AEE2202 : Household Resource Management Lecture Series By Lecturer Abba Aminu (PhD) Professor of Agricultural Economics Department of Agric. Economics and Extension., Faculty of Agriculture Bayero University, Kano, Nigeria Phone +2348024042308 Email: abbasron@yahoo.com Course Objectives To learn basic concepts and skills in relation to HRM so as to assist ( through research and development) in improving the quality of life of people - individuals, families and communities (especially the rural farming communities) Description of the Modules • Module One : Basic Terms and concepts in HRM -Definition of terms and concepts related to HRM - Resources management Module two : Poverty and Food Insecurity and Household coping strategies - Definition of basic terms and concepts - Presentation of Case studies Module Three: Field work - Participatory tools for conducting Socio-economic , gender and food security analysis in rural households - Conducting field work in nearby communities Module One: Definition of Terms and concepts related to HRM What is a household? - A group of people, each with different abilities and needs, who live together most of the time and contribute to a common economy, and share the food and other income derived from the common economic activities. - Household is a basic unit for socio-cultural and economic analysis Note: There is difference between a family and a household!! What is Household Economy? Household Economy is the sum of ways in which a household acquires its income, its savings and asset holdings, and by which it meets its food and non-food needs. Note: Try to list different types of economic activities which a typical household in your community undertake Def Cont What is a Resource - An economic or productive factor required to accomplish an activity or as means to undertake an enterprise and achieve desired outcome. - Three most basic resources are land, labour and capital; other resources include energy, entrepreneurship, information, expertise ,management and time. What are the Basic Household resources? - human (physical labour, skills, knowledge, educational attainment) - material (land, capital, technology, money), and - time Note: 1. Information and Time are important resources but most people are not very conscious of this. 2. Capital include; Economic/Finacial, human and social capital Def of terms condt Access, control and ownership (of resources)? • Access to something means having the possibility to use it, e.g. a resource such as land or production equipment. It does not necessarily imply control or ownership of this resource. • Control. When someone has control of something it means that he/she decides how it can be used and by whom – it does not necessarily imply ownership • Ownership can be joint (e.g. by more than one household or community member) or it can be individual (e.g. by one person). Ownership will determine control and access to a large degree. Def of terms contd Division of labour: It refers to who does what, when, how, for how long, etc., and can be disaggregated by gender, age and other socio-economic variables. Work is usually divided among households or household members. Household head is the man or woman recognized as such by other household members. This person makes the decisions and has the primary responsibility for managing household matters. Def of terms contd • Gender refers to the social, economic and cultural roles and relations between women and men, and takes into account the different responsibilities of women and men in a given culture or location and in different population groups (children, aged people, ethnic groups etc.) • Gender analysis is a tool that tries to answer fundamental questions such as who does or uses what, why, and how. It also involves looking at the division of labour in and among households, examines the access and control that men and women have regarding resources, and analyse benefits obtained by the households members . Def of terms contd • Gender roles are the socially, culturally and politically defined roles and responsibilities to which women and men conform. Gender roles are dynamic and can vary among different societies and cultures, classes and ages, and over time. • Gender roles are divided into productive, reproductive and community roles. • Productive roles refer to work carried out by men and women for payment in cash or kind. • Reproductive roles involve childbearing, childrearing responsibilities and domestic tasks, some of which are biologically determined (i.e. only women can breastfeed) while others are gender-related (e.g. in some households, men do most of the cooking, in others women do). • Community roles are those activities that contribute to the welfare and organization of the community, such as maintenance of common areas. Def of terms contd • Gender -blind. Gender-blind describes extension or development activities that assume results will automatically be equally beneficial to both men and women; it also refers to a lack of recognition or understanding of gender as an essential variable that shapes livelihoods • A gender-sensitive approach emphasizes that the capacities and vulnerabilities of both women and men should be identified and considered – neither should be dealt with in isolation from the other. • A stakeholder is any individual or group with a direct or indirect interest in the outcome of a development intervention, or anyone who is affected by or who affects this intervention. Def of terms Contd • Household resource management uses the household as an entry-point to understand and address rural development challenges. It focuses on management systems within households, and include analysis of decision-making, resource allocation, household consumption and time management in the context of food security and economic development. • Household resource management was also describe as “the process of making decisions about how to maximize the use of resources, such as land, water, labour, capital, purchased inputs, inputs produced