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Box 4. COTE **D'IVOIRE.** TOGO. **AMD BRKIN** _FASO. **INCoeE FRGI TUE** OFANILY rIELDSB Although women now contribute more labor to the production of cotton on 'fami ly fietds," men retain controt over the income from cotton, and women have lost income from their household plots since they couLd not spend as much tinme on them. Reduced access to the household plots affects the financial status of the women and their daughters -- these fields often provide income for school fees, cLothing, medical supplies, and food for household consumption. Such fields are often important to the survival of poLygamously married women and their children in the dry season, when the output from the family fields is exhausted. Loss of income from this source has not been made up by revenues from the family fields. Women report that they derive no income f rom the family f ields, the proceeds of which are of ten allocated by the household head to the purchase of another wife, a mobylette or a radio. In Burkina Faso, which has a high incidence of polygamy, the introduction of cotton has reportedly contributed to a rise in polygamy. A recent survey has shown that mechanized producers have an average of 2.5 wives; those with animaL traction, 2.1 wives; and manual cultivators, 1.7 wives. Wfomen have had to make up the loss of earnings from their household plots by secondary activities. The survey shows that almost all activities that yield supplementary household income are undertaken by women, for exampte, processing of groundnut oil, karite butter t65%), beer (32%), while revenue from individual fields accoumts for 26%.

Source: World Bank, OED 1988.

Case 13: NtGERIA: TUE INVISIBLE **MOIEN** Case 14: BOTSWAA AND SIERRA LEoME: THE **INVISIBLE IJOME** Sometimes women are invisible to untrained Because of the marked spatial separation of researchers or. enumerators and arable and livestock ferming and strongly sex-specific excluded from extension allocation of farming responsibilities and tasks in services. Northern Nigerian Botswana, it has been possible to estimate the Muslim women in seclusion are relative invemtments to and returns from maIe and not often seen in public, female farming (Fones-Suridetl 1984). Anatysisof 1984 especially by unrelated mates. production data shows that atthough women contributed This does not mean they are almost 70% of the vatue of arabte production, they economicalty Inactive, however. benefitted from tess thon 15% of government A number _oai_ land, hire expenditures on that subsector, including extension. taborers, use overseers to help manage their farms, and make A project formu-ation mission undertaken in agricultural decisions, and ait 1979 by the FAO/WorId Bank Co3perative Program in are engaged in somae form of Northern Sierra Leone failed to identify in its data agroprocessing. Analysis of cotlection, analysis, or presentation, the agricuttural activities of wor'en preponderant ro-e of female rice farmers and traders in this region led to their in several of the of the northern chiefdoms. In fact, about inclusion in extension 80% of small rice traders in these areas are women activities (<eidemamn 1987>. <FAO/Wortd Bank 1980).

A project formu-ation mission undertaken in 1979 by the FAO/WorId Bank Co3perative Program in Northern Sierra Leone failed to identify in its data cotlection, analysis, or presentation, the preponderant ro-e of female rice farmers and traders in several of the of the northern chiefdoms. In fact, about 80% of small rice traders in these areas are women <FAO/Wortd Bank 1980).

2.06 Gender Roles in Agriculture. Distinct divisions of labor by crops, livestock and farming operations exist in most African countries. This may differ for a single crop depending on whether it is grown as a household or personal crop. In many cases, men and women have complementary roles for the same croR. In the production of irrigated rice in The Gambia, Senegal, Mauritania, and Burkina Faso, for example, women specialize in transplanting, weeding, winnowing, harvesting, and threshing, while men perform other operations, such as paddy preparation and irrigation maintenance (Dey 1983). With regard to livestock, although divisions of ownership vary, there is a tendency for men to own cattle and women to keep poultry, goats and small ruminants.