operations related to the cultivation of cereal and cash crops and the
Different family members have responsibility for different maintenance and sale of livestock. While women contribute much of the
tasks and hence have different labor profiles. Depending on labor for cereal production in such activities as weeding, harvesting,
whether they are paid or unpaid and have employment options processing and storage, the allocation of this labor is principally
in the outside labor market, the opportunity cost of determined by their husband, or by a male relative if the husband is
household members' labor also varies. absent. The wife or wives generally have virtual autonomy, however, in
declsion-making about cultivation and disposition of legume, vegetable
Introduction of new technologies may exacerbate labor peaks and condiment crops and about processing and sale of milk products. In
for specific family members at specific times of the some cases, more than one individual in a household may make decisions
agricultural year. Further, it may change the labor about different activities in production of a single crop; a Senegalese
productivity of certain members in certain tasks but not of study of 5000 households, for example, identified 12,000 distinct
others. decision-makers for rice production.
The new labor peaks may compete with family members' b) Investments in aaricultunt a lr location of non-labor
responsibilities outside of direct crop cultivation, such as resources such as land and cash: Responsibility for these decisions may
processing of livestock products, other off-farm be divided within the household according to age, sex, status, and work
agricultural activities, food preparation, water and obligations. If the new technology's success depends upon additional
fuelwood collection, or childcare. cash investments or mobilization of new resources which family member(s)
share, who is (are) the appropriate decision-maker(s)?
In the short-run, substitutability among the labor inputs of
various family members is likely to be limited, while in the 0 Consum arodUgts between hg=
longer term the sexual and age division of labor may be more consumptlon and sale* Decisions about family food consumption and
flexible than is commonly assumed. nutrition often lie solely within the domain of women, and failure to
consult them about preferred or required food characteristics may very
At this point, we know very little about how the fa..- Ing well lead to non-acceptance of new crop varieties. A Central African
household mobilizes the additional labor required by new case offers a striking illustration of this, where the first improved
technologies, nor of the costs of this reallocatio; in potato variety introduced by the International Potato Center (CIP) was
foregone goods and services. Knowledge of the 'A-. fully rejected by the intended beneficiaries because of its color,
household division of labor can aid in diagnosing houst:jold texture, taste and cooking qualities. Thus, if those responsible for
labor constraints and in predicting household response to food selection and preparation decisions are consulted directly at the
new production opportunities. farming systems diagnostic and testing stages, rather than posing
questions to the male household head, we are likely to get more detailed
Intra-h uv~l dVgcs1o-Ln kigand Resource Control and accurate responses to guide the technology development process. We
recognize that animals consumption choices in terms of forage and fodder
In terms of their relevance to farming systems analysis, the most (interpreted by the farming household) are a key factor in technology
Important areas to be examined related to intra-household adoption, but in the cases where we Qgl" ask female decision-makers
decision-making and resource control are: 1) responsibility for about consumption issues, generally we fall to do sol
day-to-day farm management; 2) investment decisions in agricultural
activities and 3) choices about household consumption of agricultural Thus, in the agricultural technology generation process, our work
commodities. Just as different family members have different paid and will be greatly aided In determining priority interventions and In
unpaid work responsibilities, so they have different rights and designing appropriate improvements if we assess the following:
responsibilities for decision-making and allocation of non-labor
resources within the range of household enterprises. Sometimes these Who is the appropriate decision-maker with respect to
decision-making patterns among family members correspond to the labor this particular crop or process?
allocation patterns, but often they do not.
Which crops, which tasks, whose labor, whose cash, and whose
An example may clarify this distinction for each of the three land will be affected by the proposed technology change?
decision-making areas highlighted above:
Assuming that the male farmer makes all these decisions or accurately
a) Farm management: In many Sahelian farming systems, adult males have represents the interests and intentions of other members of the farm
primary responsibility for deciding about the timing and nature of household may yield the wrong answers. Emerging empirical evidence
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