Policy Solutions to Close Gender Gaps in the Agriculture Sector in Nigeria N I G E R I A G E N D E R I N N O V AT I O N L A B 1 KEY MESSAGES • Substantial gender gaps exist—in labor force participation and productivity—in the agriculture sector in Nigeria. Female plot managers produce 30 percent less per hectare than their male counterparts on average, and in the North the productivity divide increases to 35 percent compared to 25 percent in the South. • Closing the gender productivity gap in agriculture could lead to sizable gains in the Nigerian economy, boosting gross domestic product (GDP) by at least USD 2.3 billion and potentially as much as USD 8.1 billion due to spillovers to other economic sectors. • Key factors driving the gender gaps in agriculture include women farmers’ limited use of farm inputs, choice of low- value crops, and lower productivity of hired labor. • Effective evidence-backed solutions to relax constraints faced by women farmers and increase their earnings include: » Improving their access to and use of inputs by tailoring Dasan Bobo/World Bank agriculture extension services to better meet their needs, engaging more female extension agents, encouraging joint decision making on input-use among farmer couples, diffusing information on input-use via effective digital technologies and through strengthening female social networks, and providing direct access to inputs; » Addressing gender norms and building women’s socio- emotional skills to improve their participation in high- value crop production; and » Relaxing financial constraints and improving access to machinery such that women farmers can benefit from productive labor. Curt Carnemark/World Bank 1  This policy brief is based on the report Closing Gaps, Increasing Opportunities: A Diagnostic on Women’s Economic Empowerment in Nigeria, which was prepared by a team of authors from the World Bank’s Nigeria Gender Innovation Lab (GIL), led by Julia Vaillant, and including Andrew Brudevold-Newman, Amy Copley, Ayodele Fashogbon, Paula Gonzalez, Laurel Morrison, Patricia Paskov, and Abhilasha Sahay. Policy Solutions to Close Gender Gaps in the Agriculture Sector in Nigeria 1 Size and Costs of Gender Gaps in the Agriculture Sector in Nigeria The agricultural sector in Nigeria, which constitutes 21 percent of the country’s GDP, is characterized by low female participation. In Nigeria, women’s labor share in crop production is around 37 percent, and women are 10 percentage points less likely to work in the sector than men.1 For women who are working in agriculture, they are 25 percentage points less likely to manage an agricultural plot compared to their male counterparts. Data from the 2018-19 Nigeria General Household Survey indicates that only 21 percent of plot managers in Nigeria are women. About 70 percent of agricultural plots are owned by individual men while only 8 percent are owned by individual women, and the remaining jointly owned plots do not necessarily entail equal rights between men and women.2 Notably, female plot managers have very different household characteristics than male plot managers: most female plot managers are either widowed, separated, or divorced, reside in smaller households, and are less likely to have attended school than their male counterparts. Compounding the issue of low participation, female plot managers produce significantly less per hectare than male plot managers. Recent analysis conducted by the Nigeria Gender Innovation Lab (NiGIL hereafter) demonstrates that the value of output per hectare on female-managed plots is 30 percent lower than comparably sized male-managed plots.3 These gaps could exist due to differences in characteristics of farmers and their households, as well as differences in farm and technology characteristics such as access to inputs and productive labor and choice of crops. These inequalities not only prevent Nigerian women from reaching their full potential, but also represent a vast drain on the economy. When women are less productive on their farms, the Nigerian economy misses out on valuable contributions of nearly half of its labor force. As per a recent analysis conducted by NiGIL, the total estimated yearly earnings forgone due to gender gaps in agricultural productivity is around USD 2.3 billion; however, including spillovers to other sectors it could be as much as USD 8.1 billion.4,5 Dasan Bobo/World Bank 2 Policy Solutions to Close Gender Gaps in the Agriculture Sector in Nigeria Ongoing Reforms Recognizing the cost of inequality and the need to build a more gender-equitable economy, the government of Nigeria (GoN) has shown a strong commitment towards addressing gender issues through its various policies and programs. Recently, the National Gender Policy in Agriculture (NGPiA hereafter) was formulated and launched by the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (FMARD) to promote and ensure adoption of a gender-sensitive and gender-responsive approach to the agriculture sector planning and programming. The