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



discussed. Struggles resulted over access to land, labor, and
project resources between project staff and beneficiaries and
within the households and communities of the
beneficiaries. One result of the conflict was to switch the
focus to increasing women’s productivity for household
consumption, rather than for cash sales. The effects of the
project depended on women’s marital status. Married
women in polygamous households received fewer benefits
than single or monogamously married women.

Whitehead, A. 1994. Wives and mothers: Female farmers in
Africa. In A. Adepoju and C. Oppong (eds.),
Gender,
Work and Population in Sub-Saharan Africa
.

Portsmouth, New Hampshire: Heinemann.

This article provides an excellent overview of issues of
women and farming in Africa. The first section describes
the role of women in smallholder production. Then, the
author discusses problems with data collection that lead to
women being ignored in many national-level statistics.
Women’s roles in the household are also discussed, in
particular the extent to which women’s concern for the
welfare of their children affect their economic decisions.
Finally, the author notes that efforts that increase the
visibility of women’s work and further understanding of the
basis of women’s economic decision-making are needed to
make appropriate choices for the allocation of scarce
resources to Africa’s agriculture sectors. Although examples
are drawn from numerous countries, they are used to
explain when different situations might arise, rather than
draw broad conclusions about agriculture in Africa.

Wood, A.P., S.A. Kean, J.T. Milmo, and D.M.Warren (eds.).
1990.
The Dynamics of Agricultural Policy and Reform
in Zambia.
Ames, Iowa: Iowa State University Press.

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.

World Bank. 1995. Rural Women in the Sahel and Their
Access to Agricultural Extension: Sector Study: Overview
of Five Country Studies.
Washington, D.C.: World Bank
This report combines information gathered from five
countries in the Sahel (Burkina Faso, the Gambia, Mali,
Mauritania, and Senegal) and looks at the roles filled by
women in agriculture and the constraints faced by women.
A substantial percentage of households have women as
de
facto
heads. Though circumstances vary from region to
region, in general the workload shouldered by women in
the Sahel is increasing due to various factors such as
environmental degradation, pastoral people settling near
towns, the absence of males in the household, increased
demand for women’s labor, and social change. Women
receive no compensation for their extra labor, and their
available time for individual income-generating and group
activities is decreasing. The study points out the diversity of
women’s activities and argues that for extension services to
be successful, they must be tailored to the needs of the
inhabitants of particular regions. Women’s activities tend to
be risky and not very profitable, making it crucial to
improve the flow of information to them. If the focus of
services is mainly capital investments, the efforts will be
misdirected. All five countries have made efforts to
integrate gender issues into extension services. A large
majority of extension agents are male, and the report
provides some recommendations as to how this situation
can be made more beneficial for female farmers. The last
section of the report describes some specific steps taken by
the particular countries to improve gender equity.

Zeller, M., A. Diagne, and C. Mataya. 1997. Market access
by smallholder farmers in Malawi: Implications for
technology adoption, agricultural productivity and crop
income. Paper presented at the International
Association of Agricultural Economists, Sacramento,
California.

Given limited off-farm employment opportunities in
Malawi, increases in household income to improve food
security must come from gains in agricultural productivity.
Using household survey data from 1995, the authors
analyze the determinants of adoption of hybrid maize and
tobacco. They find that in addition to factor endowments
and exposure to agro-ecological risks, differences in the
household’s access to financial and commodity markets
significantly influence cropping shares and farm incomes.

Zepeda, L., and M. Castillo. 1997. The role of husbands
and wives in farm technology choice.
American Journal
OfAgriculturalEconomics
79(2): 583-88.

Three models of technology adoption for farm households
are considered. They include a conventional model, in
which an individual chooses a technology to maximize the
expected utility of the value of profit of the technology; a
unitary household model, in which a time constraint and
the possibility of off-farm employment are also included;
and a bargaining model, in which individual household
members allocate the resources within their control to
maximize their own utility. Data from a survey of
Wisconsin dairy farmers are used to estimate and compare
the three models. The bargaining model is significantly
better at explaining the decision of whether to adopt
intensive rotational grazing. This paper provides insights
into how to adapt bargaining models to technology
adoption decisions.

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