By Deogratias Mmana:
A study by Agra, an institution focused on scaling up agricultural innovations that assist smallholder farmers in increasing their incomes, has pointed out Malawi’s poor performance in mainstreaming gender in the agriculture sector.
The study was conducted against the backdrop that closing the gender gap in agriculture is a pathway to unlocking Africa’s agricultural potential.
It has emerged that despite women making up about 40 percent of Africa’s agricultural labour force and producing nearly 80 percent of foodstuffs for household consumption and sale in local markets, they are not afforded the necessary space in the agriculture sector.
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The Gender Mainstreaming in Agriculture Scorecard study focused on three pilot countries out of the 11 countries that Agra focuses on.
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The countries are Ghana, Kenya and Malawi.
Conducted in 2022, with results just released, the study measured differences between countries and considered interventions aimed at addressing the gender gaps in agriculture.
The study clustered 15 indicators into three categories: the enabling and engendered policy environment, commitment to a gender-intentional agriculture sector and State capacity for gender integration in agricultural policy processes.
Malawi scored the lowest, followed by Kenya, with Ghana appearing to perform slightly better.
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In terms of state capacity for gender integration, Malawi achieved a score of 44 percent, indicating that the country is somewhat sensitive to gender integration in agriculture policies.
“The main factor driving the low score on State capacity for gender integration in agricultural policy processes is the low level of skills and capabilities in gender policy programming,” the study report reads.
With a score of 38 percent in the category of commitment to a gender-intentional agriculture sector, it suggests that Malawi is sensitive in its commitment to such a sector.
“The low scores result from resource gaps and the absence of gender quotas in the country’s policy and regulatory environment,” Agra Malawi’s Country Director Eluphy Nyirenda said in an interview.
Nyirenda added that there was limited evidence and expertise to identify gender needs and design gender-intentional policies and regulatory frameworks.
She also noted that the poor rating is attributed to the country’s legislation being silent on gender quotas for programming and strategy formulation aimed at balancing women’s involvement.
The report further states that there is inadequate budgetary allocation for gender mainstreaming in agriculture, thus highlighting the need for support.
Nyirenda explained that when a country is gender-sensitive, it means it does not fully understand what needs to be addressed, whereas being gender-intentional means that the country is able to identify areas to address and has started taking action, for instance, by implementing gender policy reforms.
Kenneth Chaula, Deputy Director in the Ministry of Agriculture responsible for Agriculture Extension Services, admitted that Malawi was not performing well in mainstreaming gender in agriculture.
Among other factors, Chaula cited the struggle for implementation of the instruments and the lack of monitoring and evaluation of gender interventions.
“Implementation requires capacity. Our staff need capacity. There is a need for training to enable them to mainstream gender,” Chaula said.
