Chapter 2: Determinants of Women’s Empowerment in Agriculture in Botswana: The Abbreviated Women’s Empowerment in Agriculture Index (A-WEAI) Approach

Women’s empowerment is a critical strategy for fostering development globally, particularly in the agricultural sector, where women often face gender inequalities. World Bank (2020) report a minimal fall in extreme poverty from 33% in 1990 to 10% in 2015. Despite this progress, Sub-Saharan Africa remains disproportionately affected, with 16.1% of Botswana population living in extreme poverty, particularly women (World Bank, 2020). Rural communities in developing nations often exhibit pronounced gender disparities, with men enjoying economic, social and political privileges than women (UNDP, 2013). These inequalities exacerbate poverty among women, prompting a global call for interventions aimed at empowering women, particularly in the agricultural sector.

In response to this global call, Botswana has initiated several interventions to promote women’s empowerment and poverty alleviation, notably through collaboration with Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs), Community-Based Organisations (CBOs) and women’s groups. These initiatives, supported by government funding, aim to empower women in entrepreneurship, reduction of poverty, education, food security, health and leadership (Government of Botswana, 2015, 2019). One such intervention is the Livestock Improvement and Infrastructure Development (LIMID) programme, launched in 2007 in the Ministry of Agriculture. LIMID’s aim is to improve food security and poverty eradication. This programme prioritises women and youth, particularly through its small-stock package, offering support to eradicate poverty (Moreki et al., 2010).

The LIMID programme’s small-stock package falls under the ‘resource-poor’ component, providing with a grant worth 220 USD from which the ministry facilitates the purchase of a herd stock. The herd size varied from 30 to 18 since prices changed over time. Additionally, the veterinary requisites and one week’s training on small stock were to be provided by extension agents (Ministry of Agriculture, 2010). The small stock package was in high demand in the Central district, with more than 20,000 from which approximately 9,000 were women. However, few empirical studies have comprehensively assessed the programme’s impact on women’s empowerment in agriculture and poverty eradication. Moreki et al. (2010) evaluated the adoption of LIMID’s packages across gender lines but failed to explore how the programme empowered its female users. Although the LIMID programme intended to eradicate poverty, it is important to diagnose the empowerment status of women in order to allow for adjustments and improvements as a strategy to achieve poverty eradication goals. Empowerment status can be influenced by the implementation of the general programme and household dynamics of the beneficiaries (Alkire et al., 2013).

Various scholars have employed different approaches to assess women’s empowerment within agricultural contexts. For instance,Doss et al. (2018) used the asset ownership and control while Kabeer (2005) used the access to credit and financial resources. Sharma and Varma (2016) focused on women’s participation in agricultural cooperatives and networks, and Agarwal (1994) emphasised policy and legal frameworks. However, these approaches often concentrate on specific sections of the agricultural value chain and do not holistically track gender-based progress.

To evaluate the effect of LIMID programme’s influence on women’s empowerment status in agriculture, this study employed the Abbreviated Women’s Empowerment in Agriculture Index (A-WEAI). The A-WEAI is a sector-specific tool designed to measure empowerment through five domains: decision-making in agricultural activities, decision-making in household income and resource ownership, participation in groups and time-use/workload. The study in evaluating the LIMID small-stock programme vis-à-vis women’s empowerment in agriculture proposed the following specific objectives:

1. Examine the household dynamics, management practices of women.

2. Investigate the status of women’s empowerment in agriculture of the LIMID programme.

3. Explore the relationships between household dynamics, perceived effectiveness of the programme, perceived attributes and women’s empowerment in agriculture.

4. Examine factors that best predict women’s empowerment in agriculture of the LIMID programme.

Three main theories that underpin this study were as follows:

• Theory of Agency ‘power’: Kabeer (2005) defines empowerment as a process enabling individuals previously restricted from making strategic life choices to gain the capacity to do so, encompassing agency (the ability to act), resources and achievements. This shift from disempowerment to empowerment allows individuals to make impactful decisions. Rowlands (1995) further categorises power into ‘power to’ (exercising agency for self or others), ‘power over’ (controlling actions/resources) and ‘power with’ (collective collaboration), emphasising both personal and collective power within close relationships and household decision-making. The concept of agency aligns with the A-WEAI (Women’s Empowerment in Agriculture Index), which measures decision-making, access to resources and mobility. However, A-WEAI has faced criticism for being context-specific and not fully capturing intra-household decision dynamics or women’s perspectives.

