Measuring Women S Disempowerment In Agriculture In Pakistan

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Measuring women’s disempowerment in agriculture in Pakistan

Ahmad, Nuzhat,Khan, Huma
Measuring women s disempowerment in agriculture in Pakistan Book PDF

Author : Ahmad, Nuzhat,Khan, Huma
Publisher : Intl Food Policy Res Inst
Page : 48 pages
File Size : 55,8 Mb
Release : 2016-02-26
Category : Social Science
ISBN : 8210379456XXX

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Measuring women’s disempowerment in agriculture in Pakistan by Ahmad, Nuzhat,Khan, Huma Pdf

Pakistan performs poorly withrespect to gender equality, women’s empowerment, and other gender-related indicators. Few studies in Pakistan measure the multiple dimensions of empowerment along which women are marginalized or disenfranchised, particularly in the country’s rural areas. Even fewer studies address the gender gaps in empowerment levels of men and women. This paper calculates a Women’s Disempowerment Index to examine women’s control over production, resources, income, household decisions, and time burden. The index is based on a slightly modified methodology than that used for WEAI calculation by Alkire et al. (2012). The analysis is based on a sample of 2,090 households in the rural areas of Pakistan. Data used for the study werecollected in three rounds of the Pakistan Rural Household Panel Survey from 2012–2014 by International Food Policy Research Institute/ Innovative Development Strategies for its Pakistan Strategy Support Program. The results show low empowerment levels of only 17 percent for women in the rural areas of Pakistan. The results also show very low empowerment of women in all indicators and domains except the time burden/workload indicator. We then analyze women’s disempowerment by subsamples based on individual and household characteristics. We also calculate disempowerment levels among men and compare it to disempowerment levels among women. Comparison within the household reveals large disparities in empowerment levels among men and women. In a comparative analysis, men are found to be more empowered in domains of production, income,and autonomy. Both men and women were found to be most disempowered in access to and control over resources. The paper provides a baseline for tracking women’s empowerment over time and identifies areas that need to be strengthened through policy interventions

Measuring progress toward empowerment

Malapit, Hazel J.,Sproule, Kathryn,Kovarik, Chiara,Meinzen-Dick, Ruth Suseela,Quisumbing, Agnes R.,Ramzan, Farzana,Hogue, Emily,Alkire, Sabina
Measuring progress toward empowerment Book PDF

Author : Malapit, Hazel J.,Sproule, Kathryn,Kovarik, Chiara,Meinzen-Dick, Ruth Suseela,Quisumbing, Agnes R.,Ramzan, Farzana,Hogue, Emily,Alkire, Sabina
Publisher : Intl Food Policy Res Inst
Page : 62 pages
File Size : 54,5 Mb
Release : 2024-06-19
Category : Social Science
ISBN : 8210379456XXX

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Measuring progress toward empowerment by Malapit, Hazel J.,Sproule, Kathryn,Kovarik, Chiara,Meinzen-Dick, Ruth Suseela,Quisumbing, Agnes R.,Ramzan, Farzana,Hogue, Emily,Alkire, Sabina Pdf

This report provides a comprehensive analysis of the Women’s Empowerment in Agriculture Index (WEAI) baseline survey results, summarizing both findings from the WEAI survey and the relationships between the WEAI and various outcomes of interest to the US Government’s Feed the Future initiative. These poverty, health, and nutrition outcomes include both factors that might affect empowerment and outcomes that might result from empowerment. The analysis includes thirteen countries from five regions and compares their baseline survey scores. WEAI scores range from a high of 0.98 in Cambodia to a low of 0.66 in Bangladesh.

Development of the project-level Women’s Empowerment in Agriculture Index (pro-WEAI)

Malapit, Hazel J.,Quisumbing, Agnes R.,Meinzen-Dick, Ruth Suseela,Seymour, Gregory,Martinez, Elena M.,Heckert, Jessica,Rubin, Deborah,Vaz, Ana,Yount, Kathryn M.
Development of the project level Women s Empowerment in Agriculture Index pro WEAI Book PDF

Author : Malapit, Hazel J.,Quisumbing, Agnes R.,Meinzen-Dick, Ruth Suseela,Seymour, Gregory,Martinez, Elena M.,Heckert, Jessica,Rubin, Deborah,Vaz, Ana,Yount, Kathryn M.
Publisher : Intl Food Policy Res Inst
Page : 68 pages
File Size : 49,6 Mb
Release : 2019-01-18
Category : Political Science
ISBN : 8210379456XXX

