Assessment of Women’s Productive Roles in Household Food and Income and Associated Factors in Kilindi District, Tanzania

Abstract

Women make up half of the global workforce in both agricultural and non-agricultural sectors to provide household food and income. The study aimed to examine women’s productive roles in household food and income in the 2019/20 and 2020/21 cropping seasons and associated factors among crop farmers and agro-pastoralists in Kilindi District, Tanzania. A structured questionnaire was used in a cross-sectional survey involving 209 crop farmers and 136 agro-pastoralist women, who were selected through multistage random sampling. The data was analysed using IBM SPSS version 20. The factors associated with women’s productive roles in household food and income were determined by using linear regression and multivariate ordinal logistic regression, respectively. Significance was considered at 5% (P≤0.05). The findings revealed that 40.0% of agro-pastoralists and 44.2% of crop farmer women in the 2020/21 cropping season produced 5–15 sacks of maize. About 10% of both agro-pastoralist and crop farmer women in 2019/20 cropping season earned more than Tsh. 200,000. Women with no formal education among crop farmers (AOR = 2.601, p = 0.023) increased their household incomes two times compared to women with primary education. Women who owned land among agro-pastoralists (AOR = 7.845, p = 0.025) increased household incomes seven times compared to women who did not own land. The age of female crop farmers (p = 0.045) decreased their contribution to the household’s food production. Women face challenges in maize farming to support household food and income. This study suggests that women should have access to land, education, credit, and farming technology.