Scandinavian Working Papers in Economics

EfD Discussion Paper,
Environment for Development, University of Gothenburg

No 22-3: Boosting Climate-Smart Smallholder Farm Strategies and Household Outcomes through Joint Decision-Making by Men and Women in Agrarian Households in Arid Namibia

Byela Tibesigwa (), Mintewab Bezabih () and Martine Visser ()
Additional contact information
Byela Tibesigwa: Mellben Research and Environment for Development Initiative, University of Dar es Salaam, Tanzania
Mintewab Bezabih: Ethiopian Development Research Institute, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
Martine Visser: University of Cape Town, Environmental-Economics Policy Research Unit, Cape Town, South Africa.

Abstract: In this uncertain era of climate change, any strategy that can increase farm yield in resource-poor, rain-fed, agriculture-dependent regions, like sub-Saharan Africa, should be explored. Our study takes place in Namibia, a typical sub-Saharan Africa country exhibiting dry and vulnerable characteristics. Our estimation strategy is robust to selection bias caused by unobserved systematic differences, and further validated by robustness tests to estimate the impact of joint decision-making on farm productivity and household outcomes. The results show that households where the head makes decisions with their partner, i.e., engages in joint decision-making: (i) adopt more climate-smart strategies, (ii) have higher yield, and (iii) have better household outcomes, in comparison to households with sole decision-making. From a policy perspective, our results show the importance of engaging both women and men in household decision-making as a way of increasing resilience to climate change. This goes far beyond the simple disaggregation of male- and female-headed households, which is the traditional approach to studying gender distinctions in livelihood activities.

Keywords: joint decision-making; smallholder farms; climate-smart agriculture; dryland Namibia

JEL-codes: D70; Q10

Language: English

29 pages, March 1, 2022

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