Gender and agricultural productivity: Econometric evidence from Malawi, Tanzania, and Uganda

Agricultural productivity gaps between men and women have been widely documented in many sub-Saharan African countries. Fundamentally, though, we contend that women have the same inherent intellectual (and thus farm management) capabilities as men but are inhibited by local conditions that put them at a disadvantage. We, therefore, hypothesize that by controlling for observed socio-economic, geographic, and agro-ecological characteristics, gender related farm productivity gaps would fade. Drawing on the Living Standards Measurement Study–Integrated Surveys on Agriculture for Malawi, Tanzania, and Uganda, we first match on observables to select comparable plots managed by male and female farmers, then estimate correlated true random effects stochastic production frontiers, followed by a meta-frontier to examine total factor productivity (TFP) and benchmarked technical efficiency. At the core of our approach is controlling for systematic observed and unobserved heterogeneity that could bias the comparative analysis. Results are mixed, but they tend to support our hypothesis. In Malawi, where we find market imperfections favor female farmers, women are more efficient than are male farmers and they exhibit TFP performance parity. In contrast, Tanzanian and Ugandan labor market imperfections favor male farmers, as do efficiency and TFP performance estimates.