TY - JOUR
T1 - Is there such a thing as sustainable agricultural intensification in smallholder-based farming in sub-Saharan Africa? Understanding yield differences in relation to gender in Malawi, Tanzania and Zambia
AU - Andersson Djurfeldt, Agnes
AU - Djurfeldt, Göran
AU - Hillbom, Ellen
AU - Isinika, Aida C.
AU - Joshua, Miriam Dalitso Kalanda
AU - Kaleng’a, Wisdom Chilwizhi
AU - Kalindi, Audrey
AU - Msuya, Elibariki
AU - Mulwafu, Wapulumuka
AU - Wamulume, Mukata
PY - 2019
Y1 - 2019
N2 - Smallholder-based, sustainable, agricultural intensification is increasingly put forth as a development pathway that is necessary to improve farmer's livelihoods, enhance productivity and engender a surplus that can be used to feed growing urban areas across sub-Saharan Africa. The following article examines trends in yields for Africa's largest staple crop – maize – among smallholder farmers in six regions in Malawi, Tanzania and Zambia, using longitudinal quantitative data collected in 2008, 2013 and 2017 in combination with qualitative data from nine villages. Substantial increases in yields are found only in Zambia, while yields are largely stagnant in Malawi and Tanzania. In the case of Zambia, however, there is a persistent gender-based yield gap. We use the qualitative data to explain this gap and find that gender-based differences in yields need to be understood in relation to local production systems, as well as the varied positionality of women, where the biases facing women who head their own households are different than for women living in male headed households. In policy terms, technologies that can promote intensification are different depending on these factors, even within the local context of particular farming systems.
AB - Smallholder-based, sustainable, agricultural intensification is increasingly put forth as a development pathway that is necessary to improve farmer's livelihoods, enhance productivity and engender a surplus that can be used to feed growing urban areas across sub-Saharan Africa. The following article examines trends in yields for Africa's largest staple crop – maize – among smallholder farmers in six regions in Malawi, Tanzania and Zambia, using longitudinal quantitative data collected in 2008, 2013 and 2017 in combination with qualitative data from nine villages. Substantial increases in yields are found only in Zambia, while yields are largely stagnant in Malawi and Tanzania. In the case of Zambia, however, there is a persistent gender-based yield gap. We use the qualitative data to explain this gap and find that gender-based differences in yields need to be understood in relation to local production systems, as well as the varied positionality of women, where the biases facing women who head their own households are different than for women living in male headed households. In policy terms, technologies that can promote intensification are different depending on these factors, even within the local context of particular farming systems.
KW - agriculture
KW - gender
KW - smallholders
KW - Sub-Saharan Africa
U2 - 10.1080/21665095.2019.1593048
DO - 10.1080/21665095.2019.1593048
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85063874697
SN - 2166-5095
VL - 6
SP - 62
EP - 75
JO - Development Studies Research
JF - Development Studies Research
IS - 1
ER -