on-farm, cash, agricultural credit and agricultural extension”. Management of Resources Characteristics of Resources • Resources are useful • Resources are limited in supply • Resources are inter-related • Resources have alternate uses • Resources can be substituted Therefore, all resources ( both human and non-human, tangible or intangible ) have these characteristics in similar. Thus we should; 1. Create and cultivate them to enhance their availability and 2. Conserve them as they are limited in supply Res Mgt Contd Ways of maximizing benefits from the use of resources • Identify all the available resources. • Make use of only the right amount of resources. • Substitute the less expensive resources for the more expensive ones. • Develop the habits that can enhance the use of resources. • Cultivate practices to increase the availability of resources. • Learn to share resources so that you do not deprive others of their use. • Do not waste resources. • Reduce, Re-use, and Re-cycle the resources to maximize utility from their use (the 3-R’s). What is Management? • • • • • • • Management is simply defined as the process of using what you have ( in the best way) to achieve what you want. Management helps you to: reach your goals, achieve what you want, utilize your resources properly, make your life more systematic, avoid wastage of resources, increase efficiency in work situations, achieve a better standard of life. Mgt Contd Steps in the Management Process • • • • Planning Organising Controlling Evaluating Mgt Condt In working towards your goal; - First you have to think about what to do and how it is to be done, that is, you do the planning. -Then you assemble the resources and assign the responsibilities. In other words, you are organizing. - After that you perform the actual task ( i.e. putting your plans to action) and controlling your activities so that it is according to your plans. - Once the task is over, you check to see whether everything went according to your plan or not. In other words, you are evaluating. Mgt contd Planning involves; • Listing activities • Sequencing activities, and • Providing flexibility for any adjustments During planning think about the following; • What is to be done? • Who will do the work? • How will it be done? • When will it be done? • What resources will be used? Mgt Contd • • • • • Organizing means assembling resources and fixing responsibilities to carry out a plan. But, while assigning tasks to other people, we must make sure that they have the time and ability to do that work and are willing to do the same. Organizing ensures that: all the planned work gets done, there is proper distribution of work, work gets finished on time, time, energy, and other important resources are saved, and your planning is successful. Note: What will happen if you refuse to organise your work? Can you think of what would happen if you assigned tasks to people who are not willing or able to do them? Mgt Contd Controlling is also known as putting a plan into action. Controlling means carrying out the activities as planned and organized earlier. • As the plan is being carried out, you also have to check the progress of your plan. When you do this, you may sometimes find a changed situation which calls for a fresh decision. • You make adjustments as the plan is being carried out or implemented. You change or control your activities so that your plan is not a failure. This is also called flexibility. Mgt contd Evaluating. Evaluating means checking the progress of your plan and taking corrective measures if needed. • Thus evaluation helps you to understand your weaknesses and mistakes so that it is checked and will not be repeated in future. This is also called looking back or “feedback”. • Evaluation is done at each stage of management i.e. planning, organizing, and controlling. You have to evaluate at every stage so that you do not regret in the end. • Evaluation at each stage help you to bring a change in your planning and/or organizing and controlling so as to improve end results and complete the process smoothly and successfully or learn to do a better job in future. Mgt contd Motivating Factors in Management There are three motivating factors in mgt; 1. Goals. Goals are the aims or objectives that we want to achieve and work for. Goals grows out of our values, desires and needs 2. Values. A value is a moral principle and/or belief that a person holds about some aspect of life. E.g. honesty, punctuality, kindness, sincerity, health, good habits, happiness, etc. all these may be valued. 3. Standards. Standard is an accepted level of quality. Hence it is a measure of values that compel individuals to perform actions that will give the desired satisfaction. (Test) Two Questions Answer All Time : 5 Minutes 1. Categorize the Following Resources into Human and Non-Human; Time, Money, Land, Fertilizer, Seeds, House, CommunityWarehouse, Skills and Energy. 2. List the three ‘Rs’ that you should adopt to get maximum utility from the use of resources? Poverty and Food Insecurity The Context In spite of Nigeria's enormous economic potential and growing economy; • Poverty is on the rise, with 61 percent of the population — almost 100 million people — living on less than $2 a day. • Instability and insecurity have consistently undermined Nigeria's development, due to a toxic blend of poor governance, ethnic and religious rivalry, regional tensions, economic inequality, and political exclusion. • These problems are likely to intensify as the country is squeezed by population growth, climate change, a diminishing natural resource base, and recurrent political strife. Module Two: Poverty and Food security Definition of Basic Concepts What is food security? • Food security is access by all people at all times to adequate nutritious food to lead a healthy and productive life. • Food security exists when all people, at all times, have physical and economic access to sufficient safe and nutritious food that meets their dietary needs and food preferences for an active and healthy life. • Note: