What do we mean by ‘women’s crops’? Commercialisation, gender, and the power to name

We explore the relationship between commercialisation and gender for groundnuts in Eastern Province, Zambia, using a mixed methods approach. Women saw themselves as having greater control over groundnuts than other crops, and both sexes saw groundnuts as controlled by women. Focus Group Discussions reported higher levels of control than found in a household survey. Propensity Score Matching showed that the machine shelling and higher sales did not reduce women’s perceived level of control over groundnuts. Women welcomed greater male participation in machine shelling because it reduced the drudgery of shelling by hand. This suggests that commercialisation did not disempower women

Sorghum in Semi-arid Subsistence Agriculture: The Case of Central Mozambique, Socioeconomics Discussion Paper Series 33

Based on the recommendations from the 2013 sorghum scoping study in Mozambique, a focused survey on smallholder sorghum growers was conducted in Marara District, Tete Province, Mozambique, during September 2014, funded by the CGIAR Program for Dryland cereals. 142 households were interviewed, which is a subsample of the 2013 MOREP survey funded by the Austrian Development Agency and CRP Dryland Systems. The study characterizes the current practices of sorghum and pearl millet farming in the area, in terms of use of inputs and outputs, cropping patterns, and profitability of sorghum and pearl millet in comparison with maize. It is found that the marginalized production environment in the studied villages is not appropriate for maize-dependent farming, but sorghum and pearl millet perform fairly. The benefit-cost analysis reveals that sorghum and pearl millet are increasingly advantageous over maize in more marginalized environments, for the given set of agro-ecology and technologies. On the other hand, the major constraints to production of these crops are frequent recycling of seeds, bird pests, and lack of integration with livestock farming. Some gender gap in rates of improved varieties adoption is also observed. The estimated production function indicates that there may be growth potential for sorghum in increasing the seed rate, while the marginal product of labor seems to have reached nil, suggesting the abundance of labor in subsistence agriculture. It is noted that consumers in the Central Zone have different habits of cooking and eating sorghum, as compared with Northern Zone. Sorghum is pounded and cooked into hard porridge in the Central Zone while it is consumed like a rice dish in the Northern Zone. Only a small share of sorghum and pearl millet production is sold. Engagement in off-farm activities and distance to markets are two factors that are likely to affect the likelihood of participation in sorghum commercialization. One notable way sorghum is marketed is in the form of beer, produced primarily by women at household level. A set of R&D activities are recommended with respect to smallholders’ capacity development and seed adaptation research. Training programs for capacity development need to cover the following subjects: (1) seed quality, (2) seed rate, (3) bird control, (4) crop-livestock integration, and (5) access to markets. The crop improvement efforts need to address the following aspects: (1) location-specific adaptation of grain quality to suit the local dietary habit, (2) grain taste adjustment to incorporate consumers’ general preference for maize porridge to sorghum and pearl millet porridge, and (3) developing sorghum varieties with good malting qualities

What do we mean by ‘women’s crops’? A mixed methods approach(Series paper Number 23)

A ‘Women’s Crop Tool’ was developed to measure women’s control over decision-making for crop production, sales, and use of income. We tested the tool for groundnuts in Eastern Province, Zambia, using a mixed methods approach that involved Focus Group Discussions (FGDs) and a quantitative household survey. Women in FGDs reported higher levels of control than women in the household survey. We argue that the more extreme results from the FGDs are due to the nature of the research question over the ‘power to name’. FGDs provided a public space for a struggle over meaning that exposed latent conflicts over gender roles, gender identities, and the conjugal contract. Mechanization of groundnut shelling has increased male participation in this activity. We used Propensity Score Matching (PSM) to determine whether the introduction of shelling machines reduced women’s control over groundnuts, as measured by the weighted women’s gender control index (WGCI), constructed by aggregating the scores obtained from the Women’s Crop Tool. Results showed that the shelling machine significantly increased the women’s WGCI, while the area planted to groundnuts and the volume of groundnut sales had no significant effect on the women’s WGCI. Contrary to the conventional wisdom, therefore, the commercialization of groundnuts has not reduced women’s control over groundnuts, while women perceived that the introduction of the machine sheller had increased their control over decision-making

Evolution and impacts of groundnut research and development in Malawi: An ex-post analysis