• Theory of Critical Consciousness: Freire (1996) asserts that critical consciousness awareness of social and cultural influences is essential for empowerment, combining with agency and resource access to drive the empowerment process. This view aligns with Rowlands (1995), who highlights how household power dynamics can create inequalities. Asghar et al. (2013) further support this by noting that household characteristics, such as demographics, employment and lifestyle, significantly affect women’s empowerment. In this study, the theory of critical consciousness is used to examine how socio-demographic and household factors influence women’s empowerment, particularly in agricultural contexts, enabling a detailed understanding of the supportive or obstructive elements in empowerment processes.

• Implementation Theory: Implementation theory also emphasises on the execution of the programme’s activities relative to planned activities. The theory expresses ‘the essence of how programme activities are presumed to affect the mechanisms of change identified when initiating the programme, that is, the process of implementation’ (Scheirer, 1987, p. 40). In this study, the theory was applied to measure the views on how they judge the implementation of the LIMID small-stock components as outlined in the guidelines based on their experience. The implementation of the LIMID programme determines the effectiveness of the programme, which directly has a relationship with the empowerment status.

• Women’s Household Dynamics: In this sub-section, the literature focused on socio-demographics and household composition since they form household dynamics of women. The section is based on the theory of ‘Critical Consciousness’ by Freire (1996), which was further elaborated by Asghar et al. (2013). The main reason is that the household dynamics of the women affect women empowerment and hence the importance of looking into them.

In this section, we focused on relevant topics that informed the objectives and the conceptual framework of the study.

The success of agricultural programmes relies on effective implementation, adherence to plans and budgeting. Poor follow-through on planned activities often leads to unmet goals, as seen in Uganda, where inadequate execution contributed to programme failure (Ministry of Finance, Planning and Economic Development, 2015), and in Nigeria, where strong initial planning did not prevent failures in later stages (Matthew & Olatunji, 2016). In contrast, South Africa’s consistent monitoring of livestock programmes has yielded positive outcomes (Moerane, 2018). Transparency and accountability are crucial to prevent beneficiary exploitation (Harb & Leland, 2018) while participatory evaluation methods allow necessary adjustments to meet beneficiary needs (Jay-Hyung et al., 2020). The LIMID programme, launched in Botswana in 2007, seeks to boost food security, livestock productivity and poverty reduction. Its goals include improved management of small-stock, better use of range resources and safer poultry processing infrastructure. Designed to aid resource-poor farmers with low income or limited livestock, LIMID provides with small-stock packages, veterinary kits and extension support. Extension agents conduct monthly project monitoring, while manage their herds, which remain government property for five years, with restrictions on selling or slaughtering livestock for the first three years.

According to Rogers (1983), people evaluate innovations based on five perceived attributes: relative advantage, compatibility, complexity, trialability and observability while Ramayah (2010) adds voluntariness as a sixth attribute. Research shows that positive perceptions of an innovation or programme often led to its successful adoption (Jayashankar et al., 2018). From an empowerment perspective, positive views can enhance motivation among end users, which Sibota (2010) links to empowerment. Motivation is seen as a critical initial stage of empowerment, fostering self-awareness among the programme’s target users.

In agriculture, empowerment involves the ability to make decisions regarding agricultural practices and access essential resources (Alkire et al., 2013). In Sub-Saharan Africa, women constitute a significant portion of the agricultural workforce, dedicating about 60% of their time to farming (Brenton et al., 2011; Njobe & Kaaria, 2015). However, gender disparities in resource access and decision-making remain prevalent. While organisations advocate for gender parity in agricultural sustainability, women’s empowerment is still insufficiently addressed (Montpellier Panel, 2013). In South Africa, women’s empowerment in agriculture is linked to improved food availability and household nutrition (Makhubele et al., 2021), yet capacity-building efforts are inadequate. Barriers such as limited market access, credit and business skills impede women’s income generation (Botlhale, 2017). In Botswana, social values and gender role myths further restrict women’s participation in agriculture (Must and Hovorka, 2019). The Women’s Empowerment in Agriculture Index (WEAI) serves as a tool to measure women’s empowerment, agency, and gender inclusion in agriculture. The WEAI is based on individual-level data from household surveys, evaluating both men and women using the Alkire-Foster method for multidimensional poverty. It comprises two sub-indices: one measuring women’s empowerment across five domains (Five Domains of Empowerment [5DE]) – decision-making over agricultural activities, access to and control over productive resources, control over income use, community leadership and time allocation – and the other evaluating gender parity within households. These domains help identify areas for enhancing empowerment and track improvements over time.

