ABSTRACT
Natural resources provide any material from the natural environment that can be used by people for support and sustenance of life on earth with its ecological value and manifold resources. The purpose of this study was to explore the role of rural women in natural resources management and utilization in Ethiopia by taking Delanta as the case. The research design was descriptive survey using stratified random sampling technique along the agro-ecology. Both quantitative and qualitative data collected. The target population was 300 sample households from the total of 2992 households in six Kebeles. The data were analyzed using both descriptive (percentage, mean score, cumulative frequency) and inferential (Chi-Square tests) statistical techniques. The results have shown that women are good natural resources managers and the primary gatherers of fuel-wood (76%), fetching water (71%), agriculture participation (83%) and fodder to meet immediate household needs. However, women are culturally denied the right to register and control land resources. Women have also limited access of technology, skill training, education, extension services and information. The depletion of natural resources directly impact on women with increasing workload and drudgery, and the overall livelihood of people who depend on natural resources. Henceforth, women’s role in natural resources exploitation and management cannot be undermined. To reinforce and build up women’s participation in resources management and sustainable uses, all concerned bodies should take appropriate measures to empower women in decision making, skill training, education, extension services and information.
Key words: Agriculture, environment, natural resources, resources management, resources utilization.
Natural Resource Management (NRM) means the management of resources such as land, water, forest, plants and animals, with a particular focus on how management affects the quality of life for both present and future generations. Without access to resources, there cannot be enough incentive for sustainable NRM and consequently rural development is curtailed (Babu and Nautiyal, 2015). The concept of NRM is basically attached with rural development, because the allotment of resources is essential in generating sustainable livelihoods. There needs to be equality in the allocation of resources and support mechanisms, which encourage people to use their resources sustainably (Nyamekye and Oppong-Mensah, 2016).
Natural resources have been crucial for the existence of life on earth which is vital both for lives and livelihoods in the community. They depend directly on natural resources for their livelihoods and ecological benefits. Thus, women are at center of the environment and development nexus. They perform many of the agricultural tasks worldwide, representing 43% of the agricultural labor force in developing countries and over half of all agricultural laborers in sub-Saharan Africa (SOFA Team and Doss, 2011). Women also responsible for small livestock production comprise around two-thirds of livestock keepers’ worldwide (Genzebe et al., 2016). They are the primary caretakers of poultry and dairy animals, engaging in the sale of eggs and the production of cheese or other dairy products (SOFA Team and Doss, 2011).
Women are frequently responsible for firewood collection and fetching water, generate substantial income for the family budget from sale of handicrafts, a variety of grown and wild foods, firewood and other products, and care for their children and homesteads. To accomplish their tasks, women are, formally or informally, resource managers (Chen and Ravillion, 2008). Moreover, women play a key role in food production, some 80% of all food produced in Africa is grown at least in part by women (IKNWP, 2013). As an example, women in sub-Saharan Africa are major contributors to the agricultural economy, but face various constraints that limit them from achieving optimal production and agricultural development (Kaaria and Osorio, 2014). Most rural women derive basic resources such as fuelwood, forage, fodder, leaves litter, and non-timber forest products with economic, social, cultural or religious significance from forest ecosystems for their households’ livelihoods. Their indigenous knowledge, strategies and roles in conserving and using various plant and animal species found in different ecosystems are very crucial to sustain the environment, their households’ livelihoods, and those of their communities (Khadka and Verma, 2012).
However, research has shown that in many contexts, women often have less ownership and access to resources than men, making them more vulnerable to negative changes in the environment to productive resources and opportunities such as land, labour, education, extension, financial services and technology (Mehra and Rojas, 2008). The reduced access to land due to insecurity or damages to local resources, destruction or looting of agricultural infrastructure and equipment, lack of availability of extension services and inputs, and reduced access or loss of markets can all render food production insufficient to meet the daily needs of families and children, which remain the responsibility of women in many cases, and lead to loss of critical income (FAO, 2014). As per Chayal et al. (2013), women are less educated than men, less access to information; extension systems tend to be male-biased. In addition, women have low decision making power than men when it comes to issues of household income allocation, livestock and cash crop production and marketing, and water management, and this is often rooted in cultural and social norms (Akeredolu et al., 2007).
