Levelling The Farm Fields A Cross Country Study Of The Determinants Of Gender Based Yield Gaps

The State of Food and Agriculture 2010–11 brought to global attention the problem of female farmers lagging in terms of agricultural productivity compared with male farmers. This study returns to the question of gender-based differences in farm productivity, decomposing differences in farm yields between males and females. We identify one part of the gap explained by differences in attributes and access to productive assets, and another part explained by differences in returns to assets and attributes (i.e. “unexplained” differences). This paper applies the Kitagawa-Oaxaca–Blinder decomposition to gender-based productivity gaps using nationally representative household surveys from 11 developing countries in Asia, sub-Saharan Africa and Latin America. We estimate productivity models for each country utilizing a comparable set of explanatory assets and attributes. We also implement a comparable decomposition of observed productivity gaps. The cross-country analysis shows that observed total gaps in productivity by gender do not always favour male farmers; the decomposition of these gaps, however, reveals that female farmers face gender-specific constraints that manifest as lower returns to attributes and assets. This background paper was prepared to inform Chapter 2 of FAO’s report on The status of women in agrifood systems.

The status of women in agrifood systems report uses extensive new data and analyses to provide a comprehensive picture of women’s participation, benefits, and challenges they face working in agrifood systems globally. The report shows how increasing women’s empowerment and gender equality in agrifood systems enhances women’s well-being and the well-being of their households, creating opportunities for economic growth, greater incomes, productivity and resilience. The report comes more than a decade after the publication of the State of food and agriculture (SOFA) 2010–11: Women in agriculture – Closing the gender gap for development. SOFA 2010–11 documented the tremendous costs of gender inequality not only for women but also for agriculture and the broader economy and society, making the business case for closing existing gender gaps in accessing agricultural assets, inputs and services. Moving beyond agriculture, The status of women in agrifood systems reflects not only on how gender equality and women’s empowerment are central to the transition towards sustainable and resilient agrifood systems but also on how the transformation of agrifood systems can contribute to gender equality and women’s empowerment. It provides a comprehensive analysis of the available evidence on gender equality and women’s empowerment in agrifood systems that has been produced over the last decade. The report also provides policymakers and development actors with an extensive review of what has worked, highlighting the promise of moving from closing specific gender gaps towards the adoption of gender-transformative approaches that explicitly address the formal and informal structural constraints to equality. It concludes with specific recommendations on the way forward. Last update 03/08/2023

Women face a higher prevalence of food insecurity than do men, both on a global scale and across all regions. This paper delves into the global determinants contributing to the gender gap in food insecurity and explores how the COVID-19 pandemic influenced its trajectory. Additionally, it estimates the impact of improvements in food security and incomes possible if gender gaps on farm productivity and wages were closed. Utilizing data from the Food Insecurity Experience Scale gathered from over 700 000 individuals across 121 countries, this study reveals that individuals aged 25–34 years, irrespective of their gender, and women residing in rural areas have been disproportionately affected by the pandemic. The econometric model allows the authors to estimate the elasticities of food security to income, which they then use to simulate the potential macrolevel benefits for the economy and food security if we were to eliminate the gender gaps in farm productivity and wages within agrifood systems. The findings suggest that addressing these disparities could result in an approximate USD 1 trillion increase in global gross domestic product and lift approximately 45 million people out of food insecurity. Additionally, the authors estimate that eliminating these gender disparities could reduce the current gap in food insecurity between women and men by at least 57 percent. This background paper was prepared to inform Chapters 1 and 6 of FAO’s report on The status of women in agrifood systems.

Through the integration of gender analysis into resilience thinking, this book shares field-based research insights from a collaborative, integrated project aimed at improving food security in subsistence and smallholder agricultural systems. The scope of the book is both local and multi-scalar. The gendered resilience framework, illustrated here with detailed case studies from semi-arid Kenya, is shown to be suitable for use in analysis in other geographic regions and across disciplines. The book examines the importance of gender equity to the strengthening of socio-ecological resilience. Case studies reflect multidisciplinary perspectives and focus on a range of issues, from microfinance to informal seed systems. The book’s gender perspective also incorporates consideration of age or generational relations and cultural dimensions in order to embrace the complexity of existing socio-economic realities in rural farming communities. The issue of succession of farmland has become a general concern, both to farmers and to researchers focused on building resilient farming systems. Building resilience here is shown to involve strengthening households’ and communities’ overall livelihood capabilities in the face of ongoing climate change, global market volatility and political instability.

Small-scale irrigation is expanding rapidly in parts of the world, especially sub-Saharan Africa, offering smallholder farmers an opportunity to improve their livelihoods, diets, and resilience to climate change among other benefits. Growing research focuses on the potential for small-scale irrigation to offer a pathway for women’s empowerment, yet the factors conditioning the relationship between small-scale irrigation and women’s empowerment are not well understood. The evidence tends to be scattered across context-specific case studies that focus on targeted outcomes, without distinguishing between technology types, scales, or approaches to irrigation systems or technologies. This paper synthesizes the issues related to gender and small-scale irrigation using a conceptual framework that highlights the linkages between elements of women’s empowerment and small-scale irrigation. Because gendered dynamics with small-scale irrigation play out differently depending on the scale of irrigation and the technologies used, this paper applies the framework to examine case studies across a typology of small-scale irrigation systems. The case studies cover a range of farming and livelihood systems in which women’s roles and gender relations vary, highlighting the importance of the opportunity structure or context in which irrigation takes place. This paper then draws lessons on the various ways in which small-scale irrigation, gender relations, and women’s empowerment interact and highlights areas where research gaps remain.

This book is the product of an international conference hosted by the Women in Agricultural Development (WIAD) Program at the University of Florida in 1986. The purpose of WIAD program is to promote an understanding of gender and its relevance for agricultural development processes.

This book contributes to the understanding of smallholder agriculture in sub-Saharan Africa through addressing the dynamics of intensification and diversification within and outside agriculture in contexts where women have much poorer access to agrarian resources than men.