Economic Efficiency and Supply Response of Women as Farm Managers: Comparative Evidence from Western Kenya (original) (raw)
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2018
The need to effectively integrate gender in agriculture is a topical issue in research and policy debates. Previous studies have shown that women in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) face challenges in accessing productive resources such as land, and this reduces their productivity compared to men. Most of these studies, however, have analyzed male-headed versus female-headed households, and this approach fails to take into account the women who are in male-headed households, for example. Moreover, the combined effect of gendered decision-making and access to institutional support services on agricultural productivity and efficiency has not received adequate focus in empirical work. The main objective of this study was to assess the effect of intra-household decision-making and access to institutional support services (group membership, credit, extension, agricultural training forums) on maize production efficiency in Kenya. Using primary data collected from Bungoma and Meru counties, a mult...
Asian Journal of Agricultural Extension, Economics & Sociology, 2019
The introduction of Structural Adjustment Programmes (SAPs) and trade liberalisation resulted in agricultural reforms in Kenya and other developing countries. Hence the Kenya government no longer gives incentives to small scale farmers. Therefore, the small scale farmers, extension service and the government at large have to look for all ways to increase maize production in the country, hence the study. Men and women both make significant contributions in maize-based farming systems and livelihoods, although gender roles in maize cultivation vary greatly across and within regions. Their contribution to agricultural work varies even more widely, depending on the specific crop and activity. The purpose of the study was to determine the influence of Farmers' Gender on Factors Affecting Maize production among Small Scale Farmers in the Agricultural Reform Era: The Case of Western Region of Kenya. This is because maize is the main staple for most of the Kenyan population and Western ...
2006
There has been a decline in crop productivity in Kenya, a situation that has contributed to the raising food insecurity in the country. Communities in arid and semi-arid areas of the country, the landless, and female headed households are particularly vulnerable to food insecurity. Given the rising percentage of female headed households in Kenya (estimated at 37% in 2005), there is need to examine crop productivity in male and female managed farms and do a diagnosis of factors that lead to low productivity in female headed households and hence their higher vulnerability to food insecurity. This paper aims at examining gender differentials in farm resource ownership and how it affects the technical efficiency in maize production in male and female managed farms. The underlying hypothesis in this paper is that: given the same level of production technology, there should be no significant differences in the levels of maize productivity between male and female farmers. Hence, any signif...
PLOS ONE
This paper documents a positive relationship between maize productivity in western Kenya and women's empowerment in agriculture, measured using indicators derived from the abbreviated version of the Women's Empowerment in Agriculture Index. Applying a crosssectional instrumental-variable regression method to a data set of 707 maize farm households from western Kenya, we find that women's empowerment in agriculture significantly increases maize productivity. Although all indicators of women's empowerment significantly increase productivity, there is no significant association between the women's workload (amount of time spent working) and maize productivity. Furthermore, the results show heterogenous effects with respect to women's empowerment on maize productivity for farm plots managed jointly by a male and female and plots managed individually by only a male or female. More specifically, the results suggest that female-and male-managed plots experience significant improvements in productivity when the women who tend them are empowered. These findings provide evidence that women's empowerment contributes not only to reducing the gender gap in agricultural productivity, but also to improving, specifically, productivity from farms managed by women. Thus, rural development interventions in Kenya that aim to increase agricultural productivity-and, by extension, improve food security and reduce poverty-could achieve greater impact by integrating women's empowerment into existing and future projects.
Gender Gap in Agricultural Productivity: A Case Study of Smallholder Farmers in Busia County Kenya
International journal of economics, 2024
The study aimed at determining the gender gap in agricultural productivity: A case of Smallholder Farmers in Busia Kenya. Methodology: The research employed a correlational research approach, utilizing multistage sampling to choose 384 participants from seven subcounties within the study region. Data collection utilized structured questionnaires, and analysis was conducted on quantitative data using descriptive statistics and inferential methods with STATA version 17. The findings were presented using tables and figures. Findings: The study revealed a statistically significant gender gap in agricultural productivity in Busia-County at the expense of female farmers. Specifically in Teso North, gender gap was-0.43 with a p-value of 0.049, in Teso south, gender gap was-0.63 with a p-value of 0.040, in Bunyala, gender gap was-0.67 with a p-value of 0.035, in Butula, gender gap was-0.47 with a p-value of 0.002, in Matayos, gender gap was-0.72 with a pvalue of 0.041, in Nambale, gender gap was-0.64 with a p-value of 0.041 and In Samia, gender gap was-0.67 with a p-value of 0.036. It was concluded that female farmers are less productive than male farmers in Busia County Kenya. Unique Contribution to Theory, Practice and Policy: Drawing from production theory, and social feminist theory, the study investigated the relationship between productivity and gender among smallholder farmers. To address the gender gap in agricultural productivity, it is recommended that policymakers, agricultural extension services, and other stakeholders advocate for gender-inclusive agricultural development initiatives in the area.
