Estimating and Decomposing Groundnut Gender Yield Gap: Evidence from Rural Farming Households in Northern Nigeria

Poverty among smallholder farmers in sub-Saharan Africa has been associated with low agricultural productivity emanating from gender yield gaps among other factors. Using data collected from smallholder groundnut producers in Nigeria, we analyzed the gender yield gap by applying the exogenous switch...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Geoffrey Muricho, Jourdain Lokossou, Hippolyte Affognon, Benjamin Ahmed, Haile Desmae, Hakeem Ajeigbe, Michael Vabi, Jummai Yila, Essegbemon Akpo, Christopher Ojiewo
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: MDPI AG 2020-10-01
Series:Sustainability
Subjects:
Online Access:https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/12/21/8923
Description
Summary:Poverty among smallholder farmers in sub-Saharan Africa has been associated with low agricultural productivity emanating from gender yield gaps among other factors. Using data collected from smallholder groundnut producers in Nigeria, we analyzed the gender yield gap by applying the exogenous switching regression (ESR) model and Oaxaca–Blinder (OB) decomposition framework. Results from the two complementary approaches showed a significant gender yield gap in favor of male headed households (MHHs). The main and significant source of the gap was differences in resources/endowments. We found that involving female headed households (FHHs) in prerequisite yield augmenting activities like technology validation trials, testing, and demonstrations is critical in closing the existing yield gap.
ISSN:2071-1050