Runge-Metzger, A. 1988. Variability in Agronomic
Practices and Allocative Efficiency Among Farm
Households in Northern Ghana: A Case Study of On
Farm Research. Agricultural Research Report 2. Tamale,
Ghana,: Nyankpala Agricultural Experiment Station.
This research report sets forth a bottom-up theoretical
framework of data collection and analysis pertaining to
allocative efficiency in northern Ghana. The data were
collected in 1984, a year with good rainfall. As a result,
many of the findings may overstate the actual efficiency of
different techniques. The study examines the yields of
different cropping systems, including maize-sorghum-
groundnut combinations, and rates their marginal returns.
The study defines allocative efficiency as meeting the
nutritional needs of the household and concludes that the
age of the household head and the number of male
household members per hectare of land will affect allocative
efficiency.
Runge-Metzger, A., and L. Diehl. 1993. Farm Household
Systems in Northern Ghana. Agricultural Research
Report 9. Nyankpala Agricultural Research Station,
Tamale, Ghana,: Nyankpala Agricultural Experiment
Station.
This case study in farming systems research provides a
detailed description of farm household systems in northern
Ghana. The first two sections evaluate the farming systems
approach to agricultural research in agricultural. The
following sections describe the farm household systems and
the driving forces for their differentiation, including
demographic characteristics (number of consumers and
labor capacity) and resource endowments (land, capital).
Information on agricultural land use such as cropping
patterns, soil preparation, harvesting, weeding, fertilization,
and physical yields of plant production is provided. Two
case studies examine time allocation between farm and
household activities and demonstrate the seasonal
distribution of farm labor and gender-specificity of labor
inputs. This report contains a substantial amount of data on
maize production in Ghana and on the gendered
contributions to labor within the household economy.
Russell, D. 1988. The Integration of Women as Farmer
Leaders in the Central Shaba Project. Zaire, USAID.
Mimeo.
This report evaluates an extension program in Central
Shaba, Zaire. The program called for women and men to
serve as farmer leaders who would be instructed about new
seeds and farming techniques; however, there was concern
over the actual level of participation of women in the
project. Women’s involvement varies considerably across
regions in Central Shaba, although maize is typically a
men’s crop and a cash crop. The authors first identified
characteristics of communities that have the highest
potential for raising women’s involvement, including a good
reputation of the project extension agent within the
community, a community authority willing to help, existing
women’s organizations, high women’s involvement in
farming, and permission of the extension agent to work
with single and widowed women. The authors also outline
some of the support systems available to women in the
region, including religious groups. Background on some
social constraints is provided, such as women’s restricted
access to household revenue and the stigma attached to
single and widowed women. Since women clearly have a
role as farmers, the authors encourage attempts to involve
them in the extension program and suggest follow-up
contacts, training of new agents, recruitment of women,
and more attention to and integration of women’s concerns.
Safilios-Rothschild, C. 1985. The persistence of women’s
invisibility in agriculture: Theoretical and policy lessons
from Lesotho and Sierra Leone. Economic Development
and CulturalChange 33(2): 299-317.
Despite the degree to which women participate in
agriculture and income-generating activities, they remain
relatively invisible to policymakers and development
planners. Within a system of patriarchal values, family labor
and family income hide women’s participation as
agricultural and economic agents. Women are seen as
seasonal and auxiliary farm labor. This perception limits
their access to credit, inputs, and information. Even in
countries such as Lesotho and Sierra Leone, where social
situations are favorable to breaking down sex-stratification,
institutional constraints have reinforced the status quo. In
Sierra Leone, traditions of women’s credit and thrift
cooperatives exist but have been limited by lack of access to
information and inputs. In Lesotho, male outmigration has
created large labor shortages. Despite their prominent role
in agriculture, women have not been integrated into
agricultural development projects. Explanations of the
institutional constraints women face are discussed to draw
important theoretical and policy conclusions. First, statistics
documenting rural women’s contributions to agriculture
and the large number of de facto and legal female-headed
households need to be disseminated to local policymakers,
agricultural researchers and statisticians, and international
agencies and donors. Second, women’s interest groups need
to become officially registered and eligible for institutional
aid. While maize is mentioned only once in this article, the
importance of gender impacts is well argued and applicable
to all development efforts.
Saito, K.A., and C.J. Weidemann. 1990. Agricultural
Extension for Women Farmers in Africa. World Bank
Discussion Paper 103. Washington, D.C.: World Bank.
This report provides a comprehensive discussion of the need
for agricultural extension to reach women farmers. It begins
with an analysis of why women farmers need assistance and
details the specific barriers that women face. The following
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