Groundnut is currently the second income earner for smallholder farmers in Malawi, and an inexpensive source of balanced protein. Owing to the continued crop improvement research and extension efforts, production has risen by more than 15 times in the past two decades. Despite the dramatic growth, no impact assessment has ever been conducted to date. This study aims to assess the economic impacts of investments in groundnut research and development (R&D) in Malawi, covering the period 1982-2013. Relevant information on investments and changes in outputs was gathered from a range of sources including a smallholder household survey and secondary data provided by international and national agricultural research programmes, and non-governmental organisations. The economic surplus approach (the PEDPIS method and the Akino-Hayami method) was employed to compute the internal rate of return (IRR) and the net present value (NPV). It was found that the IRR for the base scenario was 22%, higher than the opportunity cost of capital being 11%, indicating that the investment was competitive as well as profitable. The NPV ranged from USD 204 million to USD 206 million, depending on the calculation method. With sensitivity analyses, the NPV remained positive and the IRR stayed above 11% in all scenarios except when the research and extension costs were raised by 50%. The IRR compares well among impacts of crop research in sub-Saharan Africa. The result implies the need for policy formulation towards long term commitment to developing improved seeds, reinforcement of the seed systems, and enhancement of extension services to smallholders

Assessing the post-harvest constraints in smallholders’ groundnut production: A Survey in central Malawi

An in-depth scoping survey was conducted on 248 smallholder farmers producing groundnut in Malawi to delineate the constraints in production, especially on-farm post-harvest operations, while revealing various aspects in the status of production and consumption practices. The insightful outcomes included the farmers’ perception of the post-harvest operations as highly labor demanding, being the major obstacle to production expansion for the lucrative and nutritious crop. In particular, shelling, lifting, and stripping were the top three processes of remarkable labor intensity. The respondents expressed the intention for scale-up as long as the labor constraints were mitigated, with expected welfare gain through increased income, improved nutrition, and reduced aflatoxin contamination, as well as mitigated drudgery for women

Ex-ante Assessment of Adoption of Small-scale Post-harvest Mechanization: The Case of Groundnut Producers in Malawi, Series Paper Number 44

The study combines household-level demand function analysis and community-level benefit cost analysis to conduct ex-ante assessment of the adoption of small-scale post-harvest mechanization with a case of groundnut producers in Malawi. Based on the needs assessment conducted in 2010, Compatible Technology International (CTI) designed three pieces of labor-saving equipment for post-harvest operations for smallholder groundnut production, namely, lifter (harvester), stripper (thresher), and sheller (dehuller) in partnership with ICRISAT, Department of Agricultural Research Services (DARS), and C-to-C Engineering. The paper attempts to assess the viability of adoption and dissemination of each of these technologies which are technically categorized as “club goods” or “artificially scarce goods” through examining two steps: (1) smallholders' level of willingness-to-pay (WTP) for use of the equipment after seeing the demonstration, and (2) community leaders' preferences for methods of acquisition. The data collection leverages farmer research network (FRN) established in collaboration with farmer organizations, complemented by gender disaggregated household interviews. The analytical output suggests that the WTP for smallholders to use the equipment for their entire volume of groundnut harvest was approximately 2,000 Malawian kwachas (MWK) per acre, MWK 50 per pail, and MWK 35 per pail for the lifter, stripper, and sheller, respectively and that lead farmers’ investment in acquiring these technologies can be recovered in a single post-harvest season. The critical values for farmer group size to achieve breakeven points were 75, 22, and 129 for the lifter, stripper, and sheller, respectively under the base scenario and 127, 37, and 218 under the conservative scenario. Lead farmers’ return on investment (ROI) for one season was 2.3, 10.5, and 0.9 for the lifter, stripper, and sheller, respectively under the base scenario and 1.0, 5.8, and 0.1 under the conservative scenario, which will further increase as multiple seasons are considered. The sensitivity analysis indicated that the result was largely robust to altering the assumptions on group size and fees for using the equipment. The findings suggest that the business of lead farmers acquiring the equipment and renting it out to member farmers is indeed profitable, meeting the necessary condition for sustainable adoption. Other conditions to ensure successful adoption are also discussed

Do Commercialization and Mechanization of a “Women’s Crop” Disempower Women Farmers? Evidence from Zambia and Malawi

