86184 Policy Brief Issue 7 | October 2013 Explaining Gender Differentials in Agricultural Production in Nigeria Gbemisola Oseni, Paul Corral, Markus Goldstein and Paul Winters Summary Nigeria presents a unique case study on differences in agricultural productivity between men and women. This study, which captures a comprehensive picture of agriculture across the nation, shows that female farmers produce 16 percent less per hectare than their male counterparts, when plot size, farmer characteristics, and inputs are taken into account. This gender gap is driven by the North East and Central zones located in the Northern region of the country, where female farmers are 28 percent less productive than male farmers. In this region, women, particularly those who are older, farm on smaller plots and have lower levels of key inputs, notably fertilizer and labor, which is a well-documented pattern in many African contexts. The Southern region, however, does not fit this established pattern. When controlling for key characteristics and factors of production, in the South no gender gap in productivity is observed, though female farmers would benefit from additional herbicide and female labor. The notably different patterns in these two regions of the same country provide ample space for further study. Thus, in order to decrease the country-wide gender gap in production, we recommend extending access to fertilizer, hired labor, and cash crops to women – particularly those in the North. INTRODUCTION Women represent the largest marginalized group in Sub- Saharan Africa. Differences in land tenure, access to inputs, skills, and time use all decrease female productivity, creating a gender gap in production and earnings. These patterns seem to hold at a national level in Nigeria, where women earn 60 cents for every dollar men earn (WDR 2012). Although they play a key role in agricultural production, women in Nigeria have relatively limited access to agricultural land and less access to inputs and extension services compared with men (Phillip et al. 2009). These constraints work to limit women’s productivity in the agriculture sector. are also active across the agriculture value chain, engaging in 1 production, processing, and sales. COUNTRY CONTEXT & DATA As agriculture employs about 60 percent of the working This policy brief, the second in a series of two, uses data from population and contributes roughly 40 percent to GDP (Nigeria the General Household Survey-Panel (GHS-Panel) conducted National Bureau of Statistics), these gender-specific challenges in 2010/11 by the Nigeria National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) in are particularly relevant in Nigeria. Nigerian agriculture is collaboration with the World Bank Living Standard typically characterized by small-scale, subsistence farming with Measurement Study (LSMS) team to capture a comprehensive little commercialization. Agriculture is more common in the picture of agriculture across the nation of Nigeria. It is more rural North with over 80 percent of households engaged representative at the national, zonal and rural/urban level and in the sector compared with about 50 percent of households in includes all six geopolitical zones in Nigeria, three of which are the more urban, oil-producing South. Although men dominate in the North (North East, North West and North Central) and the sector in Nigeria, 70 percent of female-headed households three of which are in the South (South East, South West and 1 These figures are from the GHS-Panel survey 2010/11 implemented by the NBS The World Bank Group | Africa Region Gender Practice Policy Brief: Issue 7 1 South South). The analysis focuses on 2,431 households labor from outside the household. Notably, there is no farming 4,240 plots over 100 square meters each. The study significant difference between male and female farmers in includes information on the manager of each specific plot access to extension services in the North. farmed rather than defaulting to the household head as the manager, as is common in many surveys. Overall, 15 percent In the South, some key distinctions emerge. Unlike the sample of plot managers in the study are female. in the North, after controlling for key factors we observe no significant differences in land size or per hectare use of non- Because of the paucity of female-managed plots in the North labor inputs when comparing male and female-managed plots. West and South West, this analysis excludes the western Key differences involve the use of labor, as female-managed geopolitical zones of the country. In addition, the analysis plots in the South access significantly fewer days of male shows key distinctions between patterns in the North and family labor, hired male labor, and hired female labor. South of the country, so the results are presented separately Moreover, unlike in the North, male managers in the South for each region. Henceforth, when referencing the “North” we have more access to extension services than their female mean the North East and North Central zones. When referring peers. to the “South” we mean the South East and South South zones. Productivity is measured as the monetary (Naira) value 2 of all crops grown on the plot under the manager’s purview. Differences in Male & Female Agricultural Productivity in Sub-Saharan Africa (percents) 40 25 26 28 17 19 21 4 7.7 0 Nigeria South Kenya Kenya Ghana Kenya Benin (Central) Malawi Ethiopia Nigeria North Nigeria (Osun) (Western) (subnat'l) (Western) (highlands) A GENDER GAP EMERGES NOT YOUR MOTHER’S FARM When accounting for the aforementioned differences including In Nigeria, male and female farmers operate under dramatically plot size, farmer characteristics, and use of inputs, women in different conditions, though these conditions vary by region. In Nigeria as a whole produce on average 16 percent less than