Effects of market gardening promotion on gender relations in rural households in Benin

Abstract

In developing countries, agricultural infrastructure and development programmes rarely include market gardens, particularly multifunctional family gardens. However, these gardens provide households with permanent access to food of good nutritional quality and contribute to sustainable human development. This study aims to assess the effects of market gardening promotion on the quality of meals and on gender relations in rural households in Benin. To this end, a survey was conducted among 143 gardeners, including 76 direct beneficiaries of interventions, 30 adopters and 37 non-beneficiaries (control households) in order to determine the transformations brought about by these home gardening infrastructures. As a result, 92% of the beneficiaries felt that the interventions had improved the nutritional quality of the meals and 78.37% of the non-beneficiaries felt that improved meals would facilitate the reduction of childhood diseases.  The Multiple Correspondence Analysis (MCA) combined with a Chi-square test revealed empowerment at the economic, social and psychological levels. The study shows that women gardeners who are beneficiaries of the intervention schemes enjoy greater economic and decision-making autonomy than their non-beneficiary counterparts. The study highlighted the indirect and invisible effects of the interventions aimed at the development of light infrastructure for the promotion of market gardening for domestic use on gender norms. These effects lead to social dynamics that promote equity and contribute to the achievement of sustainable development objectives.

Keywords: Market gardening infrastructure, multifunctional home gardens, nutrition, empowerment, sustainable development.

JEL Classification : H54, Q01.

Paper type: Empirical research.