity, plant and animal genetic resources, and food security. Its 
aim is to promote a holistic understanding of these components. The training 
objective is to strengthen the institutional capacity in the agricultural sector 
and to recognize and foster these links in the relevant programmes and 
policies. Other manuals may cover these same topics, but there is an obvious 
lack of integrated training materials that address all three topics. Moreover, 
FAO’s local partner organizations have requested specifi c training materials 
that focus on these cross-cutting issues. We strongly believe that a better 
understanding of the key concepts, and their linkages, will lead to improved 
project planning and implementation. This manual therefore aims to explore 
the links between agro-biodiversity, gender, and local knowledge, and to show 
the relevance of doing so, within the context of research and development. 
This manual will not equip you with the skills needed to conduct participatory 
or action research at the fi eld level, or provide guidance for research tools 
 RESOURCES 341
and methods. However, it is meant to complement existing manuals covering 
tools, methods, and approaches, such as the FAO/SEAGA handbook material 
for socio-economic and gender analysis (www.fao.org/sd/seaga).
Hahn, N. (1991) ‘Backyard gardening: a food security system managed by 
women’, Entwicklung + Laendlicher Raum 1, pp. 24–27.
This article highlights the important contribution of home gardening to 
food security, and, particularly, the role that women play in it. The author 
suggests various directions for further research and innovation. Interestingly, 
homestead production of spices receives special attention.
Hovorka, A. J. (2006) ‘Urban agriculture: addressing practical and strategic 
gender needs’, Development in Practice, (16, no 1).
This paper considers the role of urban agriculture in addressing the practical 
and strategic needs of African women and assesses the gender implications 
of embracing urban agriculture as a development-intervention strategy. 
Empirical evidence from Botswana and Zimbabwe points to the multi-
faceted role of urban agriculture, an activity used by some women to support 
their households on a daily basis, and by others as an avenue for social and 
economic empowerment over the longer term. In order to benefi t rather than 
burden women, the promotion and support of urban agriculture must take on 
an emancipatory agenda which supports individual, practical, and strategic 
goals, and ultimately challenges the structural conditions that give rise to 
women’s involvement in the activity in the fi rst place.
Hovorka, A. J. (undated) ‘Gender and Urban Agriculture: Emerging Trends 
and Areas for Future Research’, Graduate School of Geography, Clark 
University, Worcester MA, USA.
Over the past decade, literature on women and urban agriculture has emerged, 
revealing signifi cant insights that arguably can change the future focus of the 
fi eld at large. This overview presents a synthesis of lessons learned from recent 
studies that have begun to recognize and assess women as farmers in urban 
areas. The extent, nature, and role of urban agriculture vary considerably 
between and within countries, as well as throughout the urban hierarchy. 
Moreover, evidence tends to be scattered or speculative, with little supportive 
data to substantiate general statements. As such, it is diffi cult to formulate 
a synthesis of trends that hold for every context, or even the majority of 
contexts.
Nevertheless, there are several broadly identifi able trends in recent literature 
on women and urban agriculture which warrant recognition and further 
explanation. First, studies now recognize women as urban farmers. Indeed, 
women play signifi cant roles in urban food production and contribute to 
both household and market economies. Second, women benefi t from urban 
agricultural activities that allow them to successfully combine their multiple 
roles in subsistence, production, and environmental management sectors. 
Third, researchers document the constraints hindering women’s participation 
342 WOMEN FEEDING CITIES
in urban agriculture activities. Obstacles exist at both sectoral and household 
levels. Fourth, studies identify women farmers’ survival strategies and social 
activism in response to structural constraints and urban food issues. Together 
these trends have enriched the understanding of urban agriculture. Yet gaps 
persist in the literature, and a discussion of future trends and considerations 
for urban agriculture research in general is required.
Kabeer, N. and R. Subrahmanian (eds.) (1999) Institutions, Relations and 
Outcomes; Framework and Case Studies for Gender-Aware Planning, Kali 
for Women, New Delhi; Zed Books, London & New York.
This study develops an analytical framework and a set of tools for planners 
and trainers to integrate gender systematically into different aspects of their 
work. It offers an inventory of the kinds of assumption which lead to gender-
blind policy. A selection of case studies from the Indian context illustrates the 
different aspects of the framework and its applications.
Kabeer, N. (2003) Gender Mainstreaming in Poverty Eradication and the 
Millennium Development Goals: A Handbook for Policy-makers and Other 
Stakeholders, Ashford Colour Press, London. 
In this book, Naila Kabeer brings together a set of arguments, fi ndings, and lessons 
from the development literature which help to explain why gender equality 
merits specifi c attention from policy makers, practitioners, researchers, and 
other stakeholders committed to the pursuit of pro-poor and human-centred 
development. Neglect of gender inequalities in the distribution of resources, 
responsibilities, and power in the processes of economic accumulation and 
social reproduction has a high cost, not only for women themselves but also 
for their children and other dependants and for the development of society as 
a whole. This book highlights the interconnections between production and 
reproduction within different societies, and women’s critical role in bridging 
both, and points to the various synergies, trade-offs, and externalities which 
these generate. All over the world, women from poor households play a more 
critical role in the income-earning and expenditure-saving activities of their 
households than women from better-off households, and they are concentrated 
in the informal economy. The relationship between household poverty and 
women’s paid activity has, if anything, become stronger over recent decades, 
partly in response to economic crisis and the ‘push’ into the labour market and 
partly in response to new opportunities generated by globalization. Improving 
women’s access to economic opportunities, and enhancing returns to their 
efforts, will be central to the goal of poverty eradication and the achievement 
of the MDGs.
Kanji, N. (2003) Mind the Gap: Mainstreaming Gender and Participation in 
Development, International Institute for Environment and Development 
(IIED), London and Institute for Development Studies (IDS), Brighton.
This publication, the fourth in a series on institutionalizing participation, 
highlights lessons from gender-mainstreaming work for those who seek to 
 RESOURCES 343
institutionalize participation. After a discussion of conceptual frameworks and 
strategies, and the suggestion that there has been a shift from participation to 
governance (along with the shift from women in development to gender in 
development), the tensions between gender mainstreaming and participatory 
development are explored. Suggestions are made to overcome this tension.
Koenraadt, C. (2001) ‘Household resource management and urban 
horticulture in relation to the action plan for women in development’, in 
Proceedings on the Sub-Regional Expert Consultation on the Use of Low Cost 
and Simple Technologies for Crop Diversifi cation by Small Scale Farmers 
in Urban and Peri-Urban Areas of Southern Africa, Stellenbosch, South 
Africa, 15–18 January 2001.
This presentation discusses the key areas of development efforts in which 
FAO’s Women in Development Service concentrates its efforts and how this 
is linked to gender and urban agriculture mostly through the Household 
Resources Management issue. It further introduces the Socio-Economic and 
Gender Analysis Programme (SEAGA) methodology, being a possible suitable 
tool to support research in urban agriculture as well as to programme, monitor 
and evaluate UA programmes where women play a critical role.
Lee-Smith, D. (1994) ‘Gender, Urbanization and Environment: A Research 
and Policy Agenda’, prepared for the International Seminar on Gender, 
Urbanisation and Environment, held in Nairobi, Kenya, 13–16 June 1994. 
Mazingira Institute, Nairobi, Kenya. 
This agenda was produced at the International Seminar on Gender, 
Urbanisation and Environment, held in Nairobi in June 1994. The purpose 
of the seminar was to draw together researchers from different regions of 
the world to discuss issues, theories, and methods, to put the priorities of 
poor women at community level on to the research agenda and to infl uence 
policy to take account of gender issues emerging from research. The agenda is 
presented according to the four main themes of the seminar, for each of which 
a working group of scholars and others identifi ed the priorities for research 
and policy action, but it starts with common themes and priorities which 
represent the crucial fi ndings of the seminar. Women’s property rights and 
urban agriculture are highlighted.
Lee-Smith, D. (2006) ‘Urban agriculture risk perceptions, communication 
and mitigation: community participation and gender perspectives’, in A. 
Boischio, A. Clegg, and D. Mwagore (eds.), Health Risks and Benefi ts of 
Urban and Peri-urban Agriculture and Livestock (UA) in Sub-Saharan Africa, 
Urban Poverty and Environment Series Report No. 1, IDRC, Ottawa.
This paper addresses the perception of health risks among poor communities 
practising urban agriculture, and especially the differences between men and 
women. It also addresses some aspects of the communication of health risks 
to communities, and the way in which communities may themselves adopt 
mitigation strategies. This theme is specifi cally addressed as a gender issue. 
344 WOMEN FEEDING CITIES
Sometimes women are seen as more vulnerable than men, and the aspect of 
vulnerability of different groups to different levels and types of risk is briefl y 
touched on. However, the paper explains that the capacity of communities in 
general and women in particular to respond to risks as active agents should 
also not be overlooked.
Lingen, A., R. Brouwers, M. Nugteren, D. Plantenga, and L, Zuidberg (1997) 
Gender Assessment Studies: A Manual for Gender Consultants, Operational 
Guide, Women and Development Series, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, The 
Hague, The Netherlands. 
This manual presents the Gender Assessment Study (GAS), an instrument 
which has been developed for the formulation and appraisal phases of 
projects. It is a tool for designing project interventions in order to ensure 
that they will affect the empowerment of women positively. The manual 
explains the research methodology and its practical implementation in detail 
and is especially geared to the needs of those who undertake the study in the 
fi eld. An interesting feature of the instrument is that it combines a gender 
analysis of the target group and the context with a gender analysis of the 
future implementing organizations, leading to a gender analysis of the project 
(proposal).
Mapetla, M., H. Phororo, and G. Prasad (1994) ‘Urbanization, Gender 
and Environment: the Role of Wild Vegetables’, paper presented at the 
International Seminar on Gender, Urbanization and Environment, Nairobi, 
Kenya, 13–16 June 1994. Mazingira Institute, Nairobi Kenya.
Although many people in Lesotho move to towns in search of better job 
opportunities, they miss out on access to natural wild-food resources. It is argued 
in this paper that such resources can be adapted to the urban environment, and 
wild vegetables could contribute to the nutrition and cash income of urban 
dwellers. Gathering, preparing, and eating are related to gender and culture. 
Earlier studies have shown that collecting and preparing wild vegetables 
is a strategy for rural women to provide a balanced diet for their families. 
Urbanization in Lesotho has affected women’s access to natural resources such 
as edible wild plants. Settlements now occupy former agricultural land, and 
wild foods become scarce in peri-urban areas as a result of over-harvesting. 
Urban women have to spend much more time than previously to fi nd enough 
wild plants for a meal. The study reveals that only a few people collect wild 
plants, and children are no longer taught about edible plants due, in part, to 
schools adopting westernized curricula which do not foster recognition of the 
value of indigenous plants. For many people in towns, wild foods have low 
status and they would rather buy cultivated vegetables from the market. Towns 
have created markets, but only rarely are wild vegetables sold. Women from 
the countryside sell the wild vegetables through informal networks in town. 