A sustainable practice for management of natural resources to meet the need of life for both the present and future generations is of crucial concern to all societies (Belay, 2016; Agarwal, 2010). The impacts of degraded ecosystem services are being disproportionately borne by the poor, are a principal factor contributing to poverty, and are a barrier to achieving the Millennium Development Goals set by the United Nations (FAO, 2010). The natural resources coverage especially forest, portable water and protection of soil degradations are still very low in Ethiopia. As a result, the distance traveled and time taken to gather fuelwood and to fetch water has negative consequence for health and for economic productivity of women (Belay, 2016). The main burden to feed families and negative impact tends to fall on women, who are traditionally responsible for maintaining the household water supply and on their children. However, the program has problems in its implementation and it is not achieving what it had intended in terms of ‘improving women’s social status and traditional role structure in water management.
Women in Ethiopia have not shared the fruits of development equally with their male counterpart. Rights such as, access to land, credit and other productive resources are difficult for women to attain (Ogato, 2011; Bremner et al., 2010). They also experience multiple forms of other deprivations such as longer working days, women specific ill health, low levels of education relative to men, and lack of adequate representation in leadership and decision making positions (Agarwal, 2010; Ogato, 2013). Women’s role in NRM issue remains collecting, storing and using for various purposes rather than to participate in decision making. This study tries to find out the role of women in NRM practices and performances in Ethiopia Delanta district taking as a case study. Moreover, it presents good practices and lessons for future participatory gender equality and women’s empowerment policy formulation, implementation and evaluation in Ethiopia generally in the study area in particular. As it result may help to create a general over view about the status of women society, especially in relation to NRM and women in Delanta district.
Statement of the problem
Over half of the world’s poor live in rural areas and depend heavily on natural resources for survival. Assets critical to rural women and men not only for securing food and a livelihood for their household but also for the conservation and sustainable use and management of natural resources (Agarwal, 2010). The key to sustainable environment and NRM is to integrate marginalized rural people into the formal economy. The current trends in population growth and ecosystem health suggest a challenging future for the world’s poorest. More than 1.4 billion people live in extreme poverty, their daily income is less than one dollar (Chen and Ravillion, 2008), and many of them depend on degraded ecosystems. The majority of such people are rural women, who have virtually no access to farm-based resources. This lack of resources access also increases women’s vulnerability and their livelihood strategies to be dependent on the natural resource base. As natural resources decline, women must dedicate increasing amounts of time to obtaining resources for both sustenance and livelihood needs (New Course, 2010; UN-Women, 2014).
Women and men play different roles in the utilization and management of natural resources including agricultural production. These differences can be specific to cultures, but women tend to have more responsibility for subsistence crops, they collect fuel wood, and contribute more of the labor. Coupled with their domestic responsibilities they have greater demands on their time, and factors that affect labor are likely to have a greater impact on women (New Course, 2010). This gender differences can create 70% of the world’s poor women (Solar, 2010) who have less access to financial resources, land resources, education, health and other basic rights like decision making processes than men which also affect NRM in a number of ways. Access to extension advice is also harder for women than men. In many developing countries most extensionists are men, so tend to focus on the tasks and interests of men, and women may be socially inhibited from interacting with male extensionists. Although the situation may have improved in the last two decades, in Africa less than 3% of agricultural advisers and extension workers were female (APF, 2007), and less than 2% of all extension contacts are with women farmers (Blackden, 2006).
The major difference between men and women in NRM including agriculture is their ownership and access to resources. Despite a strong reliance on land and natural resources for survival and livelihood, women own less than 2% of the world’s titled land (Coleman, 2008). The lack of land ownership can affect access to other resources, such as credit, water and grazing rights, limiting livelihood options for women and increases vulnerability (Nyamekye and Oppong-Mensah, 2016). More than one fifth of humanity lives in poverty while nearly two-thirds of humanity subsists on less than three dollars per day. All together, the world is hurtling away from environmental sustainability (UN-Women Watch, 2009).
