This paper examines the occurrence and impact of gender discrimination in access to production resources on the income, productivity, and technical efficiency of farmers. Through an empirical investigation of farmers from Koussin-Lélé, a semi-collective irrigated rice scheme in central Benin, we find that female rice farmers are particularly discriminated against with regard to scheme membership and access to land and equipment, resulting in significant negative impacts on their productivity and income. Although women have lower productivity, they are as technically efficient as men. The findings suggest that there is considerable scope for improving the productivity of women through increasing their access to production resources.

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This chapter focuses on the cultivar adoption, scientific capacity in national agricultural research systems (NARS) and on cultivar releases in Africa south of the Sahara. The assessment of the performance in rice improvement from the perspective of inputs (strength of NARS), outputs (cultivar releases) and outcomes (adoption of modern cultivars) is also presented.

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