Although a degree of gender-specificity is the norm, in some areas men and women grow similar crops and do similar tasks. When only women are considered, their rural activities are found to be extremely diverse among and within ethnic groups, and even within villages and agro-ecological farming systems. In addition to helping with the farming activities of their husbands, households and family, women farm and carry out other productive activities as individuals and in groups. Most have personal plots and livestock. Individual women and women's groups in a single village may differ markedly in the crops they grow, the livestock they keep, in the tasks they perform on family fields, and in the income-generating activities they carry out.
Women manage smaller areas of land than do the family or their husbands.
However, their labor input to the household economy equals that of men and their diversification activities add value to agricultural production and generate income. The importance of women's activities for the social and economic well-being of rural households justifies the use of publicly funded agricultural services to help women with activities and complementary services that are outside pure agricultural extension. Extension and agricultural support services must identify, work with, and learn from their female clients. Extension activities and messages must match the varied activities of rural women. Women need a wider range of information than do men.