Gender vulnerability to climate variability and household food insecurity

A survey was conducted in two extension planning areas (EPAs), Mitole in Chikhwawa district and Manjawira in Ntcheu district. Chikhwawa experienced erratic and variable rainfall, ranging from 274 to 1075 mm between 1979 and 2009. Temperatures are high with an average of above 20°C. Chikhwawa experiences floods and droughts almost annually. These extreme events have increased in intensity and frequency since 2000 (Action Aid, 2006). Mitole EPA experiences both floods and droughts. On the other hand, Ntcheu experienced seasonal total rainfall within the ranges of 280 to 1871 mm from 1979 to 2009, which varied depending on the altitude. The mean temperature ranges from 15 to 20°C due to varying topography. Ntcheu district experiences dry spells and droughts in some areas and floods in other areas. Manjawira EPA is prone to dry spells and droughts.

Agriculture is a major source of livelihood for rural communities in the two districts. The major food crops grown are maize, millet, rice, sorghum and other horticultural crops, while rice, potatoes, sweet potatoes (which are also food crops) and cotton provide an economic outlet besides other activities like trading, handicrafts and transport businesses. The staple and widely grown food crop is maize and is central to the food security of the communities. The districts have also common livestock like chicken, goats, cattle, pigs, sheep, rabbits, doves and ducks, which are key sources of protein, along with fish. The two districts have varied cultures with Ntcheu practising a matrilineal system and Chikhwawa a patrilineal system in terms of marriages and settlement patterns. Their culture plays an important role in the access to resources and division of labour as it dictates the roles and responsibilities expected by each gender group.

Cross-sectional comparative data were collected through household questionnaire interviews and key informants' interviews. For the purpose of this study, a household is defined as a group of individuals living under the same roof. By this definition, a household comprises the household head, his/her spouse, children, nephews, nieces and other dependants. An exploratory study was carried out to establish the risk factors of climate variability among men and women. A total of 200 households were randomly selected and among these were 96 (48 per cent) female-headed households (Fhh) and 104 (52 per cent) male-headed households (Mhh). Cross-sectional comparative data were collected from the study areas in a period of three months, from January to March 2010.

Focus group discussions were conducted with groups of men and women separately in 15 villages. A total of 30 focus group discussions were conducted. Participatory data collection techniques in gender analysis, such as activity profile, livelihood profile, impact assessment, free listing, preference ranking, seasonal calendars and time lines, were used to solicit information on climate risks, impacts, gender roles and responsibilities, sources of livelihoods and access to and availability of resources. From these data, capabilities, challenges and opportunities to implement adaptation strategies were identified among gender groups.

Qualitative data were analysed as themes using content analysis. Data were coded and logically organized into a matrix of related issues such as climate risks, exposure, impacts, sensitivity and vulnerability using grounded theory (see also Glaser and Strauss, 196710. Glaser, B. and Strauss, A. 1967. The Discovery of Grounded Theory: Strategies for Qualitative Research, Chicago: Aldine.

View all references; Goulding, 199911. Goulding, C. 1999. Grounded Theory: Some Reflections on Paradigm, Procedures and Misconceptions, UK: University of Wolverhampton, Management Research Centre. Working Paper Series June 1999, WP000/99

View all references; Mkwambisi et al., 201122. Mkwambisi, D. D., Fraser, E. D.G. and Dougill, A. J. 2011. Urban agriculture and poverty reduction: evaluating how food production in cities contributes to food security, employment and income in Malawi. Journal of International Development, 23(2): 181–203.
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View all references). Direct quotes were also used to explain, support and clarify important issues observed by the communities. Survey data were analysed using Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) to obtain descriptive statistics.

Focus group discussions revealed that women and men have different roles and responsibilities in their homesteads (Table 1). The responsibilities among gender groups were different between cultures while the roles were common across cultures. For example, the provision of household needs is the responsibility of men in a matrilineal culture in Manjawira, while it is the responsibility of both men and women in male-headed households in Mitole. It was, however, noted that these trends have changed with climate variability; the responsibilities which were previously for men are now shared between men and women because of the increased demand at the homestead. Apart from roles and responsibilities common for men and women, women have extra roles and responsibilities such as collecting water and firewood, fetching and preparing food, household chores, taking care of children and the sick and child bearing.

It was observed that most of the women's roles are routine activities and the demand at the homestead is daily, unlike men's roles which are mostly demanded when need arises. The timeline revealed that women are engaged in one role or the other throughout the day while men have some free time in which they engage in income-generating activities. Culturally, most of these routine activities are carried out by women and girls and they suffer greatly when the resources are scarce. Even though some men's roles may have similar effects, their roles are not regular and pertinent to the daily demands of the household. Reduction of natural resources results in more demand for labour and time from women, hence, reducing the quality and quantity of time and labour which is required for farm activities, income-generating activities, food preparation and other resources such as education. Consequently, food availability, access and nutrition are compromised.

