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Abstract
Using data from fieldwork conducted in Nepal, the impact of a project designed to
commercialize vegetables and fruits—the Vegetable and Fruit Cash Crop Program
(VFC)—on male and female time allocation is examined. Using a rigorous time
collection methodology, activity patterns in households that adopt and do not adopt the
new technology are profiled. Very few studies examine changing activity patterns of both
men and women in response to commercialization of agriculture. Though women’s time
is valuable in agriculture, it is also valuable in the production of child nutrition. The
recent evolution in thinking as to the causes of child malnutrition—the three pillars being
food intake, health, and time to care—warrants further analyses of the time trade-offs that
women and men face when adopting new agricultural technologies.
The VFC program was successful at targeting both men and women farmers in
the sense that household participation resulted in increased head male and head female
time spent growing vegetables and fruits. The responses varied, however, by the number
of preschool children in residence. In households with more than one preschooler, the
time trade-offs associated with VFC participation were not sizeable for the care of
children under 5 years. In households with just one preschooler, the trade-offs were more
important. In these households, preschoolers received less care from the male and female
heads, who spent more time in both the cash crop and in the food crop. In these same
households, the nonwork (leisure) time of men increased as a result of VFC participation,
but for women, leisure time was unaffected. Thus in the short run, there is perhaps scope
for protecting childcare time by reducing time to leisure. In the medium run, benefits may
well accrue to unborn preschoolers if VFC participation empowers women.