From these definition four dimension of food security can be identified as follows; physical availability of food, economic and physical access to food, food utilization and stability of the other three dimensions over time. The Four Dimensions of Food Security • Physical AVAILABILITY of food; this is determine by level of food production, stock levels and net trade • Economic and physical ACCESS to food; adequate supply may not by itself guarantee food security at household levels because access could be influence by incomes, expenditure, markets and prices. • Food UTILIZATION; this determine the nutritional status of individuals /households. Utilization is determine by good feeding practices, food preparation, diversity of the diet and intra-household distribution of food combined with good biological utilization of food consumed by the body. • STABILITY of the other three dimensions over time; Adverse weather conditions, political instability, or economic factors (unemployment, rising food prices) may have an impact on your food security status. Note: For food security objectives to be realized, all the four dimensions must be fulfilled simultaneously. Conceptually • National Food Security: Food is available in market throughout the country from domestic production, commercial imports, or food assistance; and • Household Food Security: All household members have affordable access at all times to the food they need for a healthy life. Typology of Food Insecurity In terms of duration there are two general types of food insecurity; 1. CHRONIC FOOD INSECURITY 2. TRANSITORY FOOD INSECURITY In between the two there may be what is term as Seasonal Food Insecurity ( intermediate ) Chronic Food Insecurity • Chronic food insecurity occurs when people are unable to meet their minimum food requirements over a sustained period of time. It is long-term or persistent in nature. • Chronic food insecurity is often the result of extended periods of poverty, lack of assets and inadequate access to productive or financial resources. • Chronic food insecurity can be overcome with typical long term development measures such as education or access to productive resources, such as credit etc • But in the first instance chronically food insecure people may need more direct access to food to enable them to raise their productive capacity TRANSITORY FOOD INSECURITY • It refers to a sudden drop in the ability to produce or access enough food to maintain a good nutritional status. Transitory food insecurity is short-term and temporary • Transitory food insecurity is primarily caused by short-term shocks and fluctuations in food availability and food access, including year-to-year variations in domestic food production, food prices and household incomes. • Transitory food insecurity is relatively unpredictable and can emerge suddenly and this makes planning and programming more difficult and requires different capacities and types of intervention, including early warning capacity and safety net programmes Seasonal Food Insecurity • It is an intermediate type of food insecurity which occurs when there is a cyclical pattern of inadequate availability and access to food. • This is associated with seasonal fluctuations in the climate, cropping patterns, work opportunities (labour demand) and/or prevalence of diseases. • In rural communities it is common to talk of “hungry periods”( e.g pre-harvest periods) and “periods of plenty” (e.g harvest periods)related to the agricultural calendar and/or cyclical availability of employment Typology Contd In terms of severity the following types of food insecurity are identified; • Acute food insecurity which is used in describing a severe and life threatening situation. • Famine which is used in describing the most extreme situation of food insecurity usually associated with substantial loss of life. Direct Indicators of Food and Nutrition Security at household level • Food Consumption ( Food Consumption Score (FCS), Household hunger scale (HHS), Household Dietary Diversity Scale (HDDS), Survival Deficit(SD), Livelihood Deficit(LD), Proxy Calorie, as sub-indicators) • Livelihood Evolution (change in asset, income etc as subindicators) • Nutritional Status (Global Acute Malnutrition (GAM), Severe Acute Malnutrition (SAM), MUAC etc as sub-indicators) • Mortality ( Under 5 mortality rate etc, Maternal mortality rate, Crude death Index etc as sub-indicators) Note: See UNICEF SMART Survey/Tools, FEWSnet IPC report, CH reports by CILSS and FAO -FSVA Reports for more details on these indicators Indirect Indicators/Contributing factors of Food and nutrition security • Hazards and Vulnerabilities ( drought, Flood, Diseases and pests outbreaks, Fire, etc • Food availability ( domestic production, imports, stocks, food aids etc) • Economic Access to food ( prices, income etc) • Food Utilization including access to water • Stability ( seasonal calendars, etc) Factors that would reduce household food insecurity • Increased Agricultural Land Productivity • Investments in Market Infrastructure • Investments in Irrigation Infrastructure • Provision of education/skills to Smallholder farmers • Extension Services • Social Safety Net Programs Note: High Food and Input Prices worsen Food Insecurity How to Measure and report food Insecurity situation • To accurately describe the intensity of food insecurity, different scales or terms have been developed using different indicators and cut-off points or benchmarks. • Until recently, there was no commonly used scale and thus making it very hard to compare the severity of different food security crises. • This in turn makes it hard for government and other stakeholders to prioritize between different contexts and respond proportionately to needs. • Recently the Cadre Harmonise framework (developed by CILSSAGRYMET/FAO) was adopted in the ECOWAS region as a standard tool for FS analysis and reporting . • There is also the IPC (Integrated Phase Classification) used by FEWSnet/WFP and other development partners in analysing and reporting FS situation.
