Kuhn, Michaela; Tennhardt, Lina and Lazzarini, Gianna (2023) Gender Inequality in the Cocoa Supply Chain: Evidence from Smallholder Production in Ecuador and Uganda. World Development Sustainability, 2 (100034), pp. 1-12.
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Document available online at: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2772655X22000337
Summary
Most cocoa is grown by smallholder farmers whose livelihoods depend largely on the income from cocoa. Today, cocoa production must increasingly comply with social and environmental requirements as the worldwide demand for sustainably produced cocoa is growing steadily. There is, however, insufficient information available on whether the sourced cocoa is produced under gender-equitable conditions. We address this by examining two cocoa supply chains using our own sex-disaggregated survey data from producing communities in Ecuador and Uganda that supply the Swiss market, using descriptive and inferential statistics. Our results show that women in Uganda were highly involved in cocoa production on both male and female managed farms, but their decision-making power was limited to female managed farms. In Ecuador, women were moderately engaged in decision-making yet participated less in cocoa production. Our log-linear regression analyses for both cases showed substantial differences in annual cocoa revenues of farms managed by women compared to those managed by men. Several socio-economic and agronomic factors for which women face structural inequalities largely explain the revenue gap, such as poorer access to productive resources. Indeed, our findings suggest that cocoa production is characterised by high levels of gender inequality, suggesting that private and public sustainability efforts do not sufficiently address gender discrimination. These findings can help design interventions for more gender-equitable rural development that address the complexity of disadvantages in the local context. Offering gender-specific trainings within private programs and promoting women's access to credit by the public sector represent first steps towards gender equality.
EPrint Type: | Journal paper |
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Keywords: | Gender Roles, Food Systems, Revenue, Sustainable Supply Chains, Decision-Making, Women’s Empowerment, Abacus, FiBL35152 |
Agrovoc keywords: | Language Value URI English food systems http://aims.fao.org/aos/agrovoc/c_bea5db85 English supply chains http://aims.fao.org/aos/agrovoc/c_9fbe9719 English sustainability http://aims.fao.org/aos/agrovoc/c_33560 English gender http://aims.fao.org/aos/agrovoc/c_34835 English cacao (plant) -> Theobroma cacao http://aims.fao.org/aos/agrovoc/c_7713 English global value chains http://aims.fao.org/aos/agrovoc/c_83dece6d |
Subjects: | Food systems > Community development Farming Systems > Social aspects Food systems > Produce chain management |
Research affiliation: | Belgium > Other Organizations Belgium Switzerland > FiBL - Research Institute of Organic Agriculture Switzerland > International > Regions > Africa Switzerland > FiBL - Research Institute of Organic Agriculture Switzerland > Crops > Special crops > Cocoa Switzerland > FiBL - Research Institute of Organic Agriculture Switzerland > Society > Regional added value Switzerland > FiBL - Research Institute of Organic Agriculture Switzerland > Society > Rural sociology |
DOI: | 10.1016/j.wds.2022.100034 |
Related Links: | https://www.fibl.org/en/themes/projectdatabase/projectitem/project/1478/ |
Deposited By: | Forschungsinstitut für biologischen Landbau, FiBL |
ID Code: | 51825 |
Deposited On: | 17 Oct 2023 13:02 |
Last Modified: | 18 Oct 2023 13:05 |
Document Language: | English |
Status: | Published |
Refereed: | Peer-reviewed and accepted |
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