Zambia

Female Access to Fertile Land and Other Inputs in Zambia: Why Women Get Lower Yields

Citation:

Burke, William J., Serena Li, and Dingiswayo Banda. 2018. “Female Access to Fertile Land and Other Inputs in Zambia: Why Women Get Lower Yields.” Agriculture and Human Values 35: 761–75.

Authors: William J. Burke, Serena Li, Dingiswayo Banda

Abstract:

Throughout the developing world, it is a well-documented fact that women farmers tend to get lower yields than their male counterparts. Typically this is attributed to disproportionate access to high-quality inputs and labor, with some even arguing there could be a skills-gap stemming from unbalanced access to training and education. This article examines the gender-based yield gap in the context of Zambian maize producers. In addition to the usual drivers, we argue that Zambia’s patriarchal and multi-tiered land distribution system could disfavor women with respect to accessing quality soils. We are uniquely able to control for soil characteristics using farm data from a sample of 1573 fields with accompanying soil analysis. We find an expected difference in yields, but no evidence of a gap in unobserved characteristics, like skill, after controlling for access to inputs, especially quality soil, suggesting women are indeed disproportionately disadvantaged. We discuss how our findings could be used to develop self-targeting policy interventions that could empower women and would be consistent with the government’s stated equity goals.

Keywords: gender yield gap, productivity, soil quality, Sub-Saharan Africa, Zambia

Topics: Agriculture, Gender, Women, Gendered Power Relations, Gender Equity, Patriarchy, Land Tenure Regions: Africa, Southern Africa Countries: Zambia

Year: 2018

Gender, Culture and Energy Transitions in Rural Africa

Citation:

Johnson, Oliver W., Vanessa Gerber, and Cassilde Muhoza. 2019. “Gender, Culture and Energy Transitions in Rural Africa.” Energy Research & Social Science 49 (March): 169–79.

Authors: Oliver W. Johnson, Vanessa Gerber, Cassilde Muhoza

Abstract:

Research over the past two decades on links between energy, gender and development suggests that greater inclusion of gender concerns in energy sector decision-making improves development outcomes. In practice, this has typically led to gendered energy approaches that focus more on technological fixes rather than providing appropriate energy services, and on meeting women’s immediate needs rather than addressing the broader cultural, socio-economic and political contexts important for attaining genuine gender equity. In this paper, we take a systems perspective to explore gender issues in the context of a transition from traditional to modern energy services, such as lighting, powering appliances and charging mobile phones. Viewing gender through the lens of the Energy Cultures Framework, we analyse the case of the Mpanta solar mini-grid in rural northern Zambia. We find that the transition to more modern energy services is far from gender neutral: despite providing broad benefits within the community, the benefits derived from a new technology and service were not evenly distributed between men and women due to broader socio-cultural practices and norms. This paper extends the application of the Energy Cultures Framework in two important ways. Firstly, it incorporates an explicit gender dimension into the framework. Secondly, it applies the framework in a new context – rural energy transitions in low-income countries. In doing so, this paper offers important insights for research and practice in energy, gender and development.

Topics: Development, Gender, Gendered Power Relations, Gender Equity, Infrastructure, Energy Regions: Africa, Southern Africa Countries: Zambia

Year: 2019

The Gender and Equity Implications of Land-Related Investments on Land Access and Labour and Income-Generating Opportunities: A Case Study of Selected Agricultural Investments in Zambia

Citation:

Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. 2013. The Gender and Equity Implications of Land-Related Investments on Land Access and Labour and Income-Generating Opportunities: A Case Study of Selected Agricultural Investments in Zambia. Rome: United Nations. 

Authors: Charlotte Wonanai, William Mbuta, Augustine Mkandawire

Annotation:

Summary:
“In recent years, Zambia has witnessed increased interest from private investors in acquiring land for agriculture. As elsewhere, large-scale land acquisitions are often accompanied with promises of capital investments to build infrastructure, bring new technologies and know-how, create employment, and improve market access, among other benefits. But agricultural investments create risks as well as opportunities, for instance in relation to loss of land for family farmers. While much debate on ‘land grabbing’ has discussed risks and opportunities in an aggregate way, it is critical to understand the distribution of the costs and benefits created by an investment project. For example agricultural investments create gendered outcomes that are poorly understood. Gender inequalities in Zambia, as seen across much of Sub-Saharan Africa, shape access to land, agricultural assets, inputs, services and rural employment opportunities. These gender inequalities are partially responsible for the underperformance of the agricultural sector. Investments in the agriculture sector must therefore account for and challenge these inequalities if they are to deliver their stated benefits.
 
