Assessment of agricultural practices by Ethiopian women farmers: existence of gender disparities in access to mycotoxins training
In: World Mycotoxin JournalSearch for other papers by C. Cervini in
Current site
Google Scholar
Search for other papers by B. Abegaz in
Current site
Google Scholar
Search for other papers by A. Mohammed in
Current site
Google Scholar
Search for other papers by R. Elias in
Current site
Google Scholar
Search for other papers by A. Medina in
Current site
Google Scholar
Search for other papers by K. Gebre in
Current site
Google Scholar
Search for other papers by C. Verheecke-Vaessen in
Current site
Google Scholar
Abstract
Ethiopia is one of the countries with the lowest gender-equality performance in sub-Saharan Africa being ranked 121/134 in terms of the magnitude and scope of gender disparities by the United Nations Women’s Organisation. Within the farming communities, women represent 70% of the labour force, but they are neglected from accessing training events run by Ethiopian Universities (e.g. Haramaya University). A survey to assess the existence of gender disparities among Ethiopian women farmers with respect to agricultural labour and mycotoxins knowledge was conducted on three hundred and forty-nine women from the Oromia and Amhara regions. A higher illiteracy rate was found in women compared to men from both Oromia and Amhara regions. Women played a key role in agricultural activities while having limited access to modern technologies compared to their male counterparts. Women were mainly responsible for sorting spoiled crops. Especially in Amhara, these were intended for home consumption, representing a serious health risk for local people. Overall, women from Amhara were more aware than women from Oromia about what mycotoxins are (e.g. aflatoxins), their impact and risk of occurrence in crops. Women in Amhara were also more intended to act towards mycotoxins in the future compared to women from Oromia. Only 0.24% of women have previously attended a training on mycotoxins. The radio seemed to be the most efficient way to deliver training to Ethiopian women farmers from these regions. Mycotoxins trainings were the second option of choice by all women surveyed. Such findings clearly stated the existence of gender inequality in the two Ethiopian regions considered. Empower women’s knowledge about mycotoxins will not only benefit agricultural income and the national economy, but it will also provide women the recognition they equally deserve alongside their male counterparts in future agricultural training programs and interventions.
Purchase
Buy instant access (PDF download and unlimited online access):
Institutional Login
Log in with Open Athens, Shibboleth, or your institutional credentials
Personal login
Log in with your brill.com account
-
Abate, T., Shiferaw, B., Menkir, A., Wegary, D., Kebede, Y., Tesfaye, K., Kassie, M., Bogale, G., Tadesse, B. and Keno, T., 2015. Factors that transformed maize productivity in Ethiopia. Food Security 7: 965-981. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12571-015-0488-z
-
Aliyi, I., Faris, A., Ayele, A., Oljirra, A. and Bayessa, M., 2021. Profitability and market performance of smallholder vegetable production: evidence from Ethiopia. Heliyon 7: e08008. https://doi.org/10.1016/J.HELIYON.2021.E08008
-
Aoun, M., Stafstrom, W., Priest, P., Fuchs, J., Windham, G.L., Williams, W.P. and Nelson, R.J., 2020. Low-cost grain sorting technologies to reduce mycotoxin contamination in maize and groundnut. Food Control 118: 107363. https://doi.org/10.1016/J.FOODCONT.2020.107363
-
Aregu, L., Bishop-Sambrook, C., Puskur, R. and Tesema, E., 2010. Opportunities for promoting gender equality in rural Ethiopia through the commercialization of agriculture. Working paper 18. ILRI, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
-
Ayalew, A., Fehrmann, H., Lepschy, J., Beck, R. and Abate, D., 2006. Natural occurrence of mycotoxins in staple cereals from Ethiopia. Mycopathologia 162: 57-63. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11046-006-0027-8
-
Ayelign, A. and De Saeger, S., 2020. Mycotoxins in Ethiopia: Current status, implications to food safety and mitigation strategies. Food Control 113: 107163. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.foodcont.2020.107163
-
Belay, E. and Tefera, B., 2021. Psychosocial and economic empowerment within periodic religious gatherings of women: exploring the Ethiopian experience. Available at: https://tinyurl.com/2p8c83k5
-
Beyene, A., Woldegiorgis, A., Adish, A.A., De Saeger, S. and Tolossa, A.L., 2016. Assessment of mothers’ knowledge and practice towards aflatoxin contamination in complementary foods in Ethiopia: from pre-harvest to household. World Mycotoxin Journal 9: 535-544. https://doi.org/10.3920/WMJ2016.2088
-
Cervini, C., Verheecke-Vaessen, C., He, T., Mohammed, A., Magan, N. and Medina, A., 2022. Improvements within the peanut production chain to minimize aflatoxins contamination: an Ethiopian case study. Food Control 136: 108622. https://doi.org/10.1016/J.FOODCONT.2021.108622
-
Dorner, J.W., 2008. Management and prevention of mycotoxins in peanuts. Food Additives and Contaminants 25: 203-208. https://doi.org/10.1080/02652030701658357
-
Doss, C., Meinzen-Dick, R., Quisumbing, A. and Theis, S., 2018. Women in agriculture: four myths. Global Food Security 16: 69-74. https://doi.org/10.1016/J.GFS.2017.10.001
-
Emirie, G., 2005. Early marriage and its effects in girls’ education in Rural Ethiopia: the case of Mecha Woreda in West Gojjam, North-Western Ethiopia. Doctorate Thesis in Ethnology (Social and Cultural Anthropology) to the faculty of Social Sciences, Georg-August University of Goettingen, Goettingen, Germany. https://doi.org/10.53846/goediss-3100
-
Ertiro, B. T., Azmach, G., Keno, T., Chibsa, T., Abebe, B., Demissie, G., Wegary, D., Wolde, L., Teklewold, A. and Worku, M., 2018. Fast-tracking the development and dissemination of a droughttolerant maize variety in Ethiopia in response to the risks of climate change. In: Rosenstock, T.S., Nowak, A. and Girvetz, E. (eds.) The climate-smart agriculture papers. Investigating the business of a productive, resilient and low emission future. Springer, Berlin, Germany, pp. 79-86.
