Gendered Food Mapping on Boiled Yam in Nigeria

Farming is the major livelihood activity for all the communities studied (male and female), and in the context, both male and female farmers indicated that yam was the most important crop they produced – as it was important for food, resilience in items of hunger, income and cultural activities. Otherwise, farmers were engaged in the production of other food crops like cassava, cocoyam, potato, rice, tomato, pepper, vegetables and cucumber. In addition to food crops, in Obinagu Ishiagu women mentioned a number of other activities undertaken alongside agriculture, including pottery, blacksmithing, mining of stones and lead. The eight communities studied grew yam and prepared boiled yam both for market and home consumption to meet up with other household requirements. Yam products were often consumed daily in the study region. It was estimated by key informants in the region that of the yam kept for household consumption, almost would be consumed as boiled, with a smaller portion as pounded yam, and the rest are stored; The results show that the respondents were predominantly Indigenes, but communities also had a number of migrant settlers – and no different preferences among these groups were identified. Farmers in each of these communities group themselves into three categories - poor, moderately wealthy and very wealthy farmers – with farmers in each category producing and consuming boiled yam; however, the scale of which increased with wealth status. Interestingly one community, Onueke-Ezza, had the lowest proportion of farmers who were considered poor, estimated at (3%), which corresponded with a rate of boiled yam consumption for the community at 45%. This example shows how an abundance of yam – produced or consumed – is a signifier of wealth in many communities in the region. Despite perceptions of yam being a ‘man’s crop’ in the region, this study found evidence to the contrary. There were some areas where women produced yam, particularly water yam, and also undertook important roles in different aspects of production. For example, men in Onueke community, in Ezzah South, were responsible for land clearing, while women were responsible for weeding and gathering yam, and children for gathering yam seeds. Burning trash, land preparation, preparation of sets, planting, staking of yam, earthening up are other roles that men were responsible for. In contrast, women in Amagu Community commonly weed, gather yams and pack yams into barns, while men prepare l