Gender Dynamics In The Access To And Control Of Benefits Accrued From Tea Farming In Kiganjo Division, Gatundu District

ABSTRACT: Agriculture is the cornerstone of Kenya’s economy with most households depending on it for food and livelihood. Women provide the largest share of agricultural labour in many households. Despite the important role that women play, they are discriminated in the area of access to and control over the agricultural benefits. In agriculture, tea farming was the main foreign exchange earner in the year 2011. But despite the important role tea farming plays in Kenya, there are gender inequalities in the access to and control of the benefits accrued from tea. The existing gender inequalities have not been adequately investigated and documented. Therefore the objective of this study was to investigate the gender dynamics in the access to and control of the tea benefits in Mundoro location, Kiganjo division, Gatundu District. Simple random sampling was used to select two sub-locations while random sampling was used to select seventy three tea-farming households. The respondents were the household heads and two officials from Theta tea factory. Data was collected using an interview schedule for the household heads and an interview guide for the tea factory officials.Data collected was analyzed according to the emerging themes based on the research objectives. The findings showed that women within the male-headed household were discriminated in the area of access to and control over tea benefits. However, women household heads had access to and control over tea benefits within their households. The Kenya Tea Development Authority (KTDA), culture, widowhood and the level of education, were identified as the barriers that encouraged gender discrimination.Deliberate efforts should be put in place to sensitize the stakeholders on the need to equitably share the tea benefits. The study recommended that strategies that enhance gender equity be put in place to enable all women and men access and control the tea benefits.

Keywords: DYNAMICS, CONTROL, FARMING, TEA