Publication: Feminization of Agriculture : Trends and Driving Forces
Loading...
Files in English
3,658 downloads
Date
2008
ISSN
Published
2008
Author(s)
Editor(s)
Abstract
Women have broadened and deepened their involvement in agricultural production over the last few decades as they increasingly shoulder the responsibility for household survival and respond to economic opportunities in commercial agriculture. This paper will describe how women have increased their labor in two types of agricultural production--smallholder production and agro-export agriculture--and the economic and socio-cultural forces that are driving this trend.
Link to Data Set
Citation
“Lastarria-Cornhiel, Susana. 2008. Feminization of Agriculture : Trends and Driving Forces. © World Bank. http://hdl.handle.net/10986/9104 License: CC BY 3.0 IGO.”
Associated URLs
Associated content
Other publications in this report series
Journal
Journal Volume
Journal Issue
Collections
Related items
Showing items related by metadata.
Publication Global Agricultural Performance : Past Trends and Future Prospects(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2008)How the production of crops and livestock products has evolved in the different regions over the past 45 years is studied. The paper focuses on how the increased supply of and demand for agricultural commodities have affected terms of agricultural trade and the sources of agricultural growth. While significant progress has been made in raising food consumption per capita (in developing countries consumption increased from an average of 2100 kcal/person/day in 1970 to almost 2700 kcal/person/day, there are still more than 850 million undernourished people worldwide. A challenge for the future is to accelerate agricultural productivity in poor countries, especially in Sub-Saharan Africa. It will also be important to satisfy increasing global demands for food, including that for animal products, sustain the natural resource base (soil, water, air and biodiversity), cope with water shortages, climate change and vulnerability, and navigate the potential conflict between devoting land to animal food and biofuels relative to direct human food.Publication Long-Term Farming and Rural Demographic Trends(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2008)Two general characteristics of rural populations are studied: farming operations at the global level and global rural demographic trends. Analysis of farming at the global level shows that agricultural land is expanding in Latin America and Africa, while expansion limits have been reached in South Asia. Roughly 90% of the world�s farms are small, defined as smaller than 2 hectares, especially in high density areas. While small farms tend to focus on staple crops, it is predicted that liberalization of agricultural markets resulting from future rounds of the WTO will not encourage these farms toward diversification. With respect to demographic trends, a superficial analysis of gender inequality shows that in rural Sub- Saharan Africa, inequality in terms of economic wellbeing and gender is more acute. AIDS is contributing to diminish femininity, not to intensify it and ageing is not really a concern for least developed countries. High dependency ratios brought about by larger population of children act to reduce rural wellbeing in the developing world. Therefore, the supply of labor is not at risk even in countries that are hard hit by AIDS. A cross-country migration analysis finds that only in Latin America is migration helping upward convergence of rural communities. Education is identified as the main asset that enables migration. Communities that are not endowed with sufficient levels of human capital are being left behind.Publication Bulk Export Commodities : Trends and Challenges(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2008)Cotton, coffee, cocoa, tea and tobacco markets and the marketing of these crops by producers and exporters in low income countries is the focus of this paper. The paper considers the organization of value chains for bulk export commodities and whether one can produce a helpful typology of the structure and operations of such chains. The question of the role of commodity exports in economic development is discussed as is the issue of produce quality within liberalized export commodity systems: how has liberalization affected quality and how can quality be improved within liberalized systems? Conclusion and overall observations about the organization and performance of liberalized export commodity market systems are provided.Publication Agricultural Biotechnology : Transgenics in Agriculture and their Implications for Developing Countries(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2008)Technological innovation in agriculture can bring enormous benefits to the poor. High-yielding varieties of staple food crops have improved agricultural productivity, raised incomes, and reduced food prices. Innovations in plant breeding research based on advances in genetics that make it possible to manipulate plant DNA. Referred to as 'biotechnology,' its use in agriculture is controversial, particularly with regard to the development and use of genetically modified organisms (GMOs), also known as transgenics. Some believe that transgenics offer great potential for meeting the challenges of feeding the hungry and improving incomes while others are convinced that transgenics will unleash environmental catastrophes, worsen poverty and hunger, and place traditional agriculture and the global food supply at the mercy of corporate interests. This paper synthesizes the research on transgenics and discusses the implications of public sector support for it as a poverty reduction tool.Publication Feminization of Agriculture in China : Debunking the Myth and Measuring the Consequence of Women Participation in Agriculture(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2006-11)This paper helps build a clear picture of the role of women in China's agriculture and, if agricultural feminization has been occurring, its impact on labor use, productivity, and welfare. Using two data sets that track changes in labor use over time, the authors examine the evolution of off farm and on farm employment trends and analyze the role of men and women in the emergence of China's labor markets. They explore who is working on China's farms, and the effects of these decisions on labor use, productivity and welfare. The analysis debunks the myth that China's agriculture is becoming feminized. Even if women were taking over the farm, the consequences in China would be mostly positive from a labor supply, productivity and income point of view. There may be some lessons for the rest of the world on what policies and institutions help make women productive in a nation's agricultural sector. Policies that insure equal access to land, regulations that dictate open access to credit, and economic development strategies that encourage competitive and efficient markets all contribute to an environment in which women farmers can succeed.
