Level 1. Consumption and Marketing of Aquaculture Products
Improved nutrition and food self-sufficiency are two of the main priorities quoted in the policies of the governments of developing countries. Aquaculture is being recognized increasingly as a sector which can provide nutritious products of quality and contribute either directly or indirectly to the food resources of the country. Based on this premise, government support should be directed towards those production systems which can be operated within the confines of the purchasing power of the communities as a whole, and at locations close to the markets.
Handling and marketing of fish are activities in which women traditionally predominate. However, support facilities for promotion and marketing aquaculture products, particularly in remote rural areas unaccustomed to fish, are not adequately provided to lessen the constraints on women engaged in local distribution and marketing.
Full recognition should be given to these traditional and existing roles of women, and increased attention should be paid to chose local commercial and social factors which can either limit or enhance their expansion into aquaculture, for example, storage facilities, transportation systems, trading procedures, distribution networks, etc. The need for transportation systems and distribution networks, particularly the former, must be recognized as constraints in all fields of development for women. Until overcome, this constraint often negates the efforts of assistance.
Existing and successful women's groups should be enhanced by the creation of marketing-based trade associations structured on mutual cooperation and codependency. The sharing and distribution of essential market information, for example, production figures and cycles, price structures, consumer preferences, etc., must be encouraged to the benefit of all concerned in the buying chain. Such associations can effectively provide self-financed market support services for their members to the greater benefit of the community as a whole. These benefits may be in the form of credit availability, stable food supplies and price structures, consumer education, market facilities, etc. In addition, successful trade associations can expand into other complimentary commodity areas or development activities, and serve as valuable and effective liaison with outside contacts or as a producer lobby tool.
Motivation towards aquaculture marketing at all levels is vitally important. Based on current government policies for aquaculture development, such as increased employment, optimal exploitation of natural resources, food self-sufficiency, etc., governments should support and encourage processing, marketing, and distribution networks for the benefit of both producers and consumers.
The success of women's participation in trade associations should be furthered by free access to formal management and marketing skills, encouraged by available training.
Level 2. Aquaculture Production
The active participation of governments in the infrastructure of the sector is necessary but, with certain exceptions, governments should not themselves be involved in commercial production.
Women are eminently capable, both physically and technically, of participating in all three basic systems of aquaculture production and their many adaptations. Their participation is evident in family groups, in communal or rural groups, in specific women's groups, and in commercial concerns. Particularly evident is their work in intensive production systems in hatcheries. All of these enterprises can therefore be encouraged.
A number of specific social, economic, and cultural constraints limit the opportunities for women to participate in aquaculture as producers. The extent of these constraints are location-specific and therefore special provisions are often required to overcome them. Women's economic activities must be integrated with their domestic activities, and their financial resources are generally limited. Associative forms of aquaculture production are therefore more suited to these general constraints.
Time is a major constraint for women in rural areas. This is relevant to aquaculture production as certain production practices are demanding on time. Production enterprises have therefore to be selected carefully, and again associative enterprises are more appropriate for women in rural areas.
Many opportunities exist for women to participate in aquaculture production but more specific identification of opportunities to upgrade and expand their activities is needed. For example, support activities of production, both upstream and downstream, are generally neglected but provide important opportunities for women's employment and income. These activities include production of fry and fingerlings (juveniles) in hatcheries, networking, processing, etc., and should be considered in addition to end production.
Greater attention is required in the identification, planning, and execution of all aquaculture production enterprises, but particularly those which involve women. Better preparation can be achieved through studies of the baseline, which should be carried out on site and involve qualified women. The baseline should take into account the components of marketing as well as production and local infrastructure. The time for the baseline study should be adequate for the magnitude of the proposed development. Follow-up systems are also required to monitor the impact of development activities on women, and to publicize the data.
Level 3. Local Infrastructure
The infrastructure necessary to support the primary beneficiaries of aquaculture as a whole is constrained by many common problems. Among the most important are the ownership rights of land, and legal access to water. In this regard, the local administrative structure is often an added constraint. These constraints are more acute for women than for men, and unfortunately these problems in many countries will not be easily resolved for some time.
