Strategies for improving the economic status of female-headed households in eastern Zimbabwe: The case for adopting the IAR4D framework’s innovation platforms

Abstract

The study was conducted in seven districts in Manicaland and Mashonaland East Provinces of Zimbabwe. It sought to analyse the situation of female smallholder farmers with a view to determining innovative strategies that could be employed to improve their socioeconomic status. A sample of 600 smallholder communal farmers, made up of female and male heads of households, was selected for the study. The results of the study indicated that gender differences led to inequalities which affected the farmers’ participation in agricultural activities; female heads of households (FHH) were more disadvantaged than their male counterparts in issues pertaining to control of agricultural resources, and FHH status proved to be a factor in the nature of support which the women received from their (former) husbands’ families. The average age and farming experience of female heads of households was significantly higher than that of male heads, while the size of land undercultivation per household was also found to be significantly lower for females than for males and so was household assets-ownership and the social capital index. The paper calls for the adoption of the IAR4D strategy, an innovation which could help in addressing the plight of female-headed households in rural Zimbabwe.

Keywords: Gender, agriculture, female-headed households, social capital, smallholder farmers, economic status