Levelling The Farm Fields A Cross Country Study Of The Determinants Of Gender Based Yield Gaps

The State of Food and Agriculture 2010–11 brought to global attention the problem of female farmers lagging in terms of agricultural productivity compared with male farmers. This study returns to the question of gender-based differences in farm productivity, decomposing differences in farm yields between males and females. We identify one part of the gap explained by differences in attributes and access to productive assets, and another part explained by differences in returns to assets and attributes (i.e. “unexplained” differences). This paper applies the Kitagawa-Oaxaca–Blinder decomposition to gender-based productivity gaps using nationally representative household surveys from 11 developing countries in Asia, sub-Saharan Africa and Latin America. We estimate productivity models for each country utilizing a comparable set of explanatory assets and attributes. We also implement a comparable decomposition of observed productivity gaps. The cross-country analysis shows that observed total gaps in productivity by gender do not always favour male farmers; the decomposition of these gaps, however, reveals that female farmers face gender-specific constraints that manifest as lower returns to attributes and assets. This background paper was prepared to inform Chapter 2 of FAO’s report on The status of women in agrifood systems.

The status of women in agrifood systems report uses extensive new data and analyses to provide a comprehensive picture of women’s participation, benefits, and challenges they face working in agrifood systems globally. The report shows how increasing women’s empowerment and gender equality in agrifood systems enhances women’s well-being and the well-being of their households, creating opportunities for economic growth, greater incomes, productivity and resilience. The report comes more than a decade after the publication of the State of food and agriculture (SOFA) 2010–11: Women in agriculture – Closing the gender gap for development. SOFA 2010–11 documented the tremendous costs of gender inequality not only for women but also for agriculture and the broader economy and society, making the business case for closing existing gender gaps in accessing agricultural assets, inputs and services. Moving beyond agriculture, The status of women in agrifood systems reflects not only on how gender equality and women’s empowerment are central to the transition towards sustainable and resilient agrifood systems but also on how the transformation of agrifood systems can contribute to gender equality and women’s empowerment. It provides a comprehensive analysis of the available evidence on gender equality and women’s empowerment in agrifood systems that has been produced over the last decade. The report also provides policymakers and development actors with an extensive review of what has worked, highlighting the promise of moving from closing specific gender gaps towards the adoption of gender-transformative approaches that explicitly address the formal and informal structural constraints to equality. It concludes with specific recommendations on the way forward. Last update 03/08/2023

Women face a higher prevalence of food insecurity than do men, both on a global scale and across all regions. This paper delves into the global determinants contributing to the gender gap in food insecurity and explores how the COVID-19 pandemic influenced its trajectory. Additionally, it estimates the impact of improvements in food security and incomes possible if gender gaps on farm productivity and wages were closed. Utilizing data from the Food Insecurity Experience Scale gathered from over 700 000 individuals across 121 countries, this study reveals that individuals aged 25–34 years, irrespective of their gender, and women residing in rural areas have been disproportionately affected by the pandemic. The econometric model allows the authors to estimate the elasticities of food security to income, which they then use to simulate the potential macrolevel benefits for the economy and food security if we were to eliminate the gender gaps in farm productivity and wages within agrifood systems. The findings suggest that addressing these disparities could result in an approximate USD 1 trillion increase in global gross domestic product and lift approximately 45 million people out of food insecurity. Additionally, the authors estimate that eliminating these gender disparities could reduce the current gap in food insecurity between women and men by at least 57 percent. This background paper was prepared to inform Chapters 1 and 6 of FAO’s report on The status of women in agrifood systems.

To feed a world population that will exceed 9 billion by 2050 requires an estimated 60% increase over current primary agricultural productivity. Closing the common and often large gap between actual and attainable crop yield is critical to achieve this goal. To close yield gaps in both small and large scale cropping systems worldwide we need (1) definitions and techniques to measure and model yield at different levels (actual, attainable, potential) and different scales in space (field, farm, region, global) and time (short and long term); (2) identification of the causes of gaps between yield levels; (3) management options to reduce the gaps where feasible and (4) policies to favour adoption of sustainable gap-closing solutions. The aim of this publication is to critically review the methods for yield gap analysis, hence addressing primarily the first of these four requirements, reporting a wide-ranging and well-referenced analysis of literature on current methods to assess productivity of crops and cropping systems.