This study investigates the gender dimensions of agricultural investments in Zambia through two case studies. The first case study is the Kaleya Smallholder Company Ltd (KASCOL), an agribusiness company operating in Mazabuka district in Zambia’s Southern Province since 1980. KASCOL produces sugar cane, which it sells to Zambia Sugar PLC. Cane is produced both from KASCOL’s nucleus estate and from an outgrower scheme currently involving 160 smallholders who hold 14-year renewable sub-leases on company-leased land. The second case is ETC Bio-Energy Limited, previously Mpongwe Development Company (MDC), in Mpongwe District, Copperbelt Province. ETC cultivates a mix of crops, including jatropha, on company run plantations. In 2011 ETC sold the farms to a Zambian multinational agribusiness firm, Zambeef. As this transfer occurred so recently, attention is focused in this report on assessing the experience under MDC and ETC Bio-Energy. Both KASCOL and MDC projects began as joint ventures between the government of Zambia and the Commonwealth Development Corporation (CDC). This indicates the development orientation of both of the projects from the outset albeit through a vision of agricultural modernisation through large-scale agricultural enterprises. These two cases are not representative of the new wave of land-based investments for agriculture but, because of their duration, have some lessons to share concerning gender and equity in agricultural investments” (Wonani et al. 2013, iv).

Topics: Agriculture, Gender, Gendered Power Relations, Gender Equality/Inequality, Gender Equity, Land Grabbing Regions: Africa, Southern Africa Countries: Zambia

Year: 2013

Understanding Gender Dimensions of Climate-Smart Agriculture Adoption in Disaster-Prone Smallholder Farming Communities in Malawi and Zambia

Citation:

Khoza, Sizwile, Dewald Van Niekerk, and Livhuwani David Nemakonde. 2019. "Understanding Gender Dimensions of Climate-Smart Agriculture Adoption in Disaster-Prone Smallholder Farming Communities in Malawi and Zambia." Disaster Prevention and Management 28 (5): 530-47.

Authors: Sizwile Khoza, Dewald Van Niekerk, Livhuwani David Nemakonde

Abstract:

Purpose – Through the application of traditional and contemporary feminist theories in gender mainstreaming, the purpose of this paper is to contribute to emergent debate on gender dimensions in climate-smart agriculture (CSA) adoption by smallholder farmers in disaster-prone regions. This is important to ensure that CSA strategies are tailored to farmer-specific gender equality goals. 
 
Design/methodology/approach – An exploratory-sequential mixed methods research design which is qualitatively biased was applied. Key informant interviews and farmer focus group discussions in two study sites formed initial qualitative phase whose findings were explored in a quantitative cross-sectional household survey. 
 
Findings – Findings shared in this paper indicate the predominant application of traditional gender mainstreaming approaches in CSA focusing on parochial gender dichotomy. Qualitative findings highlight perceptions that western gender approaches are not fully applicable to local contexts and realities, with gender mainstreaming in CSA seemingly to fulfil donor requirements, and ignorant of the heterogeneous nature of social groups. Quantitative findings establish that married men are majority adopters and nonadopters of CSA, while dis-adopters are predominantly de jure female household heads. The latter are more likely to adopt CSA than married women whose main role in CSA is implementers of spouse’s decisions. Access to education, intra-household power relations, productive asset and land ownership are socio-cultural dynamics shaping farmer profiles. 
 
Originality/value – By incorporating African feminisms and intersectionality in CSA, value of this study lies in recommending gender policy reforms incorporating local gender contexts within the African socio-cultural milieu. This paper accentuates potential benefits of innovative blend of both contemporary and classic gender mainstreaming approaches in CSA research, practice and technology development in disaster-prone regions.