A promotion strategy for wild vegetables, focusing on knowledge, attitude, 
value, and nutrition is suggested. Outward rather than inward growth of 
urban areas is also recommended by the authors. It is argued that gardens 
 RESOURCES 345
within urban housing sites in Lesotho are agriculturally more productive than 
fi elds in rural areas, and agricultural production does not diminish when fi elds 
are converted into housing sites with gardens in the present urban extension 
pattern.
Maxwell, D. G. (1999) Internal struggles over resources, external struggles 
for survival: urban women and subsistence household production, Urban 
Agriculture Notes [online]. Available from http://www.cityfarmer.org/
danmax.html.
Presents data on Kampala in an attempt to examine and understand semi-
subsistence urban farming and the way in which the practice has been 
incorporated into the economic strategies of urban households and individuals. 
The paper argues that in contemporary Africa farming spans a continuum 
from a survival strategy for some to a large-scale high-return investment for 
a few. For the most part it should be considered as a deliberate crisis response 
on the part of urban women, to provide for themselves and their households a 
source of food which is not dependent on cash or volatile markets. The paper 
explores patterns of engagement in farming, the use of food, and division 
of labour. It also discusses reasons for farming and divisions of household 
responsibilities before drawing conclusions.
Moser, C. O. N. (1993) Gender Planning and Development; Theory, Practice 
& Training, Routledge, London, UK. 
Gender planning is a new tradition whose goal is to ensure that women, through 
empowering themselves, achieve equality and equity with men in developing 
societies. Gender Planning and Development explores the relationship between 
gender and development, and provides a comprehensive introduction to 
Third World gender policy and planning practice. It describes the conceptual 
rationale for a new planning tradition based on gender roles and needs, and 
identifi es methodological procedures, tools, and techniques to integrate 
gender into planning processes. It emphasizes the role played by training 
in creating gender awareness, and highlights the entry points for women’s 
organizations to negotiate for women’s needs at household, community, state, 
and global levels.
Palacios, P. (undated) Policy Brief: Urban Agriculture, an Opportunity for 
Gender Equity (Spanish), PGU-ALC / FEMUM–ALC.
This policy brief focuses on the steps that can be taken at the policy level 
to promote urban agriculture with a gender-equality perspective, recognizing 
that urban agriculture can respond to the specifi c problems faced by different 
social sub-groups but also that these different groups each have different 
potentials to confronting the problems. According to the brief, the following 
intervention strategies are necessary for equal and sustainable urban 
management: (1) diagnose reality from a gender perspective, (2) articulate the 
role and contribution of urban agriculture and integrate a gender perspective 
in the planning process, and (3) install the equal participation of citizens 
346 WOMEN FEEDING CITIES
as a social and economic right. These strategies are each broken down into 
practical steps. The brief concludes by presenting conceptual, methodological, 
and operational challenges concerning gender-sensitive urban agriculture, 
roles and responsibilities of actors involved in urban agriculture, and relevant 
contacts in the Latin American region.
Ratta, A. (1993) ‘City women farm for food and cash’, International 
Ag-Sieve, 6 (2): 1–2.
This brief article outlines women’s involvement in urban agriculture and 
highlights barriers and solutions to such activities. Farming is a viable 
alternative to wage labour for women and enables them to work close to home. 
Women’s role is not limited to food production but includes processing food 
for home and market. These activities are rarely refl ected in offi cial statistics, 
nor are they recognized as a contribution to the family budget. Thus women 
do not fully benefi t from research or extension services. 
Van Esterik, P. (1999) ‘Gender and sustainable food systems: a feminist 
critique’, in M. Koc, R. MacRae, L. J. A. Mougeot, and J. Welsh (eds.), For 
Hunger-proof Cities: Sustainable Urban Food Systems, pp. 157–161, IDRC, 
Ottawa.
This paper explores conceptual and practical links between women and food 
and suggests how feminist analysis may further our understanding of food 
security. It argues that women’s special relationship with food is culturally 
constructed and not a product of a natural division of labour. Women’s 
identity and sense of self are often based on their ability to feed their families 
and others; food insecurity denies them this right. Food socialization and 
body image are also strongly gendered. The paper concludes with a working 
defi nition of feminist principles and a call for the development of a model of 
feminist food praxis. Food praxis refers to the practical ‘mastery’ of routines 
of producing, preparing, and consuming food. The paper proposes 10 points 
to guide further research and action. These include acknowledging women as 
gatekeepers of the food system, giving priority to the elimination of hunger, 
using multiple research methods, recognizing how political forces control 
people’s access to food, emphasizing the temporal complexity of food routines, 
and providing a critically refl exive guide to advocacy action. 
Wilbers, J., A. Hovorka, and R. Van Veenhuizen (eds.) (2004) ‘Gender and 
urban agriculture’, Urban Agriculture Magazine Number 12: Gender and 
Urban Agriculture. Available from www.ruaf.org.
Urban agriculture can have positive and/or negative consequences for men 
and women, depending on the situation and conditions. Data gathered on 
urban agriculture demonstrate that it generally has a positive impact on 
household food security, and thus will be benefi cial to women, who most 
often are responsible for it. This issue of UA Magazine explores how urban 
agriculture relates to existing gender dynamics.
 RESOURCES 347
Field studies on gender and urban agriculture
Barndt, D. (1999) ‘Women workers in the NAFTA food chain’, in M. Koc, 
R. MacRae, L. J. A. Mougeot, and J. Welsh (eds.) For Hunger-proof Cities: 
Sustainable Urban Food Systems, pp. 162–166, IDRC, Ottawa.
Efforts to develop sustainable urban food systems must take into account 
the role of women in the various stages of production, preparation, and 
consumption of the food we eat. The Tomasita Project explores women’s 
shifting roles in the restructured global labour force, tracing the journey of a 
tomato from a Mexican fi eld to a Canadian table. This essay focuses particularly 
on salaried workers in Mexican agribusiness. The Tomasita project also aims 
to connect women food workers in Mexico and Canada, in both dominant 
and alternative food systems, through photo-stories, fi lms, and video letters. 
Sharing these stories across borders helps women to understand how they are 
part of a broader global process while they learn from each other’s tales of 
survival and resistance. 
Boulianne, M. (2001) ‘Urban agriculture and collective gardens in Quebec. 
Empowerment of women or “domestication of the public space”?’ 
(original in French), Anthropologie et Societés, 25 (1): 63–80.
In ‘developed’ countries, self-provisioning urban agriculture practices 
reappear periodically during phases of adjustment of the capitalist economy. 
It is actually the case in North America. The most recent experiences 
encourage collective production. They emerge in Quebec in the context of 
an increasing recognition of the social economy by the state. Supported by 
community groups, collective gardens appear as an alternative to food help 
for the impoverished, and as a tool to alleviate social exclusion. Women are 
the principal protagonists of these recent initiatives, either as members of 
the supporting groups or as producers. While certain researchers argue that 
women’s community organizations active in the domain of food security have 
a strong potential for the individual and collective empowerment of women, 
others think that in times of decentralization of social programmes, these are 
rather associated with a ‘domestication of public space’. Are the emerging 
experiences of collective self-provisioning gardening empowering for women, 
or are they contributing to the domestication of the public space? Relying 
mainly on fi eldwork data collected in Quebec, the present article seeks to 
bring answers to this question.
Dennery, P. (1995) ‘Inside Urban Agriculture: An Exploration of Food 
Producer Decision Making in a Nairobi Slum’ (M.Sc. thesis), Wageningen 
Agricultural University, The Netherlands. 
This study examines urban food producers and their households in Kibera, a 
large informal settlement of Nairobi. One of the main features of this study 
is the addition of a qualitative dimension to urban agriculture research in 
east Africa. Empirical evidence is provided on gender relations, labour 
relations, and the multiple uses of produce at the individual, household, and 
348 WOMEN FEEDING CITIES
community levels. The traditional division of agricultural labour was noted 
during fi eldwork: men preparing the soil for planting, and women responsible 
for harvesting food for daily needs. Women decide how much produce to sell 
and what food to buy, in consultation with the spouse in order to provide a 
means of preserving marital harmony. Women’s decision-making power may 
be undermined by factors such as size of plot, need for cash, and personal 
health. Women are also less likely than men to have knowledge about inputs, 
such as pesticides or use of sewage water, due to their limited exposure to 
commercially oriented agriculture. The study also reveals that numerous 
labour issues are directly related to the prevailing gender ideology in Kenya. 
Female urban producers must carry out most of the care and maintenance 
of the household, regardless of the time they devote to food production or 
other livelihood activities. Thus, women tend to stay in the fi eld longer than 
men and are expected to fetch water and prepare meals upon returning to the 
house. In other cases, women’s ability to control their own agricultural labour 
time is limited by responsibilities to others.
Dima, S. J. and A. A. Ogunmokun (2001) ‘An Overview of Socio-Economics 
and Gender Aspects in Urban and Peri-Urban Agriculture: The Potential 
of the City of Windhoek, Namibia.’, paper prepared for the Sub-Regional 
Expert Consultation Meeting on Urban and Peri-Urban Horticulture, 
University of Stellenbosch, Cape Town, South Africa, January 2001. 
Urban and peri-urban agriculture can be defi ned as the process of producing 
agricultural commodities within demarcated urban areas and edges of urban 
areas. Because of colonial and post-colonial local-authority laws, rules, and 
regulations, urban agriculture has been practised illegally, discreetly, and 
without technical support by local authorities or the relevant ministries of 
agriculture. This paper provides an overview of the resources available, and 
the technologies used for urban and peri-urban horticulture in Namibia. 
This is followed by a survey of the recent literature on urban and peri-urban 
agriculture in Africa with a view to assessing its extent and contribution in 
terms of food production, employment creation, improvement in nutrition 
status, income generation, innovation, creation, adaptation, and appropriate 
technologies development. This is followed by a case study of urban and peri-
urban horticulture in the city of Windhoek.
Drescher, A. (1997) ‘Management Strategies in African Home Gardens and 
the Need for Extension Approaches’, paper presented at the International 
Conference on Sustainable Urban Food Systems, 22–25 May 1997. Ryerson 
Polytechnic University, Toronto, Canada. 
The relationship between urban food production, food security, and urban 
environments has been largely neglected. This paper focuses on results from a 
household garden survey conducted during 1992 and 1993. The main objective 
of the survey was to clarify the role of household gardens for household food 
security in Zambia, and to identify differences and problems in management 
strategies and their effects on production in different areas. The results reveal 
 RESOURCES 349
that the main actors in urban agriculture are often women. In all compounds 
studied in Lusaka, women were to a greater extent involved in cropping and 
gardening than men. Gender analysis is used to reveal differences between 
men’s and women’s urban agriculture techniques with respect to alternative 
methods of plant production, crop species, and use of fertilizer, manure, and 
compost. The paper argues that gender-specifi c differences in agricultural 
activities need to be given more attention by extension services in urban and 
peri-urban areas. 
Egziabher, A.G. (1994) ‘Urban farming, cooperatives, and the urban poor 
in Addis Ababa’, in A.G. Egziabher et al. (eds.), Cities Feeding People: 
An Examination of Urban Agriculture in East Africa, pp. 85–104, IDRC, 
Ottawa. 
