IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/jfpoli/v49y2014ip1p117-127.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Are there systematic gender differences in the adoption of sustainable agricultural intensification practices? Evidence from Kenya

Author

Listed:
  • Ndiritu, S. Wagura
  • Kassie, Menale
  • Shiferaw, Bekele

Abstract

This paper uses sex-disaggregated survey data at the plot level to test whether there are systematic gender differences in the adoption of multiple sustainable intensification practices (SIPs) in Kenya. We analyze plot level adoption decisions of SIPs by male, female or joint plot managers within the household, controlling for household characteristics, asset wealth and land quality factors that condition investments in intensification options. Using a multivariate probit model, we find gender differences in the adoption pattern for some SIPs. Compared to male plot mangers, female managers are less likely to adopt minimum tillage and animal manure in crop production, indicating the existence of certain socioeconomic inequalities and barriers for female farmers. However, we find no gender differences in the adoption of soil and water conservation measures, improved seed varieties, chemical fertilizers, maize-legume intercropping, and maize-legume rotations.

Suggested Citation

  • Ndiritu, S. Wagura & Kassie, Menale & Shiferaw, Bekele, 2014. "Are there systematic gender differences in the adoption of sustainable agricultural intensification practices? Evidence from Kenya," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 49(P1), pages 117-127.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:jfpoli:v:49:y:2014:i:p1:p:117-127
    DOI: 10.1016/j.foodpol.2014.06.010
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0306919214001109
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.foodpol.2014.06.010?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. David R. Lee, 2005. "Agricultural Sustainability and Technology Adoption: Issues and Policies for Developing Countries," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 87(5), pages 1325-1334.
    2. Meinzen-Dick, R., 2010. "Engendering agricultural research," IWMI Working Papers H043604, International Water Management Institute.
      • Meinzen-Dick, Ruth & Quisumbing, Agnes & Behrman, Julia & Biermayr-Jenzano, Patricia & Wilde, Vicki & Noordeloos, Marco & Ragasa, Catherine & Beintema, Nienke, 2010. "Engendering agricultural research," IFPRI discussion papers 973, International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI).
    3. Arellanes, Peter & Lee, David R., 2003. "The Determinants Of Adoption Of Sustainable Agriculture Technologies: Evidence From The Hillsides Of Honduras," 2003 Annual Meeting, August 16-22, 2003, Durban, South Africa 25826, International Association of Agricultural Economists.
    4. Hailemariam Teklewold & Menale Kassie & Bekele Shiferaw, 2013. "Adoption of Multiple Sustainable Agricultural Practices in Rural Ethiopia," Journal of Agricultural Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 64(3), pages 597-623, September.
    5. Gershon Feder & Lawrence J. Lau & Justin Y. Lin & Xiaopeng Luo, 1990. "The Relationship between Credit and Productivity in Chinese Agriculture: A Microeconomic Model of Disequilibrium," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 72(5), pages 1151-1157.
    6. Udry, Christopher, 1996. "Gender, Agricultural Production, and the Theory of the Household," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 104(5), pages 1010-1046, October.
    7. Patricia Kameri-Mbote, 2006. "Women, Land Rights and the Environment: The Kenyan experience," Development, Palgrave Macmillan;Society for International Deveopment, vol. 49(3), pages 43-48, September.
    8. JunJie Wu & Bruce A. Babcock, 1998. "The Choice of Tillage, Rotation, and Soil Testing Practices: Economic and Environmental Implications," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 80(3), pages 494-511.
    9. Doss, Cheryl R., 2001. "Designing Agricultural Technology for African Women Farmers: Lessons from 25 Years of Experience," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 29(12), pages 2075-2092, December.
    10. Bekele A. Shiferaw & Tewodros A. Kebede & Liang You, 2008. "Technology adoption under seed access constraints and the economic impacts of improved pigeonpea varieties in Tanzania," Agricultural Economics, International Association of Agricultural Economists, vol. 39(3), pages 309-323, November.