-
Erulkar, A., Abebaw, F., Worku A., Woldemariam, G., Helen, A., Behailu, GM., Berhanu, Legesse, Ayehualem, T. and Messay, T., 2010. Ethiopia young adult survey: a study in Seven regions. Population Council, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
-
European Commission (EC), 2006. Commission Regulation (EC) No 1881/2006 setting maximum levels for certain contaminants in foodstuffs. Official Journal of the European Union L-364: 5-24.
-
European Commission (EC), 2016. Regulation (EU) No 2016/679. Protection of natural persons with regard to the processing of personal data and on the free movement of such data and repealing Directive 95/46/EC (General Data Protection Regulation). Official Journal of the European Union L-119: 1-88.
-
Ezekiel, C., Sulyok, M., Babalola, D., Warth, B., Ezekiel, V. and Krska, R., 2013. Incidence and consumer awareness of toxigenic Aspergillus section Flavi and aflatoxin B1 in peanut cake from Nigeria. Food Control 30: 596-601. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.foodcont.2012.07.048
-
FAOSTAT, 2022. Groundnut world production. Available at: http://www.fao.org/faostat/en/#home.
-
Garcia-Cela, E., Verheecke-Vaessen, C., Gutierrez-Pozo, M., Kiaitsi, E., Gasperini, A. M., Magan, N. and Medina, A., 2021. Unveiling the effect of interacting forecasted abiotic factors on growth and aflatoxin B1 production kinetics by Aspergillus flavus. Fungal Biology 125: 89-94. https://doi.org/10.1016/J.FUNBIO.2020.05.003
-
Gebre, G.G., Isoda, H., Rahut, D.B., Amekawa, Y. and Nomura, H., 2019. Gender differences in the adoption of agricultural technology: The case of improved maize varieties in southern Ethiopia. Women’s Studies International Forum 76: 102264. https://doi.org/10.1016/J.WSIF.2019.102264
-
Gella, A.A. and Tadele, G., 2015. FAC Working Paper 84. Gender and farming in Ethiopia: an exploration of discourses and implications for policy and research. Future Agricultures Consortium, Brighton, UK.
-
International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), 2002. Monographs on the evaluation of carcinogenic risks to humans. Some traditional herbal medicines, some mycotoxins, naphthalene and styrene (pp. 301-366). IARC, Lyon, France.
-
Jones, N., Emirie G., Tefera, B. and Presler-Marshall, E., 2016. Surprising trends in child marriage in Ethiopia. Available at: https://www.unicef.org/ethiopia/reports/surprising-trends-child-marriage-ethiopia
-
Kibret, B., Chala, A. and Toma, A., 2019. Knowledge, attitude and practice of farmers’ towards aflatoxin in cereal crops in Wolaita Zone, Southern Ethiopia. EC Nutrition 14: 247-254.
-
Lavkor, I. and Var, I., 2017. The control of aflatoxin contamination at harvest, drying, pre-storage and storage periods in peanut: the new approach. In Abdulra’uf, L.B. (ed.) Aflatoxin – control, analysis, detection and health risks. IntechOpen, London, UK. https://doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.68675
-
Lemma, M. and Ali, B., 2023. Assessment of challenges and performances of ethiopian export market. Journal of Business and Administrative Studies 10: 33-63. https://doi.org/10.20372/jbas.v10i1.4474
-
Matumba, L., Monjerezi, M., Kankwamba, H., Njoroge, S.M.C., Ndilowe, P., Kabuli, H., Kambewa, D. and Njapau, H., 2016. Knowledge, attitude and practices concerning presence of molds in foods among members of the general public in Malawi. Mycotoxin Research 32: 27-36. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12550-015-0237-3
-
Ministry of Agriculture and Natural Resource (MoANR), 2017. Gender equality strategy for Ethiopia’s agriculture sector. Final draft. Available at: https://tinyurl.com/3nt9arew.
