Gender, Livestock and Household Peasant Production: Dairy and Diversification in Crop-Livestock Systems of an Andean Community

ABSTRACT

This technical report presents results of the gender and livestock project carried out by Elizabeth Dunn and Corinne Valdivia. The original objective of the project was to analyze the impact due to the introduction of commercial crops into the household economy of San José Llanga, a peasant community in the Central Altiplano of Bolivia. This report includes the analysis of all the economic enterprises of households in San José Llanga involved in dairy production and compares them to those that have not incorporated dairy as a commercial activity.

The research approach combined case studies to unveil the relationships between household members and their production domains, and a formal survey of a random sample of San José Llanga families. The relationship between resources, type of economic activities and the impact of these on in-kind and cash income were analyzed. Diversity of agricultural and off-farm economic activities are found to be present in most households. There are different economic groups in the community, and those peasant groups that have also adopted dairy production as a commercial activity are better off. Forty-eight percent of the families at the time of the survey owned improved dairy cattle. Off-farm employment was an economic activity present in all income groups. Income domains relevant to household food security are usually controlled by a female head of household and relate to the sheep enterprise. This activity and the income generated was consistently invested in food and school supplies.

SR-CRSP University of Missouri http://www.ssu.missouri.edu/ssu/srcrsp 961008