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Development of the project-level Women’s Empowerment in Agriculture Index (pro-WEAI) by Malapit, Hazel J.,Quisumbing, Agnes R.,Meinzen-Dick, Ruth Suseela,Seymour, Gregory,Martinez, Elena M.,Heckert, Jessica,Rubin, Deborah,Vaz, Ana,Yount, Kathryn M. Pdf

In this paper, the authors describe the adaptation and validation of a project-level WEAI (or pro-WEAI) that agricultural development projects can use to identify key areas of women’s (and men’s) disempowerment, design appropriate strategies to address identified deficiencies, and monitor project outcomes related to women’s empowerment. The 12 pro-WEAI indicators are mapped to three domains: intrinsic agency (power within), instrumental agency (power to), and collective agency (power with). A gender parity index compares the empowerment scores of men and women in the same household. The authors describe the development of pro-WEAI, including: (1) pro-WEAI’s distinctiveness from other versions of the WEAI; (2) the process of piloting pro-WEAI in 13 agricultural development projects during the Gender, Agriculture, and Assets Project, phase 2 (GAAP2); (3) analysis of quantitative data from the GAAP2 projects, including intrahousehold patterns of empowerment; and (4) a summary of the findings from the qualitative work exploring concepts of women’s empowerment in the project sites. The paper concludes with a discussion of lessons learned from pro-WEAI and possibilities for further development of empowerment metrics.

Methods for measuring women's empowerment

Doss, Cheryl,Malapit, Hazel J.,Comstock, Andrew
Methods for measuring women s empowerment Book PDF

Author : Doss, Cheryl,Malapit, Hazel J.,Comstock, Andrew
Publisher : Intl Food Policy Res Inst
Page : 6 pages
File Size : 55,5 Mb
Release : 2020-10-20
Category : Political Science
ISBN : 8210379456XXX

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Methods for measuring women's empowerment by Doss, Cheryl,Malapit, Hazel J.,Comstock, Andrew Pdf

Women’s empowerment is of paramount importance for multiple development goals. However, it is much easier to discuss the importance of empowerment than it is to define the methods and tools needed to measure it. This requires research focused on the conceptual understanding of how we should measure women’s empowerment, in a variety of facets, and the creation of tools and methods for doing so.

The Abbreviated Women’s Empowerment in Agriculture Index (A-WEAI)

Meinzen-Dick, Ruth Suseela,Quisumbing, Agnes R.,Kovarik, Chiara,Sproule, Kathryn,Pinkstaff, Crossley,Malapit, Hazel J.
The Abbreviated Women s Empowerment in Agriculture Index A WEAI Book PDF

Author : Meinzen-Dick, Ruth Suseela,Quisumbing, Agnes R.,Kovarik, Chiara,Sproule, Kathryn,Pinkstaff, Crossley,Malapit, Hazel J.
Publisher : Intl Food Policy Res Inst
Page : 56 pages
File Size : 53,5 Mb
Release : 2017-07-02
Category : Political Science
ISBN : 8210379456XXX

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The Abbreviated Women’s Empowerment in Agriculture Index (A-WEAI) by Meinzen-Dick, Ruth Suseela,Quisumbing, Agnes R.,Kovarik, Chiara,Sproule, Kathryn,Pinkstaff, Crossley,Malapit, Hazel J. Pdf

The fifth Sustainable Development Goal—to “achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls”—reflects a growing consensus that these are key objectives of development policy in their own right, while also contributing to improved productivity and increased efficiency, especially in agriculture and food production. To deliver on this commitment to women’s empowerment in development calls for appropriate measures that can be used to diagnose the scope and major sources of disempowerment and to measure progress. The Women’s Empowerment in Agriculture Index (WEAI) is a survey-based tool codeveloped by the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI), the Oxford Poverty and Human Development Initiative, and the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) (Alkire et al. 2013). The index was originally designed as a monitoring and evaluation tool for the U.S. government’s Feed the Future initiative to directly capture women’s empowerment and inclusion levels in the agricultural sector. Since its launch in February 2012, the WEAI has been implemented in the 19 Feed the Future focus countries. As with any new metric, pilot testing in a few selected countries with limited sample sizes is insufficient to demonstrate how the WEAI would perform when rolled out on a wider scale. Concerns expressed by users of the WEAI led to the creation of an abbreviated version—the A-WEAI. This paper begins by presenting a brief overview of the WEAI and its construction. It then proceeds to discuss (1) the background and motivation behind the creation of the A-WEAI; (2) the steps taken to develop the AWEAI— namely, cognitive testing and piloting of different modules, particularly those that were difficult to administer in the field; (3) analysis of the pilot data from Bangladesh and Uganda; (4) domain-specific comparisons of the different pilot versions; and (5) robustness checks and empowerment diagnostics from the A-WEAI as compared with the original WEAI. The paper concludes by summarizing the modifications to the original WEAI and discussing possibilities for further development of empowerment metrics based on the WEAI.

