Women's access to land and its effect on their agricultural productivity a case study of Monze district, Zambia

Abstract

In view of the emphasis given to improving women's agricultural production in the Fourth National Development Plan of Zambia, the main objective of the study was to determine whether women's agricultural productivity is affected by the amount of land they have access to and the type of tenure security they exercise over it. The other major objective was to find out whether the amount of land women have access to differs according to their marital status or gender of head of household. other objectives were to establish the relationship between women's involvement in cash crop production and the amount of land they have access to and whether their marital status had any effect on their productivity. Research work was carried out in Monze District of the Southern Province, Zambia. A sample of 100 women were interviewed about their access to land and their tenure security, their agricultural production, access to extension, level of education and decision making power. The analysis involved calculations of percentages, means of subsamples and regression coefficients. The findings reveal that different types of women have access to different amounts of land and that their agricultural productivity also differs. Married women were found to have access to the least amount of land (2.15ha) while widows had access to the highest amount of land (4.85ha). On the other hand, married women were shown to have the highest agricultural productivity (K6298/ha) and widows the lowest (K4891/ha). The study has therefore concluded that the poor VI productivity of widows and other women in female headed households is not caused by their having access to less land but by other factors like the level of input use and availability of family labour. It was also concluded that it is the limited amount of land accessible to married women which constrains their total production. The findings in the study reveal that decision making power is also important in increasing women's productivity. The study could not, however, show any relationship between women's land tenure security and their productivity. Findings in the study showed that women involved in cash crop production have access to more land (4.34ha) compared to women not involved in cash crop production (l.78ha). The study has not shown that women in customary land are better-off in terms of access to land compared to women in other land tenure systems. It, however, revealed that older women, women in smaller households and those in households with larger land areas have access to more land. In general, the study indicated that different types of women face different problems in their agricultural activities. Hence, in order to improve the productivity and total agricultural production for different types of women, their problems should be addressed by the relevant authorities differently.