Levelling the Field : Improving Opportunities for Women Farmers in Africa

By Michael B. O’Sullivan, A. Rao, Raka Banerjee, K. Gulati, Margaux Vinez. 2014

186 citations recorded by the source corpus.

There is a growing recognition of agriculture's potential to spur growth and reduce poverty in Africa. Agriculture accounts for one-third of the continent's gross domestic product (GDP), and two-thirds of its citizens rely on the sector for their incomes. Investments in agriculture will hence not only improve productivity and the continent's ability to feed a growing population, but will also lift families out of poverty. Over 90 percent of sub-Saharan Africa's extreme poor are engaged in agriculture, and growth originating in the sector is 2-4 times more effective at directly reducing poverty than growth originating in other sectors. Yet agriculture in Africa has not fulfilled its potential, suffering from a lack of investment and insufficient attention from policy-makers. A key hindrance to agricultural development and broader growth is a wide and pervasive gender gap in agricultural productivity. Women comprise nearly half of the labor force in Africa's agriculture sector, and more than half in several countries, but on the whole they produce less per hectare than men. Existing evidence from small-scale studies across the continent documents the numerous disadvantages that women face in accessing the same resources, training, markets and opportunities as men. They also face ingrained norms and institutional barriers that further widen the gap. Tackling the barriers that hold back the productivity of female farmers could both enhance gender equality and usher in broader economic growth. The African Union has declared 2014 to be the 'year of agriculture and food security', bringing much needed attention to the sector's potential to transform the continent. This is an opportunity not only to revitalize the agriculture sector, but to rally African governments and development organizations to commit to concrete policy action to redress the inequalities within the sector, and in so doing to reap greater rewards from future investments.

Subfields: Economics and Econometrics, Soil Science

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/fb00015dbae1c128bc0d2f0ba9027886bd7a11f6

How researchers see this paper

The researchers whose trusted networks rank it highest, strongest advocate first. Every researcher gets a different order.

In Economics and Econometrics

1. Kathleen G. Beegle
2. Lynge Nielsen
3. Marcio Cruz
4. B. Quillin
5. A. Dennis
6. I. Gill
7. Kaushik Basu
8. Ayhan Kose

In Soil Science

1. Kaushik Basu
2. James E. Foster
3. Kathleen G. Beegle
4. L. Christiaensen
5. Stefan Dercon

Citations in the corpus

• Accelerating Poverty Reduction in Africa (2019, background): “Des preuves concrètes indiquent non seulement que les exigences domestiques affectent de manière négative les possibilités d’emploi rémunéré des femmes en dehors du foyer (Ruiz Abril, 20058), mais également que les contraintes de temps et de travail pesant sur les agricultrices et les femmes entrepr”
• Economic Impacts of Child Marriage: A Review of the Literature (2015, unknown): “Inequitable intra-household resource allocation in terms of agricultural land or key inputs typically found in households of young brides may also contribute to productivity gaps in agriculture (The World Bank and ONE 2014).”
• Development goals in an era of demographic change (2015, background): “Special consideration is needed for women, who make up over 43 percent of the global agricultural labor force, yet continue to face major constraints reducing their productivity (O’Sullivan et al. 2014).”
• Eyes in the Sky, Boots on the Ground: Assessing Satellite‐ and Ground‐Based Approaches to Crop Yield Measurement and Analysis (2018, unknown): “2018); (d) the extent and cost of gender differences in agricultural productivity (O’Sullivan et al. 2014; Kilic et al. 2015); (e) the relationships between agricultural and welfare outcomes at the household- and/or individual-level (Carletto, Corral, and Guelfi 2017; Darko et al.”
• Ending Extreme Poverty and Sharing Prosperity: Progress and Policies (2015, background): “Special consideration is needed for women, who make up over 43 percent of the global agricultural labor force, yet continue to face major constraints reducing their productivity (O’Sullivan et al. 2014).”