Impact Assessment of Integrated Pest Management Strategy for Control of Mango Fruit Fly on Women Decision Making Among Smallholder Mango Producers in Machakos County, Kenya

Abstract

Improved technology increases agricultural productivity which translates to increased income from the farm. This escalates women loss of control to agricultural production and marketing due to persistent gender disparities in access to productive resources. The International Centre of Insect Physiology and Ecology (icipe) developed an Integrated Pest Management (IPM) strategy for suppression of mango fruit flies among smallholder mango farmers in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). Despite the impressive direct impacts of icipe’s IPM strategies, it remains unclear how the adoption of IPM affects household gender relations. Using a sample of 470 households in Machakos County, a two-limit Tobit model of difference-in-difference was used assess the impact of IPM technology adoption on women decision-making in mango production and marketing activities among smallholder mango farmers. The results show that the adoption of IPM strategy led to a decrease in women decision-making index by 21.2 percent. Female spouse access to training, membership to a mango production or marketing group, access to credit, and the proportion of investment in mango production significantly influenced their decision-making index. Therefore, women’s decision-making index in mango production and marketing can be enhanced through access to training by extension officers, membership to a mango production or marketing group, and access to credit.