Technical problems, such as the need for basic resources of seed, feed, fertilizer, and equipment are constrained more by access to capital or credit than by anything else. Again this constraint affects women more than men. Access to credit and training in credit management skills are important requirements for women investing effort in aquaculture. Credit should be readily provided to women, especially those who have demonstrated the financial viability of their enterprises and a market for the increased production. Where necessary, assistance should be provided to undertake such analyses as it is imperative that the enterprise is viable.
Training of women in extension work, equipment maintenance, hatchery and farm management and operations, and skills for dealing with local administration, have been almost totally neglected and are of prime importance. As time is a major constraint for women, training must be scheduled appropriately. Relatively few obstacles exist to women's participation in aquaculture at this sectoral level with the exception of training. In many activities, such as in hatcheries, women are preferred. The presence of women in the sector at this level is important as it sets examples for others. As a certain level of education is often required (especially to be employed as a government extension agent), women should be included in mid-level training and scholarship programmes.
There is a great priority for women in extension services. Women extension agents respond to the needs of women producers and also create awareness about possibilities for women. Constraints for women in extension are the lack of training and basic education, time, the requirement and the means to travel, and the poor pay. Most government extension services, particularly in the new field of aquaculture, suffer from a lack of funds and facilities. Compensation can be assisted through incentives.
Extension services must be geared towards the needs of rural women. As many women share the responsibilities of production they need to have the information, and there are also good socio-cultural reasons; for example, there are often prohibitions for women to speak to foreign men. For women, training and visit systems by a few women extension agents combined with local demonstration farms owned and run by women may be preferable to the traditional cadre of uniformed government extension agents.
More attention to the components of this level are required in the planning and execution of development projects for women. In particular:
(i) Preparation must take into account the existing local infrastructure and the ownership and utilization of land and water. Access to these fundamental resources must exist in the area before the creation of the infrastructure becomes meaningful.(ii) Extension activities must be brought to where the women are, and women should be included in planning extension services.
(iii) Pilot or model farms, including some operated primarily by women, should be established and given exposure to other farmers in the area, both male and female. Demonstration farms (possibly also staffed by women) are useful to reflect actual farm conditions, and can be readily accessible to women.
(iv) Training and visit extension systems should be implemented and utilized.
(v) Women extension workers should be recruited and have access to means of transportation; female link workers should be trained, and both link workers and extension agents should conduct on-the-farm training.
(vi) Information materials should be deployed by extension services which are responsive to and indicative of women's presence in the sector.
At this level there is a continuous need for updating training to keep pace with an advancing sector. In addition to the need for short-courses and workshops on technology, there is a continuous requirement for workshops on financial management for women, on business, credit, and credit management. These should be held in areas where women operate viable aquaculture businesses.
Level 4. National Infrastructure
At this level of the sector, there are in general few differences in male and female performance. However, many regional constraints exist for the equal participation of women. These must be recognized and eventually overcome.
Education and training at this level (middle and upper management) have not been major issues for the participation of women. The constraints have been the shortage of suitable short and long-term courses for the sector as a whole, and the narrow range of subject matter. Courses have been predominantly on biotechnology to the neglect of the important non-biotechnical subjects, such as economics, socio-economics, marketing, management, administration, etc.
When training courses are arranged it is important that women are notified that they are eligible. If necessary, special provisions (such as child care) have to be organized to ensure their participation, and at times training courses for women only may be necessary. Governments should be encouraged to make long-term commitments to train women as extension leaders and station/hatchery managers, as well as researchers and administrators in aquaculture.
Training should include other disciplines than those related to the biotechnology of aquaculture. Non-biotechnical disciplines are equally important for women. Training should be given by professionals in these disciplines, including women. In regions where the wives participate in marketing and management of male-run farms, these women should be eligible and included in appropriate training courses on management.
Higher education in aquaculture is, however, needed for women in many countries and the resources are not readily at hand; for example, in Africa and parts of Latin America appropriate educational centres are few. It is important that external training, particularly in inter-regional and regional training programmes, includes women. As suitable candidates may be scarce women with training in aquaculture-related fields (agriculture, biology, veterinary sciences, agriculture economics, etc.), should be selected for additional training in aquaculture. Scholarships for women provided by assistance agencies are important in this context.
For the long-term investment in education and training, special consideration should be given to promote the idea of the non-traditional professions for girls. Aquaculture has opportunities for both academic and vocational employment for women at all levels.
