Causes of Gender Gap in Agricultural Productivity

The agricultural sector is very important and crucial to the survival and livelihoods of many people especially those living in the rural areas in many developing countries. For example in Nigeria, the Central Bank in 2016 estimated that the sector accounted for about 24% of the country’s GDP and according to the National Bureau of Statistics accounted for about 70% of total labour force. Similarly, about 70% of the SMEs in the country operate in the agriculturally value chain. Therefore, any attempt at improving agricultural productivity would mean accompanying improvement in the livelihoods and standard of living of many of the rural populace. It is no doubt that both men as well as women play significant roles in agricultural development, however, the important roles that women play in agriculture, household food and nutrition security cannot be overemphasized. Women constitute the major work force in food production, processing and marketing in many developing countries. However, they have not been able to match up with their male counterparts and they remain marginalized in issues relating to agricultural production and development.

A very fundamental factor widening the gender gap in agricultural productivity is the existing gendered and powered relations stemming from patriarchal system operating in many countries of the world. These gendered powered relations affect the participation and opportunities present to both men and women farmers and in most instances, women are the most vulnerable. It also affects the design of many agricultural development programmes and intervention which most times fail to address gender differences in the design and implementation of their programmes.  The prevailing patriarchal cultural system ensued the subordination of women to men. Even at the household level, the patriarchal system defines the existing power relations and the bargaining power of household members. The societal and family systems, kinship and marriage, inheritance patterns, gender segregation, have all been patterned to follow male favoritism and bias towards the female gender. Family system in many developing countries especially in the rural areas is organized along patrilineal lines; consequently, male domination and control of household resources and decision-making is a social issue that subjugates women’s authority and agency. This patrilineal family system serves to undermine further women’s autonomy. Apart from its implications for women’s personal autonomy, it defines and limits women’s economic and social power thus gender inequality is demonstrated is demonstrated in access to and decision-making about resources and opportunities that would improve their productivity.

Therefore, women mostly lag behind in access to resources such as land, in access to credit, access to inputs and effectively technologies and to extension among others. Also, women lack adequate agency to contribute meaningfully to decision-making. Also in time allocation, women may not have enough time to invest in their productive activities because of the highly rated reproductive roles that they are expected to perform. Therefore, gender inequalities emanating from deep rooted biased norms, beliefs and hierarchical power relations between men and women in many societies are the underlying factors widening the gender gap in agricultural productivity.

The Roles of Agricultural Research in Bridging the Gap

Engendering agricultural research and development has been recognized as one of the strategies for closing the gender gap in agricultural growth and development. In most instances, agricultural research has been supply-driven adopting top-down approaches in conceptualizing and implementing research that were supposed to benefit both men and women in the society. Agricultural research systems need to facilitate bottom-up, demand-driven approaches which constitute the best practices and latest global approach to effective agricultural development.

Women and men have different needs and concerns and are affected differently by social, physical and cultural factors. Therefore, agriculture research must integrate gender issues first into conceptualization of research ideas and also in implementing those ideas so that both men and women can benefit equally from the research efforts. Also, the research continuum of researchers-extension agents-farmers needs to be strengthened to foster transformative changes in the lives of the farmers. National Agricultural Research Systems (NARs) and the International Agricultural Research Centres (IARCs) need to pay crucial attention to gender issues in their research. They need to promote inclusive growth in the agricultural sector by ensuring that men, women and youth who are active stakeholders in the sector are not marginalized in the research and development segment of the sector.

