Abstract
The disparities in access to productive resources keep on smothering agricultural growth and development, particularly in developing countries. This study was informed by the feminist political economy (FPE) framework to assessing the relationship between gender and access to agricultural productive resources among cassava farmers in Kenya. The research utilised mixed methods including the use of a survey instrument and focus group discussions. The FGDs included 30 participants. A cross-sectional survey of 92 farmers was conducted using simple random sampling and purposive sampling. The purposive sampling technique was used to select 2 out of 4 administrative wards in Rongo Sub County. Socioeconomic and gender and access to productive resources used descriptive statistics and Chi-square, respectively in SPSS Version 23. Qualitative data were analysed using NVivo. The findings showed that access to resources such as farmland, agricultural credit, agricultural extension services, and ICT, family and hired labour, and improved cassava varieties were gendered. The gendered access to productive resources cut across class, age, education and socio-cultural norms inform access to and control over resources. The study suggests that agricultural advisory services must prioritise women of low educational background and class living in patrilineal settings. This ought to be approached from a transactional gendered outlook considering men and women skewed access to agricultural productive resources to close the gender gap. Key words: Gender disparity, feminist political ecology, cassava farmers, productive resources, Rongo Sub County.
Highlights
Women’s participation in agricultural production significantly contributes to the global food security (Glazebrook et al, 2020)
The findings showed that access to land, credit, agricultural extension agents and services, improved cassava cuttings, family and hired labour and agricultural information are gendered and largely favour men
The gendered relationships observed intersect with education, class, age and socio-cultural norms in influencing access to and control over agricultural productive resources
Summary
Women’s participation in agricultural production significantly contributes to the global food security (Glazebrook et al, 2020). Access to agricultural productive resources impacts farmer’s capacity to utilise improved innovation as well as investment (Michels et al, 2019) In spite of their nonstop gendered admittance to farming useful assets, men and women definitely add to agricultural development and improvement (AGRA, 2019; Akter et al, 2017). A significant part of the FPE put a ton of features on existing variations in access and authority over useful assets from a more interconnected perspective that appreciates intra-family inconsistencies among women and men (Resurreccion, 2017) This interrelated methodology yields a more far reaching examination that goes past looking at gender as a double alternative (Ankrah et al, 2020)
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