CHAPTER 5. Cultivation: Practices and Resource-Base

Group members involved in cultivation
Landholdings
Crops cultivated: subsistence crops and cash crops
Labour assistance and agricultural labourers

Group members involved in cultivation

As shown in Table 6, in the previous chapter, the majority of group members is involved in cultivation activities. The major cultivation season is the maha season, when about 61% of the female members and 93% of the male members cultivate crops. In the questionnaire, we had asked whether the respondent was personally cultivating crops during the maha and/or the yala season, thus indicating a personal responsibility for the crops cultivated. Although it is impossible to quantify the number of female and male members who are indeed personally responsible for the cultivation of the crops, this survey does suggest that women are often responsible for cultivation, independent from their husband or other family members. As will appear later, an important indicator in this is that women tend to cultivate (thus apart from assisting others in their cultivation) different types of land, for example, female members are not cultivating pump irrigated lands during the maha season, whereas male members do, male members are not irrigating their crops by hand during the maha season, whereas some female members do and male members tend to cultivated more canal irrigated land than female members during the maha season, whereas this is the other way around in the yala season.

Of all maha cultivators in the sample, 45% is female and 55% is male. The Agricultural Census of 1982 (Department of Census and Statistics, 1984) gives a completely different picture about the gender composition of the small holders in Matale District. It has identified that 11 % of the agricultural operators⁷ are female and the remaining 89%, male (ibid.: 10). Obviously, the definition of agricultural operator refers to the cultivator cum head of household, which would mean that about 11 % of the agricultural households are headed by a female. Although it is logical that the Census cannot cover the complicated issue of intra household division of agricultural resources, the information provided may contribute to a male bias in the provision of support services in cultivation.

⁷The Census defines an agricultural operator as follows: "..the person responsible for operating the agricultural land and or livestock. He may carry out the agricultural operations by himself or with the assistance of other or simply direct day to day operations." (Department of Census and Statistics, 1984:2).

Landholdings

During maha 1989-90 season, the average size of the land cultivated by the group members was 2.16 acres (including dry land and irrigated land), whereas, according to the Agricultural Census of 1982, the average size of the small holding in Matale was 2,29 acres (ibid.:9). However, Table 10. shows that the acreage cultivated during maha 1989-90 are more equally distributed among the group members than among the small holders of Matale District in 1982. Furthermore, a larger percentage of the small holders in Matale District cultivate less land than group members do, i.e., 30.4% of the small holders in Matale District cultivated less than 1 acre compared to 21.2% of the group members.

Table 10. Total Acreage of Land Cultivated by Group Members during Maha 1989-90 compared to Small Holders of Matale District

Cultivators	Female		Male		All*		Small Holders
	Members		Members		Members		Matale District
	n=45 ***		n=54		n=99		**
	%	acc%	%	acc%	%	acc%	%	acc%
Total Acreage (acres)
less than 0.25	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	3.5	3.5
0.25 - 0.49	4.5	4.5	3.7	3.7	4.0	4.0	9.4	12.9
0.50 - 0.99	22.2	26.7	13.0	16.7	17.2	21.2	17.5	30.4
1.00 - 1.99	28.9	55.6	35.1	51.8	32.3	53.5	24.7	55.1
2.00 - 2.99	22.2	77.8	35.1	86.9	29.3	82.8	17.8	72.9
3.00 - 3.99	13.3	91.1	7.4	94.3	10.2	93.0	12.5	85.4
4.00 - 4.99	6.7	97.8	1.9	96.2	4.0	97.0	4.9	90.3
5.00 - 6.99	2.2	100.0	1.9	98.1	2.0	99.0	5.3	95.6
7.00 - 9.99	0.0	100.0	0.0	98.1	0.0	99.0	2.2	97.8
10.00 and above	0.0	100.0	1.9	100.0	1.0	100.0	2.2	100.0
Average	2.07 acres		2.24 acres		2.16 acres		2.29 acres

n = all group members who were involved in cultivation during maha 1989-90 season.
* Source: Resource-Base Survey, 1990.
** Source: Agricultural Census 1982, Small Holding Sector Matale District.
*** Accumulated percentages.

During the 1989 yala season, a smaller acreage of land was cultivated per group member, i.e., an average of 1.3 acres by female members, 1.4 acres by male members and 1.4 acres by all members.