-
Mohammed, A. and Chala, A., 2014. Incidence of Aspergillus contamination of groundnut (Arachis hypogaea L.) in Eastern Ethiopia. African Journal of Microbiology Research 8: 759-765. https://doi.org/10.5897/AJMR12.2078
-
Negassa, A., Haile, S., Bane, J., Olana, G., Hodjo, M. (2021). Final Report: USAID-Ethiopia Bellmon crop availability and market analysis for 2021/22. Food Security Service Center II. USAID, Washington, DC, USA. Available at: https://pdf.usaid.gov/pdf_docs/PA00Z4TH.pdf
-
Rosenstock, T.S., Dawson, I.K., Aynekulu, E., Chomba, S., Degrande, A., Fornace, K., Jamnadass, R., Kimaro, A., Kindt, R., Lamanna, C., Malesu, M., Mausch, K., McMullin, S., Murage, P., Namoi, N., Njenga, M., Nyoka, I., Paez Valencia, A.M., Sola, P., Shepherd, K. and Steward, P., 2019. A Planetary Health Perspective on Agroforestry in Sub-Saharan Africa. One Earth 1: 330-344. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.oneear.2019.10.017
-
Taffesse, A.S., Dorosh, P.A. and Gemessa, S.A., 2012. ESSP II Working Paper No. 0016 Crop production in Ethiopia: Regional patterns and trends. IFPRI-Addis Ababa, IFRI Headquarters, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
-
Teferi, S.C., 2021. A review on food hygiene knowledge, practice and food safety in Ethiopia. Food Science and Quality Management 105: 24-31. https://doi.org/10.7176/FSQM/105-04
-
United States Department of State, 2021. International Religious Freedom Report for 2021. USDS – Office of International Religious Freedom, Washington, DC, USA. Available at: https://tinyurl.com/mr2aa7db
-
Worku, A.F., Merkuz, A., Kalsa, K.K., Tenagashaw, M.W. and Habtu, N.G., 2019. Occurrence of mycotoxins in farm-stored wheat in Ethiopia. African Journal of Food, Agriculture, Nutrition and Development 19: 14829-14848. https://doi.org/10.18697/ajfand.87.18565
-
Xu, Y., Doel, A., Watson, S., Routledge, M.N., Elliott, C.T., Moore, S.E. and Gong, Y.Y., 2017. Study of an educational hand sorting intervention for reducing aflatoxin B1 in groundnuts in Rural Gambia. Journal of Food Protection 80: 44-49. https://doi.org/10.4315/0362-028X.JFP-16-152
| All Time | Past 365 days | Past 30 Days | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Abstract Views | 663 | 338 | 28 |
| Full Text Views | 11 | 5 | 0 |
| PDF Views & Downloads | 31 | 8 | 0 |
Assessment of agricultural practices by Ethiopian women farmers: existence of gender disparities in access to mycotoxins training
In: World Mycotoxin JournalSearch for other papers by C. Cervini in
Current site
Google Scholar
PubMed
Search for other papers by B. Abegaz in
Current site
Google Scholar
PubMed
Search for other papers by A. Mohammed in
Current site
Google Scholar
PubMed
Search for other papers by R. Elias in
Current site
Google Scholar
PubMed
Search for other papers by A. Medina in
Current site
Google Scholar
PubMed
Search for other papers by K. Gebre in
Current site
Google Scholar
PubMed
Search for other papers by C. Verheecke-Vaessen in
Current site
Google Scholar
PubMed
Abstract
Ethiopia is one of the countries with the lowest gender-equality performance in sub-Saharan Africa being ranked 121/134 in terms of the magnitude and scope of gender disparities by the United Nations Women’s Organisation. Within the farming communities, women represent 70% of the labour force, but they are neglected from accessing training events run by Ethiopian Universities (e.g. Haramaya University). A survey to assess the existence of gender disparities among Ethiopian women farmers with respect to agricultural labour and mycotoxins knowledge was conducted on three hundred and forty-nine women from the Oromia and Amhara regions. A higher illiteracy rate was found in women compared to men from both Oromia and Amhara regions. Women played a key role in agricultural activities while having limited access to modern technologies compared to their male counterparts. Women were mainly responsible for sorting spoiled crops. Especially in Amhara, these were intended for home consumption, representing a serious health risk for local people. Overall, women from Amhara were more aware than women from Oromia about what mycotoxins are (e.g. aflatoxins), their impact and risk of occurrence in crops. Women in Amhara were also more intended to act towards mycotoxins in the future compared to women from Oromia. Only 0.24% of women have previously attended a training on mycotoxins. The radio seemed to be the most efficient way to deliver training to Ethiopian women farmers from these regions. Mycotoxins trainings were the second option of choice by all women surveyed. Such findings clearly stated the existence of gender inequality in the two Ethiopian regions considered. Empower women’s knowledge about mycotoxins will not only benefit agricultural income and the national economy, but it will also provide women the recognition they equally deserve alongside their male counterparts in future agricultural training programs and interventions.
| All Time | Past 365 days | Past 30 Days | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Abstract Views | 663 | 338 | 28 |
| Full Text Views | 11 | 5 | 0 |
| PDF Views & Downloads | 31 | 8 | 0 |