Pakistan’s fertilizer sector

Ali, Mubarik,Ahmed, Faryal,Channa, Hira,Davies, Stephen
Pakistan s fertilizer sector Book PDF

Author : Ali, Mubarik,Ahmed, Faryal,Channa, Hira,Davies, Stephen
Publisher : Intl Food Policy Res Inst
Page : 76 pages
File Size : 46,8 Mb
Release : 2016-04-01
Category : Political Science
ISBN : 8210379456XXX

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Pakistan’s fertilizer sector by Ali, Mubarik,Ahmed, Faryal,Channa, Hira,Davies, Stephen Pdf

The fertilizer industry in Pakistan, with US$3.74 billion per year in sales, now stands at a crossroads where, after an initial substantial contribution in boosting crop productivity, its future potential is being challenged. Fertilizer-responsive crop varieties, supplementary irrigation water, and a favorable policy environment in Pakistan have induced fast growth in fertilizer demand. On the supply side, the availability of gas at low prices along with a favorable investment environment resulted in the buildup of excessive manufacturing capacity. But recently, a shortage of gas and monopolistic behavior has led to underutilization and greater imports. Restrictive laws put fertilizer processing and marketing in a few hands, which has also affected its efficiency. Moreover, the yield response of fertilizer has tapered off and per hectare use is fast reaching its optimal level. The existing policy environment leads to higher costs, inefficient use, and a heavy burden on the government as it charges one-fourth of the market price for feedstock gas used in fertilizer manufacturing. In addition, the government imports urea and absorbs the difference in international and domestic prices.

Agricultural mechanization and agricultural transformation

Diao, Xinshen,Silver, Jed,Takeshima, Hiroyuki
Agricultural mechanization and agricultural transformation Book PDF

Author : Diao, Xinshen,Silver, Jed,Takeshima, Hiroyuki
Publisher : Intl Food Policy Res Inst
Page : 56 pages
File Size : 45,6 Mb
Release : 2016-04-29
Category : Political Science
ISBN : 8210379456XXX

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Agricultural mechanization and agricultural transformation by Diao, Xinshen,Silver, Jed,Takeshima, Hiroyuki Pdf

A renewed focus on agriculture’s potential contribution to economic transformation in Africa has resulted in increased attention paid to agricultural mechanization. African agriculture still relies predominantly on human muscle power despite anecdotal evidence on urbanization and rising rural wages, in contrast to other developing regions that have experienced rapid increases in agricultural mechanization during the past few decades. Past state-led mechanization pushes in Africa often failed due to insufficient understanding of the nature of demand for mechanization technologies among farmers and insufficient knowledge of private-sector functions. This background paper reviews the factors likely to influence farmer demand for mechanization in Africa and details different existing and potential mechanization supply models. Although an empirical analysis of mechanization demand and the effectiveness of supply chains is beyond the scope of this paper, in part due to data limitations, this paper suggests that demand for mechanization may be emerging in some parts of Africa. It also suggests that private-sector-driven supply models are better positioned to meet this demand than direct government involvement and certain types of subsidized programs. The paper then identifies possible areas for government support to complement private-sector leadership in developing mechanization supply chains. Nevertheless, significant further research is required to better understand the changing nature of mechanization demand in Africa and the extent and effectiveness of different supply models in meeting it.

