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

RESULTS

AGRICULTURAL ENTERPRISES: Crops, Livestock and Income Composition

Sheep Production and Distribution

There are a number of different tasks associated with the sheep enterprise, including pastorear (herding), ordeñar (milking), trasquilar (shearing), bañar (dipping), cortar la cola (docking the tails), colección de guano (collection of sheep manure), and vender (selling). Herding, the main task, involves taking the sheep out to the native range in the morning and bringing them back to the corral at night. Animals are given water either by taking them to a maintained pond, a river, or by drawing water from a well. Herding usually only requires the labor of one person. However, when animals are grazed near croplands, the assistance of two extra people is required to prevent the animals from eating the crops. Voice commands, dogs, and either a pita (rope) or an onda (rope with a rock tied to it) are used to herd the flock.

The second major task associated with sheep production is shearing, which occurs roughly between the months of April and June. It takes one person approximately 20 to 30 minutes to shear a sheep. Most families shear one or two sheep in the morning hours before herding, and sometimes shear one or two more throughout the day while herding. It usually takes most families between one and two months to complete the shearing of the adult herd. After all the animals have been shorn, they are bathed to control external parasites.

Milking takes a person no more than an hour, and is done on a seasonal basis before grazing in the morning. Many families believe that cutting the tails of the newborn sheep, an annual task that takes less than one day, facilitates and shortens the breeding cycle of ewes. The last task, collection of the sheep manure from the corral, varies from family to family as some collect it daily and others collect it every few months. The sheep manure is left in stacks behind the house to be sold or used by the family as crop fertilizer.

Sheep production yields numerous useful products that the family can either use in the household or sell: lana (wool), cueros (hides), leche (milk), guano (sheep manure), oveja desollada (sheep carcass), and oveja parada (live sheep). In general, live sheep, wool, and sheep manure are the products that are sold most often, while the other products are saved mostly for household consumption. Table 2 presents the division of labor and responsibilities by gender and age between the members of the household for both sheep and dairy cattle enterprises. Women, heads of household and daughters, were responsible for or shared with the (MHH - make/teach of household) the sheep enterprises listed. Thirty-eight families in the sample reported owning sheep (Table 3). The total sheep numbers in the hands of these families was 1,882 animals, 891 of which were criollo sheep. The average flock size was 50 animals (36 std. dev.). Twenty families reported that they were herding sheep that belonged to others along with their own flock. Among the 38 sheep-herding families, the average number of sheep being grazed for others was 36 animals. Thus, there can be a large difference between the size of the herd grazed and the size of the herd owned. The average number of sheep owned by families differs between those involved in dairy and those that do not sell milk to PIL. The average herd owned by families that sell to PIL is 32 animals, while the remaining 21 families own an average herd of 16 animals.

Source: Five Case Studies of San José Llanga, 1993
Codes: MHH: 1 FHH: 2 Son: 3 Daughter: 4 Other: 5 No: 0

Source: Survey Information 1993
FHH: Female Head of Household
MHH: Male Head of Household

Twenty-seven families reported selling sheep, with sales for the year ranging from one to 30 animals (Table 4). The average annual sales were 11.3 sheep (29 std. dev.). The families in the sample had sold a total of 306 sheep during the study period, of which 177 were sold by the female head of household (FHH) The term "female head of household", as used in this paper, does not imply the absence of an adult male. Rather, every household will generally have both a male head of household (MHH) and a female head of household (FHH). In most cases this will be the couple who are raising children, or who continue to manage the production activities of their adult children living in the household. In some cases, the FHH will be a widow or once-married woman., 85 were sold by the male and female together, 25 were sold by the male head of household (MHH), 17 were sold by a female relative of the couple, and 2 were sold by an older son. Both the case study and survey data indicate that the money from sheep sales goes toward the purchase of goods for household needs.

Consumption of sheep was reported by 34 of the 45 families (Table 4). The average number of sheep consumed was 5.6, with an average live weight of 19 kg. Other products derived from the sheep enterprise were wool, hides, milk, and manure. The average amount of wool shorn by a family was 65 pounds, of which 28 were sold. The families sold almost all of the hides that resulted from their consumption of sheep. Milking sheep was also a productive activity for some families. Twenty-seven families had milked sheep, but only five families milked sheep for more than two months. Only four families in the sample had sold sheep's milk during the study year.

Source: Survey Information 1993.

Guano is an important product of sheep production because it can be used as a fertilizer for crops. Some information for SJL indicates that it is most frequently used when there will be a good rainy season (Huanca, 1995). Thirty-two of the families reported collecting manure (Table 4). Of these, 24 families sold sheep manure generating an average income of 55.5 bolivianos. The boliviano (Bs.) is the basic monetary unit in Bolivia. At the time of the study, the exchange rate was U.S. $1 = 4.25 Bs.. Twenty-four households reported using the manure; this is 63% of the families that herd sheep. Average use was 28 quintales (34 std. dev.). A summary of survey information on sheep products is presented in Table 4.