This paper focuses on urban agriculture in Lusaka and is based on a household 
garden survey conducted during 1992 and 1993. The main objective of 
this survey was to explore the role of household gardens in the context of 
household food security in Zambia. The fi ndings reveal that women are more 
involved in agriculture and gardening in all compounds of Lusaka than men. In 
many ways, women play an important role in the food supply of households; 
through their productive labour, their decisions on production, consumption, 
and division of food, and through their income. A household-gardening 
model was developed to enable a better understanding of urban gardening 
activities in the social and environmental context. The model can assist in 
highlighting and clarifying some of the factors infl uencing urban agriculture. 
The household itself is based in the centre of the model, with various internal 
and external factors determining the vulnerability of the household. The 
study reveals that gardening contributes to food security directly by providing 
food and indirectly by creating income, respectively saving expenditures in 
the urban environment. Strengthening the role of women is recommended 
to policy makers seeking to develop the urban agriculture sector to address 
household food security. 
Ethangatta, L. K. (1994) ‘Households Headed by Elderly Women in the 
Slums of Kawangware and Kibagare in the City of Nairobi; Poverty and 
Environmental Concerns’, paper presented at the International Seminar 
on Gender, Urbanization and Environment, Nairobi, Kenya, 13–16 June 
1994. Mazingira Institute, Nairobi, Kenya.
The aim of the study is to determine the social–cultural, health-related factors 
and economic characteristics of elderly Nairobi women which may affect 
their nutritional status. The study is based on data collected from 201 elderly 
women from slums of Kawangware and Kibagare, and the low-income areas 
of Dagoreti and Waithaka in Nairobi. The fi ndings reveal that women in low-
income areas use their land for growing food crops such as beans, kale, cabbage, 
and bananas. Some of these women also had a dairy cow that produced 
milk for their own household’s consumption or for sale to neighbours. The 
marketing of fruit and vegetables was also cited by women as an income-
350 WOMEN FEEDING CITIES
generating activity in both slum and low-income areas. Elderly women in the 
slum areas turned to growing vegetables on the edges of roads and any other 
open spaces, in response to economic hardships. This activity created further 
environmental degradation, due to the uprooting of natural vegetation and 
consequent soil erosion in these spaces. The author concludes that there is an 
urgent need to provide basic means of raising incomes and standards of living 
for families headed by elderly women. In turn, better living conditions will 
improve the environmental conditions of slums and low-income areas.
Freeman, D. (1993) ‘Survival strategies or business training ground? 
The signifi cance of urban agriculture for the advancement of women in 
African cities’, African Studies Review, 36 (3): 1–22. 
This paper suggests that, contrary to fi ndings in other research, urban agriculture 
is not a stop-gap activity, nor a means to become wealthy. The motivations of 
the urban cultivators appear not to be infl uenced by what planners, researchers, 
or urban administrators feel ought to be the correct attitude to urban farming. 
This paper analyses interview data collected in Nairobi, Kenya in 1987 as part 
of a survey of active women cultivators. It fi rst considers the stated motives of 
women cultivators and then assesses information gathered through detailed 
case studies of three individual women involved in urban farming. The most 
common motivation of women cultivators was the need to avert hunger, but 
also important was the availability of home-grown food so as to free up scarce 
cash earned by family members. The paper concludes that female cultivators 
face major impediments to meaningful advancement in Nairobi. Women are, 
in turn, dependent on the low-wage, formal manufacturing and service sectors 
for a market for their produce, and their activities are necessarily seasonal 
in the absence of the means to irrigate crops. The importance of this group 
as role models for other Third World women, the paper concludes, greatly 
outweighs their actual numbers. 
Freidberg, S. (1999) ‘Tradeswomen and businessmen: the social relations 
of contract gardening in south-western Burkina Faso’, Journal of African 
Rural and Urban Studies. 
This article examines the prospects for the expansion of export-oriented 
contract horticulture in south-western Burkina Faso, specifi cally in the area 
surrounding the city of Bobo Dioulasso. It sets out the main reasons why 
any discussion of West African contract farming must take account of the 
gender roles and moral codes which have historically informed relations 
between peasants and different members of the urban merchant community. 
Day-to-day provisioning and commercialization depends on the services of 
itinerant and local traders, many of whom are, especially in fresh-produce 
commerce, women. The crucial role of women traders, contrasted with that 
of male politicians and entrepreneurs, has created a distinctive culture of 
contract farming. The case study presented demonstrates how women traders 
have made the most of limited career opportunities by placing the fl exibility 
 RESOURCES 351
and durability of their commercial relations above season-to-season profi ts. 
In the interest of developing trading relations that they could pass to their 
daughters, women wholesalers set standards of trust and commitment that 
contractors fi nd hard to match. The presence of a well-established, gender-
based regional trade network poses potential obstacles to profi table contract 
horticulture schemes, because this network is essential to the economic security 
and occupational identity of both women traders and village gardeners in the 
Bobo Dioulasso ‘garden belt’.
Gabel, S. (2004) ‘Revealing Social Dimensions of Open Space Cultivation 
by Older Women in Harare: Advancing a Social Planning Discourse 
for Urban Agriculture’, a thesis submitted in partial fulfi lment of the 
requirements for the degree of Master of Arts (Planning) in the Faculty of 
Graduate Studies (School of Community and Regional Planning). 
This research on urban agriculture in Harare, Zimbabwe, highlights women’s 
ideas, needs, concerns, and agency, contextualizing these fi ndings through 
an investigation of the institutional and policy environment governing 
the practice of open-space cultivation in the city. A feminist methodology 
provides an overall framework, while also incorporating ethno-methodology 
and participatory research methodologies to highlight the broader social, 
political, and cultural contexts of urban agriculture. A multi-method approach 
was adopted which included the use of semi-structured interviewing, focus 
groups, strategic meetings, participatory methods, visioning interviews, 
and action methods (such as fi eld trips, creating a stakeholder forum, and 
organizing income-generating projects). Findings from this research have 
been used to develop a gender-aware history of women and urban agriculture 
(UA) in Harare. Key fi ndings show that the forms of organization for open-
space cultivation (SOSC) developed by older women have been historically 
unacknowledged, ignored, and impeded by those with decision-making 
power, most often male elites. Nine legal channels available for SOSC in 
Harare are uncovered in the research, dispelling the myth that UA is an 
illegal activity in the city. This research further elaborates on the impacts of 
legal ambiguity that have resulted in confl icts between various land-tenure 
systems and categories, demonstrating the serious governance challenges at 
the heart of supportive policy development for UA in the City. The voices of 
women are used to illuminate the dire need for local- and neighbourhood-
level leadership, and the importance of addressing the cultural context in 
which UA is imbedded. A discussion of planning and governance in Harare 
reveals the exclusionary practices that operate to make the work of women, 
their UA- and land-based livelihoods invisible in planning practice and city 
decision making. The research shows the potential for shifting planning 
practice and discourse towards more people-centred, democratic forms of 
planning for UA.
Gianotten, V., V. Groverman, E. Van Walsum, and L. Zuidberg (1994) 
Assessing the Gender Impact of Development Projects: Case Studies from 
352 WOMEN FEEDING CITIES
Bolivia, Burkina Faso and India, Royal Tropical Institute, Amsterdam; ETC 
International, Leusden; Intermediate Technology Publications, London. 
This book presents a preliminary methodological framework which was 
established in accordance with the objectives of a gender-assessment study 
(which investigates a development project’s expected impact on women, 
compared with its impact on men, and also assesses the extent to which the 
project responds to the specifi c interests and needs of different categories 
of women). It also presents pilot studies in which the framework is tested, 
which provide information and recommendations for designing projects 
that will optimally strengthen women’s position. The book is intended 
primarily for readers interested in policy on women and development, and 
in the methodology of gender-assessment studies. It is also intended for those 
interested in improvements to women’s position, and to gender relations, in 
the specifi c context of planning and implementing development projects.
Hasna, M. K. (1998) NGO Gender Capacity in Urban Agriculture: Case 
Studies from Harare (Zimbabwe), Kampala (Uganda) and Accra (Ghana), 
CFP series, report # 21, IDRC, Ottawa.
This study examines the marginalization of gender issues within urban-
agriculture research agendas, drawing on data collected from fi eld visits to the 
cities of Accra, Kampala, and Harare. It provides an overview and analysis of the 
nature and extent of NGO policies and strategies regarding the integration of 
gender into urban agriculture research. It is found that many NGOs are working 
with ‘women in development’ approaches. A proper understanding and scope 
of ‘gender analysis’ within these organizations is needed. Participatory learning 
partnerships should be developed among relevant groups, organizations, and 
institutions to share gender-sensitive research fi ndings and create provisions 
for effective gender-focused policy interventions.
Hetterschijt, T. (2001) ‘Our Daily Realities: A Feminist Perspective on Agro 
biodiversity in Urban Organic Home Gardens in Lima, Peru’, Wageningen 
University, Wageningen. 
The research for this thesis was conducted in the slums of Chorillos, a district 
in Metropolitan Lima. The main objective of the research was to study the 
factors which infl uence decisions concerning crops and plants in the organic 
home gardens of the urban farmers. The thesis recognizes that a key role in the 
establishment, maintenance, and development of the urban organic home 
gardens is played by the women. It is they who are mostly responsible for all 
activities involved in cultivating the home gardens and keeping guinea pigs, 
as the men work outside the house in another kind of job. In addition, the 
thesis underlines the important role that women play in the dissemination 
of knowledge, enthusiasm, and use of species, in their roles as female urban 
farmers and mothers.
 RESOURCES 353
Hovorka, A. (2005) ‘The (re)production of gendered positionality in 
Botswana’s commercial urban agriculture sector’, Annals of the Association 
of American Geographers 95 (2): 294–313.
Urban agriculture studies tend to aggregate data such that they mask 
differential experiences of men and women farmers, and fail to explain 
adequately the infl uence of location and human-environment relations on 
production systems. People’s ability to create productive and sustainable 
urban agricultural systems is premised on who they are, where they are 
located, and how they interact with the environment in that location. 
This article presents an empirical investigation of the effects of gender on 
commercial urban agriculture in Greater Gaborone, Botswana. It employs a 
conceptual framework that bridges socio-spatial and human-environment 
traditions in geography and highlights gendered environments to facilitate 
this convergence. The investigation reveals that gender clearly infl uences 
the quantities and types of foodstuff produced for the urban market. Gender 
matters because men and women enter into agricultural production and 
participate within this urban economic sector, on unequal terms based on 
socio-economic status, location, and interactions with the environment. If 
urban agriculture is to contribute to food security and economic growth, 
as well as urban sustainability more generally, gender relations of power, as 
produced and reproduced through socio-spatial and human-environment 
relations, must inform our understanding of this phenomenon.
Hovorka, A. (2006) ‘The No. 1 Ladies’ poultry farm: a feminist political 
ecology of urban agriculture in Botswana’, Gender, Place and Culture 13 
(3): 207–225.