The last two to three decades, the role of women in natural resource management was often overlooked, perhaps because the onlookers were viewing communities through the lense of their own developed country experience and perspective (Fish et al., 2010). With few exceptions, women are at the forefront of the environment and development nexus. In most communities, women have a pivotal role in economic development and in challenging poverty. They are farmers, workers and entrepreneurs, but almost everywhere they face more severe constraints than men in accessing productive resources, markets and services (SOFA Team and Doss, 2011). Their role was seen as that of ‘housewife’, and in that context the concern of environmentalists was with limiting environmental degradation through population control.
Ethiopia for the last couple of decades has faced serious ecological imbalances due to large scale deforestation and soil erosion caused by improper farming practices, destructive forest exploitation, wildfire and uncontrolled grazing practices (Belay, 2016). This has resulted in a declining agricultural production, water depletion, disturbed hydrological conditions, poverty and food insecurity. One of the keys to successful poverty alleviation is enabling rural poor people to have access to natural resources and to enjoy the new technologies to use resources sustainably (IFAD, 2011). So as to facilitate women’s participation in sustainable development process of Ethiopia and the other developing countries, there is a great need to promote changes in policies, laws, structures and attitudes in development programs.
The existing low level of consciousness about the roles of women play in the development of Ethiopia; the deep-rooted cultural beliefs and traditional practices that prevent women from playing their full roles in the development process of the country; lack of appropriate technology to reduce the workload of women; shortage of properly qualified female development agents to understand, motivate and empower rural women by eliminating the major constraints hindering their progress (UN-Women, 2014) motivating to conduct this research on rural women involvements in resources utilization management and their major constraints access to productive resources: the case of six rural communities in Delanta district.
Women have additional roles as mothers along with other productive community work. This takes up much of their time. They can devote that much less time for investment in their human capital and capacity building. Hence, involvement of women in additional conservation work without labor availability and means of production will only increase work load, burden and drudgery for women. In the Delanta context, sustainable development would depend primarily on a wise use of the existing resources (land, water and forests); reduced exploitation of novel resources and adapting better agricultural practices over time. Proper natural resource management can release more time for women to use on income generation activities, child care and personal development. Hence, this study tries to assess the role of women in NRM in Delanta, a rural community in south Wollo zone Amhara Region, Ethiopia.
Objectives of the study
The general objective of this study was to assess the overall roles and contributions of women in natural resources management and comprehend their constraints to empower women. In line with the general objective, the study explored the following specific objectives:
(1) to assess the overall contribution of rural women in managing natural resources;
(2) to investigate people’s awareness and appreciation of natural resources, environmental issues and their effects on resources degradation; and
(3) to establish factors that affect women’s involvement in NRM and utilization in the study area.
Research questions
To achieve these objectives, the paper outlined the following research questions:
(1) What are the major roles of rural women in natural resource management and utilization?
(2) How much attention does the community give to environmental issues such as natural resources deprivation and its effect on their livelihood?
(3) What are the major drawbacks that faced women’s involvement in resource utilization and management?
Description of the study area
Delanta is located in South Wollo Zone the Amhara Regional State of Ethiopia which lies between 11° 29' 29.82" to 11° 41' 25.53" N and 39° 02' 19.19" to 39° 14' 05.04" E with an altitude ranging from 1500 to 3819 m above sea level at the bottom of the valleys (Gosh Meda) and the top of the mountain (Mekelet), respectively. Delanta is bordered on the south by the Beshilo River which separated it from the Debub Wollo Zone, on the west by the Dawunt, on the northwest by Wadla, on the northeast by Guba Lafto and on the east by Ambasel. The major town is Wegeltena. It is situated at about 499 km north of Addis Ababa and 98 km northwest of Dessie town in South Wollo Zone (Figure 1).
The major landforms of the District comprise extensive plateaus, chains of hills with mountainous ridge, river-valleys and very deep gorges at the boundary. It is oval in shape with dendritic drainage pattern, steep ridges, and numerous convex hills at the plain area and gorges at the boundary. The area is characterized by the trap series of tertiary periods, similar to much of the central Ethiopian highlands. It is covered by Oligocene rhyolite and very thick ignimbrite units encompassing predominantly of alkaline basalt with numerous inter-bedded flow of trachyte. The granite, gneisses and basalt rock types exist in the area the forming part of the basement complex and most of the soils are basaltic parent material. According to Nahusenay et al. (2014) the soils are predominantly Vertisols, and other types are Cambisols and Leptosols which are greatly influenced by topography with high surface runoff during the main rainy season.