Keywords: agriculture, climate change adaptation, DRR, climate-smart agriculture adoption, gender and DRRM, gender policy

Topics: Agriculture, Education, Environment, Climate Change, Feminisms, Gender Mainstreaming, Gendered Power Relations, Gender Equality/Inequality, Households, Intersectionality Regions: Africa, Southern Africa Countries: Malawi, Zambia

Year: 2019

A Cost-Benefit Analysis of Climate-Smart Agriculture Options in Southern Africa: Balancing Gender and Technology

Citation:

Mutenje, Munyaradzi Junia, Cathy Rozel Farnworth, Clare Stirling, Christian Thierfelder, Walter Mupangwa, and Isaiah Nyagumbo. 2019. "A Cost-Benefit Analysis of Climate-Smart Agriculture Options in Southern Africa: Balancing Gender and Technology." Ecological Economics 163: 126-37.

Authors: Munyaradzi Junia Mutenje, Cathy Rozel Farnworth, Clare Stirling, Christian Thierfelder, Walter Mupangwa, Isaiah Nyagumbo

Abstract:

Climate change and extreme weather events undermine smallholder household food and income security in southern Africa. Climate Smart Agriculture (CSA) technologies comprise a suite of interventions that aim to sustainably increase productivity whilst helping farmers adapt their farming systems to climate change and to manage risk more effectively. Cost-benefit analysis (CBA) and a mixed methods approach were used to assess the likelihood of investment in various CSA technology combinations. The data were drawn respectively from 1440, 696, and 1448 sample households in Malawi, Mozambique and Zambia, covering 3622, 2106 and 5212 maize-legume plots in these countries over two years. The cost-benefit analysis and stochastic dominance results showed that CSA options that combined soil and water conservation management practices based on the principles of conservation agriculture (CA), improved varieties, and associations of cereal-legume crop species were economically viable and worth implementing for risk averse smallholder farmers. A dynamic mixed multinomial logit demonstrated that women's bargaining power, drought shock, and access to CSA technology information positively influenced the probability of investing in CSA technology combinations. This study provides evidence of the importance of cultural context, social relevance and intra-household decision-making in tailoring suitable combinations of CSA for smallholder farmers in southern Africa.

Keywords: gender, intra-household decision-making, climate-smart agriculture, cost-benefit analysis, Southern Africa

Topics: Agriculture, Environment, Climate Change, Gender, Women, Households, Security, Food Security Regions: Africa, Southern Africa Countries: Malawi, Mozambique, Zambia

Year: 2019

Food Security in Rural Sub-Saharan Africa: Exploring the Nexus between Gender, Geography and Off-Farm Employment

Citation:

Dzanku, Fred Mawunyo. 2019. “Food Security in Rural Sub-Saharan Africa: Exploring the Nexus between Gender, Geography and Off-Farm Employment.” World Development 113: 26–43.

Author: Fred Mawunyo Dzanku

Abstract:

How to eradicate hunger and achieve food security remains a key developmental issue, particular in countries south of the Sahara. Most of the empirical literature focuses on agriculture-based interventions although it is well known that rural households have a gamut of income generating activities that constitute their livelihood. This article uses panel data for six African countries to examine the association between off-farm income and household food security and tests key hypotheses that have not been previously explored. We hypothesize that the association between food security and off-farm income is neither gender-neutral nor the same for households living in low and high agroecological potential areas. Because a nontrivial number of households do not earn off-farm income, we also hypothesize that the food security effect of nonparticipation differs by gender and geography. The results show that although off-farm income has a strong statistically significant association with food security the correlation magnitudes are not as strong. However, off-farm income has a significantly stronger association with food security among female-headed and poor region households than it has among male-headed and rich region households in most countries. The gender-related result supports the notion that households tend to benefit more from women's greater control over resources than when such resources are controlled by men. We also show that nonparticipation in off-farm income is more costly, food security wise, for female-headed households and households who live in low agroecological potential regions than it is for male-headed households and those who live in high potential regions. The rural nonfarm sector in high agroecological potential areas tends to be associated with greater poverty reduction among female-headed households than among male-headed households. From a policy and development practice perspective, the results suggest that focusing rural development policies on factors that raise farm productivity alone (e.g., input subsidies) may not lead to gender-neutral welfare outcomes. This means that interventions such as rural nonfarm microcredit schemes that targets female-headed households or women in general could help achieve gender-equitable poverty reduction, as others have shown.

