Smallholder women’s empowerment through farmer-participatory design and user-led innovation of labour-

saving agricultural tools in Malawi

Dr. Una Murray 3D4AGDEV, NUI Galway, Ireland

Zewdy Gebremedhin, Una Murray, Decolius Kalumo, Ash Tariku, Willem Kamthunzi, Tony Murray, Rowland Chirwa, Rodah Zulu,

Paul Wagstaff & Charles Spillane

Smallholder women’s empowerment through farmer-participatory design and user-led innovation of labour-

saving agricultural tools in Malawi

Dr. Una Murray 3D4AGDEV, NUI Galway, Ireland

Zewdy Gebremedhin, Una Murray, Decolius Kalumo, Ash Tariku, Willem Kamthunzi, Tony Murray, Rowland Chirwa, Rodah Zulu,

Paul Wagstaff & Charles Spillane

www.3d4agdev.org

Women smallholder farmers largely dependent on manual labour and hand-held tools

Minimal access to mechanized equipment and farm-level energy sources for cultivation and post-harvest agri-processing

Rural Energy, Women’s Labour & Climate Change Adaptation

Technology & energy deficit trap can perpetuate rural poverty How can women smallholders move step-by-step towards labour-saving innovations? Foster innovation potential of women smallholders (climate change adaptation)

NKHAMENYA

KABUDULA

Labour Peaks (over Year) Labour Peaks (during day)

Labour Intensive Tasks (& Existing Tools)

Rainy Season Tasks (& Tools) 1) Making Ridges (hoe) 2) Banking Ridges (hoe) 3) Weeding (hoe) 4) Planting (sticks, hoes, heels) 5) Clearing land (hoe, panga)

Dry Season Tasks (& Tools) 1) Cutting/decobbing maize (Panga, hands) 2) Threshing groundnuts (hands, sticks, sacks) 3) Shelling maize & groundnuts (hands) 4) Grinding maize (mortar & pestle)

1600 women smallholder farmers

192 “best bet innovators”

Survey

16 innovator groups

Identification of high-labour tasks considered onerous by women smallholder farmers

Participatory design

User-led innovation

Prototyping

High-labour post-harvest tasks

Grinding maize

E

A B

Shelling maize

Shelling groundnuts

3D4AGDEV Female farmer

designed maize sheller

3D4AGDEV Female farmer

designed groundnut sheller

C D

F

3D4AGDEV Female farmer

designed maize grinder

women farmer designed tool prototypes offer major post-harvest time savings

Post-harvest time savings Maize sheller: 18 hours per tonne (1000 kg) Groundnut sheller: 571 hours per tonne Maize grinder: 58 hours per tonne

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Tim

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min

] Conventionnal methods

New tools

Time taken for post-harvest processing

Existing Methods

3D4AGDEV Tools

Maize sheller

Groundnut sheller

Maize grinder

Need national & institutional policies that:

• Provide supports and incentives to allow identification and fostering of rural women innovators to generate and market livelihood improving products and services.

• Engage women smallholder farmers as early as possible in needs-driven participatory technology development where they become the agents of change to promote and market innovations.

• Facilitate social enterprise models where women farmer innovator groups are key partners and beneficiaries that can sustain and scale-up social enterprises.

Enabling environment for closing gender gaps & scale-up via a social enterprise approach with women farmer innovator groups?

Social enterprises with women innovator groups for climate adaptation and resilience