Gendered Perspectives on Agricultural Innovations Adoption in Egypt

Abstract

Innovations both social and technological are important for increasing agricultural production. Innovations, however, that do not consider social and gender norms and practices may not optimally effective and can be detrimental especially if the technology involved displaces manual labour and results in losses of income or increases workloads. This study was designed to collect sex-disaggregated data on the effectiveness and usefulness of agricultural innovations that have been introduced in the Old and New Lands in Egypt in the past decade. Two hundred surveys (100 unrelated men and 100 women) were carried out in the Old Lands of Egypt, which were originally cultivated by the inundation of the Nile River. An equal number of surveys of men and women was carried out in the New Lands, which have only become cultivable since the construction of the High Aswan Dam. These surveys were carried out to collect sex-disaggregated data on usefulness and perceptions of usefulness of the most useful innovations, sex-disaggregated data on reasons for adoption of identified innovations; sex-disaggregated data on problems faced in agricultural production; sex-disaggregated data on most and least useful sources of information about agricultural innovations, sex-disaggregated data on adaption of adopted innovations; sex-disaggregated data on broader impacts (if any) of adopted innovations upon household and the communities at large; frequency and nature of interactions with extension agents and water engineers; types of information needed from these officials; sex-disaggregated data on roles and decision-making in agricultural production. Survey data was complemented with semi-structured interviews with 50 women and 50 men in order to provide more nuanced explanations for the survey findings.