INTERNATIONAL FOOD POLICY RESEARCH INSTITUTE

Hiding in Plain Sight Gender and GM crops

Patricia Zambrano, IFPRIIsidore Lobnibe, Western Oregon University,

Daylinda B. Cabanilla, UPLB, Jorge H. Maldonado, U. de Los Andes

Jose Falck Zepeda, IFPRI

17th ICABR Conference Ravello, June 21, 2013

Outline

• Is gender relevant? • Why use a qualitative approach?• Burkina Faso, Colombia, and the Philippines

gender pilot case studies• Similarities and differences• Future research?

“Farmers”

• Gender neutral, but mainly male

• Household as unit of analysis

• Sole and efficient HH decision- makers

Misspecification: Biased and inconsistent models

Policy implications

Gender

• Gender roles are determined by cultural, ideological, religious, economic and social relationship between men and women and affect the distribution of resources between men and women

• It is one of the determinants in technology adoption

bEcon Economics Literature about the

Impacts of Genetically Engineered Crops

in Developing Economies

http://ebrary.ifpri.org/cdm/landingpage/collection/p15738coll6

Compiled by Indira Yerramareddy, Patricia Zambrano, and Jose Falck Zepeda

bEcon

Gender and GM

Of the 135 papers in bEcon than that assess the economic impact of GM crops on farmers we found only a handful that made explicit references to gender.

To explore whether gender affects access to and use of GM cotton, we developed and tested a qualitative approach in Colombia, as well as Burkina Faso and later for GM maize in the Philippines

Burkina FasoLobnibe, I., Zambrano, P., and Biermayr-Jenzano, P. 2012. Field Report

on Gender and GM cotton in Burkina Faso. Project report. Washington DC.

ColombiaZambrano, P., J. H. Maldonado, S. L. Mendoza, L. Ruiz, L.A. Fonseca,

and I. Cardona. 2011. Women cotton farmers: Their perceptions and experiences with transgenic varieties. IFPRI Discussion Paper 01118. Washington, D.C. International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI)

Zambrano, P., M. Smale, J. H. Maldonado, and S. L. Mendoza. 2012. Unweaving the Threads: The Experiences of Female Farmers with Biotech Cotton in Colombia. AgBioForum 15(2): 125-137

PhilippinesYorobe, M., Jr., and D. Cabanilla. 2013. Gender Impacts from the

adoption of genetically modified maize in the Philippines. Draft final report submitted to the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI). Project report. Los Banos, the Philippines.

Page 8

Economic assessment of commercialized GM crops in Burkina Faso, Colombia, and Philippines

Documented economic benefits

Page 9

Absence of gender considerations

Fieldwork

Colombia, 2010 Burkina Faso, 2011

Cerete, Cordoba andEl Espinal, Tolma

Dahoun, Hounde, Dimikuy, and Bereba in Tuy Province Dano in Ioba Province

GM cotton

Philippines, 2012

• u

Barangay Olympog in General Santos City ,South Cotabato, Barangay Cabisera 5 in Ilagan, Isabela

GM Maize

2011 indicators

Burkina Faso Colombia Philippines

Population, total mill 17.0 46.9 94.9

GDP per capita (constant 2000 US$) 286.1 3,362.5 1,413.4

Urban population (% of total) 26.5 75.3 48.9

Agriculture, value added (% of GDP) 33.8 7.0 12.8

Employment in agriculture (% of total employment) 84.8* 17.9 33.0

Labor force participation rate, female (% of female population ages 15-64) 79.7 59.4 51.2

Agricultural raw materials exports (% of merchandise exports)

51.7 2.5 1.1

• Small group discussion (SGD)• Participant observation• Expert opinion interviews • One-to-one interviews• Secondary data collection

Qualitative Research Design

Disclosure

Corroboration of the comparative qualitative findings presented here need to be followed up with quantitative studies to confirm the extent and representativeness of these observations.

Page 14

Activity/Issue Burkina Faso Colombia Philippines

Inheritance rights Access to land Granted by head of

HH

Access to credit, farm inputs

Ability to hire personnel

Access to information, extension services Limited

Equal partners with head of HH as crop producers

Work contribution in HH/male plots

Active participation in overall crop operation

Invisible or undervalued crop-related activities

Control and responsibility over HH finances Limited

Control of crop operation Limited Limited Limited

A new focus?

Access and control of assets are key determinant in technology adoption

The comparison between Burkina, and Colombia/Philippines suggests that

even when women have such access they still have other binding limitations

– Social and cultural norms Time and other limitations

SimilaritiesQualitative methods uncovered many activities that show women involvement in the overall cotton and maize operation

GM varieties have introduced changes in farming practices that affect women and men differently

Similarities

• Overall men and women perceive GM as beneficial • Men and women perceive costs and benefits of GM

differently, although women who have planted GM varieties tend to agree more with their male counterparts

• Both male and female farmers identified the lack of adequate and timely information about GM as a disadvantage

• Lack of knowledge about the technology is more prevalent among female non-adopters than male non-adopters

Other similarities

For female farmers the fact that GM is a labor-saving technology seems to be the most beneficial Absence of gender considerations aspect of the technologies

Differences in how male and female farmers use additional income and time saved that the technology can generate

Women’s constraints

– Most limiting one appear to be time. Women are constrained by their domestic workload and responsibilities

– Limited access to agronomic and technology information, even compared to their male counterparts

– Limited or no access or even no knowledge of the technology that can potentially benefit them.

Potential areas for future research• Understand the determinants of women versus

men’s decision to grow GM crops• Understand heterogeneity among male and female

clients• Quantify “invisible threads”: multiple tasks

performed by women that are many times perceived as “invisible” or of insignificant social or cultural value

• Assess ”indirect “ benefits of GM: reduced drudgery • Assess how women and men spend saved time and

additional resources

Bt cotton in Burkina Faso, advantages

Labor-saving technologies

• Reduction in insecticide application from 6 to 2 applications- Some estimates:

– Water saved: 18 to 20 gallons of water by ha.– Time saved: Women have saved 3 trips to the well for

every savedinsecticide application, for a total of 12 trips or 36 miles

– Health implication: Average water weight per trip ~20 kg

• Women play an important role in proction• Different perceptions]• Not all women are the same• What youmen and women do with additional

resources.