There are few (if any) constraints for qualified women to enter aquaculture research. On the contrary, in many countries women have easier access than men to research professions. There are numerous examples of women active as researchers, and members of the professional organizations.
Research for aquaculture development should be adaptive and farmer-oriented in areas where the level of aquaculture development is low; research should identify and incorporate technologies which can suit women. Where the level of aquaculture development is higher, more sophisticated approaches can be applied. Again, research and development should not be restricted to biotechnology. Ideally suited for women researchers are cultural, social, and economic problems, in addition to the traditional fields of marketing research and consumer education.
The organization at a national level of inputs into the sector can benefit from the participation of women, in particular the management of programmes for credit, loans, guarantees, and development grants, etc. This would ensure that women have equal access to such inputs, and all documents had paragraphs appropriately worded for women. However, credit programmes aimed only at women should be avoided.
Level 5. National Sector Management
National sector management of aquaculture as a whole has been weak in both developed and developing countries. Most governments must still determine their need for aquaculture, and establish a policy and development plan accordingly. In those countries where development has been established, there remains the need to maintain an enabling environment to maximize the national resources - and this includes the participation of women.
At a national level, governments must foster aquaculture by establishing policies and plans, both short and long-term, which are adaptable to change, and must implement them through legislation, fiscal policies, administration, demonstration, training, and education. In addition, governments must foster the position of women in the sector. This can be achieved by:
(i) A national plan for aquaculture development which addresses women within target groups at every level. This requires a commitment on the part of the government to remove obstacles which impede or limit access of the target groups to productive resources and education.(ii) Secure adequate resources and funding to implement the plan through the creation and/or strengthening of the national infrastructure. To ensure the participation of women it is vital that the expertise of women in economic, social, and technical affairs, etc., are involved in the planning processes, and in subsequent sector development and analysis.
Level 6. Global and Inter-regional Management
Intervention at a global level and inter-regional level continues to be vital in establishing aquaculture, particularly for developing countries where no sector has yet been established. Advice and the direction of technical assistance to national governments to promote their aquaculture development in general, and the involvement of women in particular, remains a high priority.
As women have demonstrated their ability to work successfully at all levels of the sector, it is important to continue to construct an environment conducive to their greater participation and mutual benefit. Further opportunities must be created. This can best be achieved at the global level, predominantly through the collection and dissemination of information (as demonstrated by this Workshop), and the transfer of technology between countries. For example, the proceedings of this Workshop should be brought to the attention of international and inter-governmental organizations (such as the FAO Committee on Fisheries), and other international institutions to make governments aware of the need to provide policy support for the participation of women in the sector at all levels, and to adopt the other recommendations of the workshop.
Continuous dissemination can also be achieved through organization at a global level of international conferences not only to up-date regional and national aquaculture programmes by bringing together decision-makers to reorientate development strategies for aquaculture as a whole, but also to develop strategies in which women and men can benefit mutually. Such regional conferences could promote individual national initiatives for workshops and training courses for women.
Several on-going efforts specific to women in aquaculture development exist. It is important that these are evaluated through country case-studies, not only to highlight the participation of women at all levels but also to identify and resolve recurring issues; also to determine successes and failures as bases for formulating and planning future programmes for women. These can best be undertaken at a global level.
Similarly, impartial monitoring of women's participation in the entire spectrum of the aquaculture sector, including collection of statistics, can only be carried out at a global level. A better definition of the active labour input by women into the sector is necessary, particularly as it relates to long-term investment planning by both governments and private industry. One mechanism for this might be an existing databank, such as FARMAP (the Agricultural Farming System) which collects and codes the activities of women in the sector to quantify and identify their labour inputs.
Recognition of the contributions being made by women to the sector can be made effectively at a global level. This can be achieved by promoting and exchanging technical information between women through TCDC principles, and requiring the support of international and bilateral agencies. This will also encourage the multilateral, bilateral and national agencies, and donors to continue their policies to favour the integration of women in the sector.
Greater awareness of women's participation in aquaculture is required. This can be achieved through the better use of opportunities, particularly in published materials. Consumer education uses this technique almost entirely, but there are opportunities at all levels to make readers or viewers more aware of women active in aquaculture. Such initiatives can be instigated at a global level.
