International Journal of Agricultural Policy and Research

Original Research Article

Socio-economic and cultural realities limiting agricultural women’s access to land in the commune of Zakpota in the Republic of Benin

Nestor Alokpaï*1,Tèko Augustin Kouévi2 and Bernice Sètondé Mahunon1


1School of Rural Sociology and Agricultural Extension; National University of Agriculture, Republic of Benin,
2School of Economics, Socio-Anthropology and Communication for rural development; Faculty of Agricultural Sciences; University of Abomey-Calavi, Republic of Benin

*Corresponding Author Email: alones2025(at)yahoo.fr

Tél: 00229) 97 52 54 56

Nestor Alokpaï

Tèko Augustin Kouévi

Bernice Sètondé Mahunon


Article Number: IJAPR.23.008  |   Pages: 79-90  |   Vol. 10 (3), November 2023   |   DOI: https://doi.org/10.15739/IJAPR.23.008

 Received: August 19, 2023  Accepted: October 19, 2023  Published: November 1, 2023

Abstract

Despite their strong presence in agricultural production, very few women inherit or own land despite the existence of laws that give them full rights to do so. This paper aims to fill the gap of understanding of the factors that hinder access to land for agricultural women in the Commune of Zakpota in the Republic of Benin. To achieve this goal, we used socio-anthropological strategies to interview forty-six (46) women farmers and sixteen (16) men, heads of agricultural households, for data collection. The tools used for data collection were participant observation grid, survey questionnaire and an interview guide. Content-based analysis, access to and control of resources analysis, and constraints prioritizing grid were the methods used for data analysis. Results highlight several factors that hinder women farmers’ access to land in the study area. In descending order of importance, these are: traditional norms and considerations related to access to land, women’s poor purchasing power, women’s low level of education, poor access to information and women’s psychological predispositions shaped over time by their social activities and environment. Thus, this study has demonstrated that women’s rights to land remain almost a taboo in Benin like in many other Sub-Saharan African countries. Therefore, relevant actions need to be taken to remedy this discriminatory vice in order to achieve sustainable development.

Keywords: Social anthropology, Gender, Access to land, Hindering factors, central Benin

How to Cite this Article

Alokpaï N, Kouévi TA Mahunon BS(2023).Socio-economic and cultural realities limiting agricultural women’s access to land in the commune of Zakpota in the Republic of Benin. Int. J. Agric. Pol. Res.11 (3):79-90. Doi:https://doi.org/10.15739/IJAPR.23.008

© 2023 The authors.
This is an Open Access article that is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0) and the Budapest Open Access Initiative (http://www.budapestopenaccessinitiative.org/read), which allow unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly credited.


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