Study on the Role of Gender in Livestock Production and Its Contribution Towards Household Income Generation: A Case Study in Borena Zone, Ethiopia

Abstract

The study was conducted in two districts of Borena zone (Yabello and Dire) with the objectives to identify the major gender role and responsibility in livestock production and to determine the level of contribution of women in pastoral household and their role in income generated by both sex. A total of 90 pastorals and agro-pastorals headed household (74 male and 16 females) were interviewed using semi-structured questionnaire and PRA tool was also employed to strength data collection. According to the study of this paper, livestock, off-farm, non-farm, transfer and renting out were the major income generation sources for the different household members. The husband has the major income control and decision makers while the wife has some income generating sources and decision makers in the household families. Even though it seems that livelihood activities are fairly distributed among household members, the study reveals that women have more workload than men. Most reproductive works were observed as purely females’ works. Men are advantaged with owning, controlling, accessing and decision making over household resources. A variety of problems which are commonly identified among the communities of study areas mainly include: production, social, cultural and economic constraints. Gender-based aspirations are highly essential for the success and sustainability of development oriented technological and/or policy interventions for improving gender-based livestock production. To address these modern thoughts, operational adjustments and attitudinal change by the pastoral community is required to ensure fair and balanced share of roles, responsibilities and benefits among the household members. This could be possible by improving the level of understanding and awareness of the pastoral community through appropriate technology distribution for target groups (male and female).

Keywords: Gender, Livestock, Decision, Access, Role and contribution