Overview

Gender can influence knowledge acquisition and onfarm decision making and must be thoroughly understood if agricultural research and extension programs are to design appropriate technologies for small-scale farming systems. In order to improve IPM program design and delivery, two hundred farmers (52% women, 48% men) from Eastern Uganda were surveyed in 1999, to explore perceptual and knowledge differences between men and women about crop production and pest management. The results indicate that women do play an important role in agricultural production and pest management; however, there is no indication that women play a predominant role in either. There was no relationship between gender and the use of pesticides. Pest management decisions appear to be made by the household head, whether that person is a male or female. There was general agreement between men and women that although women were as likely to indicate that they were having their fields sprayed with pesticides, men were more likely to be doing the actual pesticide application. Women had greater knowledge of dimensional attributes of IPM than men, particularly awareness of potential harmful effects of synthetic pesticides. Thus targeting women may expedite adoption of IPM. Disaggregating data, particularly by ascertaining the woman’s status within the household helped provide a clearer picture of knowledge and decision making differentials.