Gender-patterned adoption of bundled sustainable agriculturalpractices among smallholder maize farmers in Zambia: Headshipand economic agency

Musowe Nsakilwa & Elias Kuntashula

Abstract
Gender-responsive programmes often use household headship as a proxy for women’s position, although it may not capture economic agency. This study examines the adoption of a bundle comprising crop rotation, minimum/zero tillage and residue retention among 582 maize-producing households in Mungwi and Senanga, Zambia. A nonlinear logit model estimated average marginal effects for 578 complete cases, with robust and camp-clustered inference, and Fairlie decomposition accounted for the female-headed–male-headed gap. The raw gap was positive but statistically insignificant. Female headship was negatively associated with adoption under robust inference (AME = -0.077; p = 0.043) but not after clustering (p = 0.103). Female/joint control over maize revenue was positively associated with adoption (AME = 0.234; clustered p = 0.002) and dominated the explained gap. Programmes should distinguish headship from control over agricultural benefits and tailor support to practice-specific and local constraints.