The research draws on a feminist political-ecology perspective to demonstrate 
that agrarian restructuring and rural–urban transformation in Botswana offers 
women opportunities to renegotiate their marginalized positionality within the 
commercial urban agricultural sector in Greater Gaborone. Men and women 
participate in equal numbers, and both perceive this sector as offering them 
new and accessible avenues for economic and social advancement. Although 
there is continuity of women’s social and economic disadvantage relative to 
men from rural to urban contexts, women are actively making claims on land 
and capitalizing on their traditional roles and responsibilities associated with 
poultry production. This negotiation of continuity and change in gendered 
positionality refl ects and indeed suggests positive changes for women in 
urban Botswana, pointing specifi cally to the transformatory potential of urban 
agriculture despite constraints at the sectoral level. The research highlights 
the ways in which women are (re)defi ning their constraints and seeking out 
alternative opportunities for empowerment and action. To this end, gender 
remains an integral part of and key element to understanding agrarian 
restructuring and rural–urban transformation in Botswana.
354 WOMEN FEEDING CITIES
Hynes, P. H. (1996) ‘Why so many women?’, in P. H. Hynes (ed.), A Patch of 
Eden; America’s Inner-City Gardeners, Chelsea Green Publishing Company, 
Vermont.
In this chapter, the author considers whether there is a larger, broader history 
of women and gardens which underlies the community garden movement. 
What meanings – personal, social and political – have gardens held for women 
of different classes and ethnicities? The practice of gardening has been stratifi ed 
by wealth and by gender. Millions of subsistence, kitchen, and medicinal 
gardens planted and tended by women have been central to household 
economy, village health, and local biodiversity. The garden has been a source 
of natural beauty for the urban and rural poor. Yet the value of this work is 
generally not counted in the economy, because it is unpaid and not market-
based; nor is it recorded in environmental history, because it is considered 
insignifi cant work of many ‘ordinary’ women. Women’s contribution through 
gardening to the world’s food supply is chronically underestimated. The 
author draws a parallel between inner cities in the United States and the Third 
World: the urban community garden has the potential to feed households 
and generate local cottage industry, restore a measure of community life, and 
recycle organic wastes.
Ishani, Z. and D. Lamba (2001) ‘Applications of Methods and Instruments 
in Urban Agriculture Research: Experiences from Kenya and Tanzania’, 
paper for the workshop ‘Appropriate Methodologies for Urban Agriculture’, 
October 2001, Nairobi, Kenya. Available from www.ruaf.org.
The paper deals with methodology applied in two studies of urban agriculture 
in Kenya and Tanzania, conducted by, and in collaboration with, Mazingira 
Institute. The fi rst study, entitled ‘Urban Food Production and the Cooking 
Fuel Situation in Urban Kenya’, was published by the Institute in 1987. The 
second study, ‘Gender and Urban Agriculture and its Implication for Family 
Welfare and the Environment in Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania’, was completed 
in 2000 (not published). The Kenyan study comprised six cities and towns, 
covering the various agro-climatic zones. It analysed the patterns of food 
and fuel production and consumption by the urban households in Kenya by 
considering the socio-economic characteristics of the sample population, crop 
production, livestock production, and fuel. In addition, it raised issues for 
consideration by policy makers. The Tanzanian study, ‘ Tanzania – Gender and 
Urban Agriculture: Cattle Raising and its Implication for Family Welfare and 
the Environment in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania’, was at the city level. It analysed 
gender roles in cattle raising in the district of Kinondoni in Dar Es Salaam.
Ishani, Z. and D. Lamba (eds.) (2001) Emerging African Perspectives on 
Gender in Urbanization; African Research on Gender, Urbanization and 
Environment, Kenya Litho Limited, Nairobi, Kenya. 
This book contains fi ve studies, from Kenya, Uganda, Ghana, Nigeria, and 
Egypt. It addresses the themes of women’s access to and control of housing, or 
 RESOURCES 355
their role in housing production, and women’s access to and control of other 
resources in the urbanization process.
Ishani, Z., K. Gathuru, and D. Lamba (2002) Scoping Study on Interactions 
Between Gender Relations and Livestock Keeping in Kisumu, Natural 
Resources International, Chatham, UK.
The focus of the study is the improvement of gender-biased division of labour, 
inequality between males and females in power and resources, and gender 
biases in rights and entitlements to increased productivity, remuneration, 
and development of women livestock keepers. The study was conducted in 
Kisumu, an urban area located on the shores of Lake Victoria, in Kenya.
Jaiyebo, O. (2001) ‘Women and Household Sustenance: Livelihood 
Impacts from Development Changes and Strategies for Survival in the 
Peri-Urban Areas’, paper prepared for the DPU International Conference: 
‘Rural–Urban Encounters: Managing the Environment of the Peri-Urban 
Interface’, London, 9–10 November 2001. DPU, London. 
In Nigeria, the woman is regarded as the homebuilder, having a pivotal 
role in the society. This study focuses on women and provides insight into 
the women’s perceptions of their own livelihood status and the impacts of 
developmental changes and strategies employed for survival in the peri-urban 
areas. The study area is Ibadan, Nigeria, the choice of which stems from its 
geographical location, socio-economic heterogeneity, and population size. 
Ibadan, the capital city of Oyo state, is located in the humid south-western zone 
of Nigeria and accommodates more than half of the total population of the 
State. A random sample of 96 women was obtained from two locations, north 
and south of the main city. The study reveals that the major developmental 
changes which have had the greatest impact on the women’s livelihoods are 
changes in land use as a result of urban growth, and decreased purchasing 
power resulting from an ailing national economy. Strategies employed for 
survival include income diversifi cation and the involvement of children in 
income generation.
Kiguli, J. (2003) ‘Mushroom cultivation in urban Kampala, Uganda’, Urban 
Agriculture Magazine no. 10 Micro-Technologies for Urban Agriculture, pp. 
20–21. Available from www.ruaf.org.
Urban agriculture in Uganda is mainly viewed as a household survival strategy, 
in the context of rising poverty. Mushroom cultivation is a recent trend in 
Kampala. This paper explores the rationale for growing mushrooms, with a 
focus on gender participation, as more women are involved in mushroom 
cultivation than men, and the necessary conditions for success.
Kreinecker, P. (2000) ‘La Paz: urban agriculture in harsh ecological 
conditions’, in N. Bakker et al. (eds.) Growing Cities, Growing Food: Urban 
Agriculture on the Policy Agenda, pp. 391–411, DSE, Feldafi ng, Germany.
The climate in La Paz enhances the development of adapted techniques 
for urban agriculture. Offi cials tend not to see urban agriculture, although 
356 WOMEN FEEDING CITIES
in fact it is everywhere. Urban agriculture is a survival strategy for socially 
marginalized people because it fi ts well in their economy, which is based 
on social relations. Several urban farming systems can be found, of which 
private home gardens and communal gardens are more important. Land titles 
are unclear, and little capital is used. Farmers are organized in informal and 
formal groups and networks. Women play a central role in farming, and urban 
farming contributes to women’s independence. Urban agriculture contributes 
little to food-energy supply but increases the diversity of food consumption. 
Many factors hamper the development of urban agriculture: among others 
the ecological conditions, cultural heterogeneity, and land-tenure situation. 
A future strategy needs to emphasize existing structures and socially accepted 
Andean varieties to improve the situation of marginalized people.
Kusakabe, K., C. Monnyrath, C. Sopheap, and T. C. Chham (2001) Social 
Capital of Women Micro-Vendors in Phnom Penh (Cambodia) Markets: A 
Study of Vendors’ Association, UMP–Asia Occasional Papers no. 53, United 
Nations Urban Management Programme, Regional Offi ce for Asia and the 
Pacifi c, Bangkok. 
In Cambodia, because of the long history of civil strife, it is said that mutual 
trust has been destroyed, and that because of people’s negative experience of 
‘co-operatives’, there is a stigma attached to organizing and working together 
and sharing information together. Efforts to revive social capital and initiatives 
to organize people are taking place in Cambodia. One such initiative is the 
micro-vendors’ association in Phnom Penh markets. With the support of 
a local NGO, Urban Sector Group (USG), and The Asia Foundation, micro-
vendors in public marketplaces are forming an association under the Women’s 
Economic and Legal Rights Project (WELR). This study examines how being a 
member of the vendors’ association infl uenced the members’ sense of mutual 
trust and confi dence in making changes in the society, and how such trust 
in turn infl uenced their gender norms and ideologies, and how they see 
their own positions in the households. The study examines this collective 
process and shows how balance is struck in the micro-vendors’ association in 
Phnom Penh. Through their collective action against the authorities, are they 
able to overcome their existing economic and social subordination? Or are 
they encouraging their members to conform to the existing norms through 
building social capital?
Lee-Smith, D. (1997) ‘My House is my Husband – A Kenyan Study of 
Women’s Access to Land and Housing’, Thesis 8, Department of Architecture 
and Development Studies, School of Architecture, Lund University of 
Technology, Lund University, Sweden.
This thesis explores women’s access to property in Kenya. Part 1 gives the 
Kenyan background and the theoretical and methodological approach. Part 
2 presents fi ndings about the social construct of the gender contract, and 
elaborates these in the context of women’s subsistence work, colonization, 
and women’s formation of organizations. Part 3 consists of the conclusions, 
 RESOURCES 357
which include a model of change in gender relations at the micro-level. This 
is a feminist work in the fi eld of women and housing, using gender-contract 
theory. Empirical data were gathered through random household sample 
surveys and in-depth interviews in the peasant, plantation, and urban poor 
areas during 1990–92. The issue is how women in Kenya get access to property 
(land and housing), and specifi cally the social mechanisms that govern men’s 
and women’s relationships with each other and with property. The gender 
contract is identifi ed as the social mechanism, and two forms of the contract 
are identifi ed in Kenya: the subsistence gender contract and the market gender 
contract. The Kenyan gender contracts delineate a power relationship in 
which women’s lack of access to property keeps them subordinate to men 
and requires them to provide subsistence. Women’s actions are based on their 
strategies for improving their lives. Collective action is one such strategy with 
important implications for housing. A gendered housing policy is needed 
which recognizes women’s access to property as a human right and which 
builds upon their proven housing-production capability. It should support the 
values and objectives of women’s groups, namely the provision of subsistence 
to their families.
Levin, C. E., D. G. Maxwell, M. Armar-Klemesu, T. Ruel, S. S. Morris, and 
C. Ahiadeke (1999) Working Women in an Urban Setting; Traders, Vendors, 
and Security in Accra, FCND Discussion Paper no 66, IFPRI, Washington.
