IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/spr/agrhuv/v32y2015i4p705-725.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Gender, assets, and market-oriented agriculture: learning from high-value crop and livestock projects in Africa and Asia

Author

Listed:
  • Agnes Quisumbing
  • Deborah Rubin
  • Cristina Manfre
  • Elizabeth Waithanji
  • Mara van den Bold
  • Deanna Olney
  • Nancy Johnson
  • Ruth Meinzen-Dick

Abstract

Strengthening the abilities of smallholder farmers in developing countries, particularly women farmers, to produce for both home and the market is currently a development priority. In many contexts, ownership of assets is strongly gendered, reflecting existing gender norms and limiting women’s ability to invest in more profitable livelihood strategies such as market-oriented agriculture. Yet the intersection between women’s asset endowments and their ability to participate in and benefit from agricultural interventions receives minimal attention. This paper explores changes in gender relations and women’s assets in four agricultural interventions that promoted high value agriculture with different degrees of market-orientation. Findings suggest that these dairy and horticulture projects can successfully involve women and increase production, income and the stock of household assets. In some cases, women were able to increase their control over production, income and assets; however in most cases men’s incomes increased more than women’s and the gender-asset gap did not decrease. Gender- and asset-based barriers to participation in projects as well as gender norms that limit women’s ability to accumulate and retain control over assets both contributed to the results. Comparing experiences across the four projects, especially where projects implemented adaptive measures to encourage gender-equitable outcomes, provides lessons for gender-responsive projects targeting existing and emerging value chains for high value products. Other targeted support to women farmers may also be needed to promote their acquisition of the physical assets required to expand production or enter other nodes of the value chain. Copyright Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht 2015

