Gender Difference and Its Effect on Agricultural Productivity: The Case of Yubdo District in Ethiopia

doi:10.7176/jesd/10-19-06

Abstract

Rural men and women have different access to productive resources which may hinder women’s productivity and reduce their contributions to agriculture. This research was conducted to analyze difference in agricultural productivity between male and female headed households in Yubdo district of West Wollega Zone, Oromia National Regional State. The study used cross-sectional data that is collected from a total of 150 sampled respondents. The data were analyzed by descriptive statistics and econometric model. Results of the study showed that male headed households own more of productive resources such as land, livestock, labour and other agricultural inputs as compared to female headed households. Additionally, Cobb-Douglas production function was used to estimate the productivity difference in agriculture between male and female headed households. The result indicated that farm land, inorganic fertilizer, labour, number of oxen and number of extension contact were statistically significant in influencing the productivity of male headed households while farm land, inorganic fertilizer, labour, herbicide and improved were significant variables affecting the productivity of female headed households. The comparison of the marginal value product with the factor cost showed that both male and female headed households could increase productivity using more labour and farm land. The agricultural productivity difference between male and female headed households was about 70.84% in the study area. On the other hand, if female headed households had equal access to the inputs as male headed households, gross value of the output would be higher by 17.6% for female headed households. This may suggest that female headed households would have been more productive than male headed households if they had equal access to inputs as male headed households. Thus accessing female headed households to inputs that increase the productivity of land, labour utilization, usage of herbicide; and introducing technologies that reduce the time and energy of women is essential to improve the agricultural productivity of women and the society as a whole. Keywords: Cobb-Douglas, Decomposition Model, Ethiopia, Yubdo DOI : 10.7176/JESD/10-19-06 Publication date :October 31 st 2019

Highlights

Most of the smallholder farmers in Sub-Saharan African countries’ agricultural productivity are generally low (Olakojo, 2017)
Studies have persistently identified a gender gap in agricultural productivity of 20 to 30 percentage points in disadvantage of women as an important obstacle for the development of the agricultural sector. Numbers of these studies indicate that once differences in access to productive resources and individual characteristics are taken into account, estimates of the gender productivity gap become insignificant
A 1% increase in the area under the major crops increases gross value of farm output by 0.418 % and 0.275% for male and female headed households, respectively

Summary

Introduction

Most of the smallholder farmers in Sub-Saharan African countries’ agricultural productivity are generally low (Olakojo, 2017). The low level of agricultural productivity is mostly for female farmers compared to their male counterparts’. Studies have persistently identified a gender gap in agricultural productivity of 20 to 30 percentage points in disadvantage of women as an important obstacle for the development of the agricultural sector. Numbers of these studies indicate that once differences in access to productive resources and individual characteristics are taken into account, estimates of the gender productivity gap become insignificant. Because of socially constructed roles, various factors may affect women’s level of involvement in such decision making (Sinidu, 2017)

Methods

Results

Conclusion