Women’s empowerment in agriculture and agricultural productivity: Evidence from rural maize farmer households in western Kenya
This paper documents a positive relationship between maize productivity in western Kenya and women’s empowerment in agriculture, measured using indicators derived from the abbreviated version of the Women’s Empowerment in Agriculture Index. Applying a cross-sectional instrumental-variable regression...
| Autores principales: | , , , , |
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| Formato: | Journal Article |
| Lenguaje: | Inglés |
| Publicado: |
Public Library of Science
2018
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| Materias: | |
| Acceso en línea: | https://hdl.handle.net/10568/146114 |
| _version_ | 1855515492134944768 |
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| author | Dirro, Gracious M. Seymour, Greg Kassie, Menale Muricho, Geoffrey Muriithi, Beatrice Wambui |
| author_browse | Dirro, Gracious M. Kassie, Menale Muricho, Geoffrey Muriithi, Beatrice Wambui Seymour, Greg |
| author_facet | Dirro, Gracious M. Seymour, Greg Kassie, Menale Muricho, Geoffrey Muriithi, Beatrice Wambui |
| author_sort | Dirro, Gracious M. |
| collection | Repository of Agricultural Research Outputs (CGSpace) |
| description | This paper documents a positive relationship between maize productivity in western Kenya and women’s empowerment in agriculture, measured using indicators derived from the abbreviated version of the Women’s Empowerment in Agriculture Index. Applying a cross-sectional instrumental-variable regression method to a data set of 707 maize farm households from western Kenya, we find that women’s empowerment in agriculture significantly increases maize productivity. Although all indicators of women’s empowerment significantly increase productivity, there is no significant association between the women’s workload (amount of time spent working) and maize productivity. Furthermore, the results show heterogenous effects with respect to women’s empowerment on maize productivity for farm plots managed jointly by a male and female and plots managed individually by only a male or female. More specifically, the results suggest that female- and male-managed plots experience significant improvements in productivity when the women who tend them are empowered. These findings provide evidence that women’s empowerment contributes not only to reducing the gender gap in agricultural productivity, but also to improving, specifically, productivity from farms managed by women. Thus, rural development interventions in Kenya that aim to increase agricultural productivity—and, by extension, improve food security and reduce poverty—could achieve greater impact by integrating women’s empowerment into existing and future projects. |
| format | Journal Article |
| id | CGSpace146114 |
| institution | CGIAR Consortium |
| language | Inglés |
| publishDate | 2018 |
| publishDateRange | 2018 |
| publishDateSort | 2018 |
| publisher | Public Library of Science |
| publisherStr | Public Library of Science |
| record_format | dspace |
| spelling | CGSpace1461142025-12-08T10:11:39Z Women’s empowerment in agriculture and agricultural productivity: Evidence from rural maize farmer households in western Kenya Dirro, Gracious M. Seymour, Greg Kassie, Menale Muricho, Geoffrey Muriithi, Beatrice Wambui gender maize empowerment smallholders productivity rural development yields food security growth women This paper documents a positive relationship between maize productivity in western Kenya and women’s empowerment in agriculture, measured using indicators derived from the abbreviated version of the Women’s Empowerment in Agriculture Index. Applying a cross-sectional instrumental-variable regression method to a data set of 707 maize farm households from western Kenya, we find that women’s empowerment in agriculture significantly increases maize productivity. Although all indicators of women’s empowerment significantly increase productivity, there is no significant association between the women’s workload (amount of time spent working) and maize productivity. Furthermore, the results show heterogenous effects with respect to women’s empowerment on maize productivity for farm plots managed jointly by a male and female and plots managed individually by only a male or female. More specifically, the results suggest that female- and male-managed plots experience significant improvements in productivity when the women who tend them are empowered. These findings provide evidence that women’s empowerment contributes not only to reducing the gender gap in agricultural productivity, but also to improving, specifically, productivity from farms managed by women. Thus, rural development interventions in Kenya that aim to increase agricultural productivity—and, by extension, improve food security and reduce poverty—could achieve greater impact by integrating women’s empowerment into existing and future projects. 2018-06-06 2024-06-21T09:05:52Z 2024-06-21T09:05:52Z Journal Article https://hdl.handle.net/10568/146114 en Open Access Public Library of Science Dirro, Gracious M.; Seymour, Greg; Kassie, Menale; Muricho, Geoffrey; and Muriithi, Beatrice Wambui. 2018. Women’s empowerment in agriculture and agricultural productivity: Evidence from rural maize farmer households in western Kenya. PLOS One 13(5): e0197995. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0197995 |
| spellingShingle | gender maize empowerment smallholders productivity rural development yields food security growth women Dirro, Gracious M. Seymour, Greg Kassie, Menale Muricho, Geoffrey Muriithi, Beatrice Wambui Women’s empowerment in agriculture and agricultural productivity: Evidence from rural maize farmer households in western Kenya |
| title | Women’s empowerment in agriculture and agricultural productivity: Evidence from rural maize farmer households in western Kenya |
| title_full | Women’s empowerment in agriculture and agricultural productivity: Evidence from rural maize farmer households in western Kenya |
| title_fullStr | Women’s empowerment in agriculture and agricultural productivity: Evidence from rural maize farmer households in western Kenya |
| title_full_unstemmed | Women’s empowerment in agriculture and agricultural productivity: Evidence from rural maize farmer households in western Kenya |
| title_short | Women’s empowerment in agriculture and agricultural productivity: Evidence from rural maize farmer households in western Kenya |
| title_sort | women s empowerment in agriculture and agricultural productivity evidence from rural maize farmer households in western kenya |
| topic | gender maize empowerment smallholders productivity rural development yields food security growth women |
| url | https://hdl.handle.net/10568/146114 |
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