policy aims to equalize access to land and publicize existing credit services, facilitate access to mechanization, make input distribution more gender- sensitive, promote production of small livestock and agribusiness, develop women farmers’ business skills, and disseminate information on market access and extension services through Farmer Field Schools. Similarly, the Agricultural Promotion Policy (APP) aims to reduce the gender bias in land allocation and titling and expand technical training and access to financial services for women farmers. The policy led to three key programs driving the gender strategy, namely, the Women and Youth Empowerment program (WYEP), the Graduate Unemployed Youth and Women Agro-Preneur Support program (GUYS), and the Youth Employment in Agriculture Program (YEAP). These programs provide in-kind grants, training, and business support to women to remove barriers to finance, knowledge, and agribusiness information. In addition, within the Agro-Processing Productivity Enhancement and Livelihood Improvement Support project (APPEALS), the GoN is delivering and evaluating the impact of socioemotional skills—on top of business grant provision and technical training—on women farmers’ productivity, agribusiness survival, employment, and ownership of agribusiness assets. An ongoing impact evaluation of APPEALS is also investigating which socioemotional skills matter for women in agribusiness, and how we could improve the design and delivery of skill-based training in the sector. Drivers of Gender Gaps in Agricultural Productivity To ensure that such policies and programs yield the envisioned results, it is also critical to identify and understand the key constraints faced by women farmers. The analysis conducted by NiGIL using data from the 2018-19 Nigeria General Household Survey points to three critical drivers of the agricultural productivity gap in Nigeria: inputs use, crop choice, and the composition of labor used on plots. WOMEN USE FEWER INPUTS. Gender differences in the use of agricultural inputs are a vital driver of gender-specific productivity gaps in Nigeria. Limited resources to purchase inputs and inequitable distribution of resources between male- and female-managed plots within households could constrain women’s access to inputs.6 Similarly, lack of access to credit among women farmers could contribute towards limited input use as credit can often be requisite for adoption of improved seeds and fertilizers.7 Furthermore, membership in cooperatives and farmer organizations that control access to inputs may be based on gender and that can in turn be a hurdle for women farmers to easily access and use farm inputs.8 Moreover, women’s low participation in agriculture extension services, which could have a transformative impact on farmers’ use of and access to inputs, is another contributing factor towards women’s lower productivity. Low participation rates could be attributable to several factors, such as (i) current extension services may focus more on crops predominantly farmed by men; (ii) most extension activities may be run by men and cultural norms may prevent women from interacting with men outside their communities or families, thereby precluding women from participating; or (iii) current outreach activities may target predominantly male social networks.9 Finally, and more fundamentally, perceptions of women not being “real” famers and only helpers on the farm can also limit their access to and use of inputs. Due in large part to these factors, female farmers use eight times less fertilizer and 50 percent less herbicide per hectare than their male counterparts. At the same time, doubling the quantity of fertilizer and herbicide used on a plot increases productivity by 6 percent and 18 percent, respectively. These insights demonstrate that interventions aimed at equalizing input use between men and women farmers could significantly increase women’s productivity on the farm. Policy Solutions to Close Gender Gaps in the Agriculture Sector in Nigeria 3 WOMEN FARM LESS VALUABLE CROPS. Crop choice is a crucial driver of the productivity gap between female-managed plots and male-managed plots. There are consistent value differences across common crop types. For instance, households farming yams attain significantly higher values per hectare, on average, while those farming other roots and tuber crops attain significantly lower values per hectare. On average, women are 38 percentage points more likely to farm roots and tubers than men. However, yam cultivation is an exception. As per estimates drawn from the plot- level disaggregated data from the Nigeria General Household Survey (2018-19), only 30 percent of the yams grown in Nigeria are cultivated on plots managed by women farmers and the remaining 70 percent are grown on plots managed by men. Evidence from a recent review suggests that gender differences in crop choice could stem from gender differences in risk preferences and skills, or norms around certain cash