As part of the Brown Bag Lunch series, the International Economics Department at the Graduate Institute is pleased to invite you to a public talk given by Paula Gonzalet Martinez, PhD Student in Development Economics, who will present her paper and work, joint with Clara Delavallade and Markus Goldstein.

Plot labor composition and gender differentials in smallholders' agricultural productivity in Nigeria

by Clara Delavallade, Markus Goldstein and Paula Gonzalez Martinez

Abstract: 

Women's lower access to farm labor is one of the most important constraints contributing to the agricultural productivity gender gap across sub-Saharan Africa.  In this paper, we study the factors that explain labor’s contribution to the productivity gender gap in Nigeria. To do this, we collected high frequency data on individual labor contributions of 1250 smallholder farmers’ in Nigeria. Farmers, representative at the state level, were surveyed seven times across an entire annual cycle of agricultural activities at a level of detail that other data sources of the region are not able to provide so far. The analysis was conducted separately for the North and South. We find that women have lower access to labor and reap lower returns from manager and family labor but have a larger marginal product of hired labor. The level of detail of the data allows us to explore whether these differences come from challenges that women face in managing workers, the timing and quality of labor available to women, women’s time constraints, or other factors. Results suggest that the extent and nature of gender gaps in agricultural labor inputs differ along the agricultural production cycle.  When looking at differences in activities and time allocation we find that, controlled by the actual amount of labor women put on her plot, women’s household responsibilities and off-farm work has a significant impact on agricultural productivity. In addition, interruptions throughout the day directly affect women’s agricultural productivity, and the magnitude of the effect rests on three factors: the type, the complexity, and the timing of the interruption.