Boserupian pressure and agricultural mechanization in modern Ghana

Cossar, Frances
Boserupian pressure and agricultural mechanization in modern Ghana Book PDF

Author : Cossar, Frances
Publisher : Intl Food Policy Res Inst
Page : 32 pages
File Size : 51,7 Mb
Release : 2016-04-29
Category : Political Science
ISBN : 8210379456XXX

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Boserupian pressure and agricultural mechanization in modern Ghana by Cossar, Frances Pdf

The adoption of machinery in agricultural production in Africa south of the Sahara has been far behind the level of mechanization found in Asia and Latin America. However, recent survey data have revealed high levels of machinery use in localized areas of cereal production in northern Ghana. A survey conducted by the International Food Policy Research Institute, in partnership with the Savannah Agriculture Research Institute, found that in some areas more than 80 percent of farmers were using machinery for at least one operation. This paper considers the theoretical drivers of agricultural intensification, as outlined by Boserup, Pingali, and Binswanger, and the extent to which they are able to explain the spatial variation in machinery use found in northern Ghana. Population pressure, market access, and agroecological conditions are considered key drivers that cause farmers to find ways to increase productivity and adopt new technologies. Combining survey data with geospatial datasets, the empirical analysis finds that population growth and travel time to the local urban center explain a significant and large proportion of the variation in machinery use by farmers.

Findings across agricultural public expenditure reviews in African countries

Mink, Stephen D.
Findings across agricultural public expenditure reviews in African countries Book PDF

Author : Mink, Stephen D.
Publisher : Intl Food Policy Res Inst
Page : 52 pages
File Size : 47,6 Mb
Release : 2016-04-15
Category : Political Science
ISBN : 8210379456XXX

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Findings across agricultural public expenditure reviews in African countries by Mink, Stephen D. Pdf

This paper examines whether the consensus reached by the late 2000s among African Union member countries and their external partners on the need to reverse the decades-long decline in spending for essential public goods and services in agriculture has begun to result inimproved levels and quality of national expenditure programs for the sector. It synthesizes evidence from 20 Agriculture Public Expenditure Reviews (Ag PERs) that have been carried out in countries in Africa South of the Saharan (Botswana, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Chad, Côte d’Ivoire, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ghana, Guinea, Liberia, Madagascar, Mozambique, Rwanda, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone, South Africa, Tanzania, Togo, Uganda, and Zambia) with World Bank assistance during 2009–2015. This synthesis focuses on several measures: (1) the level of expenditures on agriculture, with particular reference to the explicit target by African heads of state in the 2003 Maputo Declaration on Agriculture and Food Security (reconfirmed in the Malabo Declaration) to allocate 10 percent of national budgets to the sector; (2) the composition and priorities of expenditures with respect to stated national strategies, evidence of impact, and sustainability; and (3) budget planning and implementation that aims to strengthen public financial management in general, and budget coherence, outputs, outcomes, and supporting mechanisms, such as procurement and audit, in particular. This paper uses Ag PERs to analyze budgetary trends across countries, identifies major expenditure issues, and synthesizes lessons regarding spending efficiency. The analysis results in evidence-based recommendations that address, inter alia, budget planning, budget execution, and monitoring for accountability; the creation of a reliable database; more effective intra-and intersectoral coordination; and the cost-effectiveness of different spending policies for meeting various objectives

Can contract farming increase farmers’ income and enhance adoption of food safety practices?

Kumar, Anjani,Roy, Devesh,Trapathi, Gaurav,Joshi, Pramod Kumar,Adhikari, Rajendra Prasad
Can contract farming increase farmers income and enhance adoption of food safety practices Book PDF

Author : Kumar, Anjani,Roy, Devesh,Trapathi, Gaurav,Joshi, Pramod Kumar,Adhikari, Rajendra Prasad
Publisher : Intl Food Policy Res Inst
Page : 36 pages
File Size : 41,9 Mb
Release : 2016-04-20
Category : Social Science
ISBN : 8210379456XXX

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Can contract farming increase farmers’ income and enhance adoption of food safety practices? by Kumar, Anjani,Roy, Devesh,Trapathi, Gaurav,Joshi, Pramod Kumar,Adhikari, Rajendra Prasad Pdf

