Prepared by Rashid Khan , Christine Bosch, Edward Kato, Elizabeth Bryan , Regina Birner, Thomas Daum, Saurabh Gupta, and Claudia Ringler

1. Rashid Khan , Christine Bosch, Edward Kato, Elizabeth Bryan , Regina Birner, Thomas
Daum, Saurabh Gupta, Claudia Ringler
Gender differences in
access to information and
adoption of climate-smart
agriculture practices in
Uganda: The role of
women’s empowerment

2. Gender Differences in Access to Information
sources and Adoption of Climate-smart
Agriculture Practices in Uganda
Objectives
• To assess the role of ICTs in transmitting information on climate smart
technologies to rural men and women
• To understand gender differences in access to different sources and
information on climate smart agriculture practices
• Explore linkages between women empowerment, access to information and
CSA practices
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3. A review of ICTs for agricultural extension
Introduction
• Information and Communications Technologies (ICTs) and their
applications in agricultural extension have witnessed significant changes
over the last seven decades (1950-2020)
• The study reviews the evolution of ICTs for agriculture extension from a
historical perspective over the last seven decades
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4. Conceptual Framework and Method
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5. Findings 1/2
• Rural women and men access different information channels
• Men are more likely to attend farmer association events, demonstration farm events and
farmer field schools
• Men have more access to government supported extension systems than women.
Community meetings are a major source of information for women
• Gendered differences in preferred climate smart agriculture practices
• Men are more likely to adopt water harvesting, efficient use of fertilizer, improved high
yielding varieties, and switching to drought and pest tolerant measures, whereas women
are more likely to practice pig management
• Gender ignored in earlier information channels
• Demonstration farms and farmer field schools are time intensive and can interfere with
women’s domestic responsibilities and are thus less likely to reach women with
information
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6. Findings 2/2
• Potential of smart phones
• Women's mobile ownership has grown significantly since 2014 in low- and middle-income
countries by over 250 million
• Mobile technology is equipped with multiple features that can provide farmer to farmer
learning irrespective of time and geography
• Farmers can connect and get real-time information in the form of text, audio, and video
messages
• Locale-specific information on climate smart agriculture can directly serve locale-specific
needs, i.e. higher granularity possible with smart phones compared to newspapers or
radio. That tend to cover larger areas
• Agriculture learning of women farmers have improved through mobile phones, removing
barriers to attending demonstration farms or farmer field schools, information can be
seen “on-demand” better fitting with women’s busy schedules
• Substantial share of women can still not access mobile phones or internet-based
applications
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7. Study Area and Data
Selection of 6 Sample Districts
• Stratified 24 districts into 2 strata:
• Rich agricultural districts strata
• Poor agricultural districts strata
• Three districts were randomly selected from each
strata
• Rich agricultural districts strata: Rakai,
Nakasongola, Mubende
• Poor agricultural districts strata:
Bukomansimbi, Kiboga, Kalungu
▪ Household survey data were collected from 720
households (women and men) in these districts
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8. Preliminary results
***Significant at p<0.01, ** significant at p<0.05, and * significant at p<0.10
Sources of Information Men Women p-value
Government Extension Workers 0.24 0.17 0.00***
NGOs 0.21 0.15 0.00***
Community Meetings/Barazas 0.29 0.25 0.09*
Farmer Organizations, Coops, CBOs 0.26 0.15 0.00***
Religious groups 0.24 0.18 0.01***
Agri-service providers, Seed companies 0.40 0.30 0.00***
Family members 0.60 0.02 0.00***
Neighbors 0.70 0.02 0.00***
Radio 0.90 0.04 0.00***
TV 0.25 0.01 0.00***
Newspaper/bulletin 0.10 0.00 0.00***
Schools/teachers 0.08 0.00 0.00***
Cell phone 0.19 0.00 0.00***
Internet 0.03 0.00 0.00***
Traditional forecasters/ indigenous knowledge; own
knowledge 0.66 0.06
0.00***
Agricultural Shows 0.09 0.00 0.00***
Farmer Field Days/Demonstrations 0.09 0.00 0.00***
Video 0.05 0.00 0.00***
Table 1: Information channel used for CSA, by sex of respondent, Uganda
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9. Preliminary Results
***Significant at p<0.01, ** significant at p<0.05, and * significant at p<0.10
Table 2: Awareness and adoption of climate-smart agricultural practices, by sex of respondent, Uganda
Climate Smart Practices
Awareness (Whether respondent is
aware of practice (proportion)
Whether respondent adopted practice
(proportion of those who are aware)
Men Women p-value Men Women p-value
Agroforestry 0.88 0.80 0.00*** 0.49 0.47 0.64
Soil Bunds 0.50 0.45 0.07* 0.38 0.43 0.20
Water Harvesting (Dams, Ditch, Water .. 0.80 0.74 0.02** 0.68 0.74 0.03**
Use of Irrigation 0.87 0.88 0.00*** 0.30 0.32 0.36
Zai Pits/Planting Pits/Negarims 0.68 0.59 0.01** 0.70 0.70 0.89
Leaving Crop Residue 0.85 0.81 0.04** 0.86 0.87 0.57
Improved pig management 0.58 0.68 0.00*** 0.54 0.64 0.00***
Livestock manure management 0.83 0.77 0.00*** 0.68 0.67 0.71
More efficient use of fertilizer 0.77 0.70 0.00*** 0.60 0.66 0.05**
Use of improved, high yielding varieties 0.76 0.70 0.01** 0.60 0.50 0.00***
No till/Minimum tillage 0.80 0.77 0.10* 0.81 0.78 0.28
Improved grain storage 0.55 0.49 0.02** 0.29 0.25 0.25
Improved Stoves (wood or charcoal bur.. 0.72 0.66 0.02** 0.35 0.35 0.94
Improved feed management (livestock) 0.56 0.49 0.01** 0.35 0.37 0.45
Cover Cropping 0.65 0.60 0.04* 0.71 0.73 0.36
Switching to drought and pest toleran.. 0.52 0.45 0.00*** 0.47 0.39 0.04**
Integrated Pest Management 0.66 0.62 0.08* 0.78 0.77 0.55
improved poultry management 0.70 0.65 0.04* 0.55 0.52 0.44 9

10. Preliminary Conclusions
• Traditional ICTs (radio, and television) used for accessing agriculture
information are limited in conveying simple information
• Information dissemination through radio and television are one way and
feedback loops are missing
• Conveying complex agriculture practices can be supported by modern ICTs
like smartphones
• Video based messaging through smartphones can support dissemination
of complex agriculture information
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11. Insights from Uganda
• Both public and private extension sources in use
• Substantial differences in access to agricultural information between men
and women farmers with fewer women being reached by fewer sources
• Surprisingly low use of traditional channels by women, including radio and
TV (particularly compared to men)
• Modern ICTs (cell phone) not yet beneficial for women : despite the
widely claimed high mobile phone ownership in Sub-Saharan Africa, our
study sample shows non-use of modern ICTS as sources of information by
women. Safety concerns have been mentioned as one of the reasons of
low mobile phone use by women in Uganda in the GSMA study
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12. Insights from Uganda
• Increasing awareness, through information channels adapted to women’s
needs might help increase adoption of some CSA practices among women
farmers.
• However, other constraints might still be binding for both women and
men farmers as seen for the relatively high awareness of agroforestry and
irrigation that are seldom adopted
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13. Next steps
• Run a Heckman model on awareness and adoption
• Include sub-indicators and aggregate measures from the
abbreviated Women’s Empowerment in Agriculture Index (A-
WEAI) to explain awareness and adoption
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