Gender determines scientists’ sustainability assessments of food-securing upgrading strategies

Abstract

Perception of the social, ecological and economic aspects of food security differs depending on the gender of the evaluating expert. Understanding these differences is key to developing upgrading strategies (UPS) that can help stabilise and enhance food security. This is highly relevant for research on food value chains (FVCs) in sub-Saharan Africa, where subsistence farmers are highly exposed to food insecurity. Prior to their implementation, however, the potential social, ecological and economic impacts of UPS in the target areas should be carefully assessed.This article reports on gender-based differences in perception and evaluates these differences using ex-ante impact assessments on the social, ecological, and economic aspects of food security and 13 UPS in the Tanzanian FVC that were carried out by agricultural scientists. The work is embedded in a larger multi-disciplinary research project. We find that impact assessments differed based on the gender of experts to various extents and depended on the types of criteria assessed. Female scientists were more careful during assessment, limiting themselves more strictly to the UPS and to criteria they were most knowledgeable in. Additionally, female respondents perceived the impacts of UPS on the economic and social sustainability of food security to be lower compared to their male colleagues. We therefore conclude that perceptions of female and male agricultural experts in strategy selection and implementation should be differentiated based on their gender. This may help reduce gender-specific challenges faced by African farmers.