IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/wbk/wbrwps/10516.html

Steered Away from the Fields : Short-Term Impacts of Oxen on Agricultural Production andIntra-household Labor Supply

Author

Listed:
  • Brudevold-Newman,Andrew Peter
  • Donald,Aletheia Amalia
  • Rouanet,Lea Marie

Abstract

Mechanization has the potential to boost agricultural production and reduce poverty in ruraleconomies, but its impacts remain poorly understood. This paper randomizes the subsidized provision of a pair oftraction oxen among 2,546 farmers in Côte d’Ivoire through a matching grant. The analysis finds positive impacts on households’ agricultural production during the agriculturalseason overlapping with oxen delivery, and additional increases in total land holdings and use of complementaryinputs in the subsequent season. The intervention affected household members in different ways, with wives anddaughters substantially reducing their work on the farm—especially in districts with more stringent gendernorms 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 novelevidence on the human development effects of mechanization, while highlighting how social prescriptions mediate theimpacts of technology within the household.

Suggested Citation

  • Brudevold-Newman,Andrew Peter & Donald,Aletheia Amalia & Rouanet,Lea Marie, 2023. "Steered Away from the Fields : Short-Term Impacts of Oxen on Agricultural Production andIntra-household Labor Supply," Policy Research Working Paper Series 10516, The World Bank.
    • Handle: RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:10516
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/099725506302311439/pdf/IDU056ffb6770576f04f5d080090e8115034cb36.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. repec:hal:pseose:halshs-00754594 is not listed on IDEAS
    2. Bryceson, Deborah Fahy, 2019. "Gender and generational patterns of African deagrarianization: Evolving labour and land allocation in smallholder peasant household farming, 1980–2015," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 113(C), pages 60-72.
    3. repec:wbk:wbpubs:7214 is not listed on IDEAS
    4. Baker, Richard B., 2015. "From the Field to the Classroom: The Boll Weevil's Impact on Education in Rural Georgia," The Journal of Economic History, Cambridge University Press, vol. 75(4), pages 1128-1160, December.
    5. Yukichi Mano & Kazushi Takahashi & Keijiro Otsuka, 2020. "Mechanization in land preparation and agricultural intensification: The case of rice farming in the Cote d'Ivoire," Agricultural Economics, International Association of Agricultural Economists, vol. 51(6), pages 899-908, November.
    6. repec:wbk:wbpubs:39462 is not listed on IDEAS
    7. Blackden, Mark & Wodon, Quentin, 2006. "Gender, Time Use, and Poverty: Introduction," MPRA Paper 11080, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    8. Claudia Goldin & Kenneth Sokoloff, 1984. "The Relative Productivity Hypothesis of Industrialization: The American Case, 1820 to 1850," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 99(3), pages 461-487.
    9. Pingali, Prabhu, 2007. "Agricultural Mechanization: Adoption Patterns and Economic Impact," Handbook of Agricultural Economics, in: Robert Evenson & Prabhu Pingali (ed.), Handbook of Agricultural Economics, edition 1, volume 3, chapter 54, pages 2779-2805, Elsevier.
    10. Robert Evenson & Prabhu Pingali (ed.), 2007. "Handbook of Agricultural Economics," Handbook of Agricultural Economics, Elsevier, edition 1, volume 3, number 1.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Donald, Aletheia Amalia & Islam, TM Tonmoy & Robakowski-Van Stralen, Anja, 2024. "Explaining Gender Differences in Economic Outcomes in Burkina Faso," Policy Research Working Paper Series 10809, The World Bank.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Zhou, Xiaoshi & Ma, Wanglin, 2021. "Effects of Agricultural Mechanization on Land Productivity: Evidence from China," 2021 Conference, August 17-31, 2021, Virtual 315143, International Association of Agricultural Economists.
    2. Kubitza, Christoph & Dib, Jonida Bou & Kopp, Thomas & Krishna, Vijesh V. & Nuryartono, Nunung & Qaim, Matin & Romero, Miriam & Klasen, Stephan, 2019. "Labor savings in agriculture and inequality at different spatial scales: The expansion of oil palm in Indonesia," EFForTS Discussion Paper Series 26, University of Goettingen, Collaborative Research Centre 990 "EFForTS, Ecological and Socioeconomic Functions of Tropical Lowland Rainforest Transformation Systems (Sumatra, Indonesia)".
    3. Takeshima, Hiroyuki & Nin-Pratt, Alejandro & Diao, Xinshen, 2013. "Agricultural mechanization patterns in Nigeria: Insights from farm household typology and agricultural household model simulation," IFPRI discussion papers 1291, International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI).