Suggested Citation

  • Agnes Quisumbing & Deborah Rubin & Cristina Manfre & Elizabeth Waithanji & Mara van den Bold & Deanna Olney & Nancy Johnson & Ruth Meinzen-Dick, 2015. "Gender, assets, and market-oriented agriculture: learning from high-value crop and livestock projects in Africa and Asia," Agriculture and Human Values, Springer;The Agriculture, Food, & Human Values Society (AFHVS), vol. 32(4), pages 705-725, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:agrhuv:v:32:y:2015:i:4:p:705-725
    DOI: 10.1007/s10460-015-9587-x
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1007/s10460-015-9587-x
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/s10460-015-9587-x?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. Alkire, Sabina & Meinzen-Dick, Ruth & Peterman, Amber & Quisumbing, Agnes & Seymour, Greg & Vaz, Ana, 2013. "The Women’s Empowerment in Agriculture Index," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 52(C), pages 71-91.
    2. Andy McKay & Emilie Perge, 2013. "How Strong is the Evidence for the Existence of Poverty Traps? A Multicountry Assessment," Journal of Development Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 49(7), pages 877-897, July.
    3. Carmen Diana Deere & Cheryl Doss, 2006. "The Gender Asset Gap: What Do We Know And Why Does It Matter?," Feminist Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 12(1-2), pages 1-50.
    4. Gilligan, Daniel O. & Kumar, Neha & McNiven, Scott & Meenakshi, J.V. & Quisumbing, Agnes R., 2012. "Bargaining-Power and Biofortification: The Role of Gender in Adoption of Orange Sweet Potato in Uganda," 2012 Annual Meeting, August 12-14, 2012, Seattle, Washington 125017, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association.
    5. Quisumbing, Agnes R., 2009. "Beyond the bari: Gender, groups, and social relations in rural Bangladesh," CAPRi working papers 96, International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI).
    6. Johnson, Nancy & Njuki, Jemimah & Waithanji, Elizabeth & Nhambeto, Marinho & Rogers, Martha & Kruger, Elizabeth Hutchinson, 2013. "The gendered impacts of agricultural asset transfer projects: Lessons from the Manica Smallholder Dairy Development Program," CAPRi working papers 115, International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI).
    7. Daniel O. Gilligan, 2012. "Biofortification, Agricultural Technology Adoption, and Nutrition Policy: Some Lessons and Emerging Challenges ," CESifo Economic Studies, CESifo Group, vol. 58(2), pages 405-421, June.
    8. Carmen Deere & Abena Oduro & Hema Swaminathan & Cheryl Doss, 2013. "Property rights and the gender distribution of wealth in Ecuador, Ghana and India," The Journal of Economic Inequality, Springer;Society for the Study of Economic Inequality, vol. 11(2), pages 249-265, June.
    9. van den Bold, Mara & Quisumbing, Agnes R. & Gillespie, Stuart, 2013. "Women’s empowerment and nutrition: An evidence review:," IFPRI discussion papers 1294, International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI).
    10. Agnes R. Quisumbing & Ruth Meinzen-Dick & Terri L. Raney & André Croppenstedt & Julia A. Behrman & A (ed.), 2014. "Gender in Agriculture," Springer Books, Springer, edition 127, number 978-94-017-8616-4, 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. Quisumbing, Agnes R. & Rubin, Deborah & Manfre, Cristina & Waithanji, Elizabeth & van den Bold, Mara & Olney, Deanna K. & Meinzen-Dick, Ruth Suseela, 2014. "Closing the gender asset gap: Learning from value chain development in Africa and Asia:," IFPRI discussion papers 1321, International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI).
    2. Johnson, Nancy L. & Kovarik, Chiara & Meinzen-Dick, Ruth & Njuki, Jemimah & Quisumbing, Agnes, 2016. "Gender, Assets, and Agricultural Development: Lessons from Eight Projects," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 83(C), pages 295-311.
    3. Meinzen-Dick, Ruth & Quisumbing, Agnes & Doss, Cheryl & Theis, Sophie, 2019. "Women's land rights as a pathway to poverty reduction: Framework and review of available evidence," Agricultural Systems, Elsevier, vol. 172(C), pages 72-82.
    4. Sraboni, Esha & Quisumbing, Agnes R. & Ahmed, Akhter, 2021. "Women's empowerment in agriculture: What role for food security in Bangladesh?," IFPRI book chapters, in: Securing food for all in Bangladesh, chapter 14, pages 483-548, International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI).
    5. Meinzen-Dick, Ruth Suseela & Quisumbing, Agnes R. & Doss, Cheryl R. & Theis, Sophie, 2017. "Women’s land rights as a pathway to poverty reduction: A framework and review of available evidence," IFPRI discussion papers 1663, International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI).
    6. Pradhan, Rajendra & Meinzen-Dick, Ruth Suseela & Theis, Sophie, 2018. "Property rights, intersectionality, and women’s empowerment in Nepal:," IFPRI discussion papers 1702, International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI).
    7. Kassie, M., 2018. "The nutrition impacts of women’s empowerment in Kenyan agriculture: Application of the multinomial endogenous switching treatment regression," 2018 Conference, July 28-August 2, 2018, Vancouver, British Columbia 276003, International Association of Agricultural Economists.
    8. World Bank, 2015. "Women, Business and the Law 2016: Getting to Equal," Working Papers id:7449, eSocialSciences.
    9. Anderson, C. Leigh & Reynolds, Travis W. & Gugerty, Mary Kay, 2017. "Husband and Wife Perspectives on Farm Household Decision-making Authority and Evidence on Intra-household Accord in Rural Tanzania," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 90(C), pages 169-183.
    10. Lambrecht, Isabel, 2016. "“As a husband I will love, lead, and provide:†Gendered access to land in Ghana:," IFPRI discussion papers 1514, International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI).
    11. Lambrecht, Isabel Brigitte, 2016. "“As a Husband I Will Love, Lead, and Provide.” Gendered Access to Land in Ghana," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 88(C), pages 188-200.
    12. Malapit, Hazel J. & Quisumbing, Agnes R., 2014. "What dimensions of women’s empowerment in agriculture matter for nutrition-related practices and outcomes in Ghana?:," IFPRI discussion papers 1367, International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI).
    13. Komatsu, Hitomi & Malapit, Hazel Jean L. & Theis, Sophie, 2018. "Does women’s time in domestic work and agriculture affect women’s and children’s dietary diversity? Evidence from Bangladesh, Nepal, Cambodia, Ghana, and Mozambique," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 79(C), pages 256-270.
    14. Agnes R. Quisumbing & Neha Kumar & Julia A. Behrman, 2018. "Do shocks affect men's and women's assets differently? Evidence from Bangladesh and Uganda," Development Policy Review, Overseas Development Institute, vol. 36(1), pages 3-34, January.
    15. Akter, Sonia & Rutsaert, Pieter & Luis, Joyce & Htwe, Nyo Me & San, Su Su & Raharjo, Budi & Pustika, Arlyna, 2017. "Women’s empowerment and gender equity in agriculture: A different perspective from Southeast Asia," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 69(C), pages 270-279.
    16. Rao, Nitya, 2017. "Assets, Agency and Legitimacy: Towards a Relational Understanding of Gender Equality Policy and Practice," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 95(C), pages 43-54.
    17. Dileni Gunewardena & Abdoulaye Seck, 2020. "Heterogeneity in entrepreneurship in developing countries: Risk, credit, and migration and the entrepreneurial propensity of youth and women," Review of Development Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 24(3), pages 713-725, August.
    18. Sylvester Ochieng Ogutu & Andrea Fongar & Theda Gödecke & Lisa Jäckering & Henry Mwololo & Michael Njuguna & Meike Wollni & Matin Qaim, 2020. "How to make farming and agricultural extension more nutrition-sensitive: evidence from a randomised controlled trial in Kenya [Agricultural extension: good intentions and hard realities]," European Review of Agricultural Economics, Oxford University Press and the European Agricultural and Applied Economics Publications Foundation, vol. 47(1), pages 95-118.
    19. Anglade, Boaz & Useche, Pilar & Deere, Carmen Diana, 2017. "Decomposing the Gender Wealth Gap in Ecuador," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 96(C), pages 19-31.
    20. Mara van den Bold & Andrew Dillon & Deanna Olney & Marcellin Ouedraogo & Abdoulaye Pedehombga & Agnes Quisumbing, 2015. "Can Integrated Agriculture-Nutrition Programmes Change Gender Norms on Land and Asset Ownership? Evidence from Burkina Faso," Journal of Development Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 51(9), pages 1155-1174, September.

    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:spr:agrhuv:v:32:y:2015:i:4:p:705-725. 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: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.com .

    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.