Education and agricultural inputs use by female farmers in Zimbabwe

There is ample empirical evidence that suggests the existence of gender discrimination when it comes to access to and subsequent use of productivity-enhancing farm inputs, specially those provided via market institutions, such as chemical fertilisers and hired labour. This discrimination is often fo...

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Main Authors: Matshe, I., Zikhali, Precious, Chilonda, Pius
Format: Journal Article
Language:Inglés
Published: 2010
Subjects:
Online Access:https://hdl.handle.net/10568/40520
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author Matshe, I.
Zikhali, Precious
Chilonda, Pius
author_browse Chilonda, Pius
Matshe, I.
Zikhali, Precious
author_facet Matshe, I.
Zikhali, Precious
Chilonda, Pius
author_sort Matshe, I.
collection Repository of Agricultural Research Outputs (CGSpace)
description There is ample empirical evidence that suggests the existence of gender discrimination when it comes to access to and subsequent use of productivity-enhancing farm inputs, specially those provided via market institutions, such as chemical fertilisers and hired labour. This discrimination is often found to be in favour of male farmers or male-headed households. Against this background, this focus contributes to building an understanding of the role of female education as a possible intervention that could mitigate such gendered agricultural input use disparities. A bivariate probit model on chemical fertiliser and hired labour use by households is estimated, using data collected in 2007 in rural Zimbabwe. This estimation strategy allows for interdependency between the input use decisions. Our results suggest that education significantly raises the probability of female farmers' use of both chemical fertilisers and hired labour. Interestingly, this impact is found to be higher for femaleheaded households in communal areas as opposed to female-headed households in resettlement areas where eneficiaries of Zimbabwe's Fast-track Land Reform Programme reside. This finding confirms the need to promote the education of women, particularly rural women, as part of interventions aimed at empowering female farmers, in the process countering and ending gender-based discrimination in accessing farm inputs.
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spelling CGSpace405202023-06-13T06:08:33Z Education and agricultural inputs use by female farmers in Zimbabwe Matshe, I. Zikhali, Precious Chilonda, Pius gender farm inputs female labor farmers agricultural education fertilizers models rural areas statistical methods households econometrics policy There is ample empirical evidence that suggests the existence of gender discrimination when it comes to access to and subsequent use of productivity-enhancing farm inputs, specially those provided via market institutions, such as chemical fertilisers and hired labour. This discrimination is often found to be in favour of male farmers or male-headed households. Against this background, this focus contributes to building an understanding of the role of female education as a possible intervention that could mitigate such gendered agricultural input use disparities. A bivariate probit model on chemical fertiliser and hired labour use by households is estimated, using data collected in 2007 in rural Zimbabwe. This estimation strategy allows for interdependency between the input use decisions. Our results suggest that education significantly raises the probability of female farmers' use of both chemical fertilisers and hired labour. Interestingly, this impact is found to be higher for femaleheaded households in communal areas as opposed to female-headed households in resettlement areas where eneficiaries of Zimbabwe's Fast-track Land Reform Programme reside. This finding confirms the need to promote the education of women, particularly rural women, as part of interventions aimed at empowering female farmers, in the process countering and ending gender-based discrimination in accessing farm inputs. 2010 2014-06-13T14:47:50Z 2014-06-13T14:47:50Z Journal Article https://hdl.handle.net/10568/40520 en Limited Access Matshe, I.; Zikhali, Precious; Chilonda, Pius. 2010. Education and agricultural inputs use by female farmers in Zimbabwe. Agenda, 86:96-110.
spellingShingle gender
farm inputs
female labor
farmers
agricultural education
fertilizers
models
rural areas
statistical methods
households
econometrics
policy
Matshe, I.
Zikhali, Precious
Chilonda, Pius
Education and agricultural inputs use by female farmers in Zimbabwe
title Education and agricultural inputs use by female farmers in Zimbabwe
title_full Education and agricultural inputs use by female farmers in Zimbabwe
title_fullStr Education and agricultural inputs use by female farmers in Zimbabwe
title_full_unstemmed Education and agricultural inputs use by female farmers in Zimbabwe
title_short Education and agricultural inputs use by female farmers in Zimbabwe
title_sort education and agricultural inputs use by female farmers in zimbabwe
topic gender
farm inputs
female labor
farmers
agricultural education
fertilizers
models
rural areas
statistical methods
households
econometrics
policy
url https://hdl.handle.net/10568/40520
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AT chilondapius educationandagriculturalinputsusebyfemalefarmersinzimbabwe