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

Nso’ chiefdom. In the section on gender and power
relations in agricultural production, detailed descriptions of
tensions between the roles and responsibilities of men and
women are provided. Men continue to own the land, yet
women produce much of the food and are responsible for
feeding their families. These relationships are contested and
much of the book focuses on how they are contested and
how they change.

Grenoble, D.W. 1990. Mechanization in a developing
country—Swaziland. Applied Agricultural Research 5(3):
235-40.

Labor shortages limit maize and vegetable production in
Swaziland. Around 90% of arable land is dedicated to maize
production. During the rainy season most farmers focus on
maize and do not farm their irrigated plots. This paper
proposes specific improvements in mechanization to ease
labor shortages and increase land area under production.
Research trials tested the effectiveness, availability, and
affordability of different interventions such as herbicides,
oxen-drawn maize planters, and reduced tillage methods.
Based upon the results, the author offers proposals for
improving mechanization. The paper warns that
mechanization will likely be slow due to the scarcity of
capital and farmers’ aversion to risk. No discussion is made
of how mechanization might affect men and women
farmers differently or whether women would be less likely
to adopt the technology. This paper is most useful for its
recommendations concerning affordable improvements to
already existing maize technology.

Grisley, W., and D. Mwesignwa. 1994. Socio-economic
determinants of seasonal cropland fallowing decisions:
Smallholders in South-Western Uganda. Journal of
Environmental Management 42: 81-89.

This article examines the socioeconomic factors that
determine fallowing decisions of smallholders in
southwestern Uganda. The relationship between farm and
household factors and the degree of fallowing is estimated.
Factors positively associated with fallowing include the size
of the field on which the homestead is located, farm acres
per family member, percent of cultivated land that is
currently intercropped, and the percent of land that is
located on hillsides. The number of days per week that the
wife worked off-farm was found to be negatively associated
with fallowing. No association was found between either
household labor availability or the distance of fields from
the homestead and fallowing decisions. Intercropping is
advocated as an appropriate short-run method for
maintaining soil fertility and reducing soil loss. The most
common intercrop combination in the area is maize and
beans. Although men and women might have different
preferences for fallowing or cultivation, gender is largely
ignored in this article.

Guyer, J. 1980. Household budgets and women’s incomes.
Working Paper 28. Boston: African Studies Center,
Boston University.

This is an important anthropological work challenging the
notion of a single household budget, using a case study of
the Beti in Cameroon. The author demonstrates that men
and women maintain separate purses. Women have been
increasingly brought into the food trade in this region. The
men’s economy has a clear peak during the cocoa season,
and women also increase their income-generating activities
during this period to take advantage of the additional cash
in the local economy. Although the study area is not
primarily a maize producing area, this is a useful analysis of
intrahousehold relations in agricultural households in an
area undergoing economic changes.

Guyer, J.I. 1988. Intra-Household Processes and Farming
Systems Research: Perspectives from Anthropology. In
J.L. Moock (ed.), Understanding Africa’s Rural
Households and Farming Systems. Boulder, Colorado:
Westview Press. Pp. 92-104.

In order to understand gender issues in Africa, Guyer
stresses that it is critical to examine the processes of
agricultural change. In particular, it is important to examine
intrahousehold processes in order to begin to understand
how patterns of production and consumption change. She
argues that analyses at the household level are inappropriate
for Africa and proposes an approach to move beyond it.

Guyer, J. 1997. An African Niche Economy. Edinburgh, UK:
Ediburgh University Press.

Most discussions of food production in Africa focus on the
failures. This book provides interesting insights by
discussing how the areas around Ibadan, Nigeria have
changed during1968-1988, but have continued to provide
food for the rapidly growing city. One chapter focuses on
women’s entry into farming. Women went into farming
specifically for the urban market and were frequently
specialized commercial farmers.

Hailu, Z. 1990. The Adoption of Modern Farm Practices in
African Agriculture: Empirical Evidence about the
Impacts of Household Characteristics and Input Supply
Systems in the Northern Region of Ghana. Nyankpala
Agricultural Research Report 7. Tamale, Ghana:
Nyankpala Agricultural Experiment Station.

The empirical analysis in this study is based on a case study
in northern Ghana during the 1986/87 cropping season.
Maize is a staple crop in this area. After a brief discussion of
the socioeconomic characteristics of the study area and of its
prevailing farming systems, the objectives and tools of
agricultural policy in the region are presented. Prevailing
input supply and distribution systems are described in great
detail with emphasis on institutional and operational setups.

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