The results also showed that most of the women's roles are dependent on natural resources such as water and fuel wood. These findings are consistent with those of similar studies conducted in other developing countries, for example, Nelson et al. (200223. Nelson, V., Meadows, K., Cannon, T., Morton, J. and Martin, A. 2002. Uncertain predictions, invisible impacts, and the need to mainstream gender in climate change adaptations. Gender and Development, 10(2): 51–59.
[Taylor & Francis Online], [CSA]
View all references), Babugura et al. (20103. Babugura, A., Mtshali, N. and Mtshali, M. 2010. Gender and Climate Change: South Africa Case Study, Cape Town: Heinrich Böll Foundation Southern Africa.

View all references) and Ribeiro and Chaù'que (201027. Ribeiro, N. and Chaù'que, A. 2010. Gender and Climate Change: Mozambique Case Study Cape Town Heinrich Böll Foundation Southern Africa

View all references). In female-headed households, all the roles and responsibilities are taken by women and sometimes assisted by their elder children. This renders female-headed households more vulnerable when resources are scarce. However, complementary roles empower a household which is headed by a male to have more opportunities than a female-headed household.

The main livelihoods in the study areas are agriculture, on-farm informal employment, small-scale businesses including selling charcoal and firewood. About 78 per cent male-headed and 77 per cent female-headed households indicated agriculture as the main source of livelihood. The sources of livelihood are presented in Table 2.

As can be seen from the table, more men than women were engaged in selling charcoal and firewood, with Manjawira having more households engaged in charcoal business than Mitole; perhaps because the area is not yet deforested. It was noted that more women than men engage in subsistence agriculture as a source of food, growing mainly food crops; while men grow cash crops, such as cotton in Mitole. The discussions with farmers revealed that in the past, around the 1970s and the 1980s, households were relying on agriculture because there was surplus from different types of crops and enough food and income from farm products. But harvests decreased from the 1990s onwards; the harvest is not enough even for household food consumption. As a result, the demand for other livelihoods has increased. One farmer from Manjawira lamented that:This statement was echoed by many women and men in different focus group discussions from both areas. The farmers noted that the shift in livelihoods is attributed to climate variability which has rendered agriculture unreliable. As an adaptation, communities have diversified their livelihoods and depend more on either selling charcoal or informal employment than before. However, charcoal processing is a challenge to most of them, especially among women when there is a food shortage. Hence, most women were engaged in selling charcoal while processing was done by men. The high demand for charcoal in urban areas has rendered charcoal selling a profitable business. Consequently, more trees are being cut down and thus increasing deforestation. It was stated by the respondents that charcoal business was not an appropriate way of adapting. The activity is being undertaken because the communities have few alternative ways to adapt. It was also observed that most men engage in on-farm employment while women work in the gardens. Perhaps this is due to prescribed roles and responsibilities of men and women as income earners and food producers, respectively.

Adaptation to climate variability demands that households have resources (natural, physical, human and financial). But the discussions and interviews revealed that access to and control over these resources are different for men and women, with men having more access. Table 3 presents a summary of the resources attained by male-headed and female-headed households. For example, male heads of households had attended at least primary education (mean 1.12 for Manjawira, 1.04 for Mitole) while most female heads of households had no formal education (median 0.88 for Manjawira and 0.63 for Mitole). The availability of food through production is influenced by the availability of land, inputs and human labour. All these factors are gendered. For example, the quality of labour for women is constrained by household chores whose demand increases as the resources become scarce due to climate variability. Access to nutritious foods depends on the availability of income or social networks. However, income is influenced by access to diversified livelihoods which is also a constraint for women. Moreover, women are responsible for household food preparation and nutrition. Poor access to resources and livelihood implies poor quality of food for the household. Therefore, adaptation can be gender biased if gender vulnerabilities are not taken into consideration and this can lead to different food security status.

There are direct and indirect impacts of droughts, increased temperatures, late rains, floods and low amount of rainfall on communities in the study areas. The direct impacts are mainly caused by disasters that cause physical harm or stress while indirect impacts are manifested through their roles and livelihoods. The group discussions revealed that increased temperature has resulted in heat stress, increased cases of health problems such as Malaria and increased demand for water at the homestead. This affects the quality of human labour in farming and income-generating activities. In addition, reduced amount of rainfall, floods, droughts, late rains and short rain have reduced the crop yield due to crop failure and destruction, water quality and quantity, water sources because some rivers and wells have dried up, firewood supply, and increased cases of water-related diseases. Since most of the farming activities and households chores are carried by women in the area, they are the most affected by the effects of climate variability and are therefore the most vulnerable to food insecurity. Table 4 provides a summary of climate risks, exposure to risks through roles and responsibilities, impacts, sensitivity and gender vulnerability to risks.