Data collected from a 1997 household survey carried out in Accra, Ghana, 
are used to assess the crucial role that women play as income earners and in 
securing access to food in urban areas. One third of the households surveyed 
are headed by women. For all households, women’s labour-force participation 
is high, with 75 per cent of all households having at least one working woman 
member. The high number of female-headed households and the large 
proportion of working women in the sample provide a good backdrop for 
looking at how women earn and spend income differently from men in an 
urban area. Livelihood strategies for both men and women are predominantly 
labour-based and dependent on social networks. For all households in the 
sample, food is still the single most important item in the total budget. Yet 
there are important and striking differences between men’s and women’s 
livelihoods and expenditure patterns. Compared with men, women are less 
likely to be employed as wage earners, and more likely to work as street food 
vendors or petty traders. Women earn lower incomes, but tend to allocate more 
of their budget to basic goods for themselves and their children, while men 
spend more on entertainment for themselves only. Despite lower incomes and 
additional demands on their time as housewives and mothers, female-headed 
households, petty traders, and street food vendors have the largest percentage 
of food-secure households. Women may be achieving household food security, 
but at what cost? This paper explores differences in income, expenditure, and 
consumption patterns in an effort to answer this question and suggests ways 
358 WOMEN FEEDING CITIES
in which urban planners and policymakers can address special concerns of 
working women in urban areas.
Made, P. (2000) ‘A fi eld of her own: women and land rights in Zimbabwe’, 
in J. Mirsky and M. Radlett (eds.), No Paradise Yet: The World’s Women 
Face the New Century, pp. 81–100, Panos/Zed Books, London.
Land tenure, a prime issue for women in urban and rural agriculture, is 
addressed here from the point of view of women farmers in the capital of a 
southern Africa country. More than 70 per cent of Zimbabwe’s agricultural 
work force is female; an equal share of urban agriculture is managed by 
women. Women cannot inherit land, either from their fathers or husbands. 
The author concludes that economic development will be slow, with only half 
the population empowered by legal access to land.
Maxwell, D. G. (1993) ‘Land Access And Household Logic: Urban Farming 
In Kampala’, Makerere Institute of Social Research, Kampala (Uganda). 
The objective of this paper is to evaluate the various claims made about 
urban agriculture in Kampala, Uganda. This includes reviewing the limited 
literature on the importance of this activity in Kampala; attempting to assess 
direct evidence on nutritional status; examining the means of access to land; 
and understanding the logic of various households involved in urban food 
production. Gender analysis is applied to examinations of land access and 
household logic. The paper contends that commercial producers may be either 
men or women, and male and female household members may collaborate in 
business ventures. In production for food security, it is common for senior 
women in the household to gain access to land through borrowing, renting, 
squatting, or purchasing use rights. Urban agriculture contributes to household 
food security and enables women to use cash income on items other than the 
purchase of food. Urban agriculture often becomes a survival strategy for low-
income female-headed households, widows, and families suddenly abandoned 
by a primary wage earner.
Maxwell, D. G. (1995) ‘Alternative food security strategy: a household 
analysis of urban agriculture In Kampala’, World Development 23 (10): 
1669–1681.
The author contends that little is understood about the forces behind urban 
farming or its impact at the household level. Intra-household and gender 
relations, as well as declining wages and economic informalization, are all 
important to an understanding of urban farming. The paper presents an 
overview of the household analysis of urban farming, as based on research 
carried out in Kampala, Uganda, between November 1992 and October 1993. 
This includes a discussion of intra-household dynamics, access to land, and a 
comparison of food security and nutritional status in farming and non-farming 
households. Underlying the evidence gathered is the fact that urban farming 
is almost completely under the control of women, who bear responsibility for 
the provision of food. Discussion also centres on the implications of urban 
 RESOURCES 359
farming and possible policy alternatives. The author suggests that programmes 
promoting urban farming should give priority to low-income, female-headed 
households for equity reasons. Such programmes could be established through 
women’s organizations, such as informal savings and credit groups, and should 
be closely monitored, both in terms of the direct effect on women’s income 
and in terms of food security and child nutritional status.
Mbiba, B. M. (1995) Urban Agriculture in Zimbabwe: Implications for 
Urban Management and Poverty, Avebury, Aldershot (UK). 
This book addresses the phenomenon of urban agriculture in Zimbabwe. 
While it acknowledges that the activity is a signifi cant source of food and 
income for the urban poor, the book draws attention to the development 
confl icts raised by the activity. It attempts to place urban agriculture within the 
context of urban economy, the environment, institutional concerns, gender, 
and urban poverty. Evidence presented confi rms the role of urban agriculture 
for employment of women and children. A review of gender dimensions of 
informal urban cultivation highlights the needs, problems, and experiences 
of women’s double burden of production and reproduction. Men’s social and 
economic motivations for urban cultivation activities are also noted. Issues 
of ‘gate-keeping’, female landlordism, and decision making are discussed in 
terms of gender dynamics. It is noted that women are not a homogeneous 
group, hence the need to revise generalizations about poor women and 
extend research issues to high-income groups. The author contends that 
urban cultivation should form only one part of a strategy designed to improve 
the position of urban women, for it does not tackle the problems of women’s 
access to education, skills, wage labour, and self-employment. Based on on-
going research, the book demonstrates the potential for urban agriculture as 
part of the urban economy, but argues that the urban poor, including women-
headed households, are not major benefi ciaries of the activity.
Mianda, G. (1996) ‘Women and garden produce of Kinshasa; the diffi cult 
quest for autonomy’, in P. Ghorayshi and C. Belanger (eds.), Women, Work 
and Gender Relations in Developing Countries, pp. 91–101, Greenwood 
Press, Westport Connecticut.
This chapter focuses on women and the organization of garden production 
in Kinshasa, Zaire. Gender relations are viewed as power relations, whereby 
garden production becomes a power game played between women producers 
and husbands. Women undertake garden production to acquire economic 
independence from their husbands, as well as to meet the fi nancial needs 
of their families. Through various strategies and tactics, women manipulate 
the sexual division of labour, despite its constraints, for their own benefi t. 
They gain advantage over their husbands for initiating the production. In 
order to claim total autonomy, women gardeners establish control over the 
management, marketing, and revenue derived from production. They thus 
modify, at the level of garden production and at all levels of power related to 
this production, the traditional image of women.
360 WOMEN FEEDING CITIES
Mitullah, W. (1991) ‘Hawking as a survival strategy for the urban poor In 
Nairobi: the case of women’, Environment And Urbanization, pp. 13–22.
This paper considers the role of hawking as a survival strategy of low-income 
women and their families. Drawing on fi ndings of a study carried out in 
Nairobi, Kenya in 1987/1988, it presents information on the importance of 
such activities to household income, offers a brief history of the trade, and 
discusses the concept and nature of the informal sector.
Mudimu, G. D. (1996) ‘Urban agricultural activities and women’s strategies 
in sustaining family livelihoods in Harare, Zimbabwe’. Singapore Journal 
of Tropical Geography 17 (2): 179–194. 
Though a widespread practice, urban agriculture is not planned for or supported 
by urban planners and managers as a legitimate form of urban land use in 
Harare, Zimbabwe. As women are the main participants in urban agriculture, 
their activities come into direct confl ict with planning provisions for urban 
space. This study examines the role of women in urban agriculture, and views 
and perceptions of the use of urban space for agricultural activities in Harare. 
The large presence of women cultivators is indicative of women’s reduced 
opportunities for formal employment in urban areas, and the perceived notion 
of women having primary responsibility for providing family sustenance. 
While women were the predominant ‘owners’ of the plots, the men in the fi elds 
were primarily cultivating land on behalf of their spouses or as hired hands. A 
signifi cant proportion of female respondents were heads-of-households, and 
urban agriculture is practised by women of all socio-economic classes. Those 
women in professional occupations tended to hire contract workers for their 
plots. Data collected also support the fact that larger households are more 
likely to be under pressure to supplement their food sources and incomes 
via urban agriculture as a survival strategy. Urban agriculture offers women 
the opportunity to enhance their economic power within the household, 
although not without negotiating with their spouses, and increases their ability 
to provide food for family consumption. The study identifi es two immediate 
issues requiring the attention of policy makers. First, the potential increased 
competition for land, as reduced employment opportunities push more men 
to pursue urban agriculture activities, may pose a threat to women’s future 
access to land. Second, current urban planning concepts must be reviewed 
so that a clear policy on urban agriculture is formulated, in order to support 
women’s struggle for sustaining family livelihoods in the urban economy.
Ofei-Aboagye, E. (1996) ‘Gender Critique on Urban Agriculture: Food 
Security and Nutritional Status in Greater Accra (Ghana)’, Report for IDRC 
Project No. 96-0013 003149, IDRC, Ottawa.
This proposal review is based in an IDRC study on food security and nutritional 
status in Greater Accra, Ghana. It highlights key issues in gender considerations 
for research on urban agriculture. It focuses on the reviewer’s expectations 
regarding objectives of the study and suggestions for improvement along gender 
lines. The reviewer notes that resources of land, water, credit, information, 
 RESOURCES 361
and other inputs need to be considered from a gender perspective. Gender 
proportions of poverty and its infl uencing factors should inform the design of 
conceptual framework and proposed methodology (with qualitative methods 
facilitating particularly rich gender enquiry). The reviewer contends that 
the participation of a female lead-researcher does not necessarily guarantee 
incorporation of a gender perspective. Use and involvement of policy makers, 
the National Council on Women and Development, women’s organizations 
and the media are critical at various stages of the research.
O’Reilly, C. and A. Gordon (1995) Survival Strategies of Poor Women in 
Urban Africa: The Case of Zambia, NRI Socio-economic series 10, Natural 
Resources Institute, Chatham, UK.
This research was carried out with the aim of providing better defi nition and 
targeting of project interventions, recognising the importance of natural 
resource-related activities (food production, processing, and trade) to poor 
women in urban areas. The research paper discusses ways in which women’s 
livelihood strategies could be strengthened, emphasizing the need for multi-
dimensional initiatives. Credit (particularly for the poorest), confi dence 
building, access to information, and specifi c income-generating activities 
(urban agriculture, skills training and food processing, strengthening trading 
links with rural areas) are highlighted as major requirements.
Rakodi, C. (1988) ‘Urban agriculture: research questions and Zambian 
evidence’, The Journal of Modern African Studies, 26 (3): 495–515. 
This article explores the forgotten or ignored area of food-crop cultivation in 
urban areas in the 1980s. The author contends that the fi rst stage in studying 
any neglected area is to review existing evidence and policy, in this case 
from Zambia, to reveal gaps and suggest avenues for further enquiry, policy 
formulation, and experimentation. The author situates urban agriculture within 
a wider framework of the gender division of labour, specifi cally the economic 
activities of women. Food production in Zambian cities is predominantly a 
women’s activity, determined by the size of household, income per capita, 
stability of urban residence, and the availability of land for cultivation around 
the house and/or within reasonable walking distance. A strategy to increase the 
household production of fruit and vegetables for consumption and sale must 
be examined in the context of household decision making, and especially the 
labour time available to women. Women’s response to opportunities to grow 
more food will depend on the extent to which they make decisions about 
cultivation, the use or sale of produce, and the distribution of benefi ts within 
the household. More detailed evidence from urban agriculture projects and 
wider implications of such a policy must be assessed before more widespread 
cultivation is advocated. This includes assessing the benefi ts to households, 
and especially to women, compared with alternative economic opportunities 
which might be made available by other initiatives. 
362 WOMEN FEEDING CITIES
Methodologies and tools for gender mainstreaming in urban agriculture  
Ahlers, R. (2005) ‘From Increasing Participation to Establishing Rights: 
Evading the Gender Question in Water Resource Management’, EMPOWERS 
Regional Symposium: End-Users Ownership and Involvement in IWRM, 
13–17 November 2005, Cairo, Egypt.