crops being perceived as “male crops”.10 Women may opt not to grow cash crops based on the perception that they are riskier crops due to the large upfront investments needed to produce at scale and the exposure to price fluctuations in the market. Meanwhile, skills might also influence women’s decisions around cash crop farming; for instance, in Malawi, increases in women farmers’ noncognitive ability were found to be linked with higher production of cash crops.11 Thus, women consistently farm less valuable crops owing to a range of factors including gender norms, risk preferences, and skills, which can ultimately hold back their agricultural productivity relative to male farmers. WOMEN USE LESS PRODUCTIVE LABOR. Differences in use and returns to labor is another factor contributing to gender gaps in agricultural productivity. Farmers can draw on three sources of labor for their plot: their own labor, household labor, and hired labor. While women farmers appear to use as much labor as their male counterparts, their earnings are stifled by the lower productivity of the male labor they use. Several factors could drive the labor productivity gap: female plot managers may not have time to effectively supervise workers; male laborers working for a woman supervisor may exert lower effort; and women may lack resources to hire more productive workers. Thus, on average, women receive lower returns to hired labor than their male counterparts, thereby constraining women’s ability to reach their full potential. 4 Policy Solutions to Close Gender Gaps in the Agriculture Sector in Nigeria Effective Policy Solutions to Close Gender Gaps To successfully close gender gaps, policy makers not only need a detailed account of what drives these gaps, but also a rigorous evidence base on cost-effective policy options. The following section offers guidance on interventions that could be adopted to address the underlying constraints faced by women farmers in Nigeria. These recommendations could also meaningfully inform the framework and implementation of the National Gender Policy on Agriculture. To Increase Women’s Use of Inputs Tailor agricultural extension services to better meet women’s information and input needs. Extension services can improve farmer productivity by teaching locality-specific best farming practices. Thus, ensuring women’s access to extension services can help close gender gaps in agricultural productivity. Recent evidence suggest that women’s participation in extension services could be bolstered by (i) laying more focus on crops that are predominantly grown by women, i.e. usually crops with short maturity (current extension services mainly focus on crops farmed by men), (ii) designing outreach activities that especially target female social networks, (iii) engaging female agents to deliver and facilitate extension services (most services are currently run by men and certain cultural norms may preclude women’s participation)12, and (iv) regularly sensitizing agents to make extension delivery more gender responsive (which is also recognized as a key policy objective under NGPiA, i.e. Objective 2). Encourage joint decision-making and goal setting among farmer couples. Past evidence demonstrates that couple- based agricultural extension training - where spouses jointly decide on investments - can improve women farmers’ use of inputs and their participation in farm management. In Cote d’Ivoire, an agricultural extension program - that taught couples best practices in rubber cultivation and encouraged them to create a joint action plan - improved use of inputs among women farmers, with increases in planned agricultural management by women and increased retention of the action plan.13 The intervention increased farm investments by 20 percent at a substantially lower cost. The cost of implementing this couple-based agriculture extension intervention was USD25 per household and strikingly, the benefits of the intervention (with respect to value of rubber production) outweighed its cost by eleven times. Supplement agricultural extension services with personal-initiative training. Effectiveness of standard extension services could be improved by including other forms of training such as socio-emotional skill-building and psychology-based entrepreneurial training. Recent evidence from Mozambique demonstrates that including psychological mindset training in standard agricultural extension services led to a measurable increase in area cultivated and adoption of fertilizers, pesticides, good farming practices (e.g., crop rotation and mulching) and cash crops (including soy), among women farmers.14 Notably, these effects persisted even after the intervention left the field. The cost of the agriculture extension service combined with psychology-based training was around USD310 per woman and the intervention increased the value of harvest by approximately USD400 per woman; thereby, yielding a net positive return. Furthermore, such interventions also helped women farmers transition