Gendered Opportunities, Challenges and Prospects of the Dairy Value Chain in Tanzania

This paper discusses the gender gaps in the dairy value chain in Tanzania and the challenges and opportunities for addressing them. A desk review was conducted to study various interventions carried out in Tanzania from colonial period to-date. Results show that there was no gender consideration during colonial period and soon after independence. Interventions by Heifer Project International from 1980s were the first to consider gender issues in the Tanzanian dairy value chain. Gender gaps such as high workload for women, lack of market information on milk and other dairy products and lack of capacity to control resources emanating from the dairy value chain were identified. Other challenges identified include lack of skills for improving dairy management owing to their limited access to training and other technologies. Further, data used for planning, monitoring, evaluation and impact assessment of the interventions was not sex disaggregated; and there was a lack of political will to integrate gender issues by the project leaders.Opportunities available for bridging the gender gaps include availability of friendly technologies to women such as preservation of feeds for use in the dry season when the price of milk is high and use of mobile phones to access market information.  The study concludes that proper integration of gender in the project cycle will help to narrow the gender gaps. The study recommends project leaders to integrate / mainstream gender in projects by engaging gender specialists to guide project staff on how to systematically integrate gender as well as develop or enhance the capacity of employees on gender; and to demonstrate, with examples, the economic benefits of integrating gender in projects. Keywords: Gender, Opportunity, constraints, prospects, dairy value chai

Gendered Access to Indirect Benefits From Natural Gas Extraction in Kilwa District, Tanzania

Natural gas extraction contributes substantially to the economy of many countries around the world were natural gas resource is found. Despite its potential benefits, it is not known to what extent the benefits are equally enjoyed by both men and women in the respective host communities. The existing studies focus more on benefit-sharing at the national level and lack gender analysis. Using a cross-sectional design, a study was conducted to establish gendered access to indirect benefits from natural gas extraction. Quantitative data were collected from 373 households and qualitative data through focus group discussions, key informant interviews, and participant observation Findings revealed that about 53% of community members categorized access to indirect benefits to be of high level. The indirect benefits largely cut across investments and support in education, health, water, and employment opportunities. The study concludes that, while investment by Extractive Companies (ECs) has managed to improve health services the shortage of technical staff has remained unsolved. Likewise, while various benefits revealed to exist in education the chronic problem on girls drops out of school remains to be a challenge

Dynamics of infestation and losses of stored maize due to the larger grain borer (Prostephanus truncatus Horn) and maize weevils (Sitophilus zeamais Motschulsky)

Archives of phytopathology and plant protection 2010; 43 (14): 1346-1355The dynamics of infestation and losses of stored maize due to the larger grain borer (Prostephanus truncatus Horn) and maize weevils (Sitophilus zeamais Motschulsky) were investigated in Tanzania. In single species populations, significantly higher maize damage (P 0.05) was caused by P. truncatus (23.3%) compared to S. zeamais (6.4%). Weight losses caused by P. truncatus were higher (12.7%) than for S. zeamais (6.7%) under similar conditions. A higher proportion of P. truncatus in the initial infestation population led to significantly higher ( 0.05) maize damage compared to equal or higher proportions of S. zeamais. Irrespective of the initial number of S. zeamais, population size increased to levels higher than for P. truncatus. Maize losses in unimproved storage structures were480% compared to52.5% in improved structures under natural infestation. Inter-specific competition appeared to influence the dynamics of infestation, damage levels and weight losses. The first two months of storage were critical for damaging insect populations to build up