Agriculture

Citation:

Luqman, Muhammad, Raheel Saqib, Xu Shiwei, and Yu Wen. 2018. “Barriers to Gender Equality in Agricultural Extension in Pakistan: Evidences from District Sargodha.” Sarhad Journal of Agriculture 34 (1): 136-43.

Authors: Muhammad Luqman, Raheel Saqib, Xu Shiwei, Yu Wen

Abstract:

The present study was designed to find out the barriers which limit the active participation of both the genders (men and women) in agricultural operations and also towards gender disparity in agricultural extension. Agriculture comprises of a number of farming activities, where both men and women are involved in multiple diverse nature of field operations. Inspite of their high contribution in farm and non-farm activities, there exist gender disparity with reference to agricultural extension, education and other farm advisory services. The study was conducted in district Sargodha located in the central Punjab, Pakistan. Personal interviews were conducted from male head as well as spouses of each selected farm family. The total sample size of the study was 300 (150 male and 150 female spouses). A designed structured questionnaire was prepared for the data collection as the research instrument. The data thus collected were coded on SPSS for analysis and interpretation. Results showed that there is significant difference in age and educational status of male heads and their spouses. Majority of the farm families (39.3%) earn income for their livelihoods both from farming and non-farming sources. Intensity of participation of female respondents in different crops and livestock activities was comparatively high as compared to their male counterparts. It was found that average daily share of female in crops related activities was 42% and in livestock activities was 53%. Inspite of their participation in crops and livestock activities it was found that compared to female respondents, male family heads had access to agricultural extension/advisory and agricultural information services and credit facilities. This is due to the existing social, cultural and religious norms in the society of Pakistan. The results of the t-test statistics showed that there is highly significant difference in opinion of male family heads and their spouses (female respondents) regarding barriers to gender equality in agricultural extension in Pakistan.

Keywords: gender disparity, inequality, barriers, crop cultivation techniques, Pakistan

Topics: Agriculture, Gender, Gender Roles, Gendered Power Relations, Gender Equality/Inequality, Households, Livelihoods Regions: Asia, South Asia Countries: Pakistan

Year: 2018

Citation:

Kristjanson, Patricia, Elizabeth Bryan, Quinn Bernier, Jennifer Twyman, Ruth Meinzen-Dick, Caitlin Kieran, Claudia Ringler, Christine Jost, and Cheryl Doss. 2017. “Addressing Gender in Agricultural Research for Development in the Face of a Changing Climate: Where Are We and Where Should We Be Going?” International Journal of Agricultural Sustainability 15 (5): 482–500.

Authors: Patricia Kristjanson, Elizabeth Bryan, Quinn Bernier, Jennifer Twyman, Ruth Meinzen-Dick, Caitlin Kieran, Claudia Ringler, Christine Jost, Cheryl Doss

Abstract:

Agricultural development efforts that do not address persistent gender gaps miss opportunities for greater impact. This synthesis reflects on key findings from integrated quantitative and qualitative analyses at the nexus of gender, agricultural development, and climate change. Linked farm household-, intrahousehold-, community-, and institutional-level data highlight significant and nuanced gender differences in adaptive capacity of individuals and communities to respond to climate change. The gender gap is also substantial in exposure to climate change and its impacts, and uptake of new practices that lower vulnerability. Women in agriculture will remain largely neglected by information and service providers unless their differing needs, access to, and control over resources are considered at policy and project design stage. Yet clear guidelines for addressing the needs of both men and women in different environments and agricultural systems are still lacking. Participatory ‘action research’ approaches with a focus on co-learning, and using innovative cell phone or social media-based approaches offer exciting new opportunities. Agricultural development decision-makers and project designers need to ‘design with gender in mind’. Equipping them with tools and knowledge of innovative gender-transformative practices and intervention options and creating accountability for serving women and men will be key.

Keywords: gender gap, agricultural development, climate change, development, adaptive capacity, resilience, vulnerability

Topics: Agriculture, Development, Environment, Climate Change, Gender, Gender Analysis, Gendered Power Relations, Gender Equality/Inequality

Year: 2017

Citation:

Argade, Shivaji, Ananta Sarkar, B.C. Behera, and A.C. Hemrom. 2019. “Access to Agri-Production Resources and Decision Making: Gender Gap in Odisha.” Journal of Global Communication 12 (1): 48-54.

Authors: Shivaji Argade, Ananta Sarkar, B.C. Behera, A.C. Hemrom

Abstract:

Agriculture remains as a prime source of women's livelihood and women remain as the backbone of agricultural workforce. In spite of women making up the prime workforce in agricultural production and processing in India, they lag well behind men in ownership of assets, access to agri-production resources and decision making. This paper explores the gender gap in access to agri-production resources and decision making in order to suggest strategies that can be useful in ensuring gender-equitable access to agri-production resources and decision making. A multistage, simple random sampling was used to select 80 respondents comprising 40 men and 40 women farmers from four villages covering two blocks of Khordha district in Odisha. The study reveals that men farmers predominate in accessing agri-production resources as compared with women. The chi square (p=0.0065) on difference between gender and access to agri-production resources affirms that it is strongly influenced by the gender. It is suggested that gender sensitisation, women education and land rights to women are to be prioritised in development initiatives to improve women's access to agri-production resources. There was wide variation in decision-making pattern among men and women related to crop and livestock production aspects. Six variables, namely, gender, education, land holding, gender of family head, family type, family size and access to production resources were significantly contributed towards variations in the decision-making pattern.