Gender-sensitive policy in water-resources management has shifted from 
an emphasis on recognizing women as water users and increasing their 
participation in decision-making bodies, to a focus on securing formal rights 
to water. Increased involvement of women in male-dominated institutions 
was perceived to address gender inequality in access to and control over 
water resources. In recent years, rights-based approaches have gained ground 
in response to increasing private-sector presence in the water sector and the 
policy of water supply.
Amaratunga, C. (2005) ‘Creating Learning Cultures for Gender 
Mainstreaming; Strategic Approaches for Impact Assessment of Multi-
sectoral Approaches; the Case of HIV/AIDS in Subsistence Agriculture 
and Artisanal Fisheries’, Institute of Population Health, Faculty of 
Medicine, Dept. of Epidemiology and Community Medicine, University 
of Ottawa, Ottawa.
The inclusion of gender mainstreaming and multi-sectoral frameworks 
in agricultural planning can be extremely helpful in understanding and 
measuring how development interventions affect women and men, girls and 
boys differently. This case study of gender mainstreaming in the health sector 
provides a useful example of how a gender analysis can serve as a critical tool 
for social change. Not only does a gender-mainstreaming approach help to 
measure empowerment differentials between the sexes, it is also useful for 
assessing stakeholder assets and needs. This, in itself, provides a practical starting 
point in the programme-planning process. This paper provides an overview of 
strategic approaches for impact assessment of multi-sectoral approaches for 
gender mainstreaming in agriculture. It includes examples and illustrations of 
gender-audit guidelines, checklists, and programme interventions. 
Derbyshire, H. (2002) Gender Manual: A Practical Guide for Development 
Policy Makers and Practitioners, DFID, London. 
This gender manual is designed to help non-gender specialists to recognize 
and address gender issues in their work. The intention is to demystify gender, 
make the concept and practice of gender ‘mainstreaming’ accessible to a wide 
audience, and clarify when to call in specialist help. It focuses on the processes 
of gender mainstreaming which are similar in all sectoral and regional contexts, 
and also similar, in some instances, to other processes of social development 
and organizational change. 
 RESOURCES 363
De Zeeuw, H. and J. Wilbers (2004) PRA Tools for studying urban agriculture 
and gender, RUAF, Leusden, The Netherlands. Available from
www.ruaf.org
This document has been prepared to facilitate the gender case studies to be 
undertaken by the regional RUAF centres as a training exercise and an input to 
the gender expert consultation. After giving an introduction to PRA, it presents 
a range of PRA tools which can be used to investigate various important issues 
when analysing gender and urban agriculture in local situations, such as 
the access to and control over resources, decision-making power, division of 
labour, external factors that infl uence gender, and constraints, problems, and 
opportunities.
Feldstein, H. S. and J. Jiggins (eds.) (1994) Tools For The Field: Methodologies 
Handbook for Gender Analysis in Agriculture, Kumarian Press, West 
Hartford, Connecticut.
From agricultural production to post-harvest activities, this handbook offers 
a practical set of tools for the novice or experienced professional working on 
gender analysis in agriculture. It provides real-life examples of how to assemble 
and use all the research tools you need to collect gender-sensitive data in a 
timely and cost-effective way. Covering Latin America, Asia, and Africa, the 
handbook consists of 39 original cases by contributors from the North and 
the South. The cases illustrate a range of techniques from making gender-
sensitive interview guides to ensuring participatory rural appraisal methods 
that include a gender dimension. Contents include learning about the system 
and initial diagnosis; research planning; on-farm experimentation and trial 
assessment; on-going diagnosis and special studies; extension, training and 
institutionalization.
Gabel, S. (2001) ‘Methodological Refl ections on Using Participatory and 
Action Oriented Research with Women Farmers in Harare’, paper for the 
‘Appropriate Methodologies for Urban Agriculture’ workshop, 1–5 October 
2001, Nairobi, Kenya. Available from www.ruaf.org. 
The task of conducting qualitative, participatory and/or action research in 
a setting that is far removed from one’s own can be somewhat daunting, 
especially for a student organizing her fi eld work independently for the fi rst 
time. The author, in doing her Master’s study with the Municipal Development 
Programme in Harare, Zimbabwe, experimented with participatory and action-
oriented research from many academics and practitioners of participatory 
development. In this paper she gives the results and refl ects upon the use of 
these methods.
Gender and Water Alliance (GWA) and UNDP (2006) Resource Guide. 
Gender in Water Management, GWA, Dieren, The Netherlands. Available 
from www.genderandwater.org/page/2414. 
This resource guide is intended as a reference document to assist water and 
gender practitioners and professionals, as well as persons responsible for 
364 WOMEN FEEDING CITIES
gender mainstreaming, and anybody else who is interested in the water 
sector. The Guide was developed in response to an identifi ed need for 
information on gender mainstreaming in water resource management. While 
considerable information exists, it is dispersed among different institutions 
and organizations, making it diffi cult to know where to get specifi c resources 
for particular aspects of gender mainstreaming in the water sector. This Guide 
supports the efforts of those trying to mainstream gender in their programmes 
and projects, and those seeking to improve their knowledge and skills in 
gender and water resource management. 
Guijt, I. (1994) ‘Making a difference: integrating gender analysis into PRA 
training’, PLA Notes, IIED, London.
This article argues that only in few instances does PRA training focus on the 
‘who?’, and that it rarely explores the issue of social differences based on 
gender. It recognizes, however, a slow increase in recent years in the number 
of attempts to improve the practice of PRA by allowing gender issues to shape 
both the practical work and the analysis. It argues: ‘If gender is to become 
a concrete and meaningful concept for PRA trainees, then those who are 
learning to work with PRA will need to become aware of gender before any 
fi eldwork takes place.’ The article on the other hand also provides some words 
of caution, warning against the ‘gender average’ (assuming harmony and 
homogeneity among women or men) and possible confrontations between 
local women and men over issues of power and autonomy. 
Guijt, I. (1995) Questions of Difference: PRA, Gender and Environment, A 
Training Video, IIED, London. 
This two-hour video with provoking images can be used to stimulate 
discussion and to lead into class-based exercises. It gives a summary of the key 
elements for using PRA to understand gender and environment. The video is 
structured in thematic segments of 2–14 minutes, from which users can select 
those of interest or for specifi c training. The three case studies show workshop 
participants using PRA methods to explore issues relating to gender and the 
environment.
Hill, C. L. M. (2005) Making the Links: Addressing HIV/AIDS and Gender 
Equality in Food Security and Rural Livelihoods Programming, A toolkit 
for CIDA staff working on initiatives related to food security and rural 
livelihoods, Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA).
This toolkit was designed to enable CIDA staff to address HIV/AIDS and 
gender equality in food security and rural livelihoods programming. While 
it is primarily geared towards the CIDA programme cycle, the toolkit is also 
useful to a wider audience, including NGOs. It includes seven guidance 
sheets, providing entry points for addressing HIV/AIDS and equality in the 
programme cycle in a gender-sensitive manner, and suggests how to consider 
gender-equality results in performance assessment and in results-oriented 
logical framework analysis. 
 RESOURCES 365
Hovorka, A. J. (1998) ‘Gender Resources for Urban Agriculture Research: 
Methodology, Directory and Annotated Bibliography, CFP series report # 
26, IDRC, Ottawa.
Although there is a growing interest in the mainstreaming of gender in 
development research, there is also a general lack of understanding of how this 
type of analysis can be applied. The purpose of the publication is to provide 
researchers with simple and systematic methodological tools for practical 
application of gender analysis within urban agriculture. It was developed 
primarily for the Cities Feeding People team members, but can be applied by 
anyone doing a similar type of research. The methodology covers all stages 
of a research project: (1) proposal; (2) data collection, interpretation, and 
analysis; (3) monitoring and evaluation. Still, it is not intended as a blueprint, 
but rather gives guidelines. Included are a directory of gender resource persons 
for urban agriculture research and an annotated bibliography on gender and 
urban agriculture. It is a very useful publication, both with regard to research 
and development methodology and for practical information.
Morris, P. T., S. Kindervatter, and A. M. S. Woods (2003) The Gender Audit 
Questionnaire Handbook, American Council for Voluntary International 
Action (InterAction) Commission on the Advancement of Women (CAW), 
Washington.
This handbook presents the rationale behind mainstreaming gender in an 
organization’s culture and structure. The gender audit is a tool that is used in 
organizations to identify staff perceptions of how gender issues are addressed 
in their programme portfolio and internal organizational process. It has a list 
of questions and describes strategies for sampling, data collection, analysis, 
and results presentation. It also illustrates how to use the gender-audit results 
in action planning.
National Institute of Urban Affairs (NIUA) (undated) Working With the 
Urban Poor: A Manual for Trainers, NIUA, New Delhi. 
This manual aims to build the skills of trainers in training programme 
partners at all levels – community, city, district, and state – to work towards 
the empowerment of women and the achievement of national social-sector 
goals.
Njenga, M. E., N. Karanja, C. Kabiru, P, Munyao, G. Kironchi, K. Gathuru, 
and G. Prain (2007) Mainstreaming Gender Analysis in the Research Process 
of the International Potato Centre (CIP), Urban Harvest, CIP, and PRGA. 
Available from www.prga.org
Urban Harvest, the CGIAR system-wide initiative on urban and peri-urban 
agriculture, which is convened by the International Potato Center (CIP), has 
incorporated a strong gender component within its research approach. The 
project reported here carries forward various initiatives, among them a small 
project to help to mainstream gender in CIP’s research programme, whose 
overall objective was to initiate a process of gender mainstreaming in CIP 
366 WOMEN FEEDING CITIES
through institutional mechanisms, and by piloting the approach in research 
projects in sub-Saharan Africa. In addition, the report discusses the strengths 
and challenges encountered in the fi eld application of the PR and GA tools 
and approaches in both urban and rural farming and how to build on the 
strengths and address the challenges. 
Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation (NORAD) (1999) 
Handbook in Gender and Empowerment Assessment, NORAD, Norway.
As NORAD’s role is to assess project proposals presented by partners, and not 
to participate in project formulation and planning, this manual does not 
aim to conduct full-scale gender and empowerment analysis of projects but 
rather assists the user to identify the need for such analysis. It also provides 
guidelines for NORAD’s requests for gender analysis at the various stages of 
the project cycle: project appraisal, appropriations, progress reporting, project 
reviews, and evaluations. 
Ostergaard, L. (1992) Gender and Development: A Practical Guide, 
Routledge, London.
People concerned with development work have awoken in the past two decades 
to the urgent need to involve women as active participants and benefi ciaries 
of their programmes and projects. But the transition from idea to reality is 
occurring slowly. As a result, too many development efforts are still being 
badly designed, failing to achieve their goals, and having a negative impact 
on women. In this book, eight experts explain the importance of gender 
awareness and illustrate how gender relations vary from culture to culture. 
They argue that every development effort should be preceded by a gender 
analysis and they show in practical terms how this leads to more success in 
both the long and the short terms.
