Heterogeneity in male and female farmers’ preference for a profit‐enhancing and labor‐saving technology: The case of Direct‐Seeded Rice (DSR) in India

Abstract

Labor-saving and income-increasing technologies may affect women farmers differently from men. However, very few studies explicitly account for women's preferences for new technologies. We carried out a discrete choice experiment with 337 female and 329 male farmers in Maharashtra, India, to measure their willingness to pay (WTP) for direct-seeded rice (DSR) with drum seeder and to understand the gender differences in marginal valuations of key attributes. We used the Women's Empowerment in Agriculture Index (WEAI) to collect self-reported data on the role and say of women in different domains of decision making. The respective gender roles of women and men in the family and on the farm are aligned with their preferences. Men have a greater say over how the family spends the cash. Accordingly, men tend to have a higher WTP for attributes that increase income (increase in yield) or reduce cash costs (reduction in seed rate). Women contribute a large share of the labor for transplanting rice, much of which is unpaid work on family farms. Women, therefore, seem to value labor saving more. Women in our sample were more interested in the new technology and had a higher WTP for it. K E Y W O R D Schoice experiment, direct-seeded rice, drum seeder, gender roles, India, RPLM, technology adoption, willingness to pay (WTP) La réduction de main-d'oeuvre et les technologies permettant l'augmentation des revenus peuvent affecter les femmes agricultrices différemment des hommes. Cependant, très peu d'études prennent explicitement en considération les préférences des femmes pour les nouvelles technologies. Nous avons mené une expérience de choix discret avec 337 paysannes et 329 paysans dans le Maharashtra, en Inde, afin de mesurer leur consentement à payer pour le riz en semis direct (RSD) avec semoir à tambour et de comprendre les différences entre les sexes dans les évaluations marginales d'attributs clés. Nous avons utilisé l'indice d'autonomisation des femmes en agriculture (IAFA) pour collecter des données autodéclarées sur le rôle des femmes dans différents domaines de la prise de décision. Les rôles de genre respectifs des femmes et des hommes dans la famille et à la ferme correspondent à leurs préférences. Les hommes ont davantage leur mot à dire sur la façon dont la famille dépense l'argent. En conséquence, les hommes ont tendance à avoir un CAP supérieur pour les attributs qui augmentent le revenu (augmentation du rendement) ou réduisent les coûts décaissés (réduction du taux de mise en culture). Les femmes fournissent une grande partie de la main-d'oeuvre nécessaire à la transplantation du riz, principalement du travail non rémunéré sur des Cand J Agr Econ. 2019;67:303-320.

Gendered impacts of greenhouse gas mitigation options for rice cultivation in India

“…Furthermore, in many contexts, as documented for instance by Theis et al (2019), women's ability to engage with and benefit from laborsaving mechanization is limited by normative stereotypes that discourage women from operating machines and restrict their physical mobility and social interactions, and by normative expectations of women's deference to male authority. As several studies have found, women's bargaining power is often too limited to influence household adoption decisions (Joshi et al 2019;Hansda 2017;Rola-Rubzen et al (2020).…”

“…The introduction of MTR and DSR may have positive or negative impacts on men and/or women farmers, which is determined by their social positioning and how they maneuver change. Literature shows that DSR reduces labor requirements, increases yield and profitability, saves seeds, and reduces carbon emissions (Joshi et al 2019). As such, technological solutions to mitigate GHG emissions and reduce drudgery have opportunities and trade-offs for equitable benefits (Beuchelt and Badstue 2013).…”

“…For example, scholars report changing nutritional outcomes of men and women farmers through cropping system diversification and soil and water conservation in Ethiopia (Teklewold et al 2019), or new rice and pulse varieties as best management practices (Connor and San 2020). Others observed women benefiting from the use of labor-saving technologies like weeders (Hansda 2017), DSR (Joshi et al 2019), or MTR (Akter et al 2017). However, the gender and emission dimension of changing CTR into DSR and/or MTR is very limited to our knowledge.…”

How local gender norms and intra-household dynamics shape women’s demand for laborsaving technologies: insights from maize-based livelihoods in Ethiopia and Kenya

“…A study of household decision-making related to mechanical rice transplanting (MRT) in Indiaa technology reducing labor in transplanting, primarily done by womenfound that women value MRT more than men do (Gulati et al, 2019). However, overall household demand articulation exclusively reflects men's valuation of the technology, as women's bargaining power is too limited to influence the adoption decision (Joshi et al, 2019).…”

“…People's expectations of how a new technology will affect social relations, roles, and responsibilities also influence technology adoption (Doss, 2001;Peterman et al, 2014, Theis et al, 2019. Several authors emphasize that households do not act in a unitary manner when making decisions or allocating resources; and women and men within households do not always share preferences nor resources (Alderman et al, 1995;Doss 2014;Doss & Kieran, 2014;Joshi et al, 2019;Meinzen-Dick et al, 2011). Households have dimensions of both cooperation and conflict (Agarwal, 1997;Jackson, 2013;Sen, 1990), and intra-household decision-making is shaped by power relations and negotiation between household members.…”