Gender and the use of technologies in the face of drought among smallholder farmers in Karamoja sub region, North Eastern Uganda
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In this paper, we discuss gender and the use of technologies in drought conditions. Our focus for the paper is the smallholder farmers in Karamoja Subregion, North Eastern Uganda. Studies have shown that drought significantly impacts livelihoods of smallholder farmers. For this study, we used a mixed-methods approach-(quantitative and qualitative) to compare the use of technologies by gender in drought situations among smallholder farmers in Karamoja Sub Region, North Eastern Uganda. Data were collected from a random sample of 161 men and 231 women in Nabilatuk district, including purposively selecting Key informants, focus group discussions and using an observations guide. Our findings indicate that drought has destroyed livelihoods, reduced crop yields and caused pests and diseases. For men and women to adapt to the drought effects, women have adopted the use of traditional technologies like the use of detergents to control crop pests and diseases. While other women have adopted kitchen gardens and the use of grinding stones to grind sorghum. The men use acaricides to spray livestock while others use herbs to treat livestock. We argue for strategies in agriculture that can lead to gender equality in the use and adoption of technologies that can enhance adaptive capacity among smallholder farmers whose livelihoods are threatened by the drought.
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