Steered Away from the Fields
Mechanization has the potential to boost agricultural production and reduce poverty in rural economies, but its impacts remain poorly understood. This paper randomizes the subsidized provision of a pair of traction oxen among 2,546 farmers in Côte d’Ivoire through a matching grant. The analysis finds positive impacts on households’ agricultural production during the agricultural season overlapping with oxen delivery, and additional increases in total land holdings and use of complementary inputs in the subsequent season. The intervention affected household members in different ways, with wives and daughters substantially reducing their work on the farm—especially in districts with more stringent gender norms around handling oxen. In these districts, introducing traction oxen resulted in women shifting to off-farm work. The intervention also improved girls’ health and reduced school dropout among boys. The results provide novel evidence on the human development effects of mechanization, while highlighting how social prescriptions mediate the impacts of technology within the household.
| Main Authors: | , , |
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| Format: | Working Paper biblioteca |
| Language: | English English |
| Published: |
World Bank, Washington, DC
2023-07-13
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| Subjects: | AFRICA GENDER POLICY, GENDER INNOVATION LAB, WOMEN AND AGRICULTURE, WOMEN AND SOCIAL NORMS, MECHANIZATON, AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTIVITY, LABOR, SOCIAL NORMS, OXEN IN AGRICULTURE, |
| Online Access: | http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/099725506302311439/IDU056ffb6770576f04f5d080090e8115034cb36 https://openknowledge.worldbank.org/handle/10986/39997 |
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