GENDER AND COST EFFICIENCY IN MAIZE PRODUCTION IN OYO STATE OF NIGERIA
2010
The issues of gender in smallholder farmers in Nigeria have been widely debated in terms of marginalization in main input leaving out the efficient use of these resources. In this paper, an empirical assessment of smallholder cost efficiency and its determinants using stochastic cost frontier function was conducted. In addition, regression and paired sample t-test were used to examine the determinants of efficiency. The results indicates that labour is an important factor of production for both male and female farmers and that female are more cost inefficient than their male counterparts The study concluded that there should be a review of the agricultural policy that will address the existing gender bias in assessing agricultural inputs.
WOMEN AND AGRICULTURE IN RURAL KENYA: ROLE IN AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTION
International Journal of Humanities, Art and Social Studies (IJHAS), 2019
Women play a very significant role in agricultural production in Kenya. However, they are accorded little attention. The lack of inadequate information on the level of women participation in agricultural production has helped to underestimate their importance in agricultural production and hence led to their neglect in sector development. This paper sought to examine the role of women in Agricultural production in Kenya to give them an impetus upon which they can voice their concern in agricultural related issues. To improve women visibility in agricultural production, the author suggests that women contribution to agricultural production should be understood based on their contribution to food security in household and community rather than their contribution to commercialised agriculture which is dominated by men. With this, the author hopes to persuade policymakers to reexamine their perception of rural women involved in agricultural production for prompt policy action.
Gender differentials in agricultural productivity: an empirical evidence from Uganda
2017
This paper contributes to the empirical evidence on the gender differences in agricultural productivity. Using detailed household and individual data from the Uganda LSMS-ISA (2009-10; 2010-11) we estimate the value of productivity of crops grown per acre of harvested land at the household level, based on the gender of the land manager. Results from the Tobit model with fixed effects confirm the findings of the existing literature: controlling also for socio-economic variables and plot characteristics (soil quality, topography, distance from the homestead), as well as for the use of inputs (both labour and other inputs than labour) female managed plots are less productive than plots managed by men. Better individual agricultural data disaggregated by gender may allow to better identify the reasons of such productivity gap.
Gender productivity differentials among smallholder farmers in Africa: A cross-country comparison
2015
This article investigates gender inequality in agricultural productivity, highlights its key determinants, and approximates the potential production, consumption, and poverty gains from reducing or closing the gender productivity gap. The analysis is performed on the basis of representative household survey datasets recently collected in Nigeria, Tanzania, and Uganda. In these countries, agriculture remains the mainstay of the economy and understanding the extent and sources of gender productivity gaps is crucial for building policy interventions and empowering women. Our econometric approach consists initially in estimating a model of agricultural productivity to uncover the impact of gender of the land manager. Then, mean and quantile-based decomposition approaches are applied to each country separately to underscore the sources of gender differences in agriculture. Using the estimated productivity differentials, we finally measure the potential benefits that each country could ob...
Resource Accessibility and Productivity among Women Crop Farmers in Borno State, Nigeria
The objective of this study was to determine resource accessibility and productivity among crop farming women in Borno State, Nigeria. Likert scale was used to describe women's accessibility to agricultural production resources. The Maximum Likelihood Estimates (MLE) of the stochastic frontier production function (SFPF) was used to estimate the production and technical inefficiency determinants as a measure of productivity of the respondents. Results indicated that respondents had low access to most of the agricultural productivity resources considered in the study. Furthermore, the gamma of 0.7865 was significant at 1%, revealing that over 78% of the variation in the productivity of respondents was attributable to technical inefficiency factors. This underscores the fact that low access to technical efficiency resources contributes immensely to productivity losses among women farmers It was recommended that access to technical efficiency factors including credit, education, extension contact and membership of cooperatives need to be enhanced among women farmers to empower women to effectively access and utilize resources of agricultural productivity.