Year of publication 2008

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Product type Book (stand-alone)

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Edition 1

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Synopsis (short abstract) The study was conducted in Burkina Faso, Senegal, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe. A qualitative research technique, known as Focus Group Discussions (FGDs), was used in a series of sessions with some 1 500 women and men farmers. These discussions were complemented by 52 interviews with key informants in the government, non-government and commercial sectors. The research took place in areas of relatively poor agriculture where women are assuming an ever-increasing role in farm work, main ly because the men migrate to towns and cities in search of work. The poor socio-economic status of women in rural Africa impinges strongly on the production tools and implements they use. Women’s direct access to cash from work on the family holding is usually minimal because, traditionally, men control most of the cash crop revenues. Credit is virtually unavailable to women. Indeed, it is rarely available to any small farmer – man or woman – in the countries covered by the study, a lthough Senegal is about to relaunch credit schemes. However, for women farmers, the situation is even more difficult because land and cultivation rights are ascribed almost exclusively to men, and women can thus offer no collateral for loans. Furthermore, usually they are too burdened with farm and family chores to be able to spend time on the bureaucratic process of obtaining credit. And, finally, their literacy and numeracy skills are often lower than those of the men, which adds to their difficulties.

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Language English

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