out of subsistence farming and into market-oriented agriculture and off-farm businesses. Build and utilize social networks to disseminate new agricultural information. Social networks can play a critical role in boosting women’s agricultural production as they help women garner new information, identify opportunities, understand earning potential, build relationships, and increase social capital. Belonging to strong social networks can also help with early adoption of new agricultural information and techniques. An extension program in Uganda utilized female social networks to disseminate information; women were partnered together and encouraged to share information about cash crops throughout the growing season. Compared to the standard extension program, the social networks intervention significantly increased women farmers’ productivity (20 percent increase in yields), with higher impacts for lower-income women.15 Moreover, it was significantly less expensive, i.e., three times less expensive, than the standard extension training intervention, and the overall benefit from the former exceeded the latter by 38 percent. Policy Solutions to Close Gender Gaps in the Agriculture Sector in Nigeria 5 Use digital technology to increase access to agricultural information. Digital technology can help diffuse agricultural information in quick and cost-effective ways. In Uganda, video-enabled messaging about extension services helped to increase women’s participation in agricultural decision-making, adoption of best practices, and production outcomes on their plots.16 Similarly, a program in Niger that improved access to mobile technology, coupled with an education program featuring modules on best practices for mobile phone use, helped households plant a more diverse variety of crops, boosting the number of cash crops grown by women.17 In a similar vein, educational voice messages in local languages targeted at farmers in northern Ghana led to increases in farmers’ yields by up to 55 percent.18 Provide productive inputs directly to women farmers to increase their use of that input. A more targeted approach to enhance women’s access to inputs is to provide them with those inputs directly and improve linkages between women farmers and farm-input companies. In Nigeria, the Growth Enhancement Support Scheme, which offered subsidized fertilizer to farmers, had broad positive impacts, including increased use of fertilizers. Impacts on income and the rate of diversification were higher for female-headed households.19 In Mali, it was found that when women received free fertilizer, they increased their use of fertilizer and other complementary inputs, including herbicides and hired labor.20 In Benin, an intervention, which provided information and inputs to grow Nerica (a new rice variety), led to higher yields and income for women farmers.21 Furthermore, an impact evaluation in Uganda tested the introduction of a nutrient-dense crop, i.e. orange-fleshed sweet potato (OFSP), and found that providing subsidized crop vines and trainings helped boost the number of households cultivating and consuming sweet potatoes by 68 percent and 50 percent, respectively.22 The cost of providing these inputs (crop vines) and training was around USD74 per participant. To Increase Women’s Adoption of Higher-Value Crops Address gender norms to facilitate women’s participation in higher-value chains. Restrictive gender norms can preclude women from participating in higher-value agricultural activities and growing crops that are traditionally perceived as “male crops”.23 Notably, the NGPiA also recognizes the need to address cultural practices that may hinder women’s productivity through advocacy, lobbying, and sensitization workshops (i.e., Objective 7). In the sugarcane sector in Uganda, it was found that small incentives paired with a couples’ workshop on norm changes around crop choice and women’s land rights encouraged male farmers to transfer out-grower contracts to their wives’ names, which in turn led to a marked increase in women’s participation in high-value activities such as sugarcane marketing and sales, alongside improvements in women’s agency and control over productive resources.24 Such results demonstrate that even soft nudges can create large, transformative impacts. Build women’s socio-emotional skills to elevate their position in agricultural value chains. Differences in crop-choice could also stem from gender gaps in socio-emotional skills and noncognitive abilities, such as risk tolerance, motivation, and interpersonal skills. In a recent study conducted in Malawi, it was found that women farmers’ higher noncognitive abilities were linked to higher cash crop production.25 Thus, policies and programs aimed at building and honing women’s socio- emotional skills can help improve their participation in higher-value crops. To Increase the Productivity of Labor Hired by Women Farmers Address financial constraints to enable women farmers to hire more productive farm labor. Financial