Although project reports state that the project efforts are concentrated on small farmers who depend on rainfed cultivation in the Dry Zone (e.g., Perera and Abrew, 1989), in practice about 35 % of all group members appear to have access to canal irrigated lands during both maha and yala seasons in 1989-90. During maha 1989-90, 47% of the male members cultivated canal irrigated land with an average of 1.6 acres of irrigated land per male member. Although female members tended to cultivate less often canal irrigated lands during maha 1989-90, i.e., 22%, their average area of irrigated land cultivated reached a considerable 1.7 acres. See Tables 32.1-3 in the Annex. For the whole of Matale district, 51% of all agricultural operators cultivated irrigated land (Department of Census and Statistics, 1984:33), which is higher than the average among group members. However, for the Matale district, the average size of the irrigated areas cultivated is only 1.3 acres, with nearly 47% of the agricultural operators cultivating an average of 0.46 acres irrigated land only (ibid: 17). Among the group members who cultivated irrigable land, hardly anybody cultivated less than 0.5 acres of irrigable land.

The evidence that female group members are more involved in dry land cultivation and male members more in irrigated cultivation conforms to the view that women cultivators, in the dry zone of Sri Lanka, were traditionally often cultivating cash crops in addition to food crops on dry land, rather than food crops on irrigated ("paddy") lands (Schrijvers, 1985:231).

In the dry zone, rainfed cultivation during the yala season has a high risk of in part or complete crop failure. Drought resistant crops such as sesame and certain pulses are cultivated during yala under rainfed conditions. In that period, cultivation under canal irrigated conditions is normally only possible when the water is supplied through a major irrigation system. In the wet zone (Rattota), minor systems often carry enough water for two or more cultivations per year.

Yet, even during the yala season, more than one third of the members appear to have access to canal irrigated land, with slightly more female members cultivating canal irrigated lands than male members (37% and 33% respectively). During that period, a relatively large number of male members cultivate land under pump irrigated conditions, i.e., 24%, and for the female members this figure is 9%. Thus, in sum more than half of the male members (54%) had access to irrigated land and 46% of the female members. (See Tables 33.1-3 in the Annex).

Table 11 shows the landrights of the plots cultivated by the group members during the 1989-90 maha season. This table clearly indicates that although group members have considerable access to cultivable land, only a small percentage of the plots cultivated is legally owned by them. About 40% of the plots are encroachments. The Agricultural Census of 1982, specifies that for the Matale District small holding sector, about 60% of the dry land and paddy land together is owned by the operators (Department of Census and Statistics, 1984:15). In the Census, ownership of land includes both land that is legally owned (a title) and land "held in an ownerlike possession" (ibid.: 3). Although it is not clear whether encroachment is included in the latter category, often encroached, cultivated land is held in an ownerlike possession as long as there is no risk that the Government or any other owner will claim the land.

Table 11. Landrights Of Plots Cultivated During 1989-90 Maha Season By Gender

Gender	Female n=45		Male n=54		Total n=99
	no.	%	no.	%	no.	%
Land Rights Title	4	8.9	11	12.4	15	10.5
Permit8	7	15.6	12	13.5	19	13.3
Encroachment	19	42.2	38	42.7	57	39.9
Shared Ownership	1	2.2	3	3.4	4	2.8
Owned or Leased by Husband or Wife	5	11.1	2	2.2	7	4.9
Owned or Leased by Other Family Member	13	28.9	5	5.6	18	12.6
Leased	1	2.2	3	3.4	4	2.8
Share Cropping	1	2.2	11	12.4	12	8.4
No Rights, Working for the Owner	0	0.0	1	1.1	1	0.7
Cultivated Free of Charge	2	4.4	0	0.0	2	1.4
Joined Lease	1	2.2	0	0.0	1	0.7
Owned by Another Joined Cultivator	0	0.0	3	3.4	3	2.1

n = All Group Members who were cultivating crops during 1989-90 maha season.
Source: Resource-Base Survey.

⁸A Permit is a leasehold from the Government, this can either be a temporary or a permanent leasehold. Temporary leaseholds often have a one year duration and although it is usually renewable, the cultivator has the risk that it can be suspended. Permanent leaseholds may have a duration of 99 years and this right can be inherited. If a cultivator has leased a plot of land, it normally refers to an informal arrangement with the owner of the land, for a period of one cultivation only.

Above considerations add to the view that it is difficult to say whether an encroacher is in a worse position than for example, a share cropper, since encroachers usually do not have to share their harvest with a land owner. Access to land, especially over a long term period, probably depends more on personal (or group) networks a cultivator is able to mobilize, than on the actual right to cultivate a plot of land during a certain season. In this context, female group members appear to obtain much more often access to land through their family members than male group members do (28.9% for female members compared to 5.6% for male members). Female members on the other hand, do usually not engage in share cropping arrangements, which for the male members mostly pertain to the cultivation of canal irrigated land.

Crops cultivated: subsistence crops and cash crops

The respondents were asked to specify for their home garden cultivation as well as for the yala 1989 and maha 1989-90 cultivations, which crops they had cultivated and for each of these crops, whether is was cultivated for home consumption only, for the market only or for both home consumption and the market. The amount of data consequently gathered is too elaborate to summarize in a few tables, and it is therefore, apart from Tables 34.1-3 in the Annex which show the maha crops grown by gender, not visualized in this report.

