Gender and Generational Differences in Local Knowledge and Preference for Food Trees in Central Uganda and Eastern Kenya

Abstract

Food trees contribute substantially to the food and nutrition security of millions of rural households in Africa. Farming communities prioritize tree and shrub species on farms based on a combination of factors, including their knowledge of potential uses the species' economic potential and a range of constraints and opportunities that each farmer faces depending on their position within the community and the household, in cultivating, harvesting and processing tree products. Gender and age are strong determinants of such constraints and opportunities as well as ecological knowledge and use of tree resources. This study contributes to the understanding of gender and generational preferences for food tree species that determine their use, and which contribute to food and nutrition security in Central Uganda and Eastern Kenya. Sixteen gender and age segregated focus group discussions were conducted to assess food tree species preferences. A total of 61 food tree species were listed −46 in Uganda (including 16 indigenous species) and 44 in Kenya (21 indigenous species). Results showed knowledge on food tree species differed by gender and age, with differences across gender lines found more prevalently in Uganda, and across generational lines in Kenya. Age-related differences in knowledge and preferences were clear with regard to indigenous species, whereby older women and men were found to have the most knowledge in both countries. Among key challenges for food tree cultivation, farming households mentioned knowledge of tree management, the lack of planting materials, especially for improved varieties, prolonged droughts and scarcity of land. Some of these constraints were gendered and generational, with women mostly mentioning lack of knowledge about planting and management as well as cultural restrictions, such as only having access to land when married; whereas younger men indicated management challenges such as pests, limited markets, as well as scarcity and limited ownership of land. Overall findings suggest that consulting user preferences for food tree species and constraints experienced by gender and age group could be important in the design of interventions which involve a diversity of food trees.

The effect of gender on end‐user preferences for yam quality descriptors

“…Bloodhart and Swim ( 2020 ) show that the concept of gender is an important role in sustainable consumption and gives a better understanding of consumption patterns. In the study of preferences for food trees in Kenya, it was realized that constraints to the utilization of food trees were gendered (Gachuiri et al, 2022 ).…”

“We Don’t Need to Worry Because We Will Find Food Tomorrow”: Local Knowledge and Drivers of Mangroves as a Food System through a Gendered Lens in West Kalimantan, Indonesia

“…The participants in Kenya listed categories of goods that contained seven groups that were identified by the participants including fish, shrimps, honey, molluscs, birds and eggs, tea, and vinegar [58]. The influence of gender on knowledge about forests was noted in Gachuiri et al (2022) [59] study, where the female participants perceived themselves to have a lack of knowledge about food sourced from trees. Conversely, many of the women in our study felt proud of their knowledge and roles in gleaning, fishing, and/or harvesting food from the mangroves and their role in preparing food for their households, identifying 204 species, considerably more than the male participants.…”

Uneven transmission of traditional knowledge and skills in a changing wildmeat system: Yangambi, Democratic Republic of Congo

“…Personal assimilation of TEK is a lifelong process, and older practitioners are expected to have deeper knowledge, e.g., of medicinal plants (Ayantunde et al, 2008), rare fishes (Braulik et al, 2022), forest succession (Schmidt et al, 2021) etc. Specific ways of knowing and relating to nature usually differ with gender in Indigenous communities, reflecting the activities traditionally undertaken by men and women (Souto and Ticktin, 2012;Gachuiri et al, 2022). Such differences seem to vary with scale, i.e., national, continental, or global (Torres-Avilez et al, 2016).…”