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Gender Gap In African Agriculture Is Costly, Avoidable

Gender Gap In African Agriculture Is Costly, Avoidable

Female African farmers are up to 66 percent less productive than males, and investing in childcare and adult education could significantly increase food production, according to a study of six African countries.

The study, entitled “Leveling The Field: Improving Opportunities For Women Farmers In Africa,” highlights deep-rooted gender gaps in African agriculture including political indifference and social constraints, according to TheGuardian.

Published this week by advocacy group One and World Bank, the report found that
despite women representing more than half of Africa’s farmers, female-managed plots produce up to 60 percent less than those managed by men.

Closing the gender gap could bolster food security and livelihoods, the report said. The Food and Agricultural Organisation (FAO) estimates that if women had the same access to resources, their yields could increase by up to 30 percent, and up to 150 million
fewer people would go hungry. In 2013, 842 million people experienced chronic hunger, FAO reports.

Men and women were compared farming similar-sized plots in similar contexts in Ethiopia, Malawi, Niger, Nigeria, Tanzania and Uganda. More than 40-percent of the population of sub-Saharan Africa lives in the six countries featured.

Agricultural production was 23-percent lower for women than men in Tanzania and 66-percent lower in Niger.

In Nigeria, dramatic differences in productivity were found between women and men living
in the country’s south and north.

Data was analyzed from national surveys of smallholder farmers conducted by the World Bank’s gender innovation lab between 2010 and 2013.

The report made 10 recommendations to governments on how to increase productivity. These include providing childcare facilities,  strengthening women’s land rights, supporting women’s access to markets, offering education to women, and increasing women’s use of quality seeds and fertilizer, TheGuardian reports.

Research found that even when women had equal access to resources, it did not necessarily amount to equal production. This points to broader norms, market failures or institutional constraints that alter the effectiveness of these resources for women, the report said.

One of the main barriers to women’s agricultural productivity is their inability
to get help. Women may be less likely to afford hired help, or to pay as much as their male
counterparts, and women may not be able to supervise hired hands as well as men because they are unable to spend as much time in the fields due to housework or childcare
responsibilities.

There are few policies in place in Africa to help women overcome these barriers, the report said. African governments and donors must prioritize this area and develop effective programs that help women farmers hire outside labor, use tools and equipment that reduce the need for labor, and access community-based childcare.

“We ignore this gender gap at our peril and ultimately at great social and economic cost,”
said Sipho Moyo, the Africa director of One. “It is a real injustice to Africa’s women
farmers and their families that women make up nearly half of the labor force in agriculture
but, on average, produce less per hectare than men.”

Makhtar Diop, vice-president for the World Bank’s Africa region, said: “This report presents the clearest evidence to date about the breadth and depth of the gender gap in African agriculture. It argues that by spearheading proven, effective policies that target the needs of female farmers, such as strengthening land rights, governments can help farming families tackle the low-productivity traps that entrench poverty and prevent millions of farmers from leading decent lives.”