Oxfam GB (2006) A Change in Thinking; Gender Budgeting – Now’s the 
Time, Oxfam GB, UK Poverty Programme, Oxford, UK.
This DVD includes experiences in gender budgeting across the United 
Kingdom. Oxfam and its partners believe that gender budgeting can help local 
and national governments to improve the lives of both women and men. It 
includes information on the concept of gender budgeting, the view from a 
local-government perspective, and a range of case studies.
Palacios, P. (2003) ‘Why and how should a gender perspective be included in 
participatory processes in urban agriculture’, in Research and Intervention 
in Urban Agriculture: Methodologies and Instruments for Analysis, Module 
3 of the regional training course on urban agriculture in Quito-Ecuador, 
IDRC / UMP–LAC / ETC.
This document analyses the reasons why it is important to include gender 
equality in participatory processes concerning urban agriculture and explains 
how this can be achieved, addressing the distinction between strategic 
and practical needs, as well as the development of specifi c and affi rmative 
actions.
 RESOURCES 367
Quisumbing, A. R. and B. McClafferty (2006) Gender and Development: 
Bridging the Gap between Research and Action, IFPRI, Washington. 
This guide offers a non-technical presentation of research fi ndings from IFPRI’s 
multi-country research programme on gender and intra-household issues, 
along with implications and key questions for integrating gender research 
fi ndings into project cycle and policy decision-making processes. The volume 
draws on work undertaken by IFPRI and its collaborators in developing and 
developed countries since the early 1990s. It presents empirical evidence 
– based on IFPRI’s fi eld research, using both quantitative and qualitative 
techniques – on the ways in which gender and intra-household issues affect 
the success of development interventions, and then shows readers how to 
incorporate the fi ndings effectively into development programmes. The 
guide – its fi ndings, format, and presentation – has been fi eld-tested in 
workshops with practitioners in Kathmandu, Nairobi, Guatemala City, and 
Washington, DC. 
Quisumbing, A. R. and B. McClafferty (2006) Food Security in Practice; 
Using Gender Research in Development, IFPRI, Washington.
This guide bridges the gap between research and practice by providing up-
to-date, relevant information on why and how gender issues, when taken 
into account, can improve the design, implementation, and effectiveness 
of development projects and policies. It presents key research fi ndings from 
IFPRI’s gender and intra-household programme in the framework of project 
and policy cycles. The authors took the additional step of fi eld-testing the 
guide among practitioners in Africa, Asia, and Latin America to see whether 
the fi ndings were relevant outside the study countries. Finally, they conducted 
a workshop with US-based practitioners and policy makers to see how the 
fi ndings related to the policy cycle. The guide records the insights, comments, 
and suggestions of the ultimate users of this research. 
Van Dam, H., A. Khadar, and M. Valk (2000) Institutionalising Gender 
Equality; Commitment, Policy and Practice, A Global Source Book, Critical 
Reviews and Annotated Bibliographies Series: Gender, Society and 
Development, KIT, Amsterdam.
Encouraged by the growing international women’s movement and recent world 
conferences on women, many governments, NGOs, and other development 
organizations have made commitments to the goal of promoting equality 
between women and men. The majority have taken steps towards turning 
commitments into action by including a concern for women and gender in 
planning, policy, and, to some degree, practice. As a result, a wide array of 
measures, approaches, and practical actions intended to introduce a gender 
perspective and bring about change in organizations is beginning to emerge. 
However, it has become clear that integrating gender issues is a complex and 
contested process, apt to encounter resistance from both organizations and 
individuals.
368 WOMEN FEEDING CITIES
Wassenaar, N. (2006) Incorporating gender into your NGO. Available from 
www.Networklearning.org
Often NGO/CBOs have diffi culties knowing how to incorporate gender into all 
aspects of their organization and thus ensure gender mainstreaming, balance, 
and equality within the organization and its activities. This manual assists with 
this process, starting with an explanation of basic concepts and defi nitions of 
gender, followed by ‘what to do and how to do it’, both within and outside 
an organization, in order to scan all aspects with a gender-sensitive eye. In 
the process it explains the need for change and the constraints that must be 
addressed; it offers an awareness of wrong concepts and infl uencing factors. 
Several steps are needed in the process of ‘engendering’ an organization, 
and these steps are described one by one, from analysis of the organization, 
development of an action plan, implementation, and then monitoring and 
evaluation. Finally, related resources and websites are given; links to tools, 
such as gender checklists for the project cycle, are provided. 
Zwarteveen, M. (2006) Effective Gender Mainstreaming in Water 
Management for Sustainable Livelihoods: From Guidelines to Practice, Both 
Ends, Amsterdam.
This working paper presents the main fi ndings of a joint project of the Gender 
and Water Alliance and Both Ends, namely the comprehensive assessment 
of water management in agriculture. The authors analyse the diffi culties of 
mainstreaming gender in water management. They develop a minimum 
agenda with practical and realistic recommendations to practitioners, policy 
makers, researchers, and gender specialists working in the fi eld of water 
and agriculture, to help them to genuinely and effectively address gender 
differences and inequities in policy and research in this fi eld.
Websites 
www.fao.org/gender
This is a Gender and Food Security site of the Food and Agriculture Organization 
of the United Nations. It contains articles on projects and programmes, and a 
thorough set of statistics and other information is also available.
www.genderdiversity.cgiar.org
The purpose of the gender and diversity (G&D) programme of the Consultative 
Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR) is to help the CGIAR 
centres to make the most of the rich diversity of their staff to increase research 
and management excellence. It promotes such activities as diversity-positive 
recruitment, international teamwork, cross-cultural communications, and 
advancement of women. The website addresses issues of inclusion, opportunity, 
dignity, and well-being. It also has a database of women scientists and 
professionals around the globe, resource centres, and newsletters. 
 RESOURCES 369
www.genderandwater.org
The mission of the Gender and Water Alliance (GWA) is to promote women’s 
and men’s equitable access to and management of safe and adequate water, for 
domestic supply, sanitation, food security, and environmental sustainability. 
GWA believes that equitable access to and control over water is a basic right 
for all, as well as a critical factor in promoting poverty eradication and 
sustainability. The website of GWA serves as a platform for the alliance and 
network and provides key documents on gender mainstreaming of the water-
resources management sector.
http://www.networklearning.org
On this website, many manuals, fi eld guides, and training courses have 
been made available to groups who need them. The site stimulates the free 
distribution of information, in an attempt to encourage global learning 
processes. It also includes a section dedicated to gender issues. 
http://topics.developmentgateway.org/gender
This website is part of the dgCommunities, an interactive place where knowledge 
resources focused on development can be found and where members of the 
communities can share their own work, participate in discussions, fi nd people 
with similar interests, etc. The gender community specializes in Gender 
Mainstreaming links to documents, events, websites, etc. as well as feature 
articles, special reports, online discussion forums, and periodic online events.
http://www.prgaprogram.org
The CGIAR System-wide Program on Participatory Research and Gender Analysis 
(PRGA) develops and promotes methods and organizational approaches for 
gender-sensitive participatory research on plant breeding and on management 
of crops and natural resources. The programme’s website contains links to 
PRGA publications and other resources such as the Newsletter.
http://www.siyanda.org
Siyanda is an on-line database of gender and development materials from 
around the world. It is also an interactive space where gender practitioners 
can share ideas, experiences, and resources.
List of contributors
Editorial Committee
Alice J Hovorka is an Associate Professor in Geography at the University of 
Guelph, Canada. Her research programme and broad area of expertise concern 
urbanization in Southern Africa, with a specifi c focus on gender and urban 
agriculture. Alice has worked in collaboration with Cities Feeding People at the 
International Development Research Centre, and she serves as a member of 
the Gender Advisory Group for the Cities Farming for the Future Programme 
of the RUAF Foundation. She has an on-going collaborative relationship with 
the government of Botswana, through which she serves as an adviser on urban 
agriculture and gender issues. She co-facilitated the launch of the Botswana 
Policy Initiative on (Peri-) Urban Agriculture in June 2004. Her email address 
is ahovorka@uoguelph.ca
Henk de Zeeuw is the Director of the RUAF Foundation (International 
Network of Resource Centres on Urban Agriculture and Food Security), ETC 
Urban Agriculture, The Netherlands. He is an agricultural sociologist with 
more than thirty years of experience in agricultural development, specializing 
in participatory agricultural research and extension. He was among the fi rst in 
the Netherlands to focus on the role of women in development, and he has 
conducted training courses on gender in agriculture in the Netherlands and 
various developing countries. He is the co-ordinator of the Cities Farming for the 
Future programme and as such also responsible for the gender-mainstreaming 
component of this programme. His email address is h.dezeeuw@etcnl.nl 
Mary Njenga is an agricultural research offi cer at the International Potato 
Center (CIP)–Urban Harvest, Kenya. She specializes in participatory 
research methods as applied to rural and urban farming communities. Since 
joining Urban Harvest in 2002, she has played a signifi cant role in the 
mainstreaming of gender in research for development projects initiated by 
Urban Harvest and the CIP, and in the organizational culture of these two 
institutions. Mary has written and co-authored a number of publications 
on gender and urban agriculture, exploring the research, development, 
and policy issues relating to the needs of women and men, including 
the young and the old. She sits on the Gender and Diversity Associates 
372 WOMEN FEEDING CITIES
Committee of CIP, through which she contributes to the development 
of gender-responsive policies. Her email address is m.njenga@cgiar.org
Diana Lee-Smith is an Associate at the Mazingira Institute, Kenya. She 
has published widely on gender and urban agriculture, including a book 
entitled Women Managing Resources: African Research on Gender, Urbanisation 
and Environment, published by the Mazingira Institute (Nairobi 1999). She 
headed the global Women and Shelter Network of Habitat International 
Coalition from 1988 to 1993 and was responsible for gender mainstreaming in 
UN-Habitat between 1998 and 2001. From 2002 to 2005 she was African Co-
ordinator of Urban Harvest, the system-wide initiative of the Consultative 
Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR), and is the co-editor of 
two forthcoming books based on the research done in this period. Her email 
address is Diana.LeeSmith@gmail.com 
Gordon Prain is the global co-ordinator of Urban-Harvest, Peru. Urban Harvest 
is a cross-cutting programme of the Consultative Group on International 
Agricultural Research (CGIAR) on urban and peri-urban agriculture. He is a 
social anthropologist whose research programme in Latin America from 1984 
to 1991 with the International Potato Center included studies of women’s 
management of root-crop genetic diversity and seed. From 1991 he co-
ordinated UPWARD, a participatory research and development network in 
Southeast Asia, which included research on women’s management of vegetable 
gardens and support for household-run peri-urban agro-enterprises. He has 
been co-ordinating the Urban Harvest programme since 2000, supporting 
gender-focused research and development activities in cities in Asia, sub-
Saharan Africa, and Latin America. His email address is g.prain@cgiar.org
Joanna Wilbers, who has been succeeded by Femke Hoekstra, is a Junior 
Consultant with the International Network of Resource Centres on Urban 
Agriculture and Food Security (RUAF Foundation), ETC Urban Agriculture, 
The Netherlands. Her email address is joanna.wilbers@gmail.com
 LIST OF CONTRIBUTORS 373
Authors of case studies
Case study Authors
Gender dimensions Gayathri Devi 
of urban and peri- Researcher, International Water Management Institute, Hyderabad, 
urban agriculture in India
Hyderabad, India mgayathridevi@yahoo.com
 Stephanie Buechler
 Research Associate, University of Arizona, USA
 buechler@email.arizona.edu
Gender in jasmine Raul Boncodin
fl ower-garland Assistant Manager, Intellectual Property Management Unit, IRRI, Los 
livelihoods in peri- Baños, Philippines.
