Steered Away from the Fields: Impacts of Mechanization on Agricultural Production and Intra-Household Labor Supply
| dc.creator | Brudevold-Newman, Andrew | |
| dc.creator | Donald, Aletheia | |
| dc.creator | Rouanet, Léa | |
| dc.date | 2025-12-22T16:08:02Z | |
| dc.date | 2025-12-22T16:08:02Z | |
| dc.date | 2025-12-12 | |
| dc.date.accessioned | 2026-07-01T00:30:26Z | |
| dc.description | In many lower-income countries, rural households depend heavily on farming for their livelihoods, yet limited access to labor-saving technologies constrains productivity and earnings. This study evaluates a two-year randomized phase-in trial with more than 2,000 cotton farmers in rural Côte d’Ivoire, implemented by the Africa Gender Innovation Lab (GIL), which tested the effects of a matching grant covering half the cost of acquiring a pair of oxen. The intervention led to a 7 percent increase in cotton revenue in the delivery season and enabled treated households to cultivate 6 percent more land and raise their use of complementary inputs by 15 percent the following year. Beyond productivity gains, the program generated meaningful intra-household benefits: wives and daughters experienced reduced farm labor burdens, and girls’ health improved. These findings underscore how mechanization in male-dominant agricultural tasks can drive both economic and welfare improvements while revealing the gender norms that shape technology adoption and its potential for broader structural transformation. | |
| dc.format | application/pdf | |
| dc.format | text/plain | |
| dc.identifier | https://openknowledge.worldbank.org/entities/publication/be24154f-3ae4-4f06-b946-1e9c9b3d9631 | |
| dc.identifier | https://hdl.handle.net/10986/44099 | |
| dc.identifier | 10.1596/44099 | |
| dc.identifier.uri | http://hdl.handle.net/123456789/404803 | |
| dc.language | English | |
| dc.language | en_US | |
| dc.publisher | Washington, DC: World Bank | |
| dc.relation | Africa Gender Innovation Lab; December 2025 | |
| dc.rights | CC BY-NC 3.0 IGO | |
| dc.rights | https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/igo | |
| dc.rights | World Bank | |
| dc.subject | TECHNOLOGY ADOPTION | |
| dc.subject | GENDER NORMS | |
| dc.subject | COTTON FARMERS | |
| dc.subject | WOMEN'S AND GIRLS' HEALTH | |
| dc.title | Steered Away from the Fields: Impacts of Mechanization on Agricultural Production and Intra-Household Labor Supply | |
| dc.type | Brief |