Keywords: acces, agri-production resources, Control over resources, decision making, gender gap, Gender Perception, Multiple linear regression model

Topics: Agriculture, Development, Economies, Gender, Gendered Power Relations, Gender Equality/Inequality, Gender Hierarchies, Households, Rights, Land Rights, Women's Rights Regions: Asia, South Asia Countries: India

Year: 2019

Citation:

Djurfeldt, Agnes Andersson, Ellen Hillbom, Wapulumuka O. Mulwafu, Peter Mvula, and Göran Djurfeldt. 2018. “‘The Family Farms Together, the Decisions, However Are Made by the Man’ — Matrilineal Land Tenure Systems, Welfare and Decision Making in Rural Malawi.” Land Use Policy 70: 601–10.

Authors: Agnes Andersson Djurfeldt, Ellen Hillbom, Wapulumuka O. Mulwafu, Peter Mvula, Göran Djurfeldt

Abstract:

Improved female control over land is often put forth as a means of raising the productivity of smallholder agriculture, enhancing female bargaining power and raising women’s incomes. The article uses some quantitative but primarily qualitative data on access to income and decision making, to analyse gender patterns related to welfare, incomes and control over resources in a context where women’s rights to land are particularly strong, that is in a matrilineal and uxorilocal setting. Women’s land rights are contextualized in relation to labour intensive, low productive smallholder systems and the paper assesses to what extent female control over land affects welfare outcomes, decision making and intra-household control over incomes and labour. While we find that female control over land does affect intra household relations it is clear that land reform is not enough to ensure gender equality. For any land use policy reform to have a profound affect it would have to also take into account control over other productive resources, e.g. labour, as well as the wider institutional and political context.

Keywords: land tenure, gender, agriculture, smallholders, Malawi

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

Year: 2018

Citation:

Nyambura, Ruth. 2015. “Agrarian Transformation(s) in Africa: What’s in It for Women in Rural Africa?” Development 58: 306–13.

Author: Ruth Nyambura

Abstract:

Africa is undergoing agrarian transformation(s) characterized primarily by policy formulations at both regional and national levels that are primarily pushing for large-scale commercial agriculture, fragmented and excessive individual property rights and Foreign Direct Investments from multinational agribusiness companies. While rural African women in particular are posited as the main beneficiaries of these policies, the picture emerging is that of the privatization of the commons, privileging international, and to some extent local, private commercial agribusiness interests over those of smallholder farmers, mostly women, and promoting the rapid destruction of ecosystems and the increase in conflicts and displacements affecting the rural poor.

Topics: Agriculture, Conflict, Displacement & Migration, Gender, Women, Privatization, Rights, Property Rights Regions: Africa

Year: 2015

Citation:

Jerneck, Anne. 2018. “Taking Gender Seriously in Climate Change Adaptation and Sustainability Science Research: Views from Feminist Debates and Sub-Saharan Small-Scale Agriculture.” Sustainability Science 13 (2): 403–16.

Author: Anne Jerneck

Abstract:

People, places, and production contributing the least to climate change will suffer the most. This calls for adaptation as a key climate change response. But adaptation is surrounded by problems. Finance is uncertain and fragmented, mainstreaming into development is complicated, and technical solutions often overshadow existing social relations and institutions. From a gender perspective, and as a critical research initiative to support the building of sustainability science as an umbrella field, this article raises three pertinent questions on adaptation in the global South: what is its purpose, how can development inform it, and what institutions in terms of rights and responsibilities are core to it? Focusing on sub-Saharan small-scale agriculture, three main points emerge. Regarding the purpose, adaptation should be a transformative pathway out of poverty, ill-health, and food insecurity. Regarding development, adaptation can learn from how development theory, policy, and practice have addressed women, gender, and environment in varied settings and debates. Regarding core institutions, adaptation must address gender regimes that regulate access to, use of, and control over resources, especially those defining land distribution, labour division, and strategic decision-making power. To conclude, I propose gender-informed research questions for further inquiry.

Topics: Agriculture, Development, Economies, Poverty, Environment, Climate Change, Gender, Women, Health, Land Tenure, Security, Food Security Regions: Africa

Year: 2018

Citation:

Gengenbach, Heidi, Rachel Schurman, Thomas Bassett, William Munro, and William Moseley. 2018. “Limits of the New Green Revolution for Africa: Reconceptualising Gendered Agricultural Value Chains.” The Geographical Journal 184 (2): 208–14.