According to WAOR (2013) report, the total area of the district is 98002 ha stretching from lowland to highland, much of it being in the mid-altitude ranges dominated by plateaus. Average land holding size is 1 ha per household (0.75 ha for crop production and 0.25 ha for grazing). The land uses are both private and communal land holdings which can be identified through land use patterns. The largest proportion of the land is currently unutilized which accounts about 45%. Cultivated and grazing lands are the major land use types in the study area.
According to traditional agro-ecological classification of Ethiopia, the area falls in all the categories that basically correlate with elevation. These are Kolla (lowland), Woina Dega (midland), Dega (highland) and Wurch (very highland). The climate of the area is characterized by dry seasons (from October to February cold-dry and from March to June hot-dry) and wet season (from mid-June to September). The fifteen years mean annual rainfall of the study area is about 812 mm of which 75 to 80% is received in summer (Kiremt) and 25 to 20% in the spring (Belg) seasons. The mean annual minimum and maximum temperatures of the same period are 6.8 and 19.6°C, respectively. Peoples living on upper elevation, their farming activities primarily depend on Belg rains, while those on middle and lower elevation rely on both the Kiremt and Belg rains. However, there is small, erratic and unreliable rainfall and the area is prone to sporadic droughts.
As per reported by the Central Statistical Agency (CSA, 2008), Delanta has a total population of 132,770 (26554 Households), of whom 66243 (49.89%) are men and the remaining 66528 (50.11%) being women; 8535 (6.43%) are urban and 124236 (93.57%) being rural inhabitants. The district is densely populated area with average family size of five persons per family. The majority of the inhabitants practiced Ethiopian Orthodox Christianity with 90.78% reporting that as their religion, while 9.21% of the population said they were Muslim. The district is divided into 35 Kebeles-the least administrative structure, that is, local districts which are stretched into different agro-ecological zones. The community of the district (Woreda) did not produce sufficient food for year-round consumption even in the normal climate conditions. This is due to severe land degradation, land scarcity, and erratic rainfall (WAOR, 2013).
Design of research, data sources and sampling techniques
The research design was descriptive and survey method using stratified random sampling technique along the agro-ecology. The data collection approaches were both quantitative and qualitative methods. The study was conducted in six Kebeles from the total of 35 Kebeles and 300 household (HH) from the total of 26554 HHs in the district through a structured questionnaires and focus group discussions.
Data types and sources
The research was considered both as the primary and secondary data sources. The primary data were conducted in household surveys which were administered through field observations, questionnaires, formal interviews and focus group discussion with rural women, men, women affair office and other concerned authorities. For this purpose, questionnaires were developed and provided to all key respondents. Most of the items were close-ended and some open-ended questions were also included due to accomplish qualitative information on the attitudes, beliefs and practices of the people. The secondary data were reviewed from published and unpublished documents of governmental and non-governmental organizations to supplement and strengthen the primary data. Historical, cultural, socio-economic backgrounds of the area were also obtained by using secondary data.
To check the appropriateness of the items in the instrument and to make necessary correction on the feedbacks obtained from the respondents, pilot test was administered by randomly taking five men and fifteen women from the non sampled Kebeles. Based on the pre-test results, some improvements were made in preparing the final questionnaires. Finally, 300 copies of the questionnaires were distributed to the key respondents and all of them were filled in and gathered
Sampling techniques
According to the Central Statistical Agency (2009) report, Delanta has a total population of 132770 people of whom 66528 (50.11%) are women and 124236 (93.57%) rural inhabitants. Therefore, the target populations were rural women and to know the attitudes of men towards women’s employment, 25% of men were considered from the total sampled population. The sample size was 300 rural households from the total of 2992 HHs in six Kebeles of which 75% of women and 25% men. One of the motives of the survey was to investigate variation in the patterns of agricultural works and coping mechanisms based on agro-ecological variations. To this end, six Kebeles were randomly selected in the earlier stated variations and to make the study manageable, on average 50 household was taken from each rural Kebeles using simple stratified random sampling techniques by altitude, sex and agro-ecological zones (Table 1).