Growing inequality has become an important concern in many countries. One of the ways that inequality is perpetuated is through differential market access across regions. This research deals with one of the primary determinants of regional inequality manifested in terms of market access. Nepal is one country where hierarchical geography leads to regional inequality. Differential market access can cause as well as accentuate inequality among farmers. Coordination arrangements such as contract farming can improve outcomes for the farmers and integrators on the one hand, but on the other hand it can accentuate inequality if only some regions benefit from it. With this background, in this paper we study the case of contract farming for exports with farmers in remote hilly areas of Nepal. The prospect for contract farming in such areas with accessibility issues owing to underdeveloped markets and lack of amenities is ambiguous. On the one hand, contractors in these areas find it difficult to build links, particularly when final consumers have quality and safety requirements. On the other hand, remoteness can make the contracts more sustainable if the agroecology offers product-specific quality advantages and, more important, if there is a lack of side-selling opportunities. At the same time, concerns remain about buyers’ monopsonistic powers when remotely located small farmers do not have outside options. This study hence quantifies the benefits of contract farming on remotely located farmers’ income and compliance with food safety measures. Results show that contract farming is significantly more profitable (offering a 58 percent greater net income) than independent production, the main pathway being higher price realization, along with training on practices and provision of quality seeds.

Understanding compliance in programs promoting conservation agriculture

Ward, Patrick S.,Bell, Andrew R.,Droppelmann, Klaus,Benton, Tim
Understanding compliance in programs promoting conservation agriculture Book PDF

Author : Ward, Patrick S.,Bell, Andrew R.,Droppelmann, Klaus,Benton, Tim
Publisher : Intl Food Policy Res Inst
Page : 28 pages
File Size : 46,8 Mb
Release : 2016-05-13
Category : Political Science
ISBN : 8210379456XXX

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Understanding compliance in programs promoting conservation agriculture by Ward, Patrick S.,Bell, Andrew R.,Droppelmann, Klaus,Benton, Tim Pdf

Land degradation and soil erosion have emerged as serious challenges to smallholder farmers throughout southern Africa. To combat these challenges, conservation agriculture (CA) is widely promoted as a sustainable package of agricultural practices. Despite the many potential benefits of CA, however, adoption remains low. Yet relatively little is known about the decision-making process in choosing to adopt CA. This article attempts to fill this important knowledge gap by studying CA adoption in southern Malawi. Unlike what is implicitly assumed when these packages of practices are introduced, farmers view adoption as a series of independent decisions rather than a single decision. Yet the adoption decisions are not wholly independent. We find strong evidence of interrelated decisions, particularly among mulching crop residues and practicing zero tillage, suggesting that mulching residues and intercropping or rotating with legumes introduces a multiplier effect on the adoption of zero tillage.

Rent Dispersion in the US Agricultural Insurance Industry

Smith, Vincent H.,Glauber, Joseph,Dismukes, Robert
Rent Dispersion in the US Agricultural Insurance Industry Book PDF

Author : Smith, Vincent H.,Glauber, Joseph,Dismukes, Robert
Publisher : Intl Food Policy Res Inst
Page : 40 pages
File Size : 51,7 Mb
Release : 2016-05-20
Category : Political Science
ISBN : 8210379456XXX

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Rent Dispersion in the US Agricultural Insurance Industry by Smith, Vincent H.,Glauber, Joseph,Dismukes, Robert Pdf

A central, but inadequately explored issue with respect to subsidized crop insurance programs concerns the costs of delivering insurance coverage to farmers. This study examines that issue in the context of the heavily subsidized US crop insurance program which has often been put forward as a model for agricultural insurance programs in other countries. US Government programs often rely on private firms to deliver income transfers or services, which then establish their own rent-seeking lobbies, which are shared with input suppliers. This rent dispersion process is examined in the context of the U.S. agricultural insurance industry, which receives as much as one third of the annual subsidies that support the federal crop insurance program. We find that as total payments to insurance companies increased between 2001 and 2009, an increasingly large share of the agricultural insurance industry’s rents accrued to insurance agents, although in markets where insurance companies possessed some oligopsony power, agent payments are smaller. The findings also suggest that the insurance industry (companies and independent agents) would almost surely provide the same service for substantially less than the gross revenues from the subsidies and underwriting gains they received.

