Women and Crop Production Technologies

Abstract

There is a dearth of knowledge on the employment effect of modern agricultural technology on rural women in Bangladesh. The present study provides a systematic estimate of women’s participation in crop production activities and examines their influence in the diffusion of modern technology and their participation in hired labor market. Farm-level input-output data of fourteen crop groups is taken from two intensive surveys, crop years 1989 and 1996, respectively, in three agro-ecological regions of Bangladesh. Findings suggest that the prevailing claim that women are involved only in post harvest processing of crop production is an underestimation of women’s contribution to agricultural production. Women’s share of total labor requirements is between 10 - 18 percent in foodgrain production and between 6 – 48 percent in non-cereal crop (lowest for jute and highest for vegetables) production. Increased demand for labor owing to technological change was almost entirely met by hiring male labor, revealing that women were deprived from reaping full benefits from modern agricultural technology. The few women, who were hired, were paid significantly lower wages; revealing unequal opportunities and a lack of bargaining power for women in the hired labor market. Analysis of modern technology adoption behavior revealed a significant negative association between working women family members and modern variety adoption rate, implying a lack of participation of women in technology adoption decisions. Analysis of determinants of labor demand revealed negative association of working women family members with labor demand, implying that increased demand for total labor is substituted from female family labor thereby increasing their workload. A decentralized crop diversification policy toward non-cereal crop production would promote women’s gainful employment. Also, a policy of equal minimum wage for men and women is urgently needed. Moreover, building up of human capital by providing gender sensitive educational programs facilitated through a collaborative effort between government and NGOs could be a positive step toward achieving the goal of balanced development in the long run.