Methods of data analysis
The primary data were analyzed and presented by using both descriptive and inferential statistical techniques. The descriptive techniques include percentage, cumulative frequency, while the inferential statistical techniques used Chi-Square tests. The Chi-Square test was employed to see the association or homogeneity between the agro-ecological zones with reference to responses regarding agricultural works and coping strategies used by peasants during famine (scarcity of food) and its impacts.
The term resource is a broad concept to define and refer to various aspects, but the interest of this study concentrates on farmland, water, forest, agricultural output, household income, women’s access to resources and their challenges. It is accepted that the decision-making process is the reflection of the resources control management. The issue of NRM has always been dominated by men, though women in the area generally depend heavily on natural resources for their survival (Mondal, 2013). The degree to which women are involved in the control of the earth's life is just beginning to dawn on most of us. The result showed the key role of women as conservationists and sustainers of the environment. They are highly involved in afforestation, water harvesting and soil conservation programs in the district. However, their roles remain informal and unrecognized. One thing should be clear at the outset: women who are closer to water, forest fuel, fodder and other natural resources than men. The role of women in natural resources management has been investigated under the following broad sub-heads, such as land resource, water resource, forest resource and women’s accessible to the resources control.
Women and land resource
Land is one of the most vital natural resources for people and it partly determines the volume of output and the status of a farmer in the social setting of the society. It is a store house for minerals and forest resources of various kinds. This kind of natural capital is mostly controlled by men, while women have limited power to control the resource and have also limited or no access to external inputs such as extension, fertilizer and credits. In the study area, males have the right to register and control land resources, while women are culturally denied such a right except when they are divorce or become widows. In the survey, a further attempt was made to understand the feeling of women regarding the existing land registration practice. None of the respondents have expressed dismay towards the tradition of registering land in the name of their husbands. As the results showed that about 81% of the sampled respondents’ said
that women and men do not have equal accessible for the land resources (Table 2).
This is due to the inheritance laws, customary laws and cultural norms which are more favorable to men than women in the study area. The Chi-Square test showed that there were significant differences among the three agro-ecological zones with regards to the subjects in question Woina Dega (86%) having a higher proportion than Kolla (78%) and Dega (68%). The question comes why are their differences? As information obtained from sampled respondents and WAOR (2013), these are traditional and cultural influences. This indicates the environment, institution, socioeconomic, cultural norms and demographic factors have prejudiced women’s resources accessibility.
The other characteristic of farmland has something to do with the spatial extent fragmentation of plots. It is a common form of landholding arrangement in Ethiopia in general and the study area in particular. Dispersed plots involve distance between homesteads and farmsteads, which demand additional time and labor. In case of possession of distant plots, household members need to travel and transport implements and farm outputs, the time and labor demand of which progressively increases with distance. The round trip to distant plots is quite considerable. The impact is much more serious on women than men due to their double role both in homesteads and farmsteads.
As shown in Table 3, in terms of local measurement, that is, timad (approximately 0.25 ha) of the total population about 57% have less than 1 ha of land. The results indicated that 16.5% of the households have below one and one timad. The majority of peoples (40.5%) owned 2 to 3 timads and 32.5% of the respondents categorized in 4 to 5 timads. The others (10.5%) have above five timads. In terms of agro-ecology, peasants in Woina Dega have less farm plots than in Dega and Kolla areas. This has something to do with high population pressure.
Women and water resource
Women gather water and manage it for household use, ensuring adequate supply, storing and keeping it clean while stored in the house. They also play key community management roles in domestic water supply at the community level including maintenance of traditional sources. Over centuries, women have acquired extensive knowledge about water quality, health and sanitation. As shown in Table 4, respondents have stated that the main water sources in the district are springs, ponds, rivers and wells (ground water). The tasks of fetching water are exclusively left to women who engaged that about 70.5% of the sampled households. However, children are parts of the community who participate in fetching water [19.5%], especially girls are the ones that carry the greater burden. The participation of men in fetching and carrying water is very low with only 7.5% of them. This implies that any development effort to provide water should be made to alleviate the problems women face due to lack of potable water.