Keywords: Sub- Saharan Africa, off-farm employment, gender, geography, food security, panel data

Topics: Agriculture, Development, Economies, Poverty, Gender, Households, Livelihoods, Security, Food Security Regions: Africa, East Africa, Southern Africa, West Africa Countries: Ghana, Kenya, Malawi, Mozambique, Tanzania, Zambia

Year: 2019

Widows' Land Rights and Agricultural Investment

Citation:

Dillon, Brian, and Alessandra Voena. 2018. “Widows' Land Rights and Agricultural Investment.” Journal of Development Economics 135: 449-60.

Authors: Brian Dillon, Alessandra Voena

Abstract:

This paper examines the connection between widows' land inheritance rights and land investments in Zambia. We study whether the threat of land expropriation upon widowhood deters households from fallowing, applying fertilizer, and employing labor-intensive tillage techniques. Variation in inheritance by widows is based on customary village practices, which we observe in surveys of village leaders. Controlling for possible confounding factors, both OLS and IV estimates show lower levels of land investment by married couples in villages where widows do not inherit. Concern over prospective loss of land by the wives reduces investment in land quality even while the husband is alive.

Keywords: land tenure security, widowhood, land investment, gender discrimination, African development, farm productivity

Topics: Agriculture, Gender, Women, Gendered Power Relations, Gender Equality/Inequality, Land Tenure, Households, Rights, Land Rights Regions: Africa, Southern Africa Countries: Zambia

Year: 2018

"People Are Trying to Be Modern": Food Insecurity and the Strategies of the Poor

Citation:

Leahy, Terry, and Debbie Jean Brown. 2016. “‘People Are Trying to Be Modern’: Food Insecurity and the Strategies of the Poor.” Forum for Development Studies 43 (3): 489-510.

Authors: Terry Leahy, Debbie Jean Brown

Abstract:

The failure of rural Africans to heed the message of development projects and improving agricultural practices is widely recognized as a problem in terms of food security and rural development. This study focuses on the situation in one locality of eastern Zambia and adopts a qualitative approach. By looking at local cultural issues a different understanding of the mechanisms of this failure may be attempted. We suggest that food provisioning is constructed in reference to an ideal of modernity in which subsistence production takes a particular (and gendered) relationship to the cash economy. The implication is that subsistence agriculture is conceived as ‘reproduction’ within capitalism rather than as a separate mode of production articulated with capitalism. This ideal of modernity and the associated utopia of food provisioning make it difficult for rural households in Zambia to see sustainable subsistence agriculture as any kind of a way forward. 

Keywords: Zambia, food security, subsistence, gender, peasant

Topics: Agriculture, Development, Economies, Food Security, Gender, Households, Political Economies Regions: Africa, Southern Africa Countries: Zambia

Year: 2016

Ensuring Women Follow the Money: Gender Barriers in Extractive Industry Revenue Accountability in the Dominican Republic and Zambia

Citation:

Jayasinghe, Namalie, and Maria Ezpeleta. 2019. "Ensuring Women Follow the Money: Gender Barriers in Extractive Industry Revenue Accountability in the Dominican Republic and Zambia." The Extractive Industries and Society, April 15, 2019. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.exis.2019.04.003

Authors: Namalie Jasyasinghe, Maria Ezpeleta

Abstract:

Social accountability initiatives (SAIs) can be important to help push for oil, gas, and mining revenues to go to communities impacted by extractive industries (EI). Local investments in targeted services and programs can improve development outcomes and address negative impacts caused by EI. Ensuring that women and women’s rights organizations (WROs) are part of SAIs is likewise crucial, without which investments financed by EI revenues may not reflect the needs and interests of women, missing an opportunity to advance women’s rights and gender equality. This article shares preliminary results from a project that involves: (1) research exploring a women’s rights approach to SAIs on EI revenue transparency; and (2) program activities intended to foster joint agenda-setting between WROs and EI revenue transparency civil society organizations (EITCSOs) that distinctly focus on advancing women’s rights. Initial findings suggest that addressing structural barriers to women’s participation, such as socio-cultural norms, women’s lack of ownership of land and resources, gender-insensitive consultation processes, inaccessibility of information, and women’s lack of awareness of their rights, in SAIs related to EI revenue transparency could improve women’s agency. Through this project, WROs and EITCSOs are building advocacy agendas that respond to these barriers to promote women’s rights.

