sections provide guidelines for project design and
suggestions for project components and interventions. These
guidelines suggest that projects should be site specific, small
(at least initially), flexible, include the cooperation of men in
the community, and incorporate women in the design and
evaluation. The author recommends against a separate
extension system for women.
Scones, I. 1995. Investigating difference: Applications of
wealth ranking and household survey approaches among
farming households in Southern Zimbabwe.
Development and Change 26: 67-88.
This paper reports on a study using village member rankings
of the wealth of households to further our understanding of
the assets and wealth of village households. The data
complement previous survey data related to the wealth and
assets of different households. Men and women had
different ideas of what constitutes wealth, with women
focusing more on cash incomes while men defined wealthier
households as those with more livestock and agricultural
production.
Seifert, M. 1993. The adoption of animal traction in a West
African savannah area—an example of autonomous
reactions to population growth. Quarterly Journal of
International Agriculture 32(3): 280-92.
In response to increasing population growth and the
resultant scarcity of land, farmers in northern Ghana are
adopting animal traction. This article claims to test and
support Boserup’s hypothesis about technology. Although it
is not specifically about maize, it provides a useful analysis of
technology adoption in West Africa. Gender issues are not
considered or discussed.
Shumba, E.M. 1986. A comparison of maize and groundnut
husbandry practices under communal area production.
The Zimbabwe Journal of Agricultural Research 83(4):
137-40.
The majority of farmers included in a technology assessment
survey in the Mangwende Communal Area in 1984 were
increasing the area planted to maize and decreasing
groundnut production. This paper compares farmer
husbandry practices and production levels of maize and
groundnut in order to identify possible research avenues for
boosting groundnut production. The major contribution of
this paper is its concise description of maize husbandry in
the region, including productivity levels, crop varieties
available, plant populations, and methods of pest and disease
control. No specific mention of women farmers is made.
The paper concludes that the higher levels of production
and productivity of maize relative to groundnut result from
superior husbandry practices that have been adopted by
farmers for maize production. Since more resources are
being allocated to the inputs and management requirements
of maize, groundnut cannot effectively compete. This paper
argues that improving current maize husbandry practices
further might free resources for improving and expanding
groundnut production.
Singh, R.D., and M.J. Morey. 1987. The value of work-at-
home and contributions of wives’ household service in
polygamous families: Evidence from an African LDC.
Economic Development and Cultural Change 35(4):
743-65.
This paper attempts to estimate the marginal productivity
of work-at-home and explores how to establish a value of
work-at-home for farm wives in Burkina Faso. Wife’s age,
number of hours of animal traction used, number of wives,
and marginal productivity of wife’s time in farm production
were all significant variables in explaining marginal
productivity in household activities. In particular, the
marginal productivity of women’s work in agriculture was
negatively related to the marginal productivity of women’s
work in the household. Estimates of the value of wives’
work varied significantly with the economic characteristics
of the household, yet the estimates clearly demonstrate that
women make a significant contribution to household
welfare.
Smale, M. 1991. Chimanga Cha Makolo, Hybrids, and
Composites: An Analysis of Farmers’ Adoption of Maize
Technology in Malawi, 1989-91. Economics Working
Paper 91-04. Mexico, D.F.: CIMMYT.
This report details the factors affecting the adoption of
maize technology in Malawi. The authors note that farmers
have multiple objectives and constraints. Farmers also have
complex adoption patterns involving both the extent and
intensity of adoption. Differences in adoption by region are
considered. The authors note that female-headed
households are less likely to adopt improved technologies
and that lack of access to cash is one of the reasons.
Smale, M., R.E. Just, and H.D. Leathers. 1994. Land
allocation in HYV adoption models: An investigation of
alternative explanations. American Journal of
Agricultural Economics 76: 535-46.
In Malawi, farmers plant both traditional and high-yielding
varieties in their fields. This paper develops a model that
incorporates four different reasons for such land allocation
patterns. These reasons include the short-run fixity of land,
farmers planting a portfolio of crops to minimize exposure
to risk, farmers choosing a safety-first approach to ensure
the adequate production of maize for household
consumption, and experimentation and learning. Although
gender is not specifically discussed, this article has relevance
for studies of gender, because it emphasizes that a model
that incorporates a number of reasons for farmer behavior
may better explain farmer behavior than individual models
that separately consider different reasons.
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