Transcript agribusiness management skills

WOMEN IN PUERTO RICO’S AGRICULTURE PRESERVING
FARM LANDS FOR A SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT
Gladys M. González Martínez1 and Alexandra Gregory Crespo2
Professor 1 and Assistant Professor2, Department of Agricultural Economics,
Agricultural Experiment Station, College of Agricultural Sciences, University of Puerto Rico-Mayagüez
Emails: [email protected] and [email protected]
ABSTRACT
The Entrepreneurship Center for Women in Puerto Rico’s Agriculture was established in the University of Puerto Rico at Mayaguez in 2007, supported by USDA/CSREES funds through a Southern Region Risk Management
Education Center, TAMU grant. The mission was to empower women to contribute to Puerto Rico’s economic development. A total of 268 women were impacted during Phases I-III. The specific objectives were first, to improve
farm business profitability by enhancing agribusiness management skills and second, contribute to the transformation of women in agriculture, from keeping a passive role, to perceiving themselves as entrepreneurs. Topics
included agribusiness management, marketing, finance, risk management, and legal aspects, as well as self-esteem enhancement activities. Assessments show that women began to use electronic tools for financial planning and
began to develop business plans. Now, over two thirds identify themselves as entrepreneurs and their self-esteem improved.
Since 2011 a USDA-NRCS grant has made possible the continuation of the Center for an additional Phase (IV). The Center’s new vision is to empower women engaged in agricultural activities to contribute to Puerto Rico’s
sustainable economic development, which will be accomplished through the fulfillment of the specific objectives of the previous phases, plus an additional objective: to enable the adoption of soil conservation practices among
participants by demonstrating their benefits to current operators as well as to future generations. Three groups of women operators or managers were trained in 2011 and 2012 and the Center keeps receiving requests from women
who want to participate, showing the need to educate additional groups.
INTRODUCTION
There is a need for accurate data on women’s engagement in agricultural activities. According to Vargas1 (2004) in some cases there is no official data and in others data
has errors. As of 2002 the Census of Agriculture2 reports for the first time since being conducted in Puerto Rico data on gender of principal operator. Although Census3 data
show a decrease in absolute number of women in agriculture from 2002 to 2007, percentage wise the participation showed a slight percentage wise increase to 8.9% of total
farmers. It also shows that the decline in number of farmers was lower for women than in the case of males. Official data does not convey a realistic picture of the gender
composition of farmers and ranchers (Norton, Alwang and Masters)4. When asked who is the farmer, business owner or operator, still women choose to report that it is the
husband or another male and describe their own main occupation as house maker. Although most women engaged in farming do not consider themselves as entrepreneurs,
they do most of the administrative tasks of the business and are owners or co-owners. A needs assessment study5 (2006) showed that 87% of respondents were interested in
receiving training in topics such as agribusiness marketing, finance, management, accounting, business planning, legal aspects and risk management from a gender
perspective.
An AES initiative to address the educational needs of women in agriculture started in January 2007 and continued in years 2007 to 2010 with the establishment of the
Center. González 6 (2010) reported an increase to 33.9% in women participating in educational activities of AES by 2007-2008. Assessment of results and impacts collected
by post tests, nominal groups and testimonials of women participants of the project evidence the fact of increase in knowledge, adoption of good management practices,
improvement in business profitability and a switch in the role from farmer to entrepreneur. Blas Rivera7 (2011) evaluated three groups of women who participated in the
Center’s activities using a quasi-experimental design which measured the empowerment of women after one year of being impacted. Results showed that confidence, selfesteem and motivation among women participants increased resulting in improvements in empowerment. Sixty nine percent (69%) of participants perceive themselves as
agribusiness women or entrepreneurs after taking the course. The project also had a positive impact in farm income.
Since 2010, the center has introduced a dynamic dimension stressing the importance of resource conservation, demonstrating the importance for sustainability of the
agricultural sector for the sake of food security, resource conservation, environmental quality and quality of life.
Table 1. Participation of women in agriculture* in
Puerto Rico, 2002 & 2007
2002
2007
Women
1,554
(8.8 %)
1,408
(8.9 %)
Total
17,659
15,745
* Operators
** Source: U.S. Department of Agriculture, National Agricultural Statistics
Service (2009) 2007 Census of Agriculture. Puerto Rico. Volume
1, Geographic Area Series, Part 52. Washington, D.C., February.
Table 2. Participants by phase, group and type
Group
Location
Participants
D
Group 1
Central – Mountain
26
Group 2
South West
27
Group 3
Vieques
16
(14 ♀ + 2 ♂)
Group 4
North West
25
Young
Puerto Rico
31
Group 5
North East
G
25
Group 6
Central – West
38
Group 7
Cafetalera Zone
31
Group 8
East-Central
38
Group 9
Livestock CR
15
Group 10
Vegetales - South
28
Phase I: 2007-2008
THE PROJECT
Phase II: 2008-2009
VISION: To empower women engaged in agricultural activities to contribute to Puerto Rico’s sustainable economic development.
OBJECTIVES:
(1) To enable the adoption of soil conservation practices among participants by demonstrating their benefits to current operator as well as to future generations;
(2) To improve farm business profitability by enhancing agribusiness management skills of participants; and
(3) To contribute to the transformation of women in agriculture from keeping a passive role to perceiving themselves as entrepreneurs.