Keywords: gender, women's rights organizations, social accountability, revenue, extractive industries, Dominican Republic, Zambia, transparency

Topics: Extractive Industries, Gender, Women, Gendered Discourses, International Organizations, Rights, Women's Rights Regions: Africa, East Africa, Americas, Caribbean countries Countries: Dominican Republic, Zambia

Year: 2019

Gender Equality and Land Administration: The Case of Zambia

Citation:

Spichiger, Rachel, and Edna Kabala. 2014. “Gender Equality and Land Administration: The Case of Zambia.” DIIS Working Paper 4, Danish Institute for International Studies (DIIS), Copenhagen.

Authors: Rachel Spichiger, Edna Kabala

Abstract:

Land, and in particular agricultural land, is central to livelihoods in rural Zambia. Zambia is characterised by a dual legal system of customary and statutory law and by dual land tenure, with state land and customary land. A first wave of socialist-oriented reforms took place after independence in 1964, which abolished previously existing freehold land in favour of lease-hold. Subsequent changes in government policies under the influence of structural adjustment programmes and a new government in 1991 paved the way for a market-driven land reform. The 1995 Lands Act introduced the privatization of land in Zambia and provided for the conversion of customary into state land, with the hope of attracting investors. However, the Act has been unevenly implemented, at least in rural areas, in part due to problems plaguing the land administration institutions and their work, in part due to opposition to the main tenets of the Act from chiefs, the population and civil society. Civil society, with donor support, calls for more attention towards women’s precarious situations with regard to access to and ownership of land under customary tenure, but it still expresses a desire for customary tenure to remain. However, civil society also recognizes that customary practices are often also discriminatory towards women who depend on male relatives for access to land.
 
A gender policy, passed in 2000, and two subsequent draft land policies tried to address women’s lack of access to land by stipulating that 30% of the land should be allocated to women. What has been the role of donors in these developments? Both on the government’s side and for civil society, NGOs and donor agencies, gender has increasingly come to the fore. Donors have certainly pushed for policies and changes in legislation. In particular, the recent Anti Gender-Based Violence Act has been hailed as a huge step for gender equality, and was heavily supported by donors. The land sector, however, does not receive much donor support. While it is notable that donors (e.g. USAID and the World Bank) supported the process leading to the 1995 Lands Act, no donor supported gender issues within that sector in that period. Some donors do take issues related to women’s access to land into account within their agricultural programmes or through their work on democracy and governance, however. Over the last five years, several programmes implemented by NGOs (national and international) and civil-society organisations have focused entirely on women’s land rights. Despite registering some positive outcomes, especially in areas of knowledge and capacity-building, these programmes have met some challenges. Apart from technical and financial issues, it was observed that changes with regard to land tenure are slow to be institutionalised, if at all, and that mechanisms to enhance the accountability of land administrators on both customary and state land are lacking. These initiatives are taking place against a changing background, as Zambia is now at an important juncture at the policy and legal levels, with attempts to codify customary law and to take steps to strengthen tenure security on customary land. How and when this will be done, and how this codified customary law will be enforced, as well as what impact it will have on women remains to be seen. What is also uncertain is what impact this will have on current policies that are under review (e.g. gender and land policies) and the direction that will be taken with regard to issues of tenure security for women living under customary tenure. Whether and, if so, to what extent donors will adopt a defining role in these coming endeavours is not yet clear, especially in a changing aid landscape, since several donor agencies have now withdrawn from Zambia. 

Topics: Civil Society, Gender, Gendered Power Relations, Gender Equality/Inequality, Land Tenure, Governance, Livelihoods, NGOs, Rights, Land Rights Regions: Africa, Southern Africa Countries: Zambia

Year: 2014

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