However, with respect to the home garden, the data indicate that a wealth of tree crops (fruits, spices, and vegetables), root crops (cassava, yam, etc.), vegetables and condiments is grown. Although a major part of the crops are indeed grown for home consumption, the data cannot sustain the common belief that home garden crops are grown for home consumption only. Both female and male members sell part or the whole of certain crops grown. About one third of the members who are involved in home gardening, grow banana for the market, with a relatively equal division among female and male members. Other home garden crops which are often sold are mangos, pepper, long and green beans, and chilly.

Tables. 34.1-3 in the Annex show the maha 1989-90 crops grown, as well as the purpose of these crops. The dominant crops grown are: green bean (51.5%), maize (49.5), chilly (48.5), and paddy (44.4%). This table suggest that paddy is the main staple crop grown for home consumption followed by maize and millet. Paddy and millet are nearly exclusively grown for home consumption, whereas an important part of the maize is sold. The most important cash crops grown during maha were green beans, maize, chilly and long beans.

The data also document that there is hardly any difference between the types of crops cultivated by female and male group members. A main difference however, is that female group members are more engaged in cultivation of rainfed grains, especially maize, and that male members are more engaged in the cultivation of paddy. This supports our earlier notion that during the maha season relatively more females are involved in dry land cultivation and relatively more males in irrigated cultivation. Furthermore, female members are equally engaged in cash crop cultivation as male members do. One distinction is that female members seem to concentrate more on cultivation of maize for the market and male members more on chilly.

The main crops grown during the yala 1989 season by all yala cultivators were sesame (41.2%), chilly (40.2%) and onion (27.8%). Apart from chilly which is more often cultivated by male members (51.0) than by female members (28.3%) all other crops are equally cultivated by male and female members. 15.2% of the female members and 15.7% of the male members cultivated paddy. This again indicates that members have considerable access to irrigable land (whether canal, pump or hand irrigated) during the yala season, because chilly, onion and paddy can, at least in the dry zone, not be cultivated under rainfed conditions during the yala season. Except from paddy which is grown during yala exclusively for home consumption, all other crops mentioned are predominantly grown for the market.

Nearly 30% of the group members who were engaged in cultivation reported that they personally experimented with crops they did not grow before. This includes 24.1 % of the female members and 32.8% of the male members who were involved in 1989-90 maha cultivation, (see Table 35 in the Annex). Female members appeared to test mainly varieties of pulses and to some extend onion varieties. Male members concentrated mainly on testing pulses, sesame, onion as well as chilly.

When asked from which sources the members had obtained information regarding new crops or new varieties, 40.6% of the members appeared to have obtained the information through the project (i.e., the group organizer, the project or a group member), 37.5% from the Department of Agriculture and 37.5 from friends, villagers or the landowner. (See Table 36 in the Annex). Female members seem to rely less on the Department of Agriculture and more on friends and villagers. With respect to information supplied through the project, the division among the gender groups was about the same.

Labour assistance and agricultural labourers

The majority of the group member cum cultivators stated that they received labour assistance during the maha 1989-90 cultivation, i.e. 79%, with 10% less female members who or with minor assistance and thus also without the assistance of their group members. The members were asked to prioritise the types of labour assistance, if relevant. Tables 12.1-3 show the results by gender of the group members.

Table 12.1. Type of Labour Assistance Received During Maha 1989-90 - Cultivation For Female Group Members

Importance	First n=33		Second n=22		Third n=3		Total n=33
	No.	%	No.	%	No.	%	No.	%
Type of Labour Assistance
Household Members	21	63.6	5	22.7	0	0.0	26	78.8
Labour Pooling	9	27.3	5	22.7	1	33.3	15	45.5
Shramadana9	0	0.0	0	0.0	0	0.0	0	0.0
Wage Labour	3	9.1	11	50.0	2	66.7	16	48.5
Attam/Kayiya10	0	0.0	1	4.6	0	0.0	1	3.0
Total	33	100.0	22	100.0	3	100.0

n = all female group members who received labour assistance during their cultivation in maha 1989-90 season.
Source: Resource-Base Survey, 1990.

⁹Shramadana means literally donation of labour. In contrast to labour pooling there is usually no connotation of exchange in shramadana. Often shramadanas are held for repair and maintenance of community assets such as roads, playgrounds, and temples, as well as to help someone out, for example to repair a house.

¹⁰Attam or Kayiya are traditional arrangements for providing labour assistance by pooling the labour of a group cultivators who work by rotation on the land of each cultivator in the group. It is thus, in practice similar to the labour pooling also mentioned in the table, but this labour pooling refers to another arrangement, i.e., shramahuwamaru, which is introduced by the project and concerns the pooling of labour of group members. It is well possible that the terms attain, kayiya or shramahuwamaru are used interchangeable by the group members.

