Pankhurst, D. 1991. Constraints and incentives in
‘successful’ Zimbabwean peasant agriculture: The
interaction between gender and class. Journal of
Southern African Studies 17(4): 611-32.
Social differentiation among households in Zimbabwe is
analyzed. Four categories of households are delineated:
those with significant remittances and more than four acres
of land, cattle, a garden, a plow and scotch cart, that
employ nonhousehold labor; those with remittances and at
least one of the above; those with no remittances but at least
one adult male present; and those with no remittances and
no adult male present. This paper provides insights into
which factors may affect the social differentiation of
households and how they may respond to different
incentives.
Peter, G., and A. Runge-Metzger. 1993. Monocropping,
intercropping or crop rotation? An economic case study
from the West African Guinea Savannah with special
reference to risk. Agricultural Systems 45: 123-43.
This article addresses the question of which cropping
system is superior in the West African Guinea Savannah.
The most important indicators of success are productivity,
stability, and sustainability. A framework for assessing the
performance of systems is provided. The experimental data,
based on five-year crop sequence trials, are used to conduct
an ex-ante analysis from a farming systems perspective of 18
farm households. Crop rotation seems to be superior in
terms of productivity, profitability, and risk. However, this
system provides less flexibility than does traditional
intercropping systems. As flexibility is often essential to
success in the Guinea Savannah zone, partial adoption of
crop rotation seems to be preferable to either crop rotation
or traditional intercropping systems alone.
Pingali, P., Y. Bigot, and H.P. Binswanger. 1987.
Agricultural Mechanization and the Evolution of
Farming Systems in Sub-Saharan Africa. Baltimore,
Maryland: World Bank, Johns Hopkins University Press.
In this book, the authors explore the puzzle of why
mechanization has been slow in Africa, particularly given
the abundance of land. While they note that animal
traction has spread rapidly in some areas, other areas
continue to use the hand hoe. The details in the book will
be useful for people interested in questions of when farmers
change from hand hoe technologies. The authors conclude
that African farmers respond to increasing population
density and increased demand for agricultural output by
expanding the area under cultivation, increasing
investments in land, and adopting new technologies,
including animal traction and mechanization. The main
reason for the nonadoption of mechanization and animal
traction is that it is not cost-effective.
Pittin, R. 1984. Documentation and analysis of the
invisible women: A Nigerian case-study. International
Labour Review 123(4): 473-90.
Because of their seclusion, Hausa women do not participate
in agricultural activity. However, they engage in
considerable income-generating activity, including trade.
This article emphasizes how the contributions of Hausa
women are undercalculated because their work is not
visible. Women’s income-generating activities include the
trade and sale of food items, and these activities are
facilitated by their children, who bring the goods to market
and hawk the wares. A man is expected to pay for food
prepared for sale by his wife and a woman may purchase
crops from her husband’s farm that she needs for her
business activities.
Potash, B. 1981. Female farmers, mothers-in-law and
extension agents: Development planning and a rural
Luo community in Kenya. In R.S. Gallin and A. Spring
(eds.), Women Creating Wealth: Transforming Economic
Development. Washington, D.C.: Association for
Women in Development.
Since most development efforts do not occur through
formal development projects, this paper examines the
impact of agricultural extension agents and community
development officers on the activities and welfare of Luo
women farmers in Kenya. Extension policies were not
adapted for local conditions. In particular, women do
almost all of the farming, yet agricultural information was
passed to men. A new wife farms for several years under the
supervision of her mother-in-law, thus it is critical for
extension programs to reach older women. Programs
through schools may have a limited effect due to the length
of time between the time a girl is in school and the time she
farms on her own. Due to the scarcity of land in the area,
policies that encourage men to become more involved in
agriculture, especially cash cropping, will have a negative
effect on women’s access to land.
Quisumbing, A.R. 1995. Gender Differences in Agricultural
Productivity: A Survey ofEmpirical Evidence.
Washington, D.C.: Food Consumption and Nutrition
Division, IFPRI.
This review article examines the econometric evidence on
gender differences in agricultural productivity. It finds that,
in general, female and male farmers are equally efficient as
farm managers and that productivity differences are
attributable to female farmers’ lower use of inputs and lower
levels of human capital. The paper provides a critique of the
methodologies used in these studies.
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