Transcript Engendering Agricultural Censuses: The case of Malawi By Gunvor Iversen Moyo Statistics Norway Presented at the Global Forum on Gender Statistics, Accra Ghana, 26-28

Engendering Agricultural
Censuses: The case of Malawi
By Gunvor Iversen Moyo
Statistics Norway
Presented at the Global Forum on Gender Statistics, Accra Ghana, 26-28 January 2009
What does engendering
(agricultural) Statistics mean?
•- It should be possible to disaggregate all
statistical data by sex whenever possible
•- Information pertaining to gender issues should
be included in all data collection
•- The above should become an integrated part
of the general statistical system
What happened in Malawi to
facilitate engendering the
Agricultural census (NACAL)?
•- The management of the NSO was fully aware of the importance of
including gender issues in the NACAL
•- The funding body, The Norwegian Government, also had the same
awareness
•- The users discussed the various priority areas in a stakeholder
conference, and the areas, including gender, was accepted as a basis for
the NACAL data collection
•- Hence, collecting information that could be disaggregated by sex on
relevant gender issues, became one of the priority areas of the NACAL
The importance of agriculture in
Malawi
• Agriculture is the mainstay of the economy in Malawi and the
population is highly dependent on agriculture.
• About 90 percent of the population live in rural areas, and almost
every household is engaged in small holder agriculture
• Even in urban areas, more than half of the households are engaged
in agriculture.
• A larger proportion of employed women are engaged in agriculture
( 84 percent) than employed men (71 percent)
• About 30 percent of agricultural households are female headed
• Agricultural output generates over 90% of export earnings, and 3040% of GDP, most of which is produced by smallholders
• The Government has given high priority to the development of the
smallholder agricultural sub sector
• Agricultural smallholders were also the main focus of NACAL.
About the NACAL
• Data collection covered the 2006/07
agricultural season, enumerators were in the
field for 10 months
• The sample was about 25 000 households,
including both rural and urban areas, giving
reliable estimates for district level as well as
for regions and the whole country
How did we engender NACAL?
• Data collection:
• Holding was defined as all land pertaining to a
household
• Information was collected on household level
and on all parcels and plots owned by the
household
• Information was also collected on all
household members, such as sex, age,
relationship to household head
How did we engender NACAL? cont
• Information used to disaggregate the
information by sex:
• Household: Characteristics of all hh members,
like sex, age, relationship to head, used to
analyse data on household level
• Operator: From the household characteristics:
Sex, age, rel. To head used to analyse data on
parcel and plot level
How did we engender NACAL? cont
• Gender issues were covered through 8 modules
covering the smallholder sector:
• Module 1. Household composition,
• Module 2. Parcel details
• Module 3. Plot details;
• Module 4. Food security and HIV/AIDS;
• Module 5. Marketing,
• Module 6.Welfare Monitoring survey;
• Module 7.Livestock survey;
• Module 8.Village facilities
How did we engender NACAL? cont
• Through a common identification system, all those
modules can be merged:
• data on sex of household head or sex of operator for
parcels and plots can be linked to all the information
provided on those levels.
• The various modules can be linked, such that e.g
poverty information for households can be used as a
background variable for analysis for all relevant issues
• Information on village facilities, such as access to
markets can be linked to each household living in that
village
Reports
• So far 5 thematic reports have been produced:
• Production and structure of smallholder
agriculture in Malawi
• Food security and HIV/AIDS
• Livestock report
• Villages in Malawi
• The Gender Dimension of Agriculture
• Except for the village report, all tables are
disaggregated by sex
Content of the Gender report
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1. Introduction
1.1. Sample, data collection and data processing
1,2
Main definitions
2. The Gender Dimension, Female Headed versus Male
Headed Households
3. Ownership of land and livestock
4. Crop production
4.1. Agricultural practices
4.2. Inputs
4.3. Labour division
5. 4. Food security and Hiv/Aids
Further work
• Stakeholder conference to discuss further
analysis of NACAL, including a training session on
data analysis
• Comprehensive analyses of gender issues will be
proposed, linking information from all relevant
modules together,
• - e.g link land size, inputs, agricultural practices,
production and livestock keeping to food security
• A small study fund will be set up to encourage
further analysis of data on projects with a more
limited scope
What about engendering agricultural
statistics?
• All information collected was disaggregated by sex, where
possible
• Most relevant gender issues in agriculture were covered
• Integration in the statistical system:
• - WMS is already an annual survey
• -Employment, poverty and Food security are already
modules in the annual WMS
• - A system of Annual Agricultural Surveys will be designed
using NACAL as a baseline, securing that sex disaggregated
data on agricultural production will become an integral part
of the data collection activities of NSO