The conceptual framework (Fig. 2.1) outlines the interactions between household dynamics, programme implementation, perceptions and socioeconomic benefits on women’s empowerment within the LIMID programme. The general implications are that, based on the theory of implementation, if a LIMID programme is well implemented using appropriate measures, it would increase small stock production, which may shift the women’s power over their lives as emphasised by the theory of power. The theory of critical consciousness considers the social dynamics in households that determines the agency and power of women over their lives and accessibility of resources important in small-stock production. Literature also shows that perceived attributes influence the effectiveness of the implementation and adoption of the programme or innovation (Rodgers, 1983).

The study was conducted in the Central District of Botswana. A concurrent mixed-methods research design was employed, blending both qualitative (focus group interviews) and quantitative approaches (survey) to gather comprehensive data (Plano Clark, 2017; Wisdom & Cresswell, 2013).

This study used a complex multistage sampling technique to randomly select four districts (clusters) from a list of seven districts: Mahalapye, Boteti, Tutume and Palapye. Thereafter, the beneficiaries from the selected clusters were selected using simple random sampling. In total, the study required 370 female participants for the survey.

The dependent variable was women’s empowerment, A-WEAI. The index consists of 5DE.

Descriptive statistics were used to summarise the data while linear regression analysis was used to identify the key determinants of women’s empowerment in agriculture such as socio-demographics characteristics and household dynamics. The focus group interviews were analysed using thematic analysis with 48 female participants.

Majority (84.9%) were adults aged 25–64 while 15% were elders aged 65 and above. Also, the majority of the women (60.50%) were single, 20% were married while the rest were either widowed (13.00%), cohabiting (4.90%) or divorced (1.60%). Also, the majority (78.10%) had pre-tertiary education from primary to senior secondary level.

In terms of employment status, six out of every 10 were not officially employed with any agency. The mean years of experience in small stock farming were 4.71 ± 2.46. About 66% and 31.6% had 1–5 years and 6–10 years of small stock farming experience.

Majority of the respondents (65.1%) were from female-headed households. This suggests that most participants belong to a relatively more disadvantaged demographic group compared to other groups within the country.

Female-headed households in Botswana often face distinct challenges, particularly in agricultural production (Lesetedi, 2018). This situation places LIMID at a potential disadvantage, as women in such households typically encounter more difficulties in managing agricultural activities effectively (Marenya et al., 2015).

During the focus group discussions, beneficiaries reported living with extended family members, including parents, nieces, nephews and uncles, due to a lack of adequate housing. Some participants mentioned owning residential plots but having not yet constructed homes. This situation has resulted in larger household sizes with insufficient accommodation and food resources. One middle-aged woman in Boteti sub-district explained that:

Additionally, women indicated that the large number of dependants, predominantly youth, does not necessarily support effective small-stock production, as the younger family members are often less involved in or capable of managing agricultural tasks. For instance, during the focus group discussions, one beneficiary narrated that:

These findings highlight the complex interplay between household dynamics, economic challenges and agricultural productivity. Extended family systems, while providing social support, can also impose additional burdens on women, particularly in agricultural contexts where efficient resource management is crucial (Marenya et al., 2015; Ramabu, 2020).

Most of the participants (77.00%) practise village farming while the rest are either keeping their small stock at the arable land settlements (18.00%) or the cattle posts (5.00%). Also, 287 (77.57%) stay with their animals.

In Botswana, there are three known rural settlements namely, villages, arable lands and cattle posts (Magole & Kgomotso, 2018) with the most preferred being the cattle posts for livestock farming. During the focus group discussion, a beneficiary from Palapye explained that:

A beneficiary among them added that:

This finding reflects broader socio-economic dynamics in rural communities where livelihood decisions are often influenced by family responsibilities and the need for supplemental income. Village settlements offer women greater opportunities to meet these needs despite the agricultural advantages of cattle posts.

Despite large household sizes, most do not receive household help, as animal ownership is primarily the women’s responsibility. This was further stressed during the focus group discussions as a beneficiary at Tutume indicated that:

Table 2.1 presents the women’s empowerment scores across various domains within the agricultural sector.