    11. Herath, P. H. M. U. & Takeya, Hiroyuki, 2003. "Factors determining intercropping by rubber smallholders in Sri Lanka: a logit analysis," Agricultural Economics, Blackwell, vol. 29(2), pages 159-168, October.
    12. Meike Wollni & David R. Lee & Janice E. Thies, 2010. "Conservation agriculture, organic marketing, and collective action in the Honduran hillsides," Agricultural Economics, International Association of Agricultural Economists, vol. 41(3‐4), pages 373-384, May.
    13. Oriana Bandiera & Imran Rasul, 2006. "Social Networks and Technology Adoption in Northern Mozambique," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 116(514), pages 869-902, October.
    14. Odame, Helen Hambly & Hafkin, Nancy & Wesseler, Gesa & Boto, Isolina, 2002. "Gender and Agriculture in the Information Society," ISNAR Archive 310742, CGIAR > International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI).
    15. Feder, Gershon & Just, Richard E & Zilberman, David, 1985. "Adoption of Agricultural Innovations in Developing Countries: A Survey," Economic Development and Cultural Change, University of Chicago Press, vol. 33(2), pages 255-298, January.
    16. Peterman, Amber & Behrman, Julia & Quisumbing, Agnes, 2010. "A review of empirical evidence on gender differences in nonland agricultural inputs, technology, and services in developing countries," IFPRI discussion papers 975, International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI).
    17. Belderbos, Rene & Carree, Martin & Diederen, Bert & Lokshin, Boris & Veugelers, Reinhilde, 2004. "Heterogeneity in R&D cooperation strategies," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 22(8-9), pages 1237-1263, November.
    18. Doss, Cheryl R. & Morris, Michael L., 2001. "How does gender affect the adoption of agricultural innovations?: The case of improved maize technology in Ghana," Agricultural Economics, Blackwell, vol. 25(1), pages 27-39, June.
    19. Kassie, Menale & Jaleta, Moti & Shiferaw, Bekele & Mmbando, Frank & Mekuria, Mulugetta, 2013. "Adoption of interrelated sustainable agricultural practices in smallholder systems: Evidence from rural Tanzania," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 80(3), pages 525-540.
    20. Mwangi wa Githinji & Charalampos Konstantinidis & Andrew Barenberg, 2011. "Small and as Productive : Female Headed Households and the Inverse Relationship between Land Size and Output in Kenya," UMASS Amherst Economics Working Papers 2011-31, University of Massachusetts Amherst, Department of Economics.
    21. Yu, Li & Hurley, Terrance & Kliebenstein, James & Orazem, Peter, 2012. "A test for complementarities among multiple technologies that avoids the curse of dimensionality," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 116(3), pages 354-357.
    22. Jonathan Isham, 2002. "The Effect of Social Capital on Fertiliser Adoption: Evidence from Rural Tanzania," Journal of African Economies, Centre for the Study of African Economies, vol. 11(1), pages 39-60, March.
    23. Quisumbing, Agnes R. & Pandolfelli, Lauren, 2010. "Promising Approaches to Address the Needs of Poor Female Farmers: Resources, Constraints, and Interventions," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 38(4), pages 581-592, April.
    24. Teklewold, Hailemariam & Kassie, Menale & Shiferaw, Bekele & Köhlin, Gunnar, 2013. "Cropping system diversification, conservation tillage and modern seed adoption in Ethiopia: Impacts on household income, agrochemical use and demand for labor," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 93(C), pages 85-93.
    25. D'souza, Gerard & Cyphers, Douglas & Phipps, Tim, 1993. "Factors Affecting the Adoption of Sustainable Agricultural Practices," Agricultural and Resource Economics Review, Cambridge University Press, vol. 22(2), pages 159-165, October.
    26. Menale Kassie & Precious Zikhali & John Pender & Gunnar Köhlin, 2010. "The Economics of Sustainable Land Management Practices in the Ethiopian Highlands," Journal of Agricultural Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 61(3), pages 605-627, September.
    27. Daniel Kyalo Willy & Wanjiku Chiuri, 2010. "New Common Ground in Pastoral and Settled Agricultural Communities in Kenya: Renegotiated Institutions and the Gender Implications," The European Journal of Development Research, Palgrave Macmillan;European Association of Development Research and Training Institutes (EADI), vol. 22(5), pages 733-750, December.
