GENDER EQUITY IN THE COFFEE VALUE CHAINS – a presentation
by Charles Oyuga (KCPA) during the Kenya National Coffee Workshop in
Nyeri Kenya
Equal opportunity for women and men is a fundamental human right and an absolute
precondition for sustainable economic growth and poverty reduction. Although the majority
of both women and men among the rural smallholder coffee growing families in Kenya live
in poverty, the existing inequalities result in significant differences in livelihood opportunities
and outcomes.
The differences in opportunities emanate from differing roles and responsibilities between
women and men as prescribed by existing cultural norms, values and prevailing power
structures. These include differences in access to decision making processes, health,
education, agricultural production and food security, land, credit and services such as
agriculture extension and technology, as well as the uneven division of household labor.
The main challenge that faces the female coffee producers in Kenya is the unequal level of
participation in terms of effort input into production and the benefits from the farm produce.
Although women’s participation in rural organizations has increased, women continue to be
severely underrepresented at decision making level both at the household and cooperative
society levels.
Agricultural Value Chains
The AVCs are embedded in a Social Context:
 From Production to Processing to Marketing to Disposal, Gendered patterns of
behaviour condition men’s and women’s jobs and tasks, the distribution of resources
and benefits derived from family IGAs;
 HHs and Markets interact in ways that affect access to land, labour, and other assets;
 Social Institutions reflect social norms leading to a gender differentiated labour force;
 Legal frameworks embody social beliefs. E.g., inheritance laws and property rights
that restrict people’s ability to access and accumulate wealth according to gender
categories
Arguments for Gender in the Coffee Value Chains
Well consolidated arguments on why gender in the Coffee value chains is an important field
of work:
Why gender and value chains?
The agricultural landscape in the region is changing:
i. Agriculture sector is becoming more technologically sophisticated, commercially
oriented and globally integrated;
ii. There is evidence however that as the agricultural landscape is getting more
commercialised, smallholder farmers, especially women, may not be able to compete
and benefit due to lower access to resources, capital, capacity and other social
barriers;
iii.
iv.
There are tremendous opportunities from these changes if gender equality is
integrated into agricultural programs /projects aiming to take advantage of emerging
markets of the Kenyan Coffee, especially the speciality coffee market;
Existing gender disparities in access to resources, market participation and capital
accumulation:
 Although over 70% of smallholder coffee farmers in Kenya are
women, they lack secure rights to production resources (land, labour,
capital), lower educational levels;
 Women are more likely to be ‘unserved’ by formal financial
institutions. The level of women access to formal financial services is
limited by the many number of constraints put in place by the banks
and other financial institutions that severely limit their access to formal
financial services;
 The extent of market participation (especially in formal markets like
coffee market) by women is lower than that of their male counterparts.
Women are more likely to sell their agricultural products in the
informal markets like by the road sides;
 Adoption rates for new technology innovation among women is lower
than for men often making women less competitive in the agricultural
value chains;
v.
The potential gains from reducing gender disparities
 There is evidence that income under the control of women is more
likely to be used to improve family welfare, (ICRW);
 Women spend upto 90% of their income on their families, while men
spend only 30-40%;
 Strengthening marital bargaining power and "voice" within the
household decision-making to the level that women are equally
involved in decision making on crucial issues at the households;
 If women had the same resources as men, they could increase yields on
their farms by 20-30%; and
 Raise agricultural output by 2.5-4% and reduce hungry people by 100150 million globally;
Crops for Men and Women in Coffee Growing Households in Kenya
Women
Men
 Bananas;
 Coffee;
 Beans;
 Tea;
 Maize;
 Sugar cane;
 Cabbages and Kales;
 Cows;
NB: Marketing of the above and the products
 Passion Fruits;
therein require a formal market structure
 Poultry;
NB: The marketing of this crops and animals
do not require a formal market structure
Why gender mainstreaming is key to smart development
 Women are Essential to economic growth in the coffee growing households in Kenya
 Investments in Women often return multiple dividends in terms of helping to improve
the wellbeing of their children, families and communities;
 Women are central wage earners, their earnings and productive activities provide vital
income to many households;
 Women also are vital food producers and preparers, producing between 60 and 80
percent of food crops;
 Yet women continue to face social barriers and inequities that prevent them from
realizing their full economic potential
NB: The data indicated below is from a study undertaken by KCPA in March 2011 on the
level to which women are involved in decision making in the coffee producing households in
Kenya.
Gender segregated activities at the coffee producer level of the Kenya coffee value chain
Activity
Percentage contribution by Women
a. Coffee Planting and land Preparation
 In all coffee growing HHs in Kenya, 31% of land
preparation and coffee planting is done by women;
 40% land preparation and coffee planting is by men;
 While at 29%, both the men and women share the
responsibility
 This data indicates that more men are involved in land
preparation and coffee planting as compared to women.