Women are good water managers in the study area. However, many people suffer from water stress on a seasonal and annual basis, due to lack of accessibility and availability of portable water. As the results showed, over half of the villagers in the study area do not attain potable water. Still they have used unsafe water from springs, rivers and ponds. The researcher observed during the field work women still carry water on their back even when they are pregnant and lactating. The situation is particularly worse in Kolla agro-ecological zone of which 72% have no access to potable water (Table 5). As was also reported by UN-Women (2014), the proportion of rural women were affected by water scarcity, for example, is estimated at 55% in Africa, 32% in Asia, and 45% in Latin America, with the median time for collecting water in the dry season at 1.6 h per day. If water resources are scarce, it affects both men and women negatively with less productivity. At the same time, it affects women and children more with more workload and drudgery and poorer nutrition as compared to men and boys.
Women in biomass energy consumption and management
Over centuries, women have gathered and managed biomass energy for household consumption. Most domestic energy in rural Ethiopia comes directly from biomass sources which include fuel-wood, charcoal, agricultural residue, animal dung and bushes. The burden of fuel-wood crisis is borne by women's because they have the responsibility for meeting household energy needs through fuel collection, preparation and use. Fuel-wood preparation, cooking and care of the fire are almost exclusively tasks for women and young girls. Tables 6 and 7 show this fact.
As Table 6 depicts, the majority of the respondents (94%) are used for animal dung. The remaining sources of energy were wood (71%), gas/kerosene (82%) and crop residue (44%). Due to lack of resources and awareness of the people, less mount of charcoal was used in energy consumption. In terms of agro-ecological zones, wood and bushes were highly used in Kolla area than the others. Gas/Kerosene used as electricity during night and not for cooking activities.
Women work long hours in both domestic and economic activities (11 to 14 h per day) have been documented in nearly every country. Compared to men, women in rural areas of developing countries spend long hours working in survival activities such as firewood collection (75%), water hauling (90%), food processing (76%), cooking (100%) and 75% of small animal caring (Table 7) as was also reported by UN-Women (2014), of the total burden of work, women carry on average 53% in developing countries and 51% in industrial countries.
Women and livelihood agriculture
The rural women assist to prepare farm, and then plows, harvests, weeds and transplants, while they do milking and act as a shepherd. Also, they weave carpet, try to make tools and handicrafts, bake bread, cook, do housekeeping duties, fetch water from water sources that are far away, collect firewood, care for children, spin wool and make curd, buttermilk, yogurt, butter and oil. In addition to all these, they are mothers and family supervisors too. The research was tested, women’s participation in crop production activities, by using Chi-Square tests to see whether there was any significant difference among the three agro-ecological zones or not. As the results showed that there was a significant difference among the three agro-ecological zones. In case of Kolla, 94% of the sampled women respondents have participated regularly in crop production. The participation of women in Woina Dega and Dega were 82% and 74%, respectively (Table 8). However, their activities are not considered as economical and they are simply removed from agriculture and rural development programs. In consent with this study World Bank (2002) and Mihiret and Tadesse (2014), in spite of that, rural women in developing countries provide 70% of agricultural labor, 60–80% labor for household food production, 100% labor for processing the basic food stuffs, 80% for food storage and transport from farm to village, 90% for water and fuel wood collection for households and 30% for supervising rural families. This, therefore, suggests that their role in natural resource exploitation and management cannot be undermined.
The questions come why are there differences of women’s activities in agro-ecological zones? The reasons for the involvements of women differ in agro-ecological zones, and the types of crops have sown in the area. Some type of crops, namely teff, maize, sorghum, some pulses have never be sown in Dega areas but are commonly found in Kolla and Woina Dega areas. These types of crops require intensive labor forces, particularly the weeding season. The other reasons might be farm size and household income level. As per the focus group discussants said that the farm size and household income level that determines the degree of women's involvement in crop production. If the farm size is larger, it needs more household labor forces including women. In some cases, the households with high-income level tend to use hired labor, not demand for females labor. The participation of women in agriculture everyday jobs is high in all agro-ecological zones. The only difference is the extent of participation. Women in Kolla area are more involved than in Woina Dega and Dega areas [FGD information during the field work].
