Can Farmer Collectives Empower Women and Improve Their Welfare? Mixed Methods Evidence from India
研究评估印度女性专属农民生产者组织（FPO）干预对农业产出和女性赋权的影响，发现对产量和收入无显著效果，但改善了女性决策权和资产所有权，同时增加了劳动负担。
Farmer Producer Organisations (FPOs) mitigate constraints smallholder farmers face by improving access to extension, services, and markets, especially for women. Although FPO-focused interventions are widely studied, little evidence integrates gender-sensitive approaches. We evaluate interventions delivered through women-only FPOs in India, using a difference-in-differences model with matching. Complementary qualitative work triangulates findings. Interventions aimed to improve agricultural productivity and empower women by coordinating production and improving access to services, alongside gender sensitisation training. We collect household data on asset ownership and agricultural outcomes and individual empowerment using the Women’s Empowerment in Agriculture Index for Market Inclusion. We find no effects on land cultivation, normalised yields, revenues, or costs. Effects on empowerment are mixed: positive effects on women’s decision-making, asset ownership, control over income, and rejection of intimate partner violence, but increased workloads and reduced group membership for men and women. Qualitative results reveal the intervention allowed women to spend less time on marketing and more on preferred tasks. Men report ceding some control over resources and decision-making, while retaining power over assets and decisions. Additional analysis suggests some effects accrue quickly, while others take time. FPO-based interventions likely require multi-year investments that go beyond improving FPO functioning and transforming gender norms.