Agricultural planning and development are crucial to human survival, but they usually proceed without any consideration of the importance of gender issues at the production level. Although women have long been prime movers in agriculture, their contribution to the world's food supply has been largely ignored, and consequently their stake in development has been undermined. This book is both a resource guide and a review of major issues in gender and agriculture which demonstrates that recognizing the contribution of women to agricultural production is a necessary step in development planning. It presents relevant information and research literature regarding women's roles in agriculture in a consolidated and accessible format, offering insights into how the inclusion or exclusion of appropriate information at the planning stage can have an impact during implementation. It also provides guidelines for locating information on gender-related agricultural issues and incorporating it into development planning, research, and training. The literature reviewed not only calls attention to the work women do in order to improve their access to technology and training but also challenges existing development paradigms. The issues discussed present women's experiences and local knowledge and allude to gender and class inequities that farming women face. Each chapter is intended to help the reader address major gender issues in a specific subject in order to access relevant information and thereby better design and implement appropriate agricultural planning and policies. By synthesizing twenty years of international research, Gender and Agricultural Development provides an effective tool for development practitioners to use in training programs or surveys in order to ensure the appropriate collection of gender disaggregated data and for educators to integrate gender issues into courses dealing with social aspects of agricultural systems. Its findings are presented in such a way as to allow them to be easily incorporated into innovative planning for more sustainable and equitable agricultural policies.

To support gender analysis in agriculture, household surveys should be better designed to capture gender-specific control and ownership of agricultural resources such as male-owned, female-owned, and jointly owned assets. This paper offers guidelines on how to improve data collection efforts to ensure that women farmers are interviewed and that their voices are heard. Researchers need to clarify who should be interviewed, how to structure the interview, and how to identify which people are involved in various activities, as owners, managers, workers, and decisionmakers. It is important not simply to assume that one particular person does these activities based on social norms, but instead to ask the questions to allow for a range of answers that can demonstrate how the gender patterns in agriculture are changing. To assist in these efforts, the paper provides an overview of relevant questions to include, emphasizing that whenever questions are asked about ownership and access to resources, answers should be associated with individuals. Finally, collecting data on the institutions that are related to agricultural production and marketing allows analysis of the gender-based constraints and opportunities that they present.

The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) produced a 2011 report on women in agriculture with a clear and urgent message: agriculture underperforms because half of all farmers—women—lack equal access to the resources and opportunities they need to be more productive. This book builds on the report’s conclusions by providing, for a non-specialist audience, a compendium of what we know now about gender gaps in agriculture.

Learning about the system and initial diagnosis (managing bias - farmer selection; wealth ranking; participatory methodologies for analyzing household activities, resources, and benefits; structured interviewing in Ecuador - incorporating gender into diagnostic field research; using open exploratory surveys to identify local cassava varieties and practices; workshops for gathering information; using focus groups with rural women; incoporating gender in conceptual diagrams of households; investigating contradictions and mysteries; addressing full-family dynamics in rural development; obtaining data on gender and intrahousehold issues); Research planning, on-farm experimentation, and trials assessment (productivity profiles of women agricultural producers; gender-disaggregated activity calendar; community approach to selection for on-farm trials; women and trials management in botswana - experiences with farmer groups; influence of the Aramachay Women's Production Committee on trial design; Respecting the culture in cultural practices - gender in on-farm trials; integrating farmer experts into on-station research; value of participant observation and experimentation; evaluation of bean varieties by men and women in small farm systems); On-going diagnosis and special studies (community approach to identifying household variables influencing farming decisions; household record keeping as a means of understanding farmers'decision making; time allocation studies - methodological note; selecting methods of time allocation research; juego de registro; evaluating the acceptability of crop varieties prior to introduction; dry bean utilization and fueldwood conservation); Extension, training, and institutionalization (extension feedback and communication - case from Ecuador; evaluation and transfer of new food crop varieties by home economics groups; application of an analysis of full-family dynamics in egypt; bridging the information gap in integrated pest management; training in gender analysis in agricultural research - use of case studies; training in integrating a gender perspective into farming systems research; national workshop on research methodology on the role of women in rice farming systems; using local case material; practical considerations for improving gender-based research; women's agricultural production committees and the participative-research-action approach; integrating a women's program into the mali farming systems project volet-OHV; incorporating gender into a national program of farming systems research; letter from the field - reflections on gender-sensitive research).

The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists is the premier public resource on scientific and technological developments that impact global security. Founded by Manhattan Project Scientists, the Bulletin's iconic "Doomsday Clock" stimulates solutions for a safer world.

Operational guidelines on how to provide cost- effective agricultural extension services to women farmers in Sub-Saharan Africa.