Round II: Gender-disaggregated household survey data on rural women empowerment and technological change in wheat, Madhya Pradesh

This dataset was generated as part of a research project that aimed to identify relevant gender considerations associated with wheat varietal development and the modifications required in wheat seed value chains in order to ensure inclusive diffusion of varieties and faster varietal turnover. Understanding the role that women play in agricultural production decisions is now widely considered as a pre-requisite to attain food security and alleviate poverty. There have been studies conducted on gender-sensitive breeding on a number of crops, however there are no evidence with respect to wheat in India. The role of gender-sensitive seed and information networks, which could facilitate the spread of varietal technologies ensuring social inclusiveness, is also rarely examined. The lack of control of women over the benefits from participation in value chains and gender discrimination in access to complementary inputs such as credit could be the reasons for not carrying out such analysis. However, when technology interventions do not capture gender-specific preferences for traits of varieties and dissemination networks, intra-household disparities in workloads and incomes persist or even worsen over time. This could also result in a lower rate of adoption by farm households. The study was conducted in the wheat growing tracts of Madhya Pradesh, with the the following research outputs expected. 1. Gender-specific farmer preferences for (a) wheat varietal traits and (b) attributes of seed and information networks are elicited. 2. Solutions to meet heterogeneous demand through inclusive delivery of improved wheat varieties among men and women farmers are identified and the associated transaction costs are estimated. The empirical part of this study was conducted in three districts of Madhya Pradesh, India – Jabalpur, Mandla and Damoh – where one round of farm household survey and focus group discussions had been already completed one year ago. In 2018, a first-round of farm household survey was conducted among 400 households in Madhya Pradesh (Dataset Persistent ID: hdl:11529/10548897). We interviewed both male and female heads (i.e., a total of 800 interviews). Questions were asked on women’s role in decision making and their involvement in farm-household activities. In addition to farm household surveys, 60 sex-specific focus group discussions were conducted with male and female farmers. The results revealed that the varietal turnover rate in wheat is significantly low in this region, with most farmers cultivating age-old varieties such as Lok 1. The same farm households were interviewed in 2018, to form the current dataset. The aim was to better understand their preferences for wheat varietal traits (e.g., early maturing; suitability for chapatti making, drought tolerance etc.). Choice experiments and contingent valuation approaches will be used to elicit farmer preference for varietal attributes. The elicited preferences will be explained using data from the 2018 survey.