Strengthening women’s empowerment for better agricultural outcomes: qualitative and quantitative evidence from India and Guatemala

Abstract

This session brings together three papers using both qualitative and quantitative methods under the Applying New Evidence for Women’s Empowerment (ANEW) project, led by the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) and supported by the Walmart Foundation. Each of the agriculture development projects under ANEW aimed to improve agricultural outcomes, household economic well-being and women’s empowerment through interventions delivered through farmer collectives, like farmer producer organizations (FPOs). In this session, we present evidence from two of the four projects in India and Guatemala on the link between women’s empowerment and agricultural outcomes, and the role that FPO membership and other factors play in moderating that relationship. The first paper uses household-level data on close to 800 households and OLS regressions to establish the association between economic outcomes of interest and measures of women’s empowerment in the context of high-value agricultural value chains in Guatemala. The authors then assess how hypothesized moderating factors reinforce or dampen the overall association. The second paper uses data from 1200 households in one state in India to assess the role that FPOs play in enhancing women’s empowerment and improving their agronomic practices, agricultural yields and revenues, using difference-in-difference models with matching. Finally, the third paper draws on key informant interviews and focus group discussions with respondents in India to examine constraints on and facilitators of women’s and men’s participation in FPOs, and the perception of benefits these collectives provide. Our insights are of relevance to collective-based agricultural development projects that aim to target women.