constraints may prevent women farmers from hiring more productive labor.26 These constraints can be relaxed by (i) direct provision of cash transfers or (ii) provision of free or subsided physical inputs such that women farmers’ resources are freed up to invest in more productive labor inputs. In Zambia, an evaluation of a cash transfers program showed that spending on hired labor increased four times among beneficiary households.27 Similarly, evidence from the fertilizer distribution program in Mali suggests that women who received fertilizers increased their use of other complementary inputs, including hired labor.28 Furthermore, synergies with other programs can be exploited to increase the supply of productive labor; for example, programs usually targeted at male farmers—such as those that intensify mechanization by providing oxen and animal traction kits—could increase the supply of productive male labor for women farmers. 6 Policy Solutions to Close Gender Gaps in the Agriculture Sector in Nigeria Increase access to machinery to boost productivity of labor hired by women farmers. While the use of machinery could aid female plot managers in closing the gender productivity gap, they often lack finances to purchase valuable tools that could boost productivity of the male workers who they hire. One solution would be to provide financial assistance through cash vouchers or in-kind transfers for the purchase of such machinery. At the same time, social norms around gendered use and ownership of machinery may also constrain women’s ability to purchase time-saving technologies such as tractors.29 Thus, hiring or leasing such services could be a promising policy alternative. To Ease Time Constraints Faced by Women Farmers One overarching constraint that can impinge on women farmers’ productivity is a lack of time. The burden of childcare and housework that disproportionately falls on women can translate into fewer and potentially less productive working hours. Interventions such as providing childcare services and promoting men’s involvement in household duties can help women dedicate more time to the farm. A recent evaluation of an early childhood development program in rural Mozambique demonstrated that preschools allowed caregivers (primarily mothers) to save 15 hours of childcare duties per week, which resulted in higher labor force participation for the caregivers.30 Similarly, evidence from an intervention implemented in Eastern DRC, i.e. a 16-week gender-sensitization training among men, indicates that women’s time constraints can be alleviated by encouraging men to increase their share of housework. The training led to a significant increase in time spent by men doing housework (cleaning and cooking) as well as childcare. Back to Basics and Beyond: Budgeting with a Gender Lens Finally, apart from the aforementioned policy solutions, gender gaps in agricultural productivity can be reduced by adopting a more gender equitable approach towards budgeting. Embedding an explicit gender lens from the nascent stages of budget allocation and expenditure review processes can help identify and address gaps in spending targeted—directly or indirectly—towards women farmers. To this end, in an upcoming technical note, we will estimate the gender-incidence of public spending in the agriculture sector in Nigeria using financial data shared by the FMARD and household survey data from the Nigeria General Household Survey (GHS). This additional analysis aims to shed light on how adopting a more gender-equitable approach to budgeting can help close the aforementioned gender gaps in the agriculture sector in Nigeria. Policy Solutions to Close Gender Gaps in the Agriculture Sector in Nigeria 7 Endnotes 1  Palacios-Lopez, A., L. Christiaensen, and T. Kilic. 2017. “How Much of the Labor in 18 ICT in Agriculture (Updated Edition): Connecting Smallholders to Knowledge, African Agriculture Is Provided by Women?” Food Policy 67: 52-63. Networks, and Institutions. June 2017, 71-96. 2  Slavchevska, Vanya, Ana Paula De La O Campos, Chiara Brunelli, and Cheryl 19 Ogunniyi, Adebayo, Olagunju Kehinde Oluseyi, Ogundipe Adeyemi, Salman K. Doss. 2016. “Beyond Ownership: Women’s and Men’s Land Rights in Sub-Saharan Kabir and Francis Philips. 2017. “Scaling up Agricultural Innovation for Inclusive Africa.” Working Paper, Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, Livelihood and Productivity Outcomes in Sub-Saharan Africa.” Africa Development Rome. Review 29(52): 121-134. 3  World Bank. 2022. Closing Gaps, Increasing Opportunities: A Diagnostic on 20 L. Beaman, D. Karlan, B. Thuysbaert and C. Udry. 2013. “Profitability of Fertilizer: Women’s Economic Empowerment in Nigeria (forthcoming). Experimental Evidence from Female Rice Farmers in Mali.” American Economic 4 Ibid Review 103(25): 381-86. 5  To cost the gender gap in agricultural productivity, the research team at NiGIL 21 Agboh-Noameshie, A. R., F. M. Kinkingninhoun-Medagbe, and A. Diagne. 