activities, such as farming. This may be because women
from poorer households are less well nourished and are
trying to conserve energy. Thus, decreased labor
availability due to pregnancy and lactation may put
additional stress on small and poor households. For all
households, the age and childbearing status of women will
affect the household labor available for agriculture.
Allocation of household labor
Technology adoption may affect the use of household
labor. Again, it is important to note that these
relationships are dynamic and it is difficult to predict a
priori how adoption of technology will affect the use of
household labor. Although new technology is often viewed
as labor saving, it is important to determine whose labor is
saved and at what point during the agricultural season.
Celis and Holleman (1991) examine the relationship
between technology adoption and household labor use in
eastern Zambia. Of particular relevance, they note that
households that use the highest level of technology employ
more family labor than households that use the lowest
levels, even after accounting for family size. In this case,
adoption of technology increases rather than decreases the
use of family labor.
It is important to recognize how the allocation of
household labor within agriculture affects other activities.
Ikpi (1992) identifies three sectors of household economic
activity: agriculture, the non-farming commercial sector,
and household production activities. He emphasizes that
the allocation of household labor among these three sectors
will be affected by the adoption of technology and
exogenous factors such as prices. Changes in one sector,
such as the introduction of new technology, will affect the
allocation of labor across all three sectors.
One important factor that affects an individual’s
willingness to provide labor within the household is how
the proceeds are divided among household members.
This issue is discussed in the section on household
decision-making.
Agricultural Labor Markets
Farmers’ access to off-farm labor, especially during critical
periods, may affect both the adoption of technology and
the levels of production. Hired labor may be paid in cash
or in-kind. In addition, numerous communities have labor
sharing arrangements, through which people work together
on each others’ farms.
It is not clear from the literature under what
circumstances farmers prefer to hire labor and when they
prefer to use cooperative or shared labor arrangements. It
appears to depend upon the traditions within the
community and the extent to which the cash economy has
penetrated the region. For example, Davison (1992) finds
that women in southern Malawi prefer to hire labor rather
than depend on cooperative efforts, even when the
cooperative efforts involve female relatives. She attributes
this to the historical value of autonomy in the community.
In some regions of northern Ghana, the use of nonfamily
labor may be greater than 30% of total labor input;
nonfamily labor typically performs the most tedious tasks
and those most easily supervised, including soil tillage,
weeding, and harvesting. Thus, farmers spend relatively
large amounts, in cash or in-kind, hiring laborers (Runge-
Metzger and Diehl 1993).
Women may face additional costs when male labor is
hired, regardless of whether the household is male- or
female-headed, if meals must be provided for the laborers
(Lassiter 1981; Zuidberg 1994). In addition, the quality of
hired labor may be lower than that of family labor
(Fortmann 1980), and outside labor requires supervision
and monitoring. This can be costly. Of course, the labor
provided by some household members may also be of poor
quality and unreliable, and families may have less flexibility
in handling unproductive family labor.
In some regions, households may prefer to engage in
cooperative labor arrangements rather than hire labor
outright. In Burkina Faso in the early 1980s, 10% of labor
was supplied by “invitations de culture,” under which a
farmer who was behind in weeding organizes a work party
and provides food and drink to those who attend (Lassiter
1981). Similarly, Ongaro (1990) found that in western
Kenya the use of hired labor is rare; instead households
share labor during peak seasons. In Zimbabwe, few farmers
appeared to hire labor, primarily due to the expense
(Rohrbach 1989).