Agricultural productivity in Burkina Faso: The role of gender andrisk attitudes

Mohammad Sepahvand ()

No 2019:3, Working Paper Series from Uppsala University, Department of Economics

Abstract: This study is an empirical investigation of how individual risk attitudes influence the agricultural productivity of men and women in a sub-Saharan African country, Burkina Faso. By analyzing a large representative panel survey of farmers from 2014 and 2015, the results indicate lower productivity on female-owned plots. Controlling for various socio-economic factors, the results show that as the female farmers’ increase risk taking, the productivity of female-owned plots goes down. These results are robust regarding alternative specifications. However, productivity differences vary by the type of crop cultivated, the agro-ecological zone, the share of female farmers in the region, the soil quality, type of seed used, and between consumption quantiles when comparing the poorest to the richest 20 per cent of the farm households. The results indicate that female farmers do not increase their plot yield by taking more risk. It is argued that agricultural policy interventions in Burkina Faso need to be gender sensitized when addressing issues related to credit constraints, improved inputs, and policies that support increase in productivity.

Keywords: risk attitudes; gender differences; agriculture; productivity; sub-Saharan Africa; Burkina Faso (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: D13 D81 J16 Q12 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 38 pages
Date: 2019-02-13
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-agr and nep-dev
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Related works:
Working Paper: Agricultural Productivity in Burkina Faso: The Role of Gender and Risk Attitudes (2022)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:hhs:uunewp:2019_003

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