    4. Houssou, Nazaire & Diao, Xinshen & Cossar, Frances & Kolavalli, Shashidhara & Jimah, Kipo & Aboagye, Patrick Ohene, 2013. "Agricultural mechanization in Ghana: Is specialization in agricultural mechanization a viable business model?," IFPRI discussion papers 1255, International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI).
    5. Meilin Ma & Jessie Lin & Richard J. Sexton, 2022. "The Transition from Small to Large Farms in Developing Economies: A Welfare Analysis," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 104(1), pages 111-133, January.
    6. Wang, Teng & Yi, Fujin & Liu, Huilin & Wu, Ximing & Zhong, Funing, 2021. "Can Agricultural Mechanization Have a Mitigation Effect on China's Yield Variability?," 2021 Conference, August 17-31, 2021, Virtual 315098, International Association of Agricultural Economists.
    7. Sheahan, Megan & Barrett, Christopher B., 2017. "Ten striking facts about agricultural input use in Sub-Saharan Africa," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 67(C), pages 12-25.
    8. Kwabena Asiama & Rohan Bennett & Jaap Zevenbergen, 2019. "Towards Responsible Consolidation of Customary Lands: A Research Synthesis," Land, MDPI, vol. 8(11), pages 1-22, October.
    9. Yukichi Y. & Mano Yukichi Y. & Takahashi Kazushi & Otsuka Keijiro, 2017. "Contract Farming, Farm Mechanization, and Agricultural Intensification: The Case of Rice Farming in Cote d’Ivoire," Working Papers 157, JICA Research Institute.
    10. Xin Deng & Zhongcheng Yan & Dingde Xu & Yanbin Qi, 2020. "Land Registration, Adjustment Experience, and Agricultural Machinery Adoption: Empirical Analysis from Rural China," Land, MDPI, vol. 9(3), pages 1-14, March.
    11. Srisompun, Orawan & Athipanyakul, Thanaporn & Isvilanonda, Somporn, 2019. "The adoption of mechanization, labour productivity and household income: Evidence from rice production in Thailand," TVSEP Working Papers wp-016, Leibniz Universitaet Hannover, Institute for Environmental Economics and World Trade, Project TVSEP.
    12. Achoja Roland Onomu & Michael Aliber, 2021. "Factors Influencing Smallholder Farmers Mechanization Decisions in Nigeria: The Case of Tractor Use in the Fourth Industrial Revolution ERA," Asian Journal of Agriculture and rural Development, Asian Economic and Social Society, vol. 11(2), pages 199-209, June.
    13. Fischer, Joern & Abson, David J. & Butsic, Van & Chappell, M. Jahi & Ekroos, Johan & Hanspach, Jan & Kuemmerle, Tobias & Smith, Henrik G. & von Wehrden, Henrik, 2014. "Land sparing versus land sharing: Moving forward," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, vol. 7(3), pages 149-157.
    14. Afridi, Farzana & Bishnu, Monisankar & Mahajan, Kanika, 2020. "Gendering Technological Change: Evidence from Agricultural Mechanization," IZA Discussion Papers 13712, IZA Network @ LISER.
    15. Thomas Daum & Regina Birner, 2017. "The neglected governance challenges of agricultural mechanisation in Africa – insights from Ghana," Food Security: The Science, Sociology and Economics of Food Production and Access to Food, Springer;The International Society for Plant Pathology, vol. 9(5), pages 959-979, October.
    16. Kirui, Oliver K. & von Braun, Joachim, "undated". "Mechanization in African Agriculture: A Continental Overview on Patterns and Dynamics," Working Papers 273522, University of Bonn, Center for Development Research (ZEF).
    17. Boureima Sawadogo, 2024. "Can Burkina Faso’s Agricultural Mechanization Program Reduce Poverty in the Country," The European Journal of Development Research, Palgrave Macmillan;European Association of Development Research and Training Institutes (EADI), vol. 36(4), pages 1016-1036, August.
    18. Takeshima, Hiroyuki & Liu, Yanyan, 2020. "Smallholder mechanization induced by yield-enhancing biological technologies: Evidence from Nepal and Ghana," Agricultural Systems, Elsevier, vol. 184(C).
    19. Philipp Ager & Benedikt Herz & Markus Brueckner, 2020. "Structural Change and the Fertility Transition," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 102(4), pages 806-822, October.
    20. Ager, Philipp & Brueckner, Markus & Herz, Benedikt, 2017. "The boll weevil plague and its effect on the southern agricultural sector, 1889–1929," Explorations in Economic History, Elsevier, vol. 65(C), pages 94-105.

    More about this item

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:10516. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Roula I. Yazigi (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/dvewbus.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.