Research report - A Plot of One's Own: Gender Relations and Irrigated Land Allocation Policies in Burkina Faso

This 1997 Research Report written by Margreet Zwarteveen, and published by IIMI (International Irrigation Management Institute) presents the findings of a case study carried out in the Dakiri irrigation system in Burkina Faso in 1995.

Land allocation policies in command areas of new irrigation systems rarely allow women to obtain an irrigated plot. Plots are normally given to heads of households only, the majority of whom are men. This study explored the effects of the allocation of plots to both men and women, by comparing the households in which only men are plot-holders with those in which both men and women have access to irrigated plots.The findings of the study in Dakiri show that both the productivity of land and the productivity of labor are higher in irrigation systems where both men and women have plots. Income of women increases sharply, while the proportion of labor contributed by women to men’s plots is virtually the same. It is important to recognize that households where both men and women have plots have more irrigated land than households where only men have plots, but the evidence suggests that allocating smaller plots separately to men and women would have positive production and social benefits.

Please download the pdf of this research report below.

Zwarteveen_plot_of_one_s_own.pdf  (400 kB)