African Woman and Child Feature Service

The female population in the overall pool of professional agricultural research and higher education staff increased by eight per cent per year between 2000/2001 and 2007/2008, a rate that is four times higher than the two per cent rate for the male population.

Times are changing and more women are joining the sciences field. According to recent reports the overall share of female professional staff in agricultural research and higher education in Africa increased from 18 per cent in 2000/2001 to 24 per cent in 2007/2008.

This is according to a study that was done in 2008 by the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) in 15 African countries. The just released report indicates that the increase occurred across all degree categories, although it was slightly higher for Master of Science (MSc) qualified lot.

“The growing share of professional women employed in agriculture and female students enrolled in agricultural sciences is, however, higher in South Africa,” lead researcher Mrs. Nienke Beintema observes.

She reveals that the female population in the overall pool of professional agricultural research and higher education staff increased by eight per cent per year between 2000/2001 and 2007/2008, a rate that is four times higher than the two per cent rate for the male population.

“This indicates that the gender gap in African agricultural sciences may be narrowing at the time when many believe that women are not taking serious interest in sciences,” she notes.

The study findings indicate that the number of female professional staff increased in all 14 countries, even though total staff numbers actually declined in some countries like Kenya, Burkina Faso, Niger and Togo. But in Botswana, Nigeria and Senegal, the pool of female professional staff more than doubled.

The study found female professional staff members less educated than their male counterparts, whereby in 2007/2008, on average, fewer women than men held PhD degrees (27 compared with 37 per cent), but more women held MSc degrees – 43 versus 36.

“Although capacity increased between 2000/2001 and 2007/2008 in terms of numbers of professional staff, overall, staff qualification levels deteriorated in terms of degree level,” explains Beintema.

The proportion of women too, disproportionately declined with career advancement whereas in some countries women employments in agricultural research were placed at between 31 and 50 years old.

The study further shows that the level of women’s participation in science and technology is higher in biology as well as other life and social sciences.

Specialization in physics and engineering is much lower compared to the number of women employed in food and nutritional science that is higher at 44 per cent, higher than the share of women employed in other fields of agriculture.

The study indicates that 30 per cent of women are trained in biodiversity while 31 per cent and 24 per cent are trained in molecular biology and agriculture economics respectively.

Their ratio was unusually low in disciplines related to water and irrigation (eight per cent), forestry (15 per cent) and soil science (13 per cent).

The total professional agricultural capacity employed at the 125 sub-Saharan African research and higher education agencies included in the study increased by 20 per cent between 2000/2001 and 2007/2008.

Of concern, however, is that, about two-thirds of this capacity increase consisted of staff holding only BSc degrees, indicating a decline in average qualification levels of agricultural research and higher education staff in certain sub-Saharan African countries.

Coincidently, the share of women in agricultural research and higher education for Kenya and Uganda were similar in both years — they increased from 22 per cent in 2000/2001 to 26 per cent in 2007/2008. Burundi increased from 12 to 20 per cent during the same period.

In contrast, the share of women in agricultural research and higher education in Ethiopia remains one of the lowest in the continent.

It recorded six per cent in 2007/2008, a mere slight decline from the seven per cent in 2000/2001 despite the high increase in total (female and male) staff employed in agricultural research and higher education.

The capacity increase is mostly in staff holding BSc degrees but less for Kenya compared to Uganda and Ethiopia.

In Kenya, of the professional staff at the agricultural research and higher education agencies, 22 per cent of those with PhD degrees, 28 per cent with MSc degrees and 38 per cent with BSc degrees were women.

Majority of new staff constituting the overall increase in women employed during 2000-2008 were qualified to the BSc or MSc degree levels rather than the PhD level.

The study found out that, as in Kenya Agricultural Research Institute (KARI), where 73 per cent of staff aged 25-30 years were female, women accounted for close to half of professional staff in all agriculture based research institutes.

Unsurprisingly, the female shares of professional and technical support staff were comparatively higher at 30 per cent, since most support staff were employed as research assistants at Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology (JKUAT).

Within the sampled agencies, 30 women and 91 men departed during the 2005-2007 period, and 27 women and 36 men were promoted, indicating that despite lower overall numbers, a higher share of women were promoted within the sampled agencies.

The researchers found out that only six female professional staff employed in agriculture at the four sampled agencies obtained their PhD in 2006-2007. But a relatively higher share of male completed their degree training during the same timeframe.

In 2007, female students accounted for about 32 per cent of the total student population at the sampled institutions. Notably, 39 women and 55 men were enrolled in PhD degree training in 2007 but only two women and 15 men graduated that year.

The Agricultural Science and Technology Indicators (ASTI) programme collects information on investments and capacities in agricultural research and is currently implementing surveys and analysis in 35 African countries.

In the past, various organisations have emphasised the need to increase investment levels of agricultural research to increase this capacity pool.

However, there is a growing concern over the declining agricultural research capacity in the continent that calls for additional human resources that requires the increased contribution of women.

Women farmers play a vital role in African agriculture, doing most of the work to produce, process and market food.

“To better address their priorities and challenges, there is an urgent need to strengthen the voice of African women in the agricultural sciences,” says Bientema.