    28. Peterman, A., 2010. "A review of empirical evidence on gender differences in nonland agricultural inputs, technology, and services in developing countries," IWMI Working Papers H043605, International Water Management Institute.
    29. Andre Croppenstedt & Markus Goldstein & Nina Rosas, 2013. "Gender and Agriculture: Inefficiencies, Segregation, and Low Productivity Traps," The World Bank Research Observer, World Bank, vol. 28(1), pages 79-109, February.
    30. Madhu Khanna, 2001. "Sequential Adoption of Site-Specific Technologies and its Implications for Nitrogen Productivity: A Double Selectivity Model," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 83(1), pages 35-51.
    31. Mwangi, Esther, 2007. "Subdividing the Commons: Distributional Conflict in the Transition from Collective to Individual Property Rights in Kenya's Maasailand," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 35(5), pages 815-834, May.
    32. David Tilman & Kenneth G. Cassman & Pamela A. Matson & Rosamond Naylor & Stephen Polasky, 2002. "Agricultural sustainability and intensive production practices," Nature, Nature, vol. 418(6898), pages 671-677, August.
    33. D'Souza, Gerard E. & Cyphers, Douglas & Phipps, Tim T., 1993. "Factors Affecting The Adoption Of Sustainable Agricultural Practices," Agricultural and Resource Economics Review, Northeastern Agricultural and Resource Economics Association, vol. 22(2), pages 1-7, October.
    34. Amrik Heyer, 2006. "The gender of wealth: markets & power in Central Kenya," Review of African Political Economy, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 33(107), pages 67-80, March.
    35. Ephraim Chirwa, 2005. "Adoption of fertiliser and hybrid seeds by smallholder maize farmers in Southern Malawi," Development Southern Africa, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 22(1), pages 1-12.
    36. Peterman, Amber & Quisumbing, Agnes & Behrman, Julia & Nkonya, Ephraim, 2010. "Understanding gender differences in agricultural productivity in Uganda and Nigeria," IFPRI discussion papers 1003, International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI).
    37. Quisumbing, Agnes R., 1995. "Gender differences in agricultural productivity," FCND discussion papers 5, International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI).
    38. Oecd, 2009. "Climate Change and Africa," OECD Journal: General Papers, OECD Publishing, vol. 2009(1), pages 5-35.
    39. Salvatore di Falco & Erwin Bulte, 2011. "A Dark Side of Social Capital? Kinship, Consumption, and Savings," Journal of Development Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 47(8), pages 1128-1151, June.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Teklewold, Hailemariam & Mekonnen, Alemu, 2017. "The Tilling of Land in a Changing Climate: Panel Data Evidence from the Nile Basin of Ethiopia," EfD Discussion Paper 17-3, Environment for Development, University of Gothenburg.
    2. Gebremariam, Gebrelibanos & Tesfaye, Wondimagegn, 2018. "The heterogeneous effect of shocks on agricultural innovations adoption: Microeconometric evidence from rural Ethiopia," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 74(C), pages 154-161.
    3. Teklewold, Hailemariam & Kassie, Menale & Shiferaw, Bekele & Köhlin, Gunnar, 2013. "Cropping system diversification, conservation tillage and modern seed adoption in Ethiopia: Impacts on household income, agrochemical use and demand for labor," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 93(C), pages 85-93.
    4. repec:ags:iaae12:126829 is not listed on IDEAS
    5. Hailemariam Teklewold & Alemu Mekonnen & Gunnar Kohlin & Salvatore Di Falco, 2017. "Does Adoption Of Multiple Climate-Smart Practices Improve Farmers’ Climate Resilience? Empirical Evidence From The Nile Basin Of Ethiopia," Climate Change Economics (CCE), World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd., vol. 8(01), pages 1-30, February.
    6. Hailemariam, Teklewold & Kassie, Menale & Shiferaw, Bekele A., 2012. "On the joint estimation of multiple adoption decisions: The case of sustainable agricultural technologies and practices in Ethiopia," 2012 Conference, August 18-24, 2012, Foz do Iguacu, Brazil 126885, International Association of Agricultural Economists.
    7. Beatrice W. Muriithi & Gracious M. Diiro & Menale Kassie & Geoffrey Muricho, 2018. "Does gender matter in the adoption of sustainable agricultural technologies? A case of push-pull technology in Kenya," Working Papers PMMA 2018-05, PEP-PMMA.
