André Croppenstedt

Technology Adoption in the Presence of Constraints: The Case of Fertilizer Demand in Ethiopia

Using a nationally representative dataset, and information on why farmers did not purchase fertilizer, the authors estimate a double-hurdle fertilizer adoption model for Ethiopia. Access is an overriding constraint in four zones. Credit is shown to be a major supply-side constraint, suggesting that household cash resources are generally insufficient to cover fertilizer purchases. On the demand side, household size, formal education of the farmer, and the value-to-cost ratio have the largest impact on adoption and intensity of fertilizer use. The results underline the importance of increasing the availability of credit, developing labor markets, and reducing the procurement, marketing and distribution costs of fertilizer. The authors conclude that current large-scale transport, health, and education investment programs will positively impact smallholder productivity and household welfare. The price sensitivity of farmers suggests that an urea subsidy could be useful in redressing the nutrient imbalance currently observed in Ethiopia.

The Impact of Farmers' Health and Nutritional Status on Their Productivity and Efficiency: Evidence from Ethiopia

This article focuses on the link between agricultural productivity and health and nutrition status of peasants in Ethiopia. The data come from the first round of the Ethiopian Rural Household Survey conducted in 1994. The sites selected were those in which farmers practice ox-plow cultivation of cereals. A stochastic frontier approach was adopted for the agricultural production. The findings of the study show that the distance to the source of water as well as nutrition and morbidity status affect agricultural productivity. The market wage rate is also very responsive to the weight-for-height as well as the body-mass index and height. In a context where separability between consumption and production decisions of the household is rejected elasticities of labor productivity with respect to nutritional status are noted to be strong and similar in technology estimates and wage equations. Moreover returns to investment in nutrition are clearly high in the Ethiopian context. Overall the results indicate substantial loss in output due to technical inefficiency even after accounting for the health and nutrition of workers.

Closing the Knowledge Gap on Gender in Agriculture

This introductory chapter provides an overview of the book, Gender in Agriculture: Closing the Knowledge Gap. The book grew out of collaborative work done for Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) flagship report, The State of Food and Agriculture 2010–11, Women in agriculture: Closing the gender gap for development, highlighting the important and varied roles of women in agriculture, their unequal access to productive resources and opportunities relative to men, and the gains that could be achieved by closing the gender gap in agriculture. This book provides a more thorough treatment of the conceptual and empirical basis of the FAO report, and fills a niche in the literature for a standard reference for the analysis of gender issues in agriculture. This chapter defines basic concepts related to sex and gender and discusses changes in the way gender issues have been conceptualized in agriculture from the work of Ester Boserup, to the Women in Development (WID) and Gender and Development (GAD) debate, to current approaches that recognize the importance of both women and men and the interplay between the two in agriculture. It traces how gender issues have been addressed institutionally and discusses shifting paradigms in the economic analysis of the household, including how demographic processes surrounding household formation and dissolution, gender differences across the life cycle, and migration have implications for the gender gap in agriculture. It then provides a summary of each of the chapters, suggests areas for future research, and explores implications for development policy and practice.

Gender in Agriculture

PART I: Closing the Knowledge Gap on Gender in Agriculture 1. Closing the Knowledge Gap on Gender in Agriculture PART II: Data and Methods for Gender Analysis in Agriculture 2. Understanding Gender and Culture in Agriculture: The Role of Qualitative and Quantitative Approaches 3. Data Needs for Gender Analysis in Agriculture 4. If Women Hold Up Half the Sky, How Much of the Worlds Food Do They Produce? PART III: Gender, Assets, and Inputs: Issues at the Farm and Household Levels 5. The Gender Asset Gap and Its Implications for Agricultural and Rural Development 6. Gender Equity and Land: Toward Secure and Effective Access for Rural Women 7. A Review of Empirical Evidence on Gender Differences in Nonland Agricultural Inputs, Technology, and Services in Developing Countries 8. Rural Womens Access to Financial Services: Credit, Savings, and Insurance 9. Livestock and Womens Livelihoods: A Review of the Recent Evidence 10. Gender and Social Capital for Agricultural Development 11. Gender Implications of Poor Nutrition and Health in Agricultural Households PART IV: Gender and Markets: Moving beyond the Farm 12. Promoting Gender-Equitable Agricultural Value Chains: Issues, Opportunities, and Next Steps 13. Mainstreaming Gender Sensitivity in Cash Crop Market Supply Chains 14. Gender Inequalities in Rural Labor Markets PART V: Toward a Gender-Sensitive Agricultural Research, Development, and Extension System 15. A System That Delivers: Integrating Gender into Agricultural Research, Development, and Extension 16. Enhancing Female Participation in Agricultural Research and Development: Rationale and Evidence 17. Improving Gender Responsiveness of Agricultural Extension Index

Measuring wage discrimination in Italy: a random-coefficient approach

Using data from a representative 1989 household survey for Italy we estimate random-coefficient earnings frontiers by gender, marital status and location. These estimates are used to calculate discrimination indices. Our results show that fixed coefficients can be rejected in all cases. A wide range on the estimated coefficients indicates a high degree of variation in the quality of the observed human-capital variables as well as different degrees of ability as perceived by the employer. We find reverse discrimination for single females in the South and the North. For married females there is evidence of discrimination, particularly in the South. We isolate the effects of tenure and education on discrimination and find that these reduce discrimination for Southern-married females.