Authors: Heidi Gengenbach, Rachel Schurman, Thomas Bassett, William Munro, William Moseley

Abstract:

In order to address food insecurity, the New Green Revolution for Africa (GR4A) promotes tighter integration of African smallholder farmers, especially women, into formal markets via value chains to improve farmers’ input access and to encourage the sale of crop surpluses. This commentary offers a theoretical and practical critique of the GR4A model, drawing on early findings from a five‐year study of value chain initiatives in Burkina Faso, Côte d'Ivoire, and Mozambique. It highlights the limitations of a model that views heightened market interactions as uniformly beneficial for smallholder farmers. We challenge the notion that there is a broadly similar and replicable process for the construction of markets and the development of gender‐sensitive value chains in all recipient countries. Instead we build upon the feminist network political ecology and coproduction literatures to conceptualise value chains as complex assemblages co‐produced by a broad set of actors, including socially differentiated farmers.

Topics: Agriculture, Environment, Climate Change, Feminisms, Feminist Political Ecology, Gender, Security, Food Security Regions: Africa, Southern Africa, West Africa Countries: Burkina Faso, Côte D'Ivoire, Mozambique

Year: 2018

Citation:

Sulle, Emmanuel, and Helen Dancer. 2019. “Gender, Politics and Sugarcane Commercialisation in Tanzania.” The Journal of Peasant Studies 47 (5): 1-20.

Authors: Emmanuel Sulle, Helen Dancer

Abstract:

This article explores relationships between state, corporate capital and local stakeholders in the political economy of sugarcane from a gender perspective. The findings, based on empirical research at the site of Tanzania’s largest sugarcane producer pre- and post privatisation, provide insights into the degree to which the estate out grower model can be regarded as ‘inclusive’ for women and men. Three aspects of commercial sugarcane production are analysed: land tenure, labour and leadership within canegrowers’ associations. We argue that politico-economic changes in the sector post-privatisation have increased gender differentiation in sugarcane production and consolidated power in the hands of local elites.

Keywords: agricultural commercialisation, gender, outgrowing, political economy, Tanzania, sugar

Topics: Agriculture, Economies, Gender, Men, Women, Land Tenure, Privatization Regions: Africa, East Africa Countries: Tanzania

Year: 2019

Citation:

Mwesigye, Francis, Madina Guloba, and Mildred Barungi. 2020. “Women’s Land Rights and Agricultural Productivity in Uganda.” In Women and Sustainable Human Development: Empowering Women in Africa,  edited by Maty Konte and Nyasha Tirivayi, 71–88. Cham: Palgrave Macmillan. 

Authors: Francis Mwesigye, Madina Guloba, Mildred Barungi

Abstract:

This chapter examines the status of women’s land rights and their implications for agricultural productivity in Uganda. The study finds that women had ownership rights over 32% of the surveyed parcels and use rights over 16% of the parcels. It also finds that granting land rights to women enhances productivity, but ownership rights are more important than use rights. Yield was significantly higher on parcels owned by women compared to those where women only had use rights. Therefore, granting use rights alone is not sufficient to promote efficient land use by women, but granting ownership rights can and does enhance yield. These results suggest that there is a need to strengthen female land ownership rights to promote agricultural productivity and reduce poverty. Enhancing women’s land rights is key in achieving the first and fifth sustainable development goals—alleviating poverty and promoting gender equality, respectively.

Topics: Agriculture, Economies, Poverty, Gender, Women, Gendered Power Relations, Gender Equality/Inequality, Rights, Land Rights, Women's Rights Regions: Africa, East Africa Countries: Uganda

Year: 2020

Citation:

Akinola, Adeoye O. 2018. “Women, Culture and Africa’s Land Reform Agenda.” Frontiers in Psychology 9. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2018.02234.

Author: Adeoye O. Akinola

Abstract:

Pre-colonial Africa pride itself on adherence to diverse cultural affinity and traditional belief system, which defines the place of women in respect to land access, use and ownership. Land resource continues to play important roles in both agrarian and industrial societies; thus, absence of effective land management and gender construction in land allocations has deepened gender inequality, restricted women’s capacity building and agricultural development in Africa. This article explores the impact of African traditional practices and cultural beliefs on women’s land ownership and use, it also reconciles women’s land rights (access and control) with the realities of land reform in post-colonial Africa. It explores how gender inequalities, in terms of land ownership and rights, have jeopardized attempts at agricultural productivity and sustainable development in Africa. Although, it is tasking to ‘universalize’ Africa culture and locate it in a centre, due to the diverse cultural values found in Africa. However, there are certain belief systems that run through most African communities, such as the denials of women’s land rights and patriarchal nature of the societies. Thus, the article found that, despite the development of legal frameworks that expands women’s property rights, cases of cultural impediments to the exercise of land rights abound in Africa.

Keywords: culture, women rights, land reform, land labour, human capacity building, Africa

Topics: Agriculture, Gender, Women, Gendered Power Relations, Gender Equality/Inequality, Patriarchy, Indigenous, Indigenous Knowledge Systems, Land Tenure, Rights, Land Rights, Women's Rights Regions: Africa

Year: 2018