Gender and youth inclusion
In Jamaica women make up 50.7 percent of the population yet only constitute 29.8 percent of the labor force and represent 49 percent of persons living in poverty. The distribution of unemployment rates between 1980 and 2005 revealed that the rate of female unemployment remains at more than two times the rate of men. Even more alarming is the limited number of youth interested in and actively participating in agriculture.
Therefore, to interest women and youth in cocoa, agricultural practices and services need to be culturally acceptable, include appropriate communication strategies, as well as offer labour and energy-saving alternatives particularly for women. Furthermore, women in Jamaica have not had the opportunity to benefit from available agriculture extension services and technologies that would improve their production levels. Many reasons exist for this, one of which is that generally, the extension agents are male and thus may not be the most effective agents of change for women.
Another reason is that the extension services may be available at a certain location some distance away, therefore the services come at the cost of the woman’s time and energy. Many women in Jamaica cannot afford to leave their households unattended for lengthy periods of time as traditionally they possess all the responsibilities of the main caretaker.
Lastly, rural women in particular suffer from a lack of information on available services which puts them at a disadvantage for capitalizing on this resource. Therefore, to interest women and youth in cocoa, agricultural practices and services need to be culturally acceptable, include appropriate communication strategies, as well as offer labour and energy-saving alternatives.
JCFA is advocating policies to give women more say and for them to become significant players in this industry.
Gender and youth inclusion