Women’s Labour shift from Farming to Mining and its influence on food Security within households headed by women miners in Nyatike Sub-county, Kenya

Abstract

Subsistence crop farming and Artisanal and Small-scale Gold Mining (ASGM) in the developing countries both provide women with economic opportunities outside their homes. Recently in Kenya however, several rural Women Household Heads (WHHs) have shifted from subsistence crop farming to ASGM activities despite the latter being found to endanger women’s livelihoods through the lack of mining rights, socially-constructed mining roles and poor remunerations. This study was framed within recent research that affirmed the existence of food security deficits within women headed households among the rural farming and mining communities in Western Kenya where ASGM activities have been found to complement women’s incomes but deteriorate their household food conditions. The researcher aimed at qualitatively exploring the labour shift of women from subsistence crop farming to mining and its influence on food security within households headed by women miners in the region. Primary data were collected from fifty one (51) WHHs employed in the four (4) major ASGM sites in the region namely Osiri Matanda, Nyatuoro Ko’wuonda, Macalder and Mikei Ka’kula. All the WHHs were purposively sampled, organized into six (6) focus groups, each comprising six to ten (6-10) members and further interviewed following the Focus Group Discussion (FGD) method. Additionally, five (5) Key Informant Interviews (KIIs) were conducted for four (4) male minesupervisors and one (1) County Agricultural Officer. Data from all the FGDs and KIIs were transcribed into texts, coded axially and analyzed using qualitative content analysis method. Results indicated that the shift of women household heads from subsistence crop farming to ore transportation and processing roles in the mines improved market food access but deteriorated food supply and utilization within their households. However, the shift to proprietary mining roles like owning crusher and panning pool businesses by the women sufficiently improved food access, supply and utilization within their households. Further, all the three (3) dimensions of household food security were found to be determined by home-mine proximity of the women who specifically shifted to ore transportation and processing roles in the local gold mines. Therefore, WHHs in the region need to balance their participation between the two (2) labour contexts to sustainably improve their household food status. Existing agricultural and mining policies also need to be comprehensively implemented to provide equal farming and mining opportunities to women.