AUTHOR=Rietveld Anne M. , van der Burg Margreet 

TITLE=Separate and Joint Interests: Understanding Gendered Innovation Processes in Ugandan Farm Systems

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Sustainable Food Systems

VOLUME=Volume 5 - 2021

YEAR=2021

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/sustainable-food-systems/articles/10.3389/fsufs.2021.666051

DOI=10.3389/fsufs.2021.666051

ISSN=2571-581X

ABSTRACT=Agricultural innovation is considered paramount in solving poverty, food insecurity and malnutrition in the global south and notably in the East-African highlands. However, processes of change surrounding innovation in agriculture, and potential gender differences in their impacts, are often poorly understood. This paper uses principles from Farming Systems Research (FSR) to study agricultural innovation processes to increase understanding of the differential ways men and women engage with and are impacted by agricultural innovation(s). 
We analyze qualitative data from twelve Focus Group Discussions conducted in two communities (six FGDs per community) located in Central and Western Uganda. Our focus is on data about the most important agricultural innovations for men and women in the community. We list and discuss these most important innovations and zoom in on one innovation per site: ‘Use of herbicides’ in Central Uganda and ‘New agronomic practices for intensified highland banana production’ in Western Uganda.
Results show that women and men have both separate and joint interests and that adoption of an innovation by one gender, will affect the other too. These effects can be multifold, with positive and negative elements. Women’s ability to innovate is constrained as compared to men because gender norms limit women’s agency in relation to mobility and financial independence amongst others. The two innovations studied were found to alter some gender roles and relations but did not unambiguously contribute to increasing gender equality.