Closing the Gender Gap in Agricultural Productivity

Across the developing world, people depend on agricultural production for their physical and economic survival––nearly 75 percent of the world’s poor rely on less than two acres of land for both food and income. While women supply nearly half of global agricultural labor, they do not reap the same rewards as their male counterparts. Female farmers produce less output and are less likely to participate in commercial agricultural production in comparison to male farmers. In a 2013 working paper, “Gender and Agriculture: Inefficiencies, Segregation, and Low Productivity Traps,” Andre Croppenstedt, Markus Goldstein, and Nina Rosas argue that women are caught in a low productivity trap that limits their access to agricultural resources and prevents them from increasing their yields.

To analyze the gender gap in agricultural production worldwide, the authors use data from the United Nations Food and Agricultural Organization’s Rural Income Generating Activities (RIGA) database. Analyzing data from 16 developing countries in Africa, Asia, Eastern Europe, and Latin America, they compare male-headed households and female-headed households who rely on agriculture as their primary source of income. Croppenstedt et al. specifically explore the different levels of agricultural output and differing levels of participation in the commercial agricultural market between male and female farmers.

The authors find that female farmers are neither less industrious nor less skilled in relation to their male counterparts, but fall victim to several barriers that diminish their agricultural productivity. For example, legal structures or cultural norms often prevent women from accessing and owning farmland. In addition, women are less likely to use mechanization in their farming techniques, and they harvest fewer lucrative cash crops, such as tobacco or maize, compared with men. They also observe that women farmers have lower levels of education than male farmers, which may limit their ability to take up new technologies.

Many women in developing countries lack access to credit. The authors find this is particularly detrimental to agricultural productivity. Lacking financial resources to invest in agricultural inputs, women farmers are less likely to use chemical fertilizer and hybrid seeds or to hire seasonal labor. Furthermore, the authors state that women farmers are less likely to benefit from public agriculture programs, such as government-sponsored coupons for inputs and public extension services, which provide out-of-school training and education to farmers. They observe a “bias of service delivery toward men, which stems from the belief that men are the decision-makers and women are marginal farmers.” Moreover, extension services are typically aimed toward large commercial farms, rather than shareholder farms typically managed by women.

Notably, the gender gap in agricultural output and market participation does not decline as a country’s wealth increases. Thus, the authors warn, even as countries become more prosperous, women will likely continue to fall victim to the productivity trap.

Given these findings, Croppenstedt et al. recommend several policy reforms to shrink the gender gap in agricultural production in the developing world. They argue, for example, that increasing access to credit and educational opportunities for women could significantly improve agricultural productivity among female farmers. They also note that women’s empowerment groups can serve as an important source of information and social capital for women farmers. The authors conclude, “The policy response must understand the roots of these problems and address causes at the roots rather than merely addressing symptoms.” In the absence of sound and sustainable policy change, however, women farmers will likely continue to struggle to escape the productivity trap and lag behind their male counterparts.

Feature Photo: cc/ICRISAT