Men and Women in Rice Farming in Africa: A Cross-Country Investigation of Labor and Its Determinants

Abstract

Women make significant contribution to rice farming, processing, and marketing, but only have limited access to technical knowledge and technologies that can reduce their drudgery and labor bottlenecks, and provide them with additional income. Women also oversee the reproductive responsibilities. This paper comparatively investigates the role of women in rice farming across four countries (Burkina Faso, Côte d'Ivoire, Madagascar, Sierra Leone) by examining the labor time distribution and its resulting income for men and women. It also assessed the determinants of their labor inputs in different rice farming environments. Results show that women and men spend on average 1-3 h per day in rice production, making 45-135 working days of involvement in annual rice cultivation. Looking into the distribution of labor input provision in productive activities, it is found that apart from the specific activity of rice parboiling, which is practiced in certain countries mostly by women, men are the ones more engaged in rice farming. The specific labor input depends on several factors including the farm size, time spent on non-agricultural activities, and access to production equipment. These results provide the first evidence to that women farmers do not necessarily spend more time than men in rice cultivation in Africa, as it is often assumed. Certainly, across countries and systems, and also within male and female farmers categories, there are heterogeneous labor inputs and associated determining factors and incomes. Male farmers earn higher income than female farmers in the different productive activities, except only for rice parboiling. This finding indicates that increasing labor input for rice would not result in higher income for female farmers. Female farmers might find better options in other agricultural activities such as food processing.

Gender and access to complex and gender-biased agricultural technology information and knowledge: Evidence from smart-valleys in West Africa

“…Some women may have been reluctant in participating in the learning-by-doing phase, but many complained about the fact that they were mostly assigned the reproductive tasks during the practical on-farm demonstrations, fetching water and cooking food, so that they were not able to focus on the real training in the field. Time constraints generally faced by women because of their reproductive activities may also have prevented them to fully participate in the practical on-farm demonstration trainings (Kinkingninhoun Medagbe et al, 2020;Truong and Yamada, 2002). In addition, male farmers were found to have a better understanding of the trainings' contents than female farmers due to their higher level of formal education or schooling.…”

“…Complex and gender-biased technologies are specifically affected (Hörner et al, 2022). The non-consideration of gender issues in the development and dissemination of agricultural technologies (Addison et al, 2019), the lack of female extension agents (Lugman et al, 2018;Ragasa et al, 2013), time constraints faced by women compared to men (Kinkingninhoun Medagbe et al, 2020;Samee et al, 2015;Truong and Yamada, 2002), extension agents mainly talking to male farmers and household heads, who are mostly men (Agboh-Noameshie et al, 2013;Lamontagne-Godwin et al, 2018;Theriault et al, 2017;World Bank and IFPRI, 2010) are the main factors restricting women's access to extension services. Gender inequalities in access to technologies contribute to global hunger and food insecurity (Njuki et al, 2016;World Bank, 2009).…”

How Can Pairing Quantitative With Qualitative Data Collection Methods Better Elicit Rice Varietal Selection? Evidence From Burundi

“…In fact, rice production is perceived to be a labor-intensive and tedious activity, which explained why rice production in southern Ghana was dominated by men, despite there being equal gender distribution in the household surveys (Asante, Asante, Acheampong, Wiredu, et al, 2013). Rice processing, including parboiling, was exclusively done by women and girls in central Benin (Zossou et al, 2010), as well as in Ivory Coast, Madagascar, Sierra Leone, and southwest Burkina Faso (Medagbe et al, 2020). However, a different study in the same region of southwest Burkina Faso showed that rice farming was mostly the responsibility of women farmers, where they accounted for 83% of the surveyed farmers in the Cascades region.…”

“…In Burundi, men rice farmers are mostly engaged in pesticide application, harvesting, and selling paddy rice, given their role as the head of the family, while women farmers are involved in land preparation, weeding, and rice trading after milling. A study conducted in different African rice-growing countries revealed that most women rice farmers do not necessarily spend more time when compared with men in rice cultivation (Medagbe et al, 2020). In fact, rice production is perceived to be a labor-intensive and tedious activity, which explained why rice production in southern Ghana was dominated by men, despite there being equal gender distribution in the household surveys (Asante, Asante, Acheampong, Wiredu, et al, 2013).…”

Farmers' Perception of Climate Change: A Case Study from Subsistence Farming in Lalehun Kovama of Kailahun in Eastern Sierra Leone

“…The produce of this farming is not for sale, except in a situation where yields are in abundance [3]. Subsistence farming is a key dominant farming in sub-Saharan Africa, especially in Sierra Leone [4]. Most of these countries lack the technological advancement to undertake commercialized farming [5].…”