Effect of Technology Innovation on Gender Roles: A case of Fruit Fly IPM Strategy on Women s Decision Making in Mango Production and Marketing in Kenya

Improved technology or production strategies increases returns in agriculture. This escalates women loss of control to agricultural production and marketing due persistent gender disparities in access to productive resources. The International Centre of Insect Physiology and Ecology (icipe) developed an Integrated Pest Management (IPM) strategy for suppression of mango fruit flies among smallholder mango farmers in sub-Saharan Africa. Despite the impressive direct impacts of the icipe s fruit fly IPM strategy, no study had been conducted to determine whether adoption of the strategy has any influence on gender roles in mango production and marketing decision-making. A sample of 600 households from Machakos County was used to investigate the impact of the fruit fly IPM strategy on the gender roles in mango production and marketing decision making. The results showed thatthe proportion of women involved in decision making decreased in 9 of the 13 mango production and marketing decisions. Female spouse access to training, membership to a mango production or marketing group, access to credit, proportion of investment in mango production significantly influenced theirdecision making index. Acknowledgement : The authors would like to acknowledge the Department for International Development (DFID) for financial support. We are also thankful to the African Fruit Fly Programme (AFFP), International Center for Insect Psychology and Ecology (ICIPE), and all farmers who volunteered information and enumerators for their effort.