The overall empowerment score (0.79) reflects cumulative progress (i.e. nearly satisfactory empowerment) across these domains, but given the low individual scores in critical areas like control over income and access to resources, the overall figure may still indicate that significant challenges remain. Economic empowerment through income control, improved access to resources and time management are interconnected and critical to sustainable empowerment outcomes.

Firstly, decisions over agricultural production (Mean = 0.19) evaluates the extent to which women are involved in making decisions about agricultural production. The low mean score (0.19) indicates that women in the LIMID programme have limited decision-making power over agricultural production. This highlights the historical marginalisation of women in agriculture across Sub-Saharan Africa, where decision-making often remains male-dominated, even in households where women contribute significantly to production activities (Doss, 2018). Strengthening women’s participation in decision-making is crucial for their empowerment, as control over production decisions directly affects their ability to influence the outcomes of agricultural interventions.

Control over income (Mean = 0.20), reflects women have limited control over the income generated from agricultural activities. Economic empowerment is pivotal to overall empowerment, as control over income is closely linked to improved household bargaining power, agency and decision-making capacity (Kabeer, 2005). In many cases, women’s lack of financial autonomy limits their ability to invest in further agricultural inputs or contribute to household welfare effectively, as seen in similar contexts.

Access to resources (Mean = 0.14) such as land, livestock and inputs is essential for agricultural productivity and sustainability. This domain shows that women in the LIMID programme have restricted access and decision-making power over these critical resources. Literature consistently shows that women’s access to land and other productive assets in Sub-Saharan Africa is highly constrained due to legal, cultural and institutional barriers (FAO, 2015). Enhancing women’s access to and control over productive resources is essential for achieving agricultural productivity and empowerment outcomes.

Furthermore, time-use is a key aspect of empowerment, reflecting the ability to allocate time between productive and reproductive responsibilities. The extremely low score in this domain (Mean = 0.09) suggests that women participating in LIMID face significant time constraints, likely due to their dual responsibilities in domestic and agricultural work. This resonates with findings by Oxfam (2017), which highlight that women’s unpaid care work limits their ability to engage in income-generating activities and participate fully in agricultural decision-making.

Lastly, leadership reflects women’s participation in community groups and their influence within those spaces. The mean score (0.17) indicates low involvement in leadership roles, which could limit women’s capacity to advocate for their needs and influence community-level decisions. Women’s participation in collective action and leadership roles is essential for asserting their rights and gaining access to resources. This limited engagement could stem from socio-cultural norms that marginalise women in public decision-making, which is a common barrier across many African contexts.

Being married is associated with lower empowerment compared to women in other marital categories (r_bi = −0.229**). Suggesting that married women have less autonomy in decision-making due to shared responsibilities with spouses. Women in dual households are less empowered than those in woman-only households (r_bi = −0.227**). This may be because women in dual households share control over resources and decision-making whereas women in woman-only households have more autonomy.

Women who farm in village settlements are significantly less empowered (r_bi = −0.641**) than those in other types of farming settlements (e.g., cattle posts or arable land). The associations reflect the challenges village women face, such as limited access to grazing lands, water and other productive resources due to household dynamics.

Again, animal health shows a positive Pearson correlation (r = 0.107*), indicating that better animal health is associated with higher empowerment. This suggests that managing animal health effectively contributes to increased productivity and empowerment in agriculture, as healthy livestock is key to small-stock production success.

Additionally, ease of use of the LIMID programme has a positive correlation (r = 0.127*), implying that women who find the programme easier feel more empowered. Simplifying the programme’s processes could therefore enhance women’s participation and overall empowerment. The study results support the theory of women’s empowerment (WOCAN, 2016), which states that relevant stakeholders of women’s empowerment programme must provide capacity building for the development programme to be a success. Women who perceive the programme as something they can experiment with are more empowered (r = 0.129*). This emphasises the importance of flexibility and adaptability in agricultural programmes to boost women’s engagement. When women feel that participation in programmes is voluntary and self-driven, they are more empowered (r = 0.153*). In other words indicate that women taking decisions on their own accord promotes positive acceptance of the programmes and hence devotion to making it work because they are not forced into it.

Fig. 2.2 presents a linear regression of the determinants of women’s empowerment in agriculture accounting for the most important predictors based on a stepwise approach. The results show that only four (4) significantly predicted women’s empowerment in agriculture namely farming settlement, household type, animal feeding and perceived observability of the programme.

These four predictors accounted for a total of 45.9% of the variance in women’s empowerment. Farming settlement was the overall best predictor, contributing 40.90% to the 45.90% variance of women’s empowerment followed by household type (3.50%), feeding (0.90%) and observability (0.60%).

