Abstract
This paper uses data from 1128 households drawn from 35 districts, three agroecological zones and five provinces in Zambia to explore the influence of gender and other parameters on seasonal maize market participation. We apply a multivariate regression and the Blinder-Oaxaca decomposition technique to identify determinants of seasonal market participation and to decompose the differences in market participation outcomes between male headed and female headed households, respectively. About 10% of the households were ‘selling low and buying high’ which, through the supply enhancement effect, fertiliser subsidies and credit, enhanced maize selling soon after harvest while reducing the propensity to purchase in the lean season, an indication of the positive effect on food self-sufficiency. Significant market participation gaps were observed between male and female headed households in both seasons, with more female headed households purchasing maize soon after harvest and less of it in the lean season than their male counterparts. These differences were attributable to endowment effects. The study recommends policies that promote equitable access to production resources, such as the land, in order to reduce the gaps in market participation between men and women and for them to take advantage of the inter-seasonal maize price movements.
Highlights
Development experts understand why small farmers stand to benefit from greater engagement with markets, both for increasing output for sale, as well as greater access to inputs and services that can raise productivity
Using data from Zambia, this paper explores the potential role of government interventions in maize value chains through fertiliser subsidies and through the Federal Reserve Agency (FRA) in reducing the gap in seasonal market participation between male-headed households (MHHs) and femaleheaded households (FHHs)
Results show that access to fertiliser subsidies, larger farm size, household size, age of the household heads, years of formal education, and ownership of livestock were significantly associated with participation in the maize markets
Summary
Development experts understand why small farmers stand to benefit from greater engagement with markets, both for increasing output for sale, as well as greater access to inputs and services that can raise productivity. As expressed by Stephens and Barrett (2011), smallholder maize farmers in developing countries may sell maize soon after harvest when prices are low and buy it again from the market when prices are higher This ‘seemingly’ irrational behaviour of ‘sell low - buy high’ by small scale producers reflects a loss to the producing households and merits understanding in order to inform appropriate interventions. The third motivation for this paper is that some of the barriers to participation in markets are gendered: femaleheaded households (FHHs) without a spouse may not face the same intra-household gender issues that women in male-headed households (MHHs) do (Marenya et al 2017) This leads to differences with respect to the manner in which men and women access production resources and how they participate in commodity markets.
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Free) 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
