Most of the poor in Sub-Saharan Africa live in rural
areas where agriculture is the main income source. This
agriculture is characterized by low performance and its
productivity growth has been identified as a key driver
of poverty reduction. In Niger, as in many other African
countries, productivity is even lower among female peasants.
To build policy interventions to improve agricultural
productivity among women, it is important to measure
the potential gap between men and women and understand
the determinants that explain the gap. This paper
uses the Oaxaca-Blinder decomposition methodology at
the aggregate and detailed levels to identify the factors
that explain the productivity gap. The analysis finds that
in Niger on average plots managed by women produce
19 percent less per hectare than plots managed by men. It
also finds that the gender gap tends to be widest among
Niger’s most productive farmers. The primary factors that
contribute to the gender productivity gap in Niger are:
(i) farm labor, with women facing significant challenges
in accessing, using, and supervising male farm labor; (ii)
the quantity and quality of fertilizer use, with men using
more inorganic fertilizer per hectare than women; and (iii)
land ownership and characteristics, with men owning more
land and enjoying higher returns to ownership than women.