COURSES OFFERED:
AGRIBUSINESS MANAGEMENT SKILLS:
• Legal Aspects of the Farm Business
• Re-conceptualization of the Farm, Transforming Farmers to
Agribusiness Women
• Agriculture Beyond the Farm
• Risk Management in the Agricultural Business
• Business Plan
• Agricultural Marketing and Marketing Plan
• Agriculture Finance
• Effective Communication: Key Element for Success in Agribusiness
• Basic Records: Production, Sales, Input Use, Human Resources and
• Payroll, Inventory, Cash Flow, Balance Sheet
F
Phase III: 2009-2010
COMPUTER SKILLS:
• Computer Literacy, Internet
• Microsoft Word, Excel, Power Point, Publisher
Phase IV: 2010-2013
H
GENDER ISSUES:
• Women in Agriculture Over Time
• Faces and Voices of Women in Agriculture
ADDITIONAL TOPICS:
• Estate and Succession of the Agribusiness
• Contracts
• Grantmanship Writing
• Preparing the Budget of the Proposal
• Using Good Agricultural Practices and Food Safety
• Farm Safety
• The Farmers Natural Resources Managers
• State and Federal Government Programs
AGRICULTURAL SUSTAINABILITY:
• Natural Resource Conservation Practices Potential Impact of Climate
Change in Farm Profitability
• Women as Managers of Natural Resources
PARTICIPATING ENTITIES:
College of Agricultural Sciences: Agricultural Experiment Station, Faculty of Agricultural Sciences, Agricultural Extension Service
Government of Puerto Rico: Women’s Advocate Office, Department of Agriculture, Municipal Governments
Financial Sector: Economic Development Bank for Puerto Rico, Puerto Rico Farm Credit, ACA
Federal Government: FSA, NASS, RD, APHIS-PPQ & VS, FWS, NRCS, SSA ,
Non Governmental Organizations: Cafiesencia Puerto Rico, Icubadora Microempresas Bieke, Reach for Success
Agribusiness Firms: Altamira Corporation, Inc., Federación de Asociaciones Pecuarias of PR Inc.
METHODS
Educational activities are conducted with a gender perspective and include conferences, hands-on workshops and field visits and take place within geographic area
where the participants’ farms are located. The group of instructors is interdisciplinary and diverse, including faculty from diverse fields: agricultural economists,
sociologists, family/consumer professionals, agronomists, soil scientists, agricultural engineers, and graduate students. Assessment is conducted formally via pre and
post-testing and nominal groups resulting in evidence of knowledge gained, changes in attitudes towards the business of agriculture and adoption of the management
and conservation practices taught.
AWARDS
This material is based upon work supported by USDA-CSREES under Awards Administered by UPR- Agricultural Extension Service:
Award Number: 2004- 49200-03126 (Phase I), Award Number 2007-49200-03891 (Phase II),
Extension Agreement Number 662215 and Award Number 622244 (Phase III)
This material is based upon work supported by USDA-NRCS under Award Administered by UPR- Agricultural Experiment Station (Project Z-NRCS-010):
Award Number 69-F352-10-01 (Phase IV)
COLLABORATORS
Faculty: Judith Conde, Carmen O. Gómez, Sandra Varela, Noel Torres, Hipólito O’Farril, SEA; Jose E. Martínez, Robinson Rodríguez, Jorge A. González, Alwin
Jiménez, Luis R. Mejía, Madeline Mendoza, Alexandra Gregory, Myrna Comas and M. Julio Barragán, Department of Agricultural Economics and Rural Sociology,
Nereida Delgado, Graduate Assistants: Sol Taína Cintrón, María Teresa Florez, Sandra Blas, Orisnela Solano, Ada I. Pagán, Nicolás Cartagena, and Alexander Cano.
REFERENCES
[1] Vargas Carrasquillo, Ivelisse. La mujer en la agricultura puertorriqueña. UPR-RUM, M. S. Thesis in Agricultural Economics
[2] U.S. Department of Agriculture, National Agricultural Statistics Service (2004) 2002 Census of Agriculture. Puerto Rico. Vol 1 Geographic Area Series, Part 52. Washington, D.C., February.
[3] U.S. Department of Agriculture, National Agricultural Statistics Service (2009) 2007 Census of Agriculture. Puerto Rico. Vol. 1, Geographic Area Series, Part 52. Washington, D.C., February.
[4] Norton, George W. and Jeffrey Alwang. 1993. Introduction to Economics of Agricultural Development. USA: McGraw Hill.
[5] Estudio de necesidades de capacitación en el Área Programática de Agricultura, Mercadeo y Recursos Naturales del SEA-UPR, 2006. Design: M. Rodríguez, PhD, Prof. Eval and Assessment, data collection: L. Mejía, AssistExt Sp in AgEcon, analysis and
Power Point presentation by M. T. Florez Grad St Ag Econ.
[6] González, Gladys M. Mujeres se encaminan a asumir la dirigencia en la agricultura de Puerto Rico. (2010) Oral Presentation, Séptimo Coloquio Nacional Sobre Mujeres en Puerto Rico, UInter-Metro, San Juan, PR, 2010.
[7] Blas Rivera, Sandra. 2011. Evaluación de la capacitación empresarial de las mujeres en la agricultura de Puerto Rico durante los años 2007-2009. M.S. Thesis in Agricultural Economics, UPR-RUM.
Group 4
Group 6
Group 5
Group 9
Group
2
Group
7
Group 1
Group
Pilot- Group 1
3
Phase I- Gruop 1 and 2
Group 3- Vieques
Phase II- Group 4 and Young
Phase III- Group 5, 6 and 7
Phase IV- Group 8 and 9
Figure 1. Groups of female farmers Entrepreneurship Center for Women
in Agriculture , Puerto Rico, 2007-2012, by location