But, women also participate indirectly in the 40% cases
by preparing food for the men as they undertake the
farm work.
b. Coffee Tending
 34% of coffee tending activities at the farm level is
undertaken by women;
 23% of the work on coffee in the farms is undertaken by
men;
 While 43% of the workforce is shared by both the men
and women
 The data indicates that as work in the farm becomes
more, (pruning, weeding, chemical application,
composting, etc, the participation of men reduces while
women become more involved and responsible. This
hence indicates the need for women to be capacity built
on coffee husbandry).
c. Coffee Harvesting & transport to the
 47% of all coffee growing HHs have women picking
factories
coffee and transporting to the factories while only 16%
of all the HHs have men do the same job
d. Planting and tending to other crops
 In all coffee growing HHs in Kenya, 32% of them have
women planting and tending to other crops alongside
coffee while only 14% of them have men do the same;
From the figures in the table above, it is good to note that women are actively involved in the
coffee production in Kenya and as such they require the necessary skills and knowledge to
enable them produce high quality and quantity coffee.
Key Issues in the Coffee Value Chain in regards to Gender disparity in Kenya
a. Access to and Control over farm Inputs - The level of access to finances by women for
purchase of farm inputs is very low. In most of the coffee producing households in
Kenya, about 50% have the male members of the households having absolute control of
the finances and making decisions on purchase of farm inputs. However, as an exception
in 25% of the cases, the women have absolute control over the purchase of farm inputs,
this is only the case for the widows and single women producing coffee where male
counterparts are either deceased or out in the cities.
b. Access to Hired Farm Labour - 36% of the women in coffee production share equal
responsibility with their male counterparts in terms of making decisions to hire farm
labour. It should however be noted that women participation in choosing of farm labour is
significant at 27% since it is the woman who has been observed to perform most of the
farm work as far as coffee production is concerned. But still, the men control 37% of the
share in deciding on when and what form of farm labour to hire.
c. Access to Family Land - Up to 19% of the women in coffee production in Kenya have
full access and control over family owned agricultural land and are free to engage in
agricultural production while 37% of the women have a equal share of control over
family agricultural land. However, up to 44% of men from coffee growing households
have absolute control over family agricultural land and as such dictate what investment
need to be done on the land.
d. Access to Training opportunities - Access to training and capacity building for the
women in coffee in Kenya stands at only 33% where both the man and the woman attend
the training and 20% where the women attend the trainings. The low level of access to
training opportunities by women coffee farmers may also be attributed to the low level of
education amongst the women and the inability of most of the trainers to develop training
tools and techniques that can reach to the illiterate women coffee farmers. The training
programmes also do not take into consideration the many needs and domestic duties of
women and as such, women do not attend such programmes.
The low level of attendance by the women in the training programmes has a direct
negative impact on the quality and quantity of coffee production since it is the women
who mostly work in the coffee farms, and their lack of adequate skills and knowledge on
good agronomic practices contributes to the low yields being experienced at the moment.
e. Access to Bank/Credit Facilities – Women have very low level of access to financial
credit from formal institutions including banks and other financial institutions in Kenya.
Only 11% of women from coffee growing households in Kenya have direct access to
credit facilities from banks and other formal and informal financial sources.
It is important to note that a significant 63% of the women do not have any role to play in
terms of deciding when and how to access credit for the family coffee farming as well as
they lack access to external financing to enable them purchase farm inputs as well as
finance hiring of farm labor.
f. Level of Voting power at the Cooperative Society - Women representation with regard
to voting and making decisions on election of cooperative committee members is
significantly very low in Kenyan coffee producer cooperative societies. This has a
negative impact on how women could make contributions related to who should occupy
important decision making positions for the cooperative societies.
g. Access to Cooperative Society Membership - According to a study by KCPA in 2011,
just about 19% of women coffee farmers in Kenya are registered as members of
cooperative societies. 54% of the membership in the coffee producer cooperative societies
is dominated by men and this has a bearing on the decision making organs including
election of committee members. However, a significant 37% of coffee producing
societies in Kenya have embraced joint membership at the cooperative societies and as
such they have equal household representation in the societies whereby either the man or
the woman can equally represent the family in the coffee producer cooperative society.
h. Decision Making Capacity on Coffee Marketing - The report by KCPA gender study of
2011 indicates that women have very little say in the way the cooperative societies make
their marketing decisions. The level of decision making during marketing of coffee by
women stands at only 18%, while 30% of the marketing cases were indicated as where
both the men and the women shared in making marketing decisions, especially at the
household level and this is representative of the societies that have embraced joint
membership. But, the men still control 50% of the decision on coffee marketing.