Rural Producer Organizations and Poverty Reduction in Uganda: Are There Gender Disparities in the Distribution of Membership Benefits?
No hay miniatura disponible
Fecha
Autores
Título de la revista
ISSN de la revista
Título del volumen
Editor
Resumen
Descripción
The Ugandan government considers rural producer organizations (RPOs) as
an effective tool for promoting greater market participation for smallholder
farmers, which is necessary for rural poverty eradication. Hence, the
government has invested substantially in the development of RPOs during
the last decade. Whether the RPOs are contributing to rural poverty
reduction will be demonstrated by the benefits that accrue to their members,
both females and males. The paper examines the nature of these benefits and
determines whether there are any gender disparities in their distribution.
Significant disparities are found to exist in benefits such as access to information on product prices, management and extension training, access to
credit, assistance with meeting buyer quality requirements, and formation of
market networks. Overall, we conclude that RPOs have mostly benefited
male members and fewer benefits have accrued to female members. This
situation calls for the adoption and implementation of measures to promote
equitable distribution of RPO membership benefits between males and
females.