Tropentag 2021, September 15 - 17, hybrid conference, Germany "Towards shifting paradigms in agriculture for a healthy and sustainable future"

Gender Differences in Access to Information and Adoption of Climate-smart Agriculture Practices in Uganda

¹University of Hohenheim, Inst. of Agric. Sci. in the Tropics (Hans-Ruthenberg-Institute), Germany
²International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI), Uganda
³International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI), United States

Abstract

Agriculture in developing countries is facing the twin challenges of climate change while there is still the need to increasing yields and thereby contributing to farmers’ incomes. Climate-smart agriculture (CSA) practices offer farmers the means to increase productivity and profitability, adapt to the negative effects of climate change, and mitigate greenhouse gasses. One enabling factor for the adoption of CSA practices that has been mentioned is access to agricultural and climate information. Adoption of CSA practices is still low. Women often face greater constraints in accessing information, which has led to lower adoption of climate-smart practices, relative to men. Therefore, women often have less access to information than men on a range of productivity-enhancing technologies and practices, which obviously limits their participation in household decision-making on agricultural production. Due to less access to information, and different roles in agriculture, women are less aware of climate-smart agriculture practices. This paper discusses the types of agricultural and climate information and extension services that Ugandan farmers access, and then examines the gendered differences in the level of awareness and adoption of climate-smart agricultural practices using intrahousehold survey data from 720 households collected in 2020. It examines the determinants of awareness and adoption, focusing on the extent to which indicators of women’s empowerment influence access to information, awareness, and adoption of climate-smart agricultural practices. Due to selection bias, we will run a Heckman model results on awareness and adoption. Sub-indicators and aggregate measures from the abbreviated Women’s Empowerment in Agriculture Index (A-WEAI) are used to measure empowerment. The expected results could be useful for increasing smallholder women farmers’ access to information and adoption of climate-smart practices in the Ugandan context.

Keywords: Adoption, climate-smart agriculture, empowerment, information

Contact Address: Rashid Khan, University of Hohenheim, Inst. of Agric. Sci. in the Tropics (Hans-Ruthenberg-Institute), 70593 Stuttgart, Germany, e-mail: rkhan.pgmail.com