Impact Of Agricultural Market Reforms On Smallholder Farmers In ...

production, and women actually spend more time on non-agricultural activities. This is presumably
the result of the commercial and other opportunities associated with proximity to the major urban
centers and to Nigeria. The patterns of time allocation in Zou are unusual in that leisure and
personal time account for a larger part of the day than in other departments (see Table 4.1.35).
The allocation of time also varies across expenditure categories, although the differences are
surprisingly small. The time spent on agricultural production and post-harvest activities does not
vary consistently with expenditure category, nor does the time devoted to leisure or personal time.
Only two clear patterns are observed. First, both men and women in the higher expenditure
categories spend significantly more time on non-agricultural activities than do poor households.
Men and women each spend 2.2 hours on non-agricultural activities in the lowest expenditure
category, but 3.2-3.3 hours in the highest expenditure category. This is not surprising, given that
non-agricultural activities require skills and capital that generate higher returns than agricultural
activities. Second, the time women spend on household work, water collection, and wood
gathering declines in higher expenditure categories. Women spend 5.4 hours per day on these three
activities in the lowest expenditure category, compared to 4.7 hours in the highest category. This
decline may be associated with the purchase of fuelwood, access to more convenient water sources,
and the use of domestic employees to carry out these tasks (see Table 4.1.36).
Changes in time allocation
How has the allocation of time for men and women changed over time? The survey asks
farmers which activity (if any) occupies more of their day now than it did in 1992. Roughly half of
the respondents reported that there has been no change. The most commonly cited changes,
however, were an increase in the time devoted to agricultural production during the rainy season.
This was true for both men and women, cited by 31 percent and 24 percent of the households,
respectively. The second most commonly cited change was an increase in non-agricultural work
during the dry season, cited by 17-18 percent of households for both men and women (see Table
4.1.37).
These results could be read in two ways. Optimists would say that the economic reforms have been
successful in providing better incentives for agricultural production, as well as stimulating nonagricultural
activities in the off-season. Pessimists would argue that austerity has forced farmers to
spend more time on agricultural production to make ends meet and to spend more time on low-
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