Agriculture-nutrition linkages and child health in the presence of conflict in Nepal

Bageant, Elizabeth,Liu, Yanyan,Diao, Xinshen
Agriculture nutrition linkages and child health in the presence of conflict in Nepal Book PDF

Author : Bageant, Elizabeth,Liu, Yanyan,Diao, Xinshen
Publisher : Intl Food Policy Res Inst
Page : 40 pages
File Size : 50,9 Mb
Release : 2016-03-18
Category : Social Science
ISBN : 8210379456XXX

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Agriculture-nutrition linkages and child health in the presence of conflict in Nepal by Bageant, Elizabeth,Liu, Yanyan,Diao, Xinshen Pdf

Much policy and research attention has focused on the relationship between agriculture and nutrition. We extend this analysis to the context of Nepal’s decade-long civil conflict. Understanding how conflict or similar stress mitigates the agriculture-nutrition linkage is essential to developing impactful agriculture and nutrition policy in potential conflict zones. To our knowledge, there is no prior empirical work on the link between agriculture and nutrition in the context of conflict. We find a robust relationship between milk consumption and anthropometric outcomes. We also show a positive link between milk production and milk consumption at the household level. We find significant negative relationships between conflict and milk consumption for households owning few livestock while such relationships do not exist for larger holders. We attribute these heterogeneous effects to conflict-related productivity declines and milk price increases, both of which disproportionately affect households with fewer livestock and lower milk-production capacity. Among rural households in Nepal, milk production could serve as a nutritional buffer in times of conflict or other stress, and thus, policies that promote households’ livestock production could be effective measures in improving resilience of the rural poor against shocks that negatively affect child health outcomes.

Varietal integrity, damage abatement, and productivity

Ma, Xingliang,Smale, Melinda,Spielman, David J.,Zambrano, Patricia,Nazli, Hina,Zaidi, Fatima
Varietal integrity damage abatement and productivity Book PDF

Author : Ma, Xingliang,Smale, Melinda,Spielman, David J.,Zambrano, Patricia,Nazli, Hina,Zaidi, Fatima
Publisher : Intl Food Policy Res Inst
Page : 32 pages
File Size : 52,5 Mb
Release : 2016-04-07
Category : Political Science
ISBN : 8210379456XXX

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Varietal integrity, damage abatement, and productivity by Ma, Xingliang,Smale, Melinda,Spielman, David J.,Zambrano, Patricia,Nazli, Hina,Zaidi, Fatima Pdf

Bt cotton remains one of the most widely grown biotech crops among smallholder farmers. Numerous studies, including those previously conducted in Pakistan, attest to its yield and cost advantages. However, the effectiveness of Bt toxin, which depends on many technical constraints, is heterogeneous. Furthermore, in Pakistan, the diffusion of Bt cotton varieties occurred despite a weak regulatory system and without seed quality control; evidence demonstrates that varieties sold as Bt may not contain the genes or express them effectively. We use data collected from a sample that is statistically representative of the nation’s cotton growers to test the effects of Bt cotton use on productivity in a damage control framework. Unlike previous studies, we employ five measures of Bt identity: name, official approval status, farmer belief, laboratory tests of Bt presence in plant tissue, and biophysical assays measuring Bt effectiveness. Only farmers’ belief that a variety is Bt affects cotton productivity. Although all measures reduce damage from pests, the biophysical indicators have the largest effect, and official approval has the weakest. For applied economists, findings highlight the importance of getting the data right concerning Bt. For policy makers, they suggest the need, on ethical if not productivity grounds, to monitor variety integrity closer to point of sale.

Risk and sustainable crop intensification

Van Campenhout, Bjorn,Bizimungu, Emmanuel,Birungi, Dorothy
Risk and sustainable crop intensification Book PDF

Author : Van Campenhout, Bjorn,Bizimungu, Emmanuel,Birungi, Dorothy
Publisher : Intl Food Policy Res Inst
Page : 36 pages
File Size : 49,6 Mb
Release : 2016-04-15
Category : Political Science
ISBN : 8210379456XXX

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Risk and sustainable crop intensification by Van Campenhout, Bjorn,Bizimungu, Emmanuel,Birungi, Dorothy Pdf

To feed a growing and increasingly urbanized population, Uganda needs to increase crop production without further exhausting available resources. Therefore, smallholder farmers are encouraged to adopt sustainable crop intensification methods such as inorganic fertilizer or hybrid seeds. However, these farmers perceive these new technologies as risky hence adoption will depend on how well they can manage this additional risk. This paper documents patterns observed in socioeconomic data that suggest risk is an important barrier to sustainable crop intensification practices among Ugandan smallholder rice and potato farmers. In particular, we find that households that engage in risk management strategies, such as investing in risk-reducing technology or engaging in precautionary savings, are more likely to practice intensified cropping. However, our data also show only limited yield risk associated with the use of fertilizers or pesticides, suggesting part of the problem is related to perception. We also discuss the consequences for policy.