TWENTY-FIVE YEARS OF RESEARCH ON WOMEN FARMERS IN AFRICA: LESSONS AND IMPLICATIONS FOR AGRICULTURAL RESEARCH INSTITUTIONS; WITH AN ANNOTATED BIBLIOGRAPHY

Structural adjustment programs rapidly induced drastic
economic changes, which effected changes in patterns of
cropping, incomes, allocations of time, and patterns of
consumption. These changes are outlined and their effects
on women are explored.

Gilbert, E., L. Phillips, W. Roberts, M.-T. Sarch, M. Smale,
and A. Stroud. 1994. Maize Research Impact in Africa:
The Obscured Revolution. Bureau for Africa Technical
Paper 07. SD Publication Series. Washington D.C.:
Office of Sustainable Development, USAID.

This study examines the effect of maize research by
comparing actual production in sub-Saharan Africa with two
hypothetical scenarios. The first scenario has static yields
which remain at the average five-year level for 1966-70. The
second scenario has yields falling by 1% per year. The
authors differentiate between, and attempt to account for,
easily achieved results (area, yield, production, prices),
obscured changes (returns to labor, resource allocation,
consumption, etc.), and invisible impacts (avoidance of
negatives such as pest, disease, drought, and low soil
fertility.) Case studies are presented from five countries:
Kenya, Malawi, Senegal, Nigeria, and Zaire, as well as
regional overviews and historical background on
development trends. The authors claim that improvements
in maize production, especially technical innovations,
including mechanization, germplasm, and post-harvest
techniques, have had positive effects on domestic availability
of grain, food security, consumption levels, trade balances,
and economic growth. The authors acknowledge the
difficulty of including all research impacts and generalizing
across varied geographical regions. However, evidence
indicates that research contributes to increased returns to
land and labor and that increased production was due to
technical innovations—not just an expansion of the area
under cultivation. At the household level, improved
techniques help relieve constraints, by either allowing an
expansion of maize production or a shift of resources out of
maize production, depending on the particular needs of the
household.

Gladwin, C.H. (ed.). 1991. Structural Adjustment and
African Women Farmers. Gainesville, Florida: University
of Florida Press.

This collection of articles provides both a series of case
studies and an analysis of the issues affecting women farmers
in Africa in countries that are undergoing structural
adjustment. Although the title suggests that the book focuses
on women farmers, individual chapters include rural women
more broadly defined and women traders. The final chapters
focus on directions for research and policy to improve the
lives of women farmers.

Gladwin, C.H. 1992. Gendered impacts of fertilizer
subsidy removal programs in Malawi and Cameroon.
Agricultural Economics 7: 141-53.

Gladwin explores the affects of removing fertilizer subsidies
on women farmers. After reviewing the standard arguments
for and against such subsidies, she claims that even with
existing levels of fertilizer subsidies, fertilizer use is
suboptimal in both Malawi and Cameroon. A removal of
the fertilizer subsidy and the resulting increase in fertilizer
prices could decrease fertilizer use to lower levels, especially
among women, because imperfect credit and the lack of
cash are the main constraints limiting women farmers’ use
of chemical fertilizers. Since maize is fertilizer responsive
and because there are no viable organic substitutes for
chemical fertilizer in the local farming systems at this time,
a decrease in fertilizer use will decrease maize production.
The result will not only decrease women’s agricultural
production and incomes, but will also jeopardize the high
level of food self-sufficiency currently enjoyed by both
countries. She recommends a policy of maintaining or
increasing fertilizer subsidies in both countries and of
targeting subsidies toward smallholders, especially women
farmers, for food production.

Goetz, S.J. 1993. Interlinked markets and the cash crop-
food crop debate in land-abundant tropical agriculture.
Economic Development and Cultural Change 41(2):
343-60.

This paper explores the relationship between cash-crop
production and food-crop production in sub-Saharan
Africa. Goetz argues that indigenous institutions within the
household have been developed to cope with market
failures. Consequently, policies that affect the linkages
among land, labor, and capital within the household
influence the amount of land and resources dedicated to
food and cash crops. Using data from Senegal, this article
shows that increasing prices for cash crop inputs may
decrease the amount of cereal crops, such as maize, that are
grown. When cash crops are produced, the household head
provides seed, land, and assurance of food sustenance. In
exchange, other members of the household work a
designated number of hours on a family cereal plot. The
provision of cash-crop inputs to household members assures
the household head of a sufficient labor pool, which
includes married sons and migrant workers. The results
indicate that net cereal production is higher when cash
crops are produced. Although one might imagine that
interhousehold markets might differ for female-headed and
male-headed households, this paper assumes the household
head to be male.

Goheen, M. 1996. Men Own the Fields, Women Own the
Crops: Gender and Power in the Cameroon Grassfields.
Madison, Wisconsin: University of Wisconsin Press.

In this book, the author discusses gender and power
relations throughout a number of institutions within the

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