It is widely believed that commercialization and mechanization of food crops lead to disempowering women as men take over control from women. We argue that women are not necessarily discontent in the face of the agrarian transformation. By collecting sex-disaggregated panel data and applying a ‘women’s crop tool’, we analyze and rethink the implication of agricultural commercialization for intra-household gender relation among smallholder farmers through research on groundnut producers in southern Africa, where groundnut is largely regarded as a ‘women’s crop’. In addition to examining the effect of commercialization in Zambia and Malawi, small-scale post-harvest mechanization was provided experimentally to selected farmers in Zambia. The panel regression results show that commercialization did not lead to disempowering women in either country, which is consistent with the qualitative discussions with farmers held before the baseline surveys. Furthermore, by combining PSM and DID methods, it was found that machine shelling did not disempower women farmers either. The finding provides insights into how gender relation among smallholders is affected at the initial stage of commercialization and mechanization of ‘women’s crops’

Are there “women’s crops”? A new tool for gender and agriculture

A “Gender Control Tool” was developed to measure women’s control over decision-making for agricultural production, sales, and use of income. The tool was tested for groundnuts in Eastern Province, Zambia, where mechanisation has increased male participation in groundnut shelling, and for goats in Gwanda district, Zimbabwe, where the introduction of auctions has increased investment and sales. A mixed methods approach was used, that involved focus group discussions (FGDs) and a quantitative household survey. This article compares the results obtained from these two methods and discusses the strengths and weaknesses of the tool in understanding how commercialisation affects women’s control

Occurrence of aflatoxins and its management in diverse cropping systems of central Tanzania

The staple crops, maize, sorghum, bambara nut, groundnut, and sunflower common in semi-arid agro-pastoral farming systems of central Tanzania are prone to aflatoxin contamination. Consumption of such crop produce, contaminated with high levels of aflatoxin B1 (AFB1), affects growth and health. In this paper, aflatoxin contamination in freshly harvested and stored crop produce from central Tanzania was examined, including the efficacy of aflatoxin mitigation technologies on grain/kernal quality. A total of 312 farmers were recruited, trained on aflatoxin mitigation technologies, and allowed to deploy the technologies for 2 years. After 2 years, 188 of the 312 farmers were tracked to determine whether they had adopted and complied with the mitigation practices. Aflatoxigenic Aspergillus flavus and aflatoxin B1 contamination in freshly harvested and stored grains/kernels were assessed. A. flavus frequency and aflatoxin production by fungi were assayed by examining culture characteristics and thin-layer chromatography respectively. AFB1 was assayed by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. The average aflatoxin contamination in freshly harvested samples was 18.8 μg/kg, which is above the acceptable standard of 10 μg/kg. Contamination increased during storage to an average of 57.2 μg/kg, indicating a high exposure risk. Grains and oilseeds from maize, sorghum, and sunflower produced in aboveground reproductive structures had relatively low aflatoxin contamination compared to those produced in geocarpic structures of groundnut and bambara nut. Farmers who adopted recommended post-harvest management practices had considerably lower aflatoxin contamination in their stored kernels/grains. Furthermore, the effects of these factors were quantified by multivariate statistical analyses. Training and behavioral changes by farmers in their post-harvest practice minimize aflatoxin contamination and improve food safety. Moreover, if non-trained farmers receive mitigation training, aflatoxin concentration is predicted to decrease by 28.9 μg/kg on average

Knowledge, Attitude and Practice of Malawian Farmers on Pre- and Post-Harvest Crop Management to Mitigate Aflatoxin Contamination in Groundnut, Maize and Sorghum—Implication for Behavioral Change

A knowledge, attitude and practice (KAP) study was conducted in three districts of Malawi to test whether the training had resulted in increased knowledge and adoption of recommended pre- and post-harvest crop management practices, and their contribution to reducing aflatoxin contamination in groundnut, maize and sorghum. The study was conducted with 900 farmers at the baseline and 624 farmers at the end-line, while 726 and 696 harvested crop samples were collected for aflatoxin testing at the baseline and end-line, respectively. Results show that the knowledge and practice of pre- and post-harvest crop management for mitigating aflatoxin were inadequate among the farmers at the baseline but somewhat improved after the training as shown at the end-line. As a result, despite unfavorable weather, the mean aflatoxin contamination level in their grain samples decreased from 83.6 to 55.8 ppb (p < 0.001). However, it was also noted that increased knowledge did not significantly change farmers’ attitude toward not consuming grade-outs because of economic incentive incompatibility, leaving potential for improving the practices further. This existing gap in the adoption of aflatoxin mitigation practices calls for approaches that take into account farmers needs and incentives to attain sustainable behavioral change