Search

The literature suggests marked gender inequality in the use of agricultural technologydespite the availability of evidence that women could be as productive as menwhen given equal access to agricultural resources. This underscores an urgent needto consider improving women’s access to agricultural technology to ensure thesustainable provision of food for all people, and particularly those in developingcountries. This study addresses two specific objectives. It: (a) examines genderdifferences in households’ use of farm-level technology (herbicides, pesticidesand inorganic fertilizer); and (b) assesses the impact of the uptake of agriculturaltechnology on farm production and food consumption, paying particular attentionto the gender of the household head. The results of a three-stage least squares (3SLS)regression reveal that households’ uptake of agricultural technology has a significantpositive effect on their dietary diversity and food consumption expenditure per capitadue to increased farm production. While these results are consistent regardless of thegender of the household head, the extent of effects for female-headed householdsis almost double that for male-headed households. Therefore, an essential policyimplication of our result is that the government could use input subsidies to addresssome of the gender gaps with regard to agricultural technology access and use. Suchefforts should address any entrenched inequalities in women’s access to agriculturalproduction resources and consider other socioeconomic factors such as education andlandholding, which contribute to gender inequality in agricultural technology uptake, Contents: 1. Introduction -- 2. Agricultural activity in Nigeria and the role of women -- 3. Conceptual framework -- 4. Data and estimation -- 5. Results and discussions -- 6. Conclusion

The literature suggests marked gender inequality in the use of agricultural technologydespite the availability of evidence that women could be as productive as menwhen given equal access to agricultural resources. This underscores an urgent needto consider improving women’s access to agricultural technology to ensure thesustainable provision of food for all people, and particularly those in developingcountries. This study addresses two specific objectives. It: (a) examines genderdifferences in households’ use of farm-level technology (herbicides, pesticidesand inorganic fertilizer); and (b) assesses the impact of the uptake of agriculturaltechnology on farm production and food consumption, paying particular attentionto the gender of the household head. The results of a three-stage least squares (3SLS)regression reveal that households’ uptake of agricultural technology has a significantpositive effect on their dietary diversity and food consumption expenditure per capitadue to increased farm production. While these results are consistent regardless of thegender of the household head, the extent of effects for female-headed householdsis almost double that for male-headed households. Therefore, an essential policyimplication of our result is that the government could use input subsidies to addresssome of the gender gaps with regard to agricultural technology access and use. Suchefforts should address any entrenched inequalities in women’s access to agriculturalproduction resources and consider other socioeconomic factors such as education andlandholding, which contribute to gender inequality in agricultural technology uptake, Contents: 1. Introduction -- 2. Agricultural activity in Nigeria and the role of women -- 3. Conceptual framework -- 4. Data and estimation -- 5. Results and discussions -- 6. Conclusion

Behaviour change communication (BCC) remains a central component of theinterventions used in the fight against malaria in Ghana. However, there islimited evidence of its effectiveness. This study evaluated the effects of BCCstrategies on knowledge (symptoms, causes and prevention) and overallknowledge of malaria among Ghanaian women aged 15–49 years. Thepropensity score matching (PSM) approach and logistic regression were usedto analyse data from the 2016 edition of the Malaria Indicator Survey (MIS).Women who participated in community-level education or heard/saw mediamessages on malaria, or both, had significantly more knowledge of the diseasethan women who lacked access to any of these mediums of communication.The effect of these strategies on women’s overall knowledge of malaria isabout 2% to 4% and is higher on their knowledge of the symptoms (3% to 6%)and prevention (2% to 4%) than the causes (2%). The combined effects of both mediums of communication are relatively higher than the effect of either ofthem as a single medium of communication. Further analysis showed thatimproved knowledge of the disease is associated with higher preventivemeasures taken by women for themselves and for their children. The resultsare more significant in rural and poor households than in urban and non-poorhouseholds. These findings underscore the need for the Ministry of Healthand its partner institutions to adopt an innovative approach which combinesthe two strategies in intensively educating Ghanaians, and women in par-ticular, on the symptoms and prevention of malaria, giving due cognisance tohouseholds’ socioeconomic status and geographical location

Non-PR, IFPRI1; AGRODEP, MTID, The current transformation of the agricultural sector in many African countries has been perceived to be connected to land resources and the quest to advance agriculture as a commercial enterprise. The main expectations in this agricultural transformation include increased productivity, job creation, and rural development. This paper examines to what extent this alleged transformation has delivered on its promises, particularly for rural women. We conduct comparative analyses using the Living Standards Measurement Study-Integrated Surveys on Agriculture (LSMS-ISA) dataset, complemented with a survey from two case studies of large-scale land investments (LLIs) in Kilombero district, Morogoro region, Tanzania. The finding from the study shows that the LLIs have no significant effect on agricultural wage. However, the results show that LLIs have a negative effect on the welfare of female-headed households located in communities with LLIs. Looking at the case studies, however, we find that female-headed households working in the LLIs earned slightly lower agricultural wage compared to those not working in the LLIs. This implies that the use of LLIs in Tanzania to drive agricultural transformation requires better targeting of potential beneficiaries.