Sheep are an important food source for the household through both direct consumption and through sales, since revenue from sheep sales can be used to purchase other types of commodities not produced by the household. These are also advantageous in economies where incomplete markets for credit exist, because savings (sheep) can be cashed in small amounts at a time, unlike savings in the form of cattle. By providing manure as an input for crop production, these animals also reduce the risk associated with the availability of commercial fertilizer.

Table 3 summarizes the survey information on sheep herd dynamics. Families in the sample reported that in 1989 they pastured an average of 47 sheep. The average flock size had risen slightly, to 50 sheep in 1993. When asked to project the size of the family's future flock in 1997, 32 MHHs and 37 FHHs responded. On average, the men anticipated a flock of 59 sheep, while the women planned to have 74 sheep, considerably more than their husbands. The number of families planning to have sheep dropped, probably because 13 families had plans to migrate sometime in the future.

Sheep production is mainly the domain of women, and includes management of resources (grazing), production, processing, distribution and consumption. This is shown by the household case studies (Table 2) and is consistent across different cattle and dairy production strata. Women's dominance in the sale of sheep is also verified by the survey information. Twenty-four hour recalls of labor activities showed that women and girls reported more sheep care than men and boys at a rate of 6 to 1.

Dairy Production and Distribution

Dairy production is a relatively new enterprise in San José Llanga, with the PIL marketing outlet introduced only about five years ago. Although many families maintain dairy cows, there are different levels of involvement exhibited by each family (Table 1). For the most part, the tasks involved with dairy production are identical to those involved with sheep production: pastorear (herding), cruzar (breeding), ordeñar (milking), alimentar (feeding forage at home), colección de bosta (collecting manure), and vender (selling).

Herding is the principal task associated with cattle production. The animals graze all day until they are returned home and tethered for the night. The availability of family labor determined whether cows are grazed in the same area as the sheep or not. Most families in San José Llanga graze cows and sheep separately because the two species sometimes compete for the same forages. Each cow is usually tethered in one place, but has periodic changes in location throughout the day. Depending on the grazing area, they are usually taken to water once or twice daily. Feeding, herding, milking and manure collection were shared activities in the case of cattle according to the case studies (Table 2).

Breeding is the one task for which families will solicit outside help. Cows can be bred naturally or by artificial insemination. The payment for using another family's bull can be made with cash or a live sheep. The third task, milking, is carried out in the mornings before the animals are taken to graze. Families involved with PIL must also deliver the milk to the office, located in the main plaza square, early each morning. The case studies show that this task is usually done by the FHH or female children.

Labor associated with the last two tasks, feeding forage at home and collecting cow manure, vary from family to family depending on the amount of forage available and also on the amount of manure that the family utilizes daily. Forages are generally fed to the animals in the evenings during the winter months (June through October) when there is not enough natural forage available. Collection of cow manure is generally done on either a daily or a monthly basis, and is stored in piles close to the home to be used as a cooking fuel. A summary of the allocation of family labor is shown in Table 2.

Besides the income that can be made from the sale of live cattle or carcasses (usually only sold when an animal has been sick or died from old age), the family can also choose to sell or consume cattle products such as hides, milk, cheese and manure. In general, live cattle and milk are the products families tend to sell, while manure and cheese are the products they use in the household. Families with cattle owned an average of 5 animals, with 1.4 being criollo cows and 1.4 being improved cows.

Dairy production has become an increasingly important source of cash in recent years, although certainly not for all families. Of the 37 families owning cattle, only 22 had improved cows, and four of these families did not sell milk to PIL. Data on milk delivery for families in the sample were collected directly from the PIL office in SJL. Milking was reported by 25 of the families in the sample (Table 5). On average, families milked 3.8 months of the year (3.5 std. dev.). The 18 families from the sample that delivered milk to PIL between June of 1992 and May of 1993 were only those with improved dairy cows. Ten of these families (22%) delivered milk 9 or more months of the year, while 14 of the families (33%) delivered milk 7 or more months of the year. The average annual milk sales to PIL was 930 liters (578 std. dev.). The range is large, with the minimum annual sales by a family at 128 liters, and the maximum annual sales at 2,391 liters.

Source: Survey Information 1993

Some families maintain cattle for sales on hoof only (Table 5). Many families, including two of the case study families, deliver milk to PIL on a daily basis, but there are others, including two of the case study families, who have improved cows but have decided not to deliver milk to PIL. Milking the cows, some say, does not allow for proper calf weight gain (Illanes 1995), therefore lowering the sale price. Cash generated from milk sales in the case studies was used both to purchase food for the family and to pay farm expenses.