urban Metro Manila, boncodin@cgiar.org
Philippines Arma  Bertuso
 Network Affi liate, Users’ Perspectives With Agricultural Research and 
Development (UPWARD), International Potato Center (CIP), Philippines
 a.bertuso@cgiar.org
 Jaime Gallentes
 Research Fellow, CIP–UPWARD, Philippines
 j_gallentes@cgiar.org
 Dindo Campilan
 Leader, Southwest and Central Asia Region, International Potato Center, 
Delhi, India
 d.campilan@cgiar.org
 Rehan Abeyratne
 BSc. Economics Student, Brown University, USA
 Helen Dayo Researcher, University of the Philippines, Philippines
 helenfd@yahoo.com 
Gender and peri- Lesley Hope
urban vegetable Junior Researcher, International Water Management Institute (IWMI), 
production in Accra, Ghana
Ghana l.hope@cgiar.org
 Olufunke Cofi e
 Senior Researcher, International Water Management Institute (IWMI), 
Ghana
 o.cofi e@cgiar.org
 Bernard Keraita
 Research Offi cer, International Water Management Institute (IWMI), 
Ghana
 b.keraita@cgiar.org
 Pay Drechsel
 Principal Researcher, International Water Management Institute (IWMI), 
Ghana
 p.drechsel@cgiar.org
Gender in urban  Grace Nabulo
food production in Lecturer, Makerere University, Kampala, Uganda
hazardous areas in gracenabulo@hotmail.com
Kampala, Uganda  Juliet Kiguli
 Lecturer, Makerere University, Uganda
 jkiguli@musph.ac.ug
 Lilian Kiguli
 Graduate Student, Rhodes University, South Africa
 lilykivw@yahoo.co.uk 
374 WOMEN FEEDING CITIES
Gender dynamics in Percy Toriro
the Musikavanhu Urban Agriculture and Planning Specialist, RUAF–Cities Farming for 
urban agriculture the Future Programme, Municipal Development Partnership for 
movement, Harare, Eastern and Southern Africa (MDP-ESA), Zimbabwe
Zimbabwe  ptoriro@mdpafrica.org.zw
Key gender issues Zarina Ishani
in urban food Programme Offi cer, Mazingira Institute, Kenya
production and food zarinaishani@yahoo.co.uk
security in Kisumu,
Kenya
Urban agriculture,  Noemí Soto
poverty alleviation, Adviser, Urban Agriculture Projects, IPES, Peru
and gender in Villa Noemi@ipes.org.pe
María del Triunfo, Gunther Merzthal
Peru Regional Co-ordinator, RUAF–Cities Farming for the Future Programme, 
IPES, Peru
 gunther@ipes.org.pe
 Maribel Ordoñez
 Adviser, Urban Agriculture Projects IPES, Peru
 maribel@ipes.org.pe
 Milagros Touzet
 Adviser, Urban Agriculture Projects, IPES, Peru
 milagros@ipes.org.pe
Gender perspectives Kuria Gathuru
in organic waste National Co-ordinator, Kenya Green Towns Partnership Association, Kenya
recycling for urban greentowns2002@yahoo.com
agriculture in Mary Njenga
Nairobi, Kenya Research Offi cer, Urban Harvest, International Potato Center, Nairobi, 
Kenya
 m.njenga@cgiar.org
 Nancy Karanja
 Regional Co-ordinator SSA, Urban Harvest, International Potato Center, 
Nairobi, Kenya
 nancy.karanja@cgiar.org
 Patrick Munyao
 Research Assistant, Urban Harvest, International Potato Center, Nairobi, 
Kenya
 p.munyao@cgiar.org  
Urban agriculture  Mariana Ponce
as a strategy to Gender Adviser, Centro de Estudios de Producciones Agroecológicas 
promote equality of (CEPAR), Argentina
opportunities and lasnornas@hotmail.com
rights between men Lucrecia Donoso
and women in Psychologist, Secretaria de Promoción Social Municipalidad de 
Rosario, Argentina Rosario, Argentina
 areamujer@rosario.gov.ar
The role of women- Mary Njenga
led micro-farming Research Offi cer, Urban Harvest, International Potato Center, Nairobi, 
activities in Kenya
combating HIV/AIDS m.njenga@cgiar.org
in Nakuru, Kenya Nancy Karanja
 Regional Co-ordinator SSA, Urban Harvest, International Potato Center, 
Nairobi, Kenya
 nancy.karanja@cgiar.org
 LIST OF CONTRIBUTORS 375
 Kuria Gathuru
 National Co-ordinator, Kenya Green Towns Partnership Association, 
Kenya
 Greentowns2002@yahoo.com
 Samwel Mbugua
 Nakuru Site Co-ordinator, Urban Harvest, International Potato Center, 
Nairobi, Kenya and Lecturer, Egerton University Kenya
 kasimbax@yahoo.com
 Bernard Ngoda
 Lecturer, Egerton University, Kenya
 ngoda5@yahoo.com
 Naomi Fedha
 MA Student, Egerton University, Kenya
 fedhanaomi@yahoo.com
Gender dynamics of Stephanie Buechler
fruit and vegetable Research Associate, Bureau of Applied Research in Anthropology, 
production and University Arizona, USA
processing in peri- buechler@email.arizona.edu
urban Magdalena,
Sonora, Mexico
Urban agriculture Blanca Arce
and gender in Project Leader, Colombian Corporation of Agricultural Research 
Carapongo, Lima, (Corpoica), Colombia
Peru barce@corpoica.org.co
 Gordon Prain
 Global Co-ordinator, Urban Harvest, International Potato Center, Lima, 
Peru
 g.prain@cgiar.org
 Luis Maldonado
 Research Assistant, Impact Enhancement Division, International Potato 
Center (CIP), Lima, Peru
 l.maldonado@cgiar.org
Gender and urban Gora Gaye
agriculture in Pikine, Project Manager, African Institute for Urban Management IAGU,
Senegal Senegal
 gora@iagu.org
 Mamadou Ndong Touré
 Geographer/Urbanist, Cabinet d’Architecture et d’Urbanisme du 
Sénégal (CAUS), Senegal
 ndongtoure@yahoo.com
376 WOMEN FEEDING CITIES
Co-ordinators of fi eld testing of the guidelines and tools
Project where testing Implemented by Co-ordinator of the tests
was implemented
Community building CIP–Urban Harvest, Buyana Kareem
through waste Environmental Alert, MA Student, Women and Gender Studies, 
recycling and agro- Kampala City Makerere University, Uganda
enterprise Council, and Center buyana@ss.mak.ac.ug.
development, for Tropical
Kampala, Uganda Agriculture (CIAT)
Community-based CIP–Urban Harvest Kuria Gathuru
briquette and  Kenya Green National Co-ordinator, Kenya Green Towns
production, Nairobi, Towns Partnership Partnership Association, Kenya
Kenya Association (KGTPA) greentowns2002@yahoo.com
Combating HIV/AIDS Urban Harvest, Kuria Gathuru
through women-led Ryerson University,  National Co-ordinator, Kenya Green Towns
livestock and University of Toronto, Partnership Association, Kenya
vegetable  International greentowns2002@yahoo.com
enterprises, Nakuru, Livestock Research
Kenya Institute (ILRI)
Narrowing crop- CIP–UPWARD and Arma Bertuso
management University of Network Affi liate, CIP–UPWARD
knowledge gaps in Philippines a.bertuso@cgiar.org
sampaguita
producers through
training, Manila,
Philippines
The impact of urban Instituto de Rosario Bartolini
agriculture on food Investigación Consultant, Instituto de Investigación
security and Nutricional, McGill Nutricional, Peru
nutrition of women University rosario.bartolini@gmail.com
and young children
(Zona de Nievería,
distrito de Huachipa,
Lima, Peru)
Establishment of a Municipalidad de Noemí Soto
producers’ centre for Villa María del Adviser, Urban Agriculture Projects, IPES, Peru
research, training, Triunfo, la Red de noemi@ipes.org.pe
and demonstration Energía del Perú– 
on arid urban REP, and IPES
gardening (Villa Promoción del
María del Triunfo, Desarrollo
Lima, Peru) Sostenible.
Musikavanhu Musikavanhu Project Percy Toriro
Project, Budiriro, with incidental Urban Agriculture and Planning Specialist, 
Harare, Zimbabwe support of FAO, RUAF–Cities Farming for the Future
 AREX, Zimbabwe Programme, Municipal Development
 Fertiliser Company, Partnership for Eastern and Southern Africa
 SEEDCO, MDP (MDP–ESA), Zimbabwe
  ptoriro@mdpafrica.org.zw
 LIST OF CONTRIBUTORS 377
Improving availability Bulawayo City Nomusa Mhlanga
of treated domestic Council,MDP–RUAF, Lecturer, National University of Science and
wastewater for poor IWSD, SNV,  Technology, Zimbabwe
urban farmers to Environment Africa, nmhlanga@nust.ac.zw
enhance food ZELA, and
security and Zimbabwe Open
livelihoods in University
Bulawayo City,
Zimbabwe
Projet de IAGU–RUAF,  Marie Madeleine Bengali
sécurisation des CPAU–B Ingénieur Agronome, Polyvalent Agricultural
agriculteurs et  Centre of Matourkou, Senegal
agricultrices urbain  bengalimade@yahoo.fr
(es) et de
valorisation des
trames vertes de la
Commune de Bobo-
Dioulasso
Urban agriculture Municipality de Mariana Ponce
programme, Rosario, CEPAR, la Gender Adviser, Rosario’s Centre for Studies in
Rosario, Argentina Red de Huerteras y Agroecological Production (CEPAR), Argentina
 Huerteros de Rosario lasnornas@hotmail.com
Safe use of IWMI India, Madhu Murthy
wastewater for ICRISAT, BMZ,  Consultant, Access Livelihoods Consulting Ltd, 
agriculture, Municipality India
Hyderabad, India Seringampally and nmadhumurthy@gmail.com
 Uppal, Andhra Venkata Krishnagopal Grandhi 
 Pradesh Urban Consultant, Access Livelihoods Consulting Ltd, 
 Services for the Poor India
 and District Rural gvkgopal@gmail.com
 Development Agency
 of (DRDA) of
 Rangareddy district.
Establishment of a UPROVAN, ANCAR, Gora Gaye
sustainable system ENDA, CDH, CFPH Project Manager, African Institute for Urban
for the delivery of  Management IAGU, Senegal
inputs and  gora@iagu.org
equipment of urban
producers in Pikine,
Senegal