Gender, Forms of Land Ownership and Agriculture Value Chain Participation: Empirical Insights from Smallholder Farmers in Cote d’Ivoire and Nigeria

Abstract

In Africa, disparities in land ownership often manifest along gender lines, disadvantaging women in access to agricultural resources, including land, which in turn leads to lower productivity and limited participation in the agricultural value chain. While previous research has focused on gender gaps in agricultural productivity, there has been a neglect of gender differences in agricultural value chain participation. This study investigates the effect of gender on agricultural value chain participation and the mediating role of land ownership. The study used micro-level cross-sectional data on smallholder farmers for the two countries –i.e., Cote d’Ivoire and Nigeria, and employed the logistic regression for the data analysis. The study measures farmers’ participation in the Agricultural Value Chain (AVC) using variables such as contract farming, obtaining current market prices for crops/livestock, and challenges in reaching customers. The findings highlight that females are less likely to participate in the Agricultural Value Chain and the effect is fully mediated by differences in nature of land ownership.