2007. calculated the total agricultural output that would be obtained in the absence of “Gendered impact of NERICA adoption on farmers’ production and income the gap, that is, if women produced as much per hectare as men do. This figure in Central Benin.” In 2nd Conference of the African Association of Agricultural was then extrapolated at the macroeconomic level using available figures on total Economists, Accra, Ghana. arable land in Nigeria, the share of crop production in the national agricultural GDP, 22 Buehren, N., S. Chowdhury, M. Sulaiman, and S. Papineni. 2022 (forthcoming). and the share of agriculture in total GDP, to come up with an estimate of forgone “Growing, Eating, and Selling Orange-Fleshed Sweet Potatoes: Impact and earnings due to the gap. Lastly, we apply a GDP multiplier to that figure to account Spillovers of Nutrition-Sensitive Agricultural Programs to Women Farmers in for the existence of multiplier effect between sectors of the economy and estimate Uganda.” the total cost in GDP due to the gap. 23 Buehren, Niklas. 2019. “Gender & Agriculture in Sub-Saharan Africa: Review of 6  Doss, C. R. 2001. “Designing agricultural technology for African women farmers: Constraints and Effective Interventions” Africa Gender Innovation Lab, World Bank, Lessons from 25 years of experience.” World development 29(12): 2075-2092. Washington, D.C. 7 Ibid 24 Ambler, Kate, Kelly M. Jones, and Michael O’Sullivan. 2018. “What Is the Role of 8 Ibid Men in Connecting Women to Cash Crop Markets? Evidence from Uganda.” IFPRI 9 Op.cit. Discussion Paper 1762, International Food Policy Research Institute, Washington, 10 Buehren, Niklas. 2019. “Gender and Agriculture in Sub-Saharan Africa: Review of DC. Constraints and Effective Interventions.” Africa Gender Innovation Lab, World Bank, 25 Montalvao, Joao, Michael Frese, Markus Goldstein, and Talip Kilic. 2017. “Soft Washington, DC. Skills for Hard Constraints: Evidence from High-Achieving Female Farmers.” 11 Montalvao, Joao, Michael Frese, Markus Goldstein, and Talip Kilic. 2017. “Soft Policy Research Working Papers, World Bank, Washington, DC. https://doi. Skills for Hard Constraints: Evidence from High-Achieving Female Farmers.” org/10.1596/1813-9450-8095. Policy Research Working Paper 8095, World Bank, Washington, DC. https://doi. 26 O’Sullivan, M., A. Rao, R. Banerjee, K. Gulati, and M. Vinez. 2014. Levelling org/10.1596/1813-9450-8095. the field : improving opportunities for women farmers in Africa. World Bank, 12 Kondylis, Florence, Valerie Mueller, and Jessica Zhu. 2017. “Seeing Is Believing? Washington, DC. Evidence from an Extension Network Experiment.” Journal of Development 27 Daidone, Silvio, Benjamin Davis, Joshua Dewbre, Mario González-Flores, D C Usa, Economics 125 (C): 1–20. Sudhanshu Handa, David Seidenfeld, and Gelson Tembo. 2014. Zambia’s Child 13 Donald, A., M. Goldstein, and L. Rouanet. 2022 (forthcoming). Grant Programme: 24- Month Impact Report on Productive Activities and Labour 14 World Bank. 2022 (forthcoming). “The Impacts of Combining Agricultural Extension Allocation. Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, Rome. with Personal Initiative Training: Evidence from an Experiment with Women Farmers 28 Beaman, L., D. Karlan, B. Thuysbaert and C. Udry. 2013. “Profitability of Fertilizer: in Mozambique.” Experimental Evidence from Female Rice Farmers in Mali.” American Economic 15 Vasilaky and Leonard. 2018. “As Good as the Networks They Keep?” Economic Review 103(25): 381-86. Development and Cultural Change 66(4). 29 UN Women, UNDP, UNEP, and the World Bank Group. The cost of the gender 16 Lecoutere, Els, David J. Spielman, and Bjorn Van Campenhout. 2019. gap in agricultural productivity in Malawi, Tanzania, and Uganda. World Bank, “Empowering women with digital extension in Uganda: Effects of information and Washington, DC. role models.” 6th African Conference of Agricultural Economists, September 23-26, 30 Martinez, S., S. Naudeau, and V. Pereira. 2012. “The Promise of Preschool in 2019, Abuja, Nigeria. Africa: A Randomized Impact Evaluation of Early Childhood Development in Rural 17 Aker, C.,and C. Ksoll. 2016. “Can mobile phones improve agricultural outcomes? Mozambique,” The World Bank and Save the Children, Washington, DC. Evidence from a randomized experiment in Niger,” Food Policy 60(C): 44-51 This work has been funded in part by the Umbrella Facility for Gender Equality (UFGE), which is a multi-donor trust fund administered by the World Bank to advance gender equality and women’s empowerment through experimentation and knowledge creation to help governments and the private sector focus policy and programs on scalable solutions with sustainable outcomes. The UFGE is supported with generous contributions from Australia, Canada, Denmark, Germany, Iceland, Latvia, the Netherlands, Norway, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, United Kingdom, United States, and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. 8 Policy Solutions to Close Gender Gaps in the Agriculture Sector in Nigeria