Importance	First n=45		Second n=32		Third n=8		Total n=45
	No.	%	No.	%	No.	%.	No.	%
Type of Labour Assistance
Household Members	29	64.4	8	25.0	0	0.0	37	82.2
Labour Pooling	10	22.2	14	43.8	1	12.5	25	55.6
Shramadana	0	0.0	0	0.0	1	12.5	1	2.2
Wage Labour	5	11.1	8	25.0	3	37.5	16	35.6
Attam/Kayiya	1	2.2	2	6.3	3	37.5	6	13.3
Total	45	100.0	32	100.0	8	100.0

n = all male group members who received labour assistance during their cultivation in maha 1989-90 season.
Source: Resource-Base Survey, 1990.

Importance	First n=78		Second n=54		Third n=11		Total n=78
Type of Labour Assistance	No.	%	No.	%	No.	%	No.	%
Household Members	50	64.1	13	24.1	0	0.0	63	80.7
Labour Pooling	19	24.3	19	35.2	2	18.2	40	51.3
Shramadana	0	0.0	0	0.0	1	9.1	1	1.3
Wage Labour	8	10.3	19	35.2	5	45.5	32	41.0
Attam/Kayiya	1	1.3	3	5.5	3	27.2	7	9.0
Total	78	100.0	54	100.0	11	100.0

n = all group members who received labour assistance during their cultivation in maha 1989-90 season.
Source: Resource-Base Survey, 1990.

The second most important type of labour assistance is labour pooling for the male members followed by wage labour, and wage labour for female members closely followed by labour pooling. A relatively high percentage of all female (35.6%) and male (29.6%) members who were involved in maha 1989-90 cultivation can afford to pay wage labour. This is mostly ranked on as a second important source of labour assistance.

Patterns of labour assistance during the 1989 yala season are similar to the 1989-90 maha season. Here labour pooling obtains a slightly more prominent role, but again female members appear to employ more often wage labourers for cultivation than male members.

Nearly as many members who participated in labour pooling on another person's field, benefited from labour pooling on their own field. Table 13. visualizes the types of agricultural operations performed when group members participated in labour pooling on fields of other cultivators.

Nearly all agricultural operations appear to be significant during labour pooling. This table supports (but does not prove) the common view that in Sri Lanka, land preparation is more often done by men than by women. It is probably for this operation that female members employ wage labourers or hire tractors. (20% of the female cultivators had hired a tractor for land preparation during the maha season, compared with 11 % of the male cultivators.) Yet, when one looks at the types of operations done by female members when they work as agricultural labourer, land preparation ranks among the most important (see below). This indicates that land preparation has a low status when done by women and that female group members do preferably not exchange labour for land preparation.

As mentioned in the previous chapter, a fairly high percentage of the group members was working as daily wage labourer in cultivation during 1989, i.e, 36.5% of the female members and 46.6% of the male members. (See Table 37 in the Annex). The majority of the agricultural labourers found work in their own village (92.6% for both female and male members). (See Table 38 in the Annex).

Tables 39.1-3 in the Annex elaborate the types of agricultural operations done by the agricultural labourers by the number of days worked. These tables reveal that there is a wide variety in the number of days worked among the labourers. About half of the labourers work on a more occasional basis. The average number of days worked in 1989 was 41.5 for female members and 40.4 for male members. This again shows that women's agricultural activities are not confined to some home gardening for the purpose of home consumption only. On the contrary, they are as actively or nearly as actively involved as men in earning an income.

Table 13. Types of Agricultural Operations During Labour Pooling On the Fields Of Other - Cultivators By Gender

Gender	Female n=26		Male n=32		Total n=58
	no.	%	no.	%	no.	%
Agricultural Operation
Land preparation	3	11.5	20	62.5	23	39.7
Seeding	7	26.9	8	25.0	15	25.9
Transplanting	8	30.8	6	18.8	14	24.1
Aftercare11	16	61.5	10	31.3	26	44.8
Harvesting	9	34.6	14	43.8	23	39.7
Making small bunds	0	0.0	2	6.3	2	3.5
Various activities	1	3.9	2	6.3	3	5.2
Digging wells	0	0.0	1	3.1	1	1.7
Processing	1	3.9	6	18.8	7	12.1
Preparation of irrigation canals	0	0.0	1	3.1	1	1.7

n = all group members who participated in labour pooling on the field(s) of other cultivators.
Source: Resource-Base Survey, 1990.

¹¹Aftercare includes the various activities performed between seeding or transplanting and harvesting, such as weeding, making heaps, spraying, etc.