Farming settlement has shown to be the best predictor of women’s empowerment in agriculture. The results indicate that women who farm in the village are less empowered in agriculture than those in arable land and cattle post. This confirms that the type of farming settlement affects women’s empowerment.

Despite this, the beneficiaries explained that they are obliged to farm in the village because they have a lot of responsibilities in the village such as taking care of the school children and opportunities of getting casual work among others. As a result, the beneficiaries’ stock-herds do not increase in size because they are exposed to death when they trespass; thieves since they are not herded all day due to inadequate labour; poor feeding and limited water intake. All these challenges limit women from economically benefiting from small-stock production.

Women’s household type (1 = Dual, 0 = Woman only) was the second-best predictor of women’s empowerment in agriculture, contributing 3.50% of the 45.90% of the variance. The negative association (−0.060) shows that women belonging to woman only household are more empowered than those from dual households. This suggests that household type has an effect on women’s empowerment, which is influenced by the intra-household decision-making of other members. This confirms the theory of consciousness described by Freire (1996) that household dynamics affect women’s empowerment.

The third best predictor of women’s empowerment was animal feeding. This is understandable because animal feeding is one of the management practices that form the basis of health and reproduction hence determining the outputs of livestock production.

Farmers need to know what and when to provide feed supplements to correct any deficiency, hence promoting good health and production (Spencer, 2018). In this manner, the women need extension guidance in feeding their animals to promote high production since it is not easy to manage animal feeding in free range (Baleseng et al., 2016). Agricultural extension which provides capacity building is important in women’s empowerment and should be applied strategically since women face stumbling blocks to access it due to cultural practices as is the case in Ghana (Omondi et al., 2022). This may lead to poor production and eventually low empowerment from livestock production (Bonye et al., 2012).

The last best predictor of women’s empowerment in agriculture is the perceived observability of the LIMID programme. Logically, women having a positive perception of the LIMID programme being doable gives hope of achieving its mandate of empowering them and hence would take it up. Therefore, the extension agents should use method and result demonstration when teaching farmers in order for the beneficiaries to appreciate the whole production process and the end results (Adiyoga, 2021). This is a way of triggering motivation on women and encouragement to do more in their small-stock production as was the case with ornamental farmers in Florida (Warner et al., 2019).

The study concludes that the LIMID programme in Botswana’s Central District is primarily utilised by adults, with limited participation from youth. Most belong to dual households and engage in village farming, which has contributed to inadequate implementation of the programme due to deviations from established guidelines. Challenges related to extension services and small-stock production were identified, stemming from blueprint management and insufficient support from extension agents. Although the programme is seen as trailable, observable and advantageous, it was perceived as complex and not fully compatible with the daily lives of women. While women’s empowerment under the A-WEAI (Women’s Empowerment in Agriculture Index) was nearly satisfactory, further improvements are needed to exceed the empowerment threshold. The results have shown that beneficiaries have control over household income, agricultural production, resources and group involvement. Women’s empowerment was significantly influenced by household dynamics (such as household type, marital status and farming settlement), small-stock management (including animal health) and perceived attributes of the programme (like ease of use and trialability). Overall, empowerment was found to depend largely on household settlement and dynamics, followed by small-stock management and programme observability.

The study recommends that women form or join agricultural groups to enhance production, access extension services and improve market opportunities. It suggests that the Ministry of Agriculture adopt participatory and pluralistic extension approaches. Rational resource allocation is also essential. To ease women’s household burdens, the introduction of gender-transformative approaches, such as labour-saving technologies, is encouraged. Integrated farming also must be introduced to women to farm in their compatible and preferred farming settlement, that is arable lands, hence diversifying income generation, saving time and reducing workload which is disempowering them. Additionally, improving rural infrastructure, particularly roads, will enhance market access and attract investors.

Government policies should prioritise targeted support for female-headed households, including increased access to resources, training and support services tailored specifically for women to help bridge the empowerment gap linked to single-gender households. The study emphasises the need for increased opportunities to observe successful implementation of programme components, such as improved livestock management and production techniques, through on-farm demonstrations, success story showcases and peer visits. Additionally, the extension service should promote greater harmony and shared decision-making between couples and household members. The Ministry of Agriculture should customise extension services to meet the unique needs of various farming settlements, addressing local challenges and enhancing access to knowledge and resources.