How much of the labor in African agriculture is provided by women?

Abstract

The contribution of women to labor in African agriculture is regularly quoted in the range of 60–80%. Using individual, plot-level labor input data from nationally representative household surveys across six Sub-Saharan African countries, this study estimates the average female labor share in crop production at 40%. It is slightly above 50% in Malawi, Tanzania, and Uganda, and substantially lower in Nigeria (37%), Ethiopia (29%), and Niger (24%). There are no systematic differences across crops and activities, but female labor shares tend to be higher in households where women own a larger share of the land and when they are more educated. Controlling for the gender and knowledge profile of the respondents does not meaningfully change the predicted female labor shares. The findings question prevailing assertions regarding substantial gains in aggregate crop output as a result of increasing female agricultural productivity.

Women and agricultural productivity: Reframing the Issues

“…At the same time, the data show that women are deeply involved in all phases of agricultural production. Their labour at the plot level accounts for about 40% of the total field work in crop agriculture in Africa (Palacios‐Lopez et al., )—and we still lack data on women's participation in other areas of farming, including seed selection and management, input purchasing, output marketing, processing and animal care, not to mention food preparation and cooking. There is widespread consensus that women devote more time than men to many of these activities, and certainly spend more time than men on household labour.…”

“…Evidence for Africa (Doss, Kovarik, Peterman, Quisumbing, & van den Bold, ) and Asia (Kieran, Sproule, Doss, Quisumbing, & Kim, 2016) is inconsistent with a widely cited figure that women own only between 1% and 2% of the world's land, although they do own considerably less land than men. In the six African countries for which there is data, women provide 40% of the labour for crop agriculture, a lower figure than the 60% to 80% that is often cited (Palacios‐Lopez, Christiaensen, & Kilic, ). Finally, no evidence supports the claim that women produce 60% to 80% of the world's food (Doss, ).…”

Corporate social responsibility and the role of rural women in sustainable agricultural development in sub‐Saharan Africa: Evidence from the Niger Delta in Nigeria

“…Using data from some African countries, 41% of female and only 15% of male farmers indicated that they do not independently own land for agricultural purposes (Peterman, Quisumbing, Behrman, & Nkonya, 2011). The extent and determination of gender gaps in agriculture across African countries showed large productivity gaps between men and women, and the shortfall when women's productivity is compared with that of men is as large as 66% (Farnworth, Baudron, Anderson, Misiko, & Stirling, 2016;Palocios-Lopez, Christiaensen, & Killic, 2017). The low productivity among female farmers is considered to be an outcome of their limited access to agricultural inputs such as land, fertilizer, and extension service (Jafry & Sulaiman, 2013;Mukasa & Salami, 2016;Uduji, Okolo-Obasi, & Asongu, 2018b).…”

Agriculture in Africa – Telling myths from facts: A synthesis

“…This is followed by a case study of the actual profitability of fertilizer use in Nigeria (Liverpool-Tasie et al (2017)), drawing attention to a core micro-economic principle driving input adoption, namely profitability. The fourth paper explores the potential for increasing crop output from closing the gender productivity gap (Palacios-Lopez et al, 2017b). …”

“…Exploiting the plot level labor input records for each household member across the six LSMS-ISA countries, Palacios-Lopez et al (2017b) find that women contribute just 40 percent of labor input to crop production. The numbers are slightly above 50 percent in Malawi, Tanzania and Uganda, but substantially lower in Nigeria (37 percent), Ethiopia (29 percent) and Niger (24 percent) (Fig.…”