Gender, generation and cereal crop intensification in Mali

Melinda Smale (), Alpha O. Kergna, Véronique Thériault (), Amidou Assima and Naman Keita

No 235544, 2016 Annual Meeting, July 31-August 2, Boston, Massachusetts from Agricultural and Applied Economics Association

Abstract: In Mali, stagnating yields of dryland cereals—excepting maize—are often attributed to limited use of fertilizer and declining land quality. In the Sudanian Savanna of Mali, as elsewhere in the West African Sahel, dryland cereals are grown on fields managed collectively and individually by extended families that span multiple generations and several households, headed by a responsible elder. The roles of women and youth in farm production are changing. We contribute to the empirical literature on agricultural intensification in this region by exploring intra-household differences in fertilizer use. We test differences by: 1) plot management type (collective, individual); 2) gender of plot manager given plot management type; and 3) and plot manager status in the family (youth, relationship to head). We compare findings between major cereal crops (maize, sorghum). Fertilizer use is greater on individually managed plots, which is explained primarily by use on sorghum fields allocated to women, which are very small, frequently intercropped with groundnuts, and serve as “food security” reserves. Use rates in maize production are lower on individual plots managed by men who are not household heads. Further, use is lower on plots managed by youth under 25 years of age (specifically, maize plots) and sons (in particular, sorghum plots). On sorghum plots, wives of the head have higher intensity of fertilizer use on sorghum plots than other managers. Findings have implications for the design of extension programs to support inclusion of women and younger generations in the intensification of dryland cereals production.

Keywords: Agricultural and Food Policy; Farm Management; International Development (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 38
Date: 2016
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-agr and nep-dev
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://ageconsearch.umn.edu/record/235544/files/G ... l.%20AAEA%202016.pdf (application/pdf)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:ags:aaea16:235544

DOI: 10.22004/ag.econ.235544

Access Statistics for this paper

More papers in 2016 Annual Meeting, July 31-August 2, Boston, Massachusetts from Agricultural and Applied Economics Association Contact information at EDIRC.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by AgEcon Search ().