the North, female-managed plots are, on average, 41 percent men per hectare. smaller than male-managed plots. In addition, male managers are more likely than female plot managers to use inputs such In the North, when controlling for all key factors such as land, as fertilizer, herbicide and pesticide on their plots. Female plot access to inputs, and labor we observe a much larger gender managers use more female household labor per hectare, gap compared with the country-wide average, with female though there is no significant difference between female and farmers producing 28 percent less than their male peers. male plot managers in the amount of male household labor used per hectare. However, women are more likely to hire male In the South, where men and women’s plot sizes and use of non-labor inputs are not significantly different, no gender gap in 2 The Naira value of harvest on each plot was calculated by multiplying the productivity exists. Thus, the patterns of differences between quantity of harvest in kilograms for each crop on the plot by the median sales value of the crop in each local government area (LGA) and aggregating to the male and female farmers in these two regions of the same plot level. In cases where we don’t have enough observations in the LGA, we use the value at the next geographical level, zone, state and country as needed. For country are markedly different. Even after observed factors are our main dependent variable, value of harvest per hectare, we divide the value of harvest by the GPS-reported plot size. controlled for in the North, women are less productive than The World Bank Group | Africa Region Gender Practice Policy Brief: Issue 7 2 Policy Brief Issue 7 | October 2013 men, while in the South they experience similar levels of face a particular disadvantage, the exact nature of which would productivity. Therefore, the national gender gap appears to be benefit from further research. driven entirely by productivity differences in the North. SOUTHERN NIGERIA UNDERSTANDING THE GAP: ENDOWMENTS & RETURNS In the South, unlike in the North, only the endowment effect To get a better understanding of this gender gap, we examine between men and women is significant. The differences in the results of an Oaxaca decomposition, which makes it amount of herbicide and hired female labor both serve to widen possible to delve deeper into how different factors contribute to the gap, while similarities in farm size and the number of adult the gender gap. While this technique is often used to explain females in the household contributes negatively to the gender wage differentials, applying it to agricultural productivity endowment effect, thereby reducing the gap. Men and women is a novel approach that has only been documented sparingly in the South appear to obtain similar returns to factors of 3 in scholarly literature on Africa. We can understand this production and if given similar levels of inputs, the gender gap decomposition as being made up of two portions: endowments diminishes. (the portion of the gap that is due to differences in levels of observed variables, such as labor, land, and education) and POLICY CONCLUSIONS returns (the unexplained portion of the gap which shows the In Northern Nigeria, female farmers produce yields that are return to each factor of production). significantly lower than those of their male counterparts. This gender gap in productivity is primarily driven by lower returns to NORTHERN NIGERIA factors of production for women, as well as lower levels of key In the North, both gaps in endowments and returns are inputs, notably fertilizer and labor. Extending access to significant, though the gender disparities are driven more by fertilizer, hired labor, and promoting cash crops for women in the differences in returns than by the observed characteristics the North would likely have a positive overall impact on of endowments. Gaps in endowments come from factors such Nigerian agricultural growth but may not close the gender gap. as men that are more likely to live in households with a larger Due to the differences in returns, even if women in the North household adult labor pool, have higher incidence of fertilizer were given the same level of inputs, some differences in use, and have more days of hired labor than female managers, productivity may still persist. all of which widen the gender gap. In addition to these differences, the factor that contributes most to the endowment In the South, however, when controlling for key characteristics 4 effect in the North is women’s smaller plot sizes , which mask and factors of production, no gender gap in productivity is the gender difference by reducing the overall endowment gap. observed. If women in the South are given the same level of inputs as men, the gender gap diminishes. Thus, in order to The returns to factors of productivity are lower for women in the increase productivity in the region, women would benefit from North and seem to be the main driver of gender differences in provision of additional inputs. the region. Female farmers tend to be older and are often widows. In comparison to other groups, these older women For questions and more information about the Africa Region’s gender program, please contact Katherine 3 Manchester at kmanchester@worldbank.org. The most notable recent example is from Kilic, T., Palacios-Lopez, A., & Goldstein, M. (2013). “Caught in a Productivity Trap: A Distributional Perspective The World Bank on Gender Differences in Malawian Agriculture”. Policy Research Working Paper, 1818 H St. NW 6381, The World Bank. 4 If not for the large diseconomies of scale in land size and with men cultivating Washington, DC 20433 USA land about twice the size of women’s, the gap between men and women will be much wider. The World Bank Group | Africa Region Gender Practice Policy Brief: Issue 7 3