Implications of the Gender Gap for Women in Subsistence Agriculture

Rural livelihoods directly or indirectly depend on agriculture because many of the rural populace especially women work directly as farmers or processors and some as wage labourers in agricultural related activities. Strategies that therefore improve agricultural productivity would have resultant effects on the livelihoods of these rural women especially those practicing subsistence agriculture. Reinforcing and promoting beliefs that limit women’s agriculture productivity would have adverse effects on their livelihoods and the subsequent detrimental effects on their living conditions in areas such as nutrition, housing, sanitation, food access, among others. Gender Gap in agricultural productivity increases the risk and vulnerability encountered by women farmer. This poses a lot of threats to their wellbeing and that of their households. Livelihoods can only be secured when people have adequate means of living in terms of ownership and access to resources, assets and income which are vital in offsetting risks and meeting contingencies. Gender bias in productivity between men and women would therefore expose the women and the household to face more debilitating factors which could aggravate poverty and hunger in the women’s household. It has been well established that improving women’s productivity and placing more resources in their hands would have high beneficial effects on every member of the household especially children. In the other way round, widening the gender gap in agricultural productivity would mean less resources available to women and this would have a lot of negative effects on the wellbeing of household’s members especially in food and nutrition security.

Aside from the negative effects that gender gap in productivity has on the livelihoods and living condition of rural women and their households, this gap in productivity will also have implication on the self-esteem and agency of these rural women. Women’s control over resources affects their livelihood status; the extent to which they exercise control determine their livelihood status. Improving women’s productivity would affect their agency and such women would be empowered to contribute meaningfully to decisions about issues affecting their lives. Such women can make effective decisions about what to plant and what inputs to apply on her plot and what agricultural system to adopt. Such women would be more productive and in good social, mental and economic state to influence positively their children's health, nutrition and welfare.

How have these realities been integrated into intervention and projects to reduce gender gap?

The programmes and policies implemented by many organisations and development partners aimed at agricultural productivity, in many instances are gender-blind. They treat farmers as a homogenous group with same needs and concerns. These fail to take into consideration the gender different needs of both women and men farmers. However, some organizations have implemented new initiatives and programmes that integrate gender concerns and needs into their projects. Example of this initiative is the CARE Pathways Programme which goal is to increase poor women farmers’ productivity and empowerment in more equitable agriculture systems at scale.

How should the Bank’s Feed Africa Strategy be used to reduce gender gap in agricultural productivity?

The Bank’s Feed Africa Strategy can adopt transformative strategies that would address the root/underlying causes of gender gap rather than just design strategies that would address immediate noticeable causes of the gender gap. Similarly, the Feed Africa Strategy should aim at integrating gender-sensitive tools and methodologies in its programmes and projects. Such include designing gender transformative approaches that would go beyond addressing the noticeable superficial factors of gender gap. It should address the underlying factors causing or promoting the gender gap to ensure sustainable, gender-oriented development in the society. Such transformative approaches include the using effective gender framework to conduct baseline studies and gender analysis prior to the design or implementation of intervention. Also, applying effective gender mainstreaming strategies could go a long way to address the gender gap. In addition, the use of the women’s empowerment approach by some organizations could go a long way as the empowerment approach is have been identified as one of the strategic panaceas to closing the gender gap in agriculture productivity. A successful tool that can help in achieving this is the Women Empowerment in Agriculture Index (WEAI), which is a new gender-sensitive, micro-level, multi-dimensional tool. It measures the empowerment, agency, and inclusion of women in the agriculture sector in an effort to identify ways to overcome those obstacles and constraints. It also examines gender parity in empowerment between primary male and female decision-makers in the same household. It was developed jointly by the OPHI, Oxford University, IFPRI and USAID under the US Government Feed the Future Initiative.

Another way is through the introduction of new technologies that will reduce the workload of women. However, care must be observed that introduction of new technologies do not wipe up jobs engaged by rural, unskilled smallholders. Also, men should be engaged as critical partners in bridging gender gap in agricultural productivity. Capacity building activities, awareness and advocacy programmes should be mainstreamed into the Strategy with the objective of tackling gender norms, cultural, religious, beliefs and stereotypes entrenched in communities across Africa. Engaging men as partner on gender equality will go a long way in reducing these gender norms and beliefs in our communities. Studies have shown that when men are liberated, women are empowered.

Successful Initiatives on Women’s Agricultural Productivity that could be scaled up by AfDB?

An example is the CARE Pathways (Women in Agriculture) Program implemented in seven developing countries, five of which are in Africa. They are Ghana, Tanzania, Ethiopia, Malawi and Mali. The programme which was sponsored by BMGF in its first phase has proven to be successful and can be expanded to other African countries.