extension workers. In Zimbabwe, women own 70-80% of
the cattle, hence any programs that address livestock,
especially the sale of livestock for cash to invest in other
aspects of farming, must include women to be successful.
Mwangi, W. 1996. Low Use of Fertilizer and Low
Productivity in Sub-Saharan Africa. NRG Paper 96-05.
Mexico, D.F.: CIMMYT.
Increasing food production in Africa will require intensive
agriculture based on modern technologies, including
fertilizer. Currently, fertilizer use is low in sub-Saharan
Africa. In the short and medium run, the author claims that
fertilizer subsidies should be continued. During this period,
policy needs to concentrate on developing credit for farmers
and private traders; improving infrastructure, especially rural
and feeder roads; and increasing research on input-
responsive high-yielding varieties, and crop and resource
management strategies.
Neitzert, M. 1994. A woman’s place: Household labour
allocation in rural Kenya. Canadian Journal of
Development Studies 15(3): 401-27.
Rural women in Kenya specialize in domestic activities
rather than wage labor activities. This specialization,
combined with discriminatory labor market practices,
reduces the market value of women’s contribution to the
household. This is true for both household and agricultural
production activities. The result is that women are less able
to take advantage of new economic opportunities in Kenya
and resources become inequitably distributed between men
and women. These inequities are perpetuated across
generations.
Niles, K.D. 1996. Pinpointing production constraints faced
by female-headed households in rural Malawi. MSc
thesis. Agricultural and Applied Economics, Virginia
Polytechnic Institute and State University, Blacksburg,
Virginia.
Production functions are estimated for three categories of
smallholders in Malawi: male-headed households, de facto
female-headed households, and de jure female-headed
households. Deviation from profit-maximizing input use
does not depend on the gender of the household head.
Smallholders who use fertilizer apply profit-maximizing
quantities on plots of hybrid and local maize. In addition,
more than the profit-maximizing quantity of labor is used
on all plots. De jure female-headed households growing local
maize with fertilizer and hybrid maize without fertilizer are
less technically efficient than other smallholder households.
However, allocative efficiency does not depend on gender.
Nindi, B.C. 1992. Gender, exploitation development and
agricultural transformation in sub-Saharan Africa.
Eastern Africa Economic Review 8(2): 123-34.
In the short run, it is necessary to direct policies at women if
agricultural production in Africa is to increase. Although
some argue that women farmers will be a less important part
of the agricultural landscape in the long run because they
will be displaced through the intensification of agricultural
production, this paper argues that the rate of displacement of
women farmers will be extremely uneven within and
between countries. Thus, in some areas, it will be important
to focus on women farmers, even in the long run.
O’Kelly, E. 1955. Corn mill societies in the Southern
Cameroons. African Women 1: 33-35.
This article describes the plight of women farmers in
Cameroon in the 1950s and the initiation of “corn mill
societies.” Noting that grinding maize, the principal grain,
was a time-consuming process for women, the Education
Department purchased 15 corn mills. Small sums of money
were given to interested communities to erect a hut for the
machines. Women gained access to the society by paying a
penny to one of two “head women.” The money was saved
and used to purchase the mill from the Education
Department, which used the money to purchase a mill for
another community. The plan was initiated in the hopes that
once women learned to work together, it would be easier to
implement other reforms such as bringing farms closer
together, fencing property, and disseminating information to
women on topics such as child welfare and sanitation. As the
societies’ power became recognized, the Education
Department hoped that men would consult the society
before making decisions affecting women. This paper
provides an interesting historical perspective on policies
directed at women.
Oboler, R.S. 1985. Women, Power and Economic Change.
Stanford, California: Stanford University Press.
Based on work among the Nandi in Kenya, the author
examines the impact of socioeconomic change on sex roles.
Agricultural production and the changing roles and
responsibilities for men and women are discussed in detail.
Men and women were asked about who was responsible for
different activities and which activities were forbidden based
on gender. In addition, individuals were asked which
activities they were involved with. Much of the text focuses
on how the sex roles, including access to land, are contested
and changing.
Okeyo, A.P. 1979. Women in the household economy:
Managing multiple roles. Studies in Family Planning
10(11/12): 337-43.
This study focuses on Luo market women’s activities in
western Kenya. Market women form cooperative groups that
help them perform their family responsibilities, including
subsistence production, income generation, child rearing,
and household maintenance. The income-generating role of
market women receives the most focus, as it is essential to
their success in their other responsibilities. This study is most
useful for its discussion of how women have coordinated to
meet their growing need for cash income.
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