Gender and Agricultural Extension in Burkina Faso

A national survey of 2,406 agricultural households in Burkina Faso revealed that only five percent of the households were "headed" by women, but that nineteen percent of the plots farmed by these households were actively managed by women. Both government (Training and Visit) and non-government (NGO) extension programs were provided to survey farms. This study attempts to measure the effects of these programs on the role of women as farm managers. The study concludes that the provision of higher levels of both government and NGO extension programs to agricultural households stimulates an increase in plot management by women farmers. Plots managed by women have crop yields similar to those on plots managed by men.