With a population of over one billion people, Sub-Saharan Africa represents one of thepoorest regions of the world. Efforts to eradicate global poverty require substantial economicgrowth in this region. Similar to other developing countries, a large percent of the population inthis region is engaged in agriculture. Hence, increasing agricultural productivity is crucial forimproving the well-being of the people of this region.My dissertation is motivated by two key observations that hold across most developingcountries. The first is that a majority of the population derives at least part of their income fromagricultural activities. Therefore, any efforts to reduce poverty will require greater agriculturalproductivity. This requires understanding how farmers make productivity-enhancing and otheragricultural decisions. The second observation is that while policy-makers have been concernedwith poverty across households, there is considerable variation in well-being within households.Women have historically been disadvantaged within households, and continue to be in manyparts of the world. A greater emphasis needs to be placed on measuring intrahousehold welfare,and understanding the heterogeneous impact of policies on different household members.Poverty reduction policies should consider individuals within a household, rather than thehousehold itself, as the appropriate unit of observation.My dissertation focuses on understanding the agricultural decisions of households inBurkina Faso. Adopting an intrahousehold decision-making approach, I study how input allocation decisions are made between family members and how they can affect each other. Ialso analyze how weather shocks can affect agriculture and access to productive assets necessaryfor income generation.In chapter two, I study the fertilizer subsidy program in Burkina Faso. I find that while itincreases fertilizer use and productivity of farmers, the increase is concentrated amongst malefarmers. In fact, fertilizer use for female farmers in the same households decreases. Therefore,men mostly benefit from the program.The third chapter develops a theoretical model of how agricultural inputs, such asfertilizer, are allocated between fields managed by different family members. The model showsthat individuals can engage in strategic behavior to influence the labor allocation decisions ofother family members. In the empirical analysis, I find there is substantial allocative inefficiencywithin households. Reallocating inputs from the household head’s fields can substantiallyincrease agricultural production and improve equity within the family. Therefore, the fertilizersubsidy program and similar initiatives should consider targeting women and younger males.Given increasing climate variability in Burkina Faso, the fourth chapter studies theeffects of floods and droughts on agriculture, and how households cope with these shocks. I findthat droughts lead to less land being cultivated and lower crop yields, while floods lead to lowercrop yields. Households sell and consume livestock during floods, but mostly rely on otherstrategies during droughts. During these weather shocks, the gender asset gap increases due tosubstantial sale of female-owned livestock. This leads to the ill-effects of weather shockspersisting for women over time. I also find that while households liquidate more livestock if theyhave a baby boy to sustain consumption levels, they do not do so if a baby girl is present. Thissuggests that baby girls are more vulnerable to negative economic shocks early in their lives.
Read