Women and resources accessibility
In the study area to see land registration as an example, men have the right to register and control land resources, while women are culturally denied such a right except when they divorce or become widows. In the survey, a further attempt was made to understand the sentiment (attitude) of women regarding the existing land registration practice. None of the respondents have expressed dismay towards the tradition of registering land in the name of their husbands. The other aspect of resource control system is who holds the income derived from various sources. Different sources of income were identified and the respondents were asked to express who hold the money derived from this sources and who ought to hold.
The major income sources are decided and controlled by the husbands, while the minor income sources by wives in all agro-ecological zones. The management of crop production (86%) and large animals including cattle, sheep, goat, and equines (91%) were dominantly performed by the husbands, while the small animals like poultry (84%), dairy products (82%), and 88% of handicrafts (cotton and wool spinning, grass basketry, pottery) and 95% of local liquor (areky/katicala, tella) were carried out by women. In case of fuel-wood collection activities, it can be categorized in two ways. If the amount of fuel-wood/construction materials are large in size and quantity, for instance the eucalyptus tree, the resources are mostly managed by men (19%), while less amount and dry woods packed on human beings or animals, and animal manure preparation for fuel activity is carried out by women (81%) (Table 9).
As was also similar results stated by World Bank (2007), traditionally in all of Ethiopian indigenous cultures, public space is considered to be a male domain. Women have had little to say in public matters. They have virtually no decision-making powers with respect to resource distribution at the communal level. At the domestic level, however, women enjoy some limited decision-making power. When talking about the land resource in Ethiopia on a traditional or modern scale, one thinks of the man on the front line. Women are in marginal positions with regards to access, decision and control of resources.
Challenges related to infrastructure and service provisions
Some of the main challenges that face the people of Delanta suffered from food shortage and famines, that is, food quantity and quality (84%) due to the backwardness of agricultural practice, erratic rainfall, small landholdings, recurrent drought, frost and the inappropriate use of resources, lack of transportation (85%), water resource quantity and quality (82%), the shortage of health service facility in the area (74%) and shortage of fuel wood (55%) due to deforestation and related provisions (Table 10). Women are the backbones of socioeconomic circumstances in rural Ethiopia in general and the study area in particular. However, the existence of different taboos and recurrent famines made their lives much more complicated.
When to look at women respondents alone, food quality and quantity (63%), water (62%), health problem (56%), lack of transportation (64%) and fuel-wood (41%) were more susceptible to women in the area (Table 11). As stated earlier, insecure land tenure systems reduces rural women’s incentive to improve natural resource management and conservation practices as women have limited access to new technological innovations in agricultural extension programs, skill training and supportive programs, including credit and loan services, installation and maintenance of water or biogas plants are designed mainly to men rather than to women.
CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATION
Sustainable development in Delanta district depends primarily on a balanced approach that includes biodiversity conservation, sustainable management of existing land and forests, reduced exploitation of new forest resources, adapting efficient agricultural systems and building proper marketing linkages. Expansion of agricultural area into accessible primary forest should also be checked through adaption of better farming practices. The disparities of gender in terms of work opportunity, income, education and decision-making were observed in Delanta district. Women are excluded from economic opportunities, social network services, and decision making. Such exclusions are related with cultural taboos, backward technologies and partisan religions. In the study area, women do not plough with oxen and men do not cook their food. These are taboos laid against women and men. The agricultural extension training programs hardly have women participants. This further marginalizes women.
Environmental depletion and resource degradation magnify women’s workload and drudgery. These are the results of women walk long distances to collect firewood and to fetch water. Women’s recognize the natural resources, not only for crop production but also for fuel and water, and incorporating these concerns into plans and policies for environmental management would release more time for women for income generation, child care and personal development. Women are much closer to water, forest or fuel-wood, fodder and land resources than other members of the community make them indispensable for managing natural resources. Generally speaking, they are conservationists and sustainers of the natural environment in the study area. Therefore, recognition and empowerment of women in these and many other roles could accelerate the conservation and proper use of natural resources.
The author has not declared any conflict of interests.
The author is thankful to his colleagues for their support ideas, morals and materials during the work and MoE for the scholarship granted.
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