Users also downloaded
Showing related downloaded files
Publication Ten Steps to a Results-Based Monitoring and Evaluation System : A Handbook for Development Practitioners(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2004)An effective state is essential to achieving socio-economic and sustainable development. With the advent of globalization, there are growing pressures on governments and organizations around the world to be more responsive to the demands of internal and external stakeholders for good governance, accountability and transparency, greater development effectiveness, and delivery of tangible results. Governments, parliaments, citizens, the private sector, Non-governmental Organizations (NGOs), civil society, international organizations, and donors are among the stakeholders interested in better performance. As demands for greater accountability and real results have increased, there is an attendant need for enhanced results-based monitoring and evaluation of policies, programs, and projects. This handbook provides a comprehensive ten-step model that will help guide development practitioners through the process of designing and building a results-based monitoring and evaluation system. These steps begin with a 'readiness assessment' and take the practitioner through the design, management, and importantly, the sustainability of such systems. The handbook describes each step in detail, the tasks needed to complete each one, and the tools available to help along the way.Publication World Development Report 2017(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2017-01-30)Why are carefully designed, sensible policies too often not adopted or implemented? When they are, why do they often fail to generate development outcomes such as security, growth, and equity? And why do some bad policies endure? This book addresses these fundamental questions, which are at the heart of development. Policy making and policy implementation do not occur in a vacuum. Rather, they take place in complex political and social settings, in which individuals and groups with unequal power interact within changing rules as they pursue conflicting interests. The process of these interactions is what this Report calls governance, and the space in which these interactions take place, the policy arena. The capacity of actors to commit and their willingness to cooperate and coordinate to achieve socially desirable goals are what matter for effectiveness. However, who bargains, who is excluded, and what barriers block entry to the policy arena determine the selection and implementation of policies and, consequently, their impact on development outcomes. Exclusion, capture, and clientelism are manifestations of power asymmetries that lead to failures to achieve security, growth, and equity. The distribution of power in society is partly determined by history. Yet, there is room for positive change. This Report reveals that governance can mitigate, even overcome, power asymmetries to bring about more effective policy interventions that achieve sustainable improvements in security, growth, and equity. This happens by shifting the incentives of those with power, reshaping their preferences in favor of good outcomes, and taking into account the interests of previously excluded participants. These changes can come about through bargains among elites and greater citizen engagement, as well as by international actors supporting rules that strengthen coalitions for reform.Publication Tanzania(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2015-06)This study aims to achieve a better understanding of the agricultural risk and risk management situation in Tanzania with a view to identifying key solutions to reduce current gross domestic product (GDP) growth volatility. For the purpose of this assessment, risk is defined as the probability that an uncertain event will occur that can potentially produce losses to participants along the supply chain. Persistence of unmanaged risks in agriculture is a cause of great economic losses for farmers and other actors along the supply chains (for example, traders, processors, and exporters), affecting export earnings and food security. The agricultural sector risk assessment is a straightforward methodology based on a three-phase sequential process. Phase analyzes the chronological occurrence of inter-seasonal agricultural risks with a view to identify and prioritize the risks that are the drivers of agricultural GDP volatility. This report contains the findings and recommendations of the first phase and includes the identification, analysis, and prioritization of major risks facing the agricultural sector in Tanzania, as well as recommendations regarding key solutions. Chapter one gives introduction and context. Chapter two contains an overview of the agricultural sector and its performance, as well as a discussion of key agro-climatic, weather, and policy restrictions and opportunities. Chapter three includes an assessment of major risks (that is, production, market, and enabling environment risks) facing key export and food crops. Chapter four presents an estimate of historical losses due to realized production risks and a correlation of such losses with production volatility. Chapter five provides insights into the exposure to risks by different stakeholders and their actual capacities, vulnerabilities, and potential to manage agricultural risks. Chapter six presents a risk prioritization by different supply chains and discusses the possible solutions, as well as specific recommendations for the agricultural sector development program (ASDP).Publication World Development Report 1984(New York: Oxford University Press, 1984)Long-term needs and sustained effort are underlying themes in this year's report. As with most of its predecessors, it is divided into two parts. The first looks at economic performance, past and prospective. The second part is this year devoted to population - the causes and consequences of rapid population growth, its link to development, why it has slowed down in some developing countries. The two parts mirror each other: economic policy and performance in the next decade will matter for population growth in the developing countries for several decades beyond. Population policy and change in the rest of this century will set the terms for the whole of development strategy in the next. In both cases, policy changes will not yield immediate benefits, but delay will reduce the room for maneuver that policy makers will have in years to come.Publication Africa's Future, Africa's Challenge : Early Childhood Care and Development in Sub-Saharan Africa(Washington, DC : World Bank, 2008)This book seeks to achieve a balance, describing challenges that are being faced as well as developments that are underway. It seeks a balance in terms of the voices heard, including not just voices of the North commenting on the South, but voices from the South, and in concert with the North. It seeks to provide the voices of specialists and generalists, of those from international and local organizations, from academia and the field. It seeks a diversity of views and values. Such diversity and complexity are the reality of Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) today. The major focus of this book is on SSA from the Sahel south. Approximately 130 million children between birth and age 6 live in SSA. Every year 27 million children are born, and every year 4.7 million children under age 5 die. Rates of birth and of child deaths are consistently higher in SSA than in any other part of the world; the under-5 mortality rate of 163 per 1,000 is twice that of the rest of the developing world and 30 times that of industrialized countries (UNICEF 2006). Of the children who are born, 65 percent will experience poverty, 14 million will be orphans affected by HIV/AIDS directly and within their families and one-third will experience exclusion because of their gender or ethnicity.