Both the survey and case study data (Table 4) indicate that cattle purchases and sales are made by the male head of household. Nineteen families in the sample sold a total of 33 animals in the past year. In 29 of the 33 reported sales, the primary seller was the MHH. This is consistent with the case study information. Among the main uses of revenue from cattle sales were home expenses, improvements to the cattle herd, and educational expenses. The case studies also indicated that cattle sales provide savings for migration and land investments outside of the community. Fifteen MHHs purchased an average of 1.2 cattle. The financing of these purchases, in all cases, was through prior cattle sales.

Information of herd dynamics indicate constant herd sizes with an expectation of future increases (Table 3). When PIL began purchasing milk in 1989, 35 families owned an average cattle herd of 4 head. By 1993, 37 families still had an average herd of 4 head, while families expecting to own cattle by 1997 dropped to 30, according to the MHH, and 31, according to the FHH. The expectation on the size of the cattle herd by 1997. differed between male and female heads of household; males expected a cattle herd of 12 animals while females expected only 9 (see Table 3). In both cases, the average cattle herd expectations was more than double the current size, though the amount of households expecting to have any cattle dropped by approximately 20%. The latter may by due to migration expectations, since 29% of the sample had plans to migrate in the future.

The case studies show a distinct division of labor among the male and female heads of household, even when the male migrates temporarily (Table 2). In all cases, the MHH was responsible for the buying and selling of cattle and for breeding activities. The FHH or female children took care of milking the cow, herding, and feeding forages in all case studies. Supplementary information from twenty-four hour recalls indicated that men reported participating in the combined task category of herding, feeding, milking, and delivering milk by a ratio of 37:27 more than women. Feeding and manure collection were shared tasks between the male and female heads of household, if there was no outside employment. The selling and purchasing of animals is a MHH activity, as confirmed by the sample. The grazing and day to day responsibilities can be considered a shared task.

Crop Production and Distribution

The types of crops produced in SJL are the following: papa (potato), quinua (quinoa), cebada con grano (barley), cebada sin grano (forage barley), k'ara grano (wheat), trigo (forage wheat), avena con grano (oats), avena sin grano (forage oats), haba (fava beans), arveja (peas), cañawa (canawa), and alfalfares (alfalfa).Forage oats, forage wheat, and forage barley are crops that have not developed grain (seeds) because either they have been planted later or harvested earlier for the express purpose of feeding as fora Forage ge to livestock. The crops can be broken down into two groups according to the way in which they are consumed and used. Crops grown for human consumption include potatoes, quinoa, wheat, oats, fava beans and peas.

The crops that are grown for animal consumption include forage wheat, forage oats, forage barley and alfalfa. All husks, other plant by-products, and crops lost to frost and wind (quinoa and barley are particularly vulnerable) are also fed to livestock. Aside from these cultivated animal forages, there are many families that cut and store a natural range forage called k'ora, for later use during the winter months.

There are few families within SJL that actively participate in the selling of their crops on a regular basis. Only 13 families in the sample had sold crops in the past year. The decision to sell crops is usually due to either a particularly good harvest year or to the need to obtain cash for other activities. Crops grown for human consumption and for seed are usually the crops that are potentially marketed. It is rare to find forage crops for sale in these same markets because of the pressure to provide enough feed for animals during the winter season when there is limited native range growth.

Potato production is the most labor intensive of the crop enterprises. Its cultivation requires much more time, money, and care than any of the other crops produced. The cultivation of potatoes can be broken down into the following eight phases of production: roturar (tilling), ch'char (removing debris from the land), sembrar (planting), aporcar (covering the base of the plant with soil), deshierbar (weeding), fertilizar (fertilizing with urea), fumigar (fumigation for insects), and cosechar (harvesting). In general, for all of the phases except tilling, the families of San José use manual hand labor.

Potatoes are also the most important staple crop produced in this region, comprising the bulk of the human diet throughout the year. After harvest, the family selects potatoes for three purposes: the smallest are used for chuño (freeze-dried potato), the medium-sized are used for next year's seed, and the largest are used for fresh consumption. Chuño can be stored and used for up to ten years, which is markedly longer than the approximate one-year life span of a fresh potato.

The production of quinoa, barley, wheat, oats, cañawa, fava beans, peas, alfalfa, forage barley, forage wheat, and forage oats requires fewer tasks than potato production. In general, families only plant and harvest these crops with some families that also till and clean the crops.

The information from the case studies show that both males and females allocate their labor to crop production. Men and women work side by side to plant, care for, and harvest the crops produced for the family. The couple works together to plant the crop, with the man controlling the cattle-driven plow, while the woman follows behind planting seeds and spreading fertilizer. With few exceptions, the other phases of crop production--cleaning the land, covering the plant base, weeding, fertilizing, fumigating and harvesting--are accomplished together by the couple.

Decision-making relative to crop production and distribution (i.e., what and how much to plant, when to start harvest, what should be consumed, sold, or saved as seed) seems to be a joint process as well. However, this conclusion is tentative because the evidence was derived indirectly. In three out of the five case studies, the husband and wife were equally informed as to these variables and were able to respond separately with relatively uniform answers.

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