Adoption of Hybrid maize in Zambia: effects on gender roles, food consumption, and nutrition

Enhanced agriculture productivity in sub-Saharan Africa is critical to promote economic growth and poverty alleviation and to avoid increasing food scarcities in the region. The impact of commercialization and intensification of agriculture on the well- being of the rural poor depends on how they are carried out. Past research by IFPRI and collaborating institutions on commercialization of small- scale farming in about a dozen countries provided new knowledge about the relationships between commercialization and rural well- being as measured by incomes, consumption, and nutrition. These links were shown to depend greatly on household behavior, which in turn is influenced by intrahousehold processes. A better understanding of these processes is likely to identify policy measure that will be effective in achieving both productivity and household welfare goals. This report contributes to improve understanding by examine household and intrahousehold processes influencing the welfare effects of the adoption of hybrid maize among farmers in a region of Zambia. The report identifies a number of key policy options likely to be central to achieving higher agricultural productivity and improve rural welfare simultaneously. While extending previous research on agricultural commercialization and technological change in several countries, the research reported here is a part of a larger collaborative research project undertaken with the University of Zambia, Rural Development Studies Bureau, and the Zamian National Food and Nutrition Commission. Several other IFPRI reports are available from this project, including an occasional paper, Adopting improved farm technology: A study of Smallholder Farms in Eastern Province, Zambia, buy Dayanatha Jha and Behjat Hoijai. Past research on commercialization of small- case agriculture is synthesized in a book published for IFPRI by the johns Hopkins University Press, Agricultural Commercializaton, Economic Development, and Nutrition, edited by Joachin von Braum and Eilleen Kennedy.