Premium
NERICA Upland Rice: Seeds of Change for Female‐Headed Households in U ganda?
Author(s) -
Lodin Johanna Bergman,
Paulson Susan,
Jirström Magnus
Publication year - 2014
Publication title -
culture, agriculture, food and environment
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.308
H-Index - 12
eISSN - 2153-9561
pISSN - 2153-9553
DOI - 10.1111/cuag.12040
Subject(s) - productivity , cash crop , production (economics) , agricultural science , crop , agricultural economics , business , upland rice , agriculture , economics , geography , biology , economic growth , oryza sativa , forestry , biochemistry , macroeconomics , archaeology , gene
Recognizing that the adoption of new agricultural technology has different effects on different types of households and social actors, this study examines how female‐headed households growing New Rice for Africa ( NERICA ) upland rice in H oima D istrict, U ganda, compare with male‐headed NERICA grower households with respect to the production, productivity, and marketing of the crop. We show that NERICA has become an important cash income earner for both household categories, which obtain similar levels of productivity, and identify factors that seem to have helped make it accessible to female‐headed households: the perception of rice not solely as a commercial crop but also a food crop, a ready local market, and good performance without agro‐chemical inputs. In spite of evidence that female‐headed households are constrained by inferior access to land and by lower de facto sales price, we argue that NERICA provides opportunities for these households that may contribute toward more equitable production, productivity, and marketing conditions between female‐ and male‐headed households.