Focusing on intra-household allocation, we investigate the effects of coffee market
liberalisation in Uganda. As coffee has traditionally been a male domain, higher income from
this activity might increase gender disparities. In addition, gender-related inefficiency in
household production might undermine the positive impact of improved incentives. Using data
from three household surveys conducted between 1992 and 2006, we estimate Engel curves,
coffee yield and labour input equations incorporating bargaining proxies. We find that income
from coffee is increasingly pooled and therefore shared more equally among household
members. Yet, we can only detect partial improvements in production efficiency: bargaining
still appears to constraint output efficiency and the distribution of household resources
continues to follow gendered lines. Moreover, female-headed households are deterred from
entry into coffee farming mainly because of discrimination in access to land.