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



Jayne, T.S., and S. Jones. 1996. Food marketing and pricing
policy in eastern and southern Africa: Lessons for
increasing agricultural productivity and access to food.
East Lansing, Michigan: Michigan State University.

This study examines grain marketing and pricing policy in
eastern and southern Africa. The authors find that where
smallholder grain production has expanded through the use
of hybrid seeds and fertilizer, the state has invested in
infrastructure, including markets for outputs, inputs, and
credit. The marketing systems were used to transfer resources
to select farmer groups, not urban consumers.

Jha, D., and B. Hojjati. 1993. Fertilizer Use on Smallholder
Farms in Eastern Province, Zambia.
Research Report 94.
Washington, D.C.: IFPRI.

This study, conducted in Eastern Province, Zambia,
examines how farmers use fertilizers and analyzes how
fertilizer use facilitates the transition from subsistence
farming to more commercialized agriculture. While gender
issues are not the focus of the analysis, the sex of the
household head is included as a possible determinant of
fertilizer use. The sex of the household head is not
significant in determining fertilizer adoption or intensity of
use. However, female-headed households are likely to use
fertilizer on local maize and are less likely to grow hybrid
maize. This paper suggests that female-headed households
may emphasize family food production and sales. Their lack
of male labor may limit their ability to grow hybrid maize
and to engage in cash transactions.

Jones, C. 1983. The mobilization of women’s labor for cash
crop production: A game theoretic approach.
American
JournalOfAgriculturalEconomics.
Pp. 1049-54.

This study provides empirical evidence to reject the
neoclassical model of the household. It uses data from a
study on how husbands mobilize their wives’ labor for
irrigated rice production in Cameroon. Labor is not
allocated efficiently across men’s rice fields and women’s
sorghum fields. One of the reasons for this inefficiency is
disagreement between husbands and wives about how the
income from rice production should be allocated. Women
are unwilling to contribute their labor to male-controlled
fields unless they are adequately compensated. This study
contributes to our understanding of how intrahousehold
dynamics affect the adoption of agricultural technologies.

Kariuku, J.G. 1990. The Economic Impact of the Adoption
ofHybrid Maize in Swaziland.
Kiel, Germany:
Wissenschaftsverlag Vauk Kiel.

This book examines the economic impact of the adoption of
hybrid maize in Swaziland and concludes that the adoption
of maize had different impacts under different farming
systems. Very detailed results are presented on a variety of
aspects of farming in Swaziland. Gender issues are not
explicitly addressed.

Keller, B.B., E.C. Phiri, and M. Milmo. 1990. Women and
agricultural development. In A.P. Wood, S.A. Kean, J.T.
Milimo, and D.M. Warren (eds.),
The Dynamics of
Agricultural Policy and Reform in Zambia
. Ames, Iowa:
Iowa State University Press. Pp. 241-62.

This collection of articles provides a detailed analysis of
agricultural policies in Zambia. Five sections include a
historical overview, natural resource management,
agricultural planning, agricultural services, and market-
oriented agriculture. Maize is the primary staple crop, and
many of the chapters focus on policies relating to maize. In
addition, several of the chapters explicitly address issues
regarding women farmers in Zambia.

Kennedy, E., and T. Reardon. 1994. Shift to non-
traditional grains in the diets of East and West Africa:
Role of women’s opportunity cost of time.
Food Policy
19: 45-56.

Over the last 20 years, consumption patterns of sub-
Saharan Africa have shifted from traditional coarse grains
(mainly maize, millet, and sorghum) to non-traditional
varieties, primarily wheat and rice. This paper compares
aggregate-level trends in the production and consumption
of coarse and non-traditional grains in East and West
Africa. Household-level data from urban and rural areas of
Burkina Faso and Kenya suggest that urbanization, women
working outside of the home, and women’s education have
shifted consumption to rice in urban Burkina Faso and to
wheat (in bread) in Kenya. Changes in women’s value of
time have contributed more to this shift than changes in
household income. This paper suggests that to make maize
and other traditional coarse grains more attractive to urban
consumers, particularly women, processing time must be
reduced.

Kershaw, G. The changing roles of men and women in the
Kikuyu family by socioeconomic strata.
Rural Africana
29: 173-94.

Colonial land tenure reforms and the shift from a land
abundant to land scarce society have resulted in changes in
the balance of decision-making power between male and
female farmers. Currently, decision-making patterns vary
among three different socioeconomic groups. The largest
group is composed of families with little or no land. In this
group, women are responsible for providing for almost all of
their family’s needs. Women’s responsibilities have increased
significantly, and their decision-making power has increased
proportionally. There is little possibility of adopting new
varieties of maize or fertilizer because land tenure and
subsistence are too uncertain to take risks. In the middle
group, families own enough land to reach subsistence or
produce a small surplus. Women have less access to land
than before because their husbands allocate more land to
cash crops, but women have gained some economic
independence through remuneration for their labor on
these cash crop plots. Similarly, men have lost traditional

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