Similar coping and adaptation strategies were observed in Mitole and Manjawira (Table 5). The findings from the group discussions and household interviews showed that coping strategies for shortage of food due to less rainfall, dry spells and droughts included skipping meals or reducing the number of meals per day so that food can last longer; reducing the quantity of food; substituting usual meals (nsima) with less preferred meals like vegetables, fruits, porridge and locally diluted drinks. In the case of reduced water and firewood resources, households cope by using water sparingly and using energy-saving technologies for cooking. Other strategies like selling livestock and other assets, food for work, finding alternative livelihoods like selling charcoal and off-farm employment also provide a temporary relief for the households. It was, however, noted that few male-headed households could skip meals because men had diverse livelihoods that complemented other sources of food and income in the homestead. Skipping or reducing the number of meals is also documented as a common coping mechanism in the SADC region (Norton et al., 199424. Norton A., Owen D., Milimo J.T., 1994, Zambia Poverty Assessment, Report No. 12985 – ZA, 3, World Bank.

View all references; SADC, 2002; De Waal and Whiteside, 20039. De Waal A., Whiteside A., 2003, New Variant Famine: AIDS and Food Crisis in Southern Africa [available at www.earthinstitute.columbia.edu].

View all references).

Results from the discussions and key informants' interviews showed that the adaptation strategies to address effects of dry spells, droughts and less rainfall include soil and water conservation technologies, planting trees to establish community woodlots, community grain banks in Manjawira, planting early-maturing and drought-resistant crops, planting different types of crops such as maize, cassava, groundnuts, sweet potatoes, millet, cotton and sorghum (intercropping and mixed farming), using modern agricultural technologies such as hybrid seeds and conservation agriculture, and using energy-saving stoves. Migration was also common among communities in Mitole. However, it is mostly men who migrate to look for employment or food because, culturally, women do not provide for the needs of the household. Besides, engaging in small-scale businesses is a common adaptation strategy among women while men engage in selling charcoal and firewood. It may be interesting to note that women were more active in establishing community woodlots by participating in tree nurseries and planting trees. This was so because woodlots provided solutions to the depleted firewood, thereby reducing their workload. Additionally, it was found that women had strong and organized networks that could easily be used for interventions.

There were challenges in implementing and adopting adaptation strategies. Firstly, the workload of house chores increases when there is increased temperature, dry spells and droughts because of high demand for resources and scarce of resources such as water and firewood. Hence, women do not have enough time to engage in income-generating activities like off-farm employment and business. It is mostly men who look for off-farm employment. In some cases, the demand for on-farm employment is too much for women. For instance, in Mitole, both men and women start work before dawn at Illovo Sugar Company and go back to their homes in the evening. The discussions with men and women groups from Mitole revealed that the work is sometimes so hard for women that some engage in sexual relationships with men in order to get assistance to complete their pieces of work. This behaviour has brought mistrust in marriages and therefore most men do not allow their spouses to engage in such types of employment.

Other challenges include poverty, inadequate alternatives for livelihoods, unavailability of farm inputs, inadequate extension services, illiteracy, inadequate income and low producer prices for farm products like cotton. Some community initiative ways of adapting, such as community grain banks, are a challenge because of lack of appropriate post-harvest handling technologies. Women complained of high demand for unaffordable pesticides in grain banks. Other technologies, such as marker ridges, are labour intensive and time consuming especially for women, resulting in low adoption. In addition, some adaptation strategies introduced by non-governmental organizations and other partners have few beneficiaries. Therefore, the impact at community level is low, and this sometimes promotes conflicts and theft between the beneficiaries and non-beneficiaries.

It was also observed that the implementation of adaptation strategies was different at the household level due to differences in access to resources. Households with a higher income were more able to adopt the use of hybrid seed and other technologies to adapt to climate variability. This finding complements the diffusion of innovation theory by Rogers (199528. Rogers, E. M. 1995. Diffusion of Innovations, 4, New York: The Free Press.

View all references) that high-income households have the required knowledge and resources, and can understand the benefits of adopting new ideas (see also Mkwambisi et al., 201122. Mkwambisi, D. D., Fraser, E. D.G. and Dougill, A. J. 2011. Urban agriculture and poverty reduction: evaluating how food production in cities contributes to food security, employment and income in Malawi. Journal of International Development, 23(2): 181–203.
[CrossRef]
View all references).

The analysis from discussions and household interviews implies that women are more vulnerable to household food insecurity than men because they have inadequate alternative ways to adapt. This is because of increased work pressure at the homestead and overdependence on agriculture and natural resources which are highly affected by climate variability. Furthermore, women are faced with unequal distribution of resources at the household level, influenced by culture. However, women were keen to implement strategies that reduce their workload at the homestead. The willingness to implement adaptation strategies is an opportunity for introducing appropriate strategies.