    8. Beatrice W. Muriithi & Kassie Menale & Gracious Diiro & Geoffrey Muricho, 2018. "Does gender matter in the adoption of push-pull pest management and other sustainable agricultural practices? Evidence from Western Kenya," Food Security: The Science, Sociology and Economics of Food Production and Access to Food, Springer;The International Society for Plant Pathology, vol. 10(2), pages 253-272, April.
    9. Kassie, Menale & Ndiritu, Simon Wagura & Stage, Jesper, 2014. "What Determines Gender Inequality in Household Food Security in Kenya? Application of Exogenous Switching Treatment Regression," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 56(C), pages 153-171.
    10. Goundan, Anatole & Sall, Moussa & Henning, Christian H. C. A., 2020. "Modeling interrelated inputs adoption in rainfed agriculture in Senegal," Working Papers of Agricultural Policy WP2020-05, University of Kiel, Department of Agricultural Economics, Chair of Agricultural Policy.
    11. Ali M. Oumer & Michael Burton & Atakelty Hailu & Amin Mugera, 2020. "Sustainable agricultural intensification practices and cost efficiency in smallholder maize farms: Evidence from Ethiopia," Agricultural Economics, International Association of Agricultural Economists, vol. 51(6), pages 841-856, November.
    12. Hailemariam Teklewold & Menale Kassie & Bekele Shiferaw, 2013. "Adoption of Multiple Sustainable Agricultural Practices in Rural Ethiopia," Journal of Agricultural Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 64(3), pages 597-623, September.
    13. Dung, Luu Tien & Phi Ho, Dinh & Thi Kim Hiep, Nguyen & Hoi, Phan Thi, 2018. "The Determinants of Rice Farmers Adoption of Sustainable Agricultural Technologies in the Mekong Delta, Vietnam," Asian Journal of Applied Economics, Kasetsart University, Center for Applied Economics Research, vol. 25(2), December.
    14. Fisher, Monica & Kandiwa, Vongai, 2014. "Can agricultural input subsidies reduce the gender gap in modern maize adoption? Evidence from Malawi," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 45(C), pages 101-111.
    15. Bryan, Elizabeth & Behrman, Julia A., 2013. "Community–based adaptation to climate change: A theoretical framework, overview of key issues and discussion of gender differentiated priorities and participation," CAPRi working papers 109, International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI).
    16. Solomon Asfaw & Nancy McCarthy & Leslie Lipper & Aslihan Arslan & Andrea Cattaneo, 2016. "What determines farmers’ adaptive capacity? Empirical evidence from Malawi," Food Security: The Science, Sociology and Economics of Food Production and Access to Food, Springer;The International Society for Plant Pathology, vol. 8(3), pages 643-664, June.
    17. Ragasa, Catherine, 2012. "Gender and Institutional Dimensions of Agricultural Technology Adoption: A Review of Literature and Synthesis of 35 Case Studies," 2012 Conference, August 18-24, 2012, Foz do Iguacu, Brazil 126747, International Association of Agricultural Economists.
    18. Kassie, Menale & Jaleta, Moti & Shiferaw, Bekele & Mmbando, Frank & Mekuria, Mulugetta, 2013. "Adoption of interrelated sustainable agricultural practices in smallholder systems: Evidence from rural Tanzania," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 80(3), pages 525-540.
    19. Oumer, Ali M. & Burton, Michael, 2018. "Drivers and Synergies in the Adoption of Sustainable Agricultural Intensification Practices: A Dynamic Perspective," 2018 Annual Meeting, August 5-7, Washington, D.C. 273871, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association.
    20. Asante, Bright Owusu & Koomson, Isaac & Villano, Renato & Wiredu, Alexander Nimo, 2021. "Gender and Agricultural Technology Adoption: Evidence from Integrated Crop-Livestock Management Practices (ICLMPs) Among Men and Women Smallholder Farmers in Ghana," 2021 Conference, August 17-31, 2021, Virtual 315093, International Association of Agricultural Economists.
    21. Asfaw, Solomon & McCarty, Nancy & Lipper, Leslie & Arslan, Aslihan & Cattaneo, Andrea, 2013. "Adaptation to Climate Change and Food Security: Micro-evidence from Malawi," 2013 Fourth International Conference, September 22-25, 2013, Hammamet, Tunisia 161646, African Association of Agricultural Economists (AAAE).

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:jfpoli:v:49:y:2014:i:p1:p:117-127. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/foodpol .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.