Agricultural Censuses and Gender

Agricultural Censuses and Gender

Lessons learned in Africa

Year of publication 2005

Product type Book (stand-alone)

Edition 1

Synopsis (short abstract) This document highlights lessons learned in Africa with regard to the integration of gender concerns into agricultural censuses and provides recommendations on how to further improve the integration of these concerns into agricultural data collection systems. Past policies for agricultural development often focused on production grow th w hile overlooking the importance of human resources, as well as the social and w elfare aspects of agricultural development. By the late 1980s this st arted changing as more evidence became available of the importance of human capital to sustainable agricultural development. Moreover, users and producers of agricultural statistics increasingly noted that agricultural statistics all too often did not reflect the actual roles and responsibilities of women in agricultural production. This led to a first increase in demand for the production of accurate and up-to-date socio-economic and gender-disaggregated data through agricultural cens uses and surveys for the planning, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of agricultural development policies and programmes geared tow ards the sustainable development of the agricultural sector.