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Contract Farming in Mexico: A Gendered Analysis
By: Sarah Van Houten
Professor Priti Ramamurthy
3/1510
SIS 345

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Agriculture remains to be one of the most important economic sectors in Latin America
as well as the entire developing world. Agriculture is instrumental in transforming the economic
and social framework of the rural economy as it has the potential to expand the level of
opportunity employment, enhance income distribution and reduce the level of poverty (D’Silva
1). However, due to the increase in market liberalization, information and communication
technology, financial capital mobility and other factors concerning the global economy, many of
the food and agricultural systems of rural communities are being forced to modernize (1). One of
the more modern methods of agricultural activities that have been expanded over the years,
especially in the developing world, to counteract the threat of globalization is contract farming.
Contract farming offers many benefits for growers, including access to new markets, technical
assistance, specialized inputs, and financial resources. Contract farming has the potential to
incorporate low-income growers into the modern sector and can be used as an effective
instrument for using agriculture for development (Runsten and Key 35). However, the effects of
contract farming are not universal as they vary between regions and also between sexes. This
paper will discuss the success of contract farming in rural communities of Mexico in terms of
promoting economic development and equalizing income distribution. With women acting as
crucial agents in the agricultural sector of these communities, I will then analyze the impact of
contract farming and other modernization methods on women and their own progress towards
income equality and social development. I will conclude this paper with a gendered analysis of
development and a discussion of the effectiveness of various development policies and
ideologies in improving the lives of women.
Contract Farming: Theory
Contract farming is the negotiation between producers of an agricultural product and the

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buyers, or processors of that product. The goal of contract farming is to connect the rural farmer
with the large agribusiness corporations to both improve the efficiency of production as well as
integrate the grower into the national and world markets. There are three categories of contracts:
market specification, resource providing, and production management. The first, market-
specification contract are “pre-harvest agreements that bind the firm and the grower to a specific
set of conditions that govern the crop.” Resource-providing contracts “oblige the processor to
supply crop inputs, extension, or credit, in exchange for a marketing agreement.” Production
management contracts bind the farmer to follow a particular production method in exchange for
a marketing agreement or resource provision (Runsten and Key 2). Contract farming, when
successful, has the potential to replace the state as private firms compete through contracts to
provide the credit, inputs and services farmers need to cultivate market lucrative non traditional
crops (2). It is also argued that by incorporating farmers into the global economy, contract
farming can decrease the income stratification between farmers. As result of a higher rate of
income distribution, “contract farming may create positive multiplier effects for employment,
infrastructure, and market development in the local economy” (3). The success of the contract
farming approach will depend on who participates and what benefits are being received from
participation. Therefore, firms and growers will choose to contract with one another based upon
both the gains they expect to obtain from the contract as well as the transactions costs and
information costs in the market environment in which production takes place (Warning and Soo
Hoo 3). The selection process, the differential benefits accumulated and the market environment
are crucial factors in determining the success of contract farming in rural communities.
The firm’s goal in the selection process is to produce a given amount of output while
minimizing transaction costs. In this sense a firm has two choices, it can choose to contract with

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a larger and more financially stable grower or it can choose to work with a smaller and often
poorer farmer. In determining which farm to contract with, the level of transaction costs
including risk premiums and shadow values of credit are all taken under consideration
(Warning and Soo Hoo 5). Smaller farms are usually more risky for firms as contract farming
systems usually involve riskier crops than traditional crops and a small grower will tend to have
less capacity for self-insurance than a large grower (5). Also, contract farming schemes are often
“credit providing” due to the high cost in production of nontraditional crops and poorer farmers
tend to be more credit constrained compared to their larger competitors with a better asset
position (6). However, while most firms would favor contracting with lager growers, there have
been several examples of these firms contracting simultaneously with both large and small
growers as well as exclusively with smaller growers.
Contract Farming: Critics
It is the selection process that favors large growers that has led many critics to reject
contract farming as a universal method for spurring development and equalizing income
distribution. Due to the importance of fixed transaction costs, many agro industrial firms choose
to contract with larger growers, ensuring more stable transactions and higher production yields.
In this sense, if firms choose to contract primarily with large growers, the benefits of contract
farming will fail to reach the poorer members of the rural population thereby reinforcing income
stratification rather than have an equalizing effect (Warning and Soo Hoo 3). The relative
exclusion of many small-scale farmers from the contract system is especially deleterious because
the smallholders are the most vulnerable to market shock and crop failure. In addition to being
more risk-averse, a smaller grower usually has a lower shadow price of labor because most of the
labor is household labor. Household labor usually has low monitoring costs and certain forms of

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household labor (such as the labor of children and women) “are not marketable for legal, social
or cultural reasons, and thus have low labor-market opportunity costs” (Warning and Soo Hoo
6). In this way, small farmers have lower internal labor costs and therefore find the financial
stability of a contract very desirable.
However, due to the vulnerability of small growers, agro industrial firms that do contract
with small growers often create unfair contracts that reinforce an unequal and exploitative power
relationship (Runsten and Key 5). The firm often takes advantage of the limited opportunities of
the poorer grower in order to increase their profits. Proponents of contract farming would argue
that these contracts are entered into voluntarily meaning that the contract, however unfair, is a
better alternative to no contract. In this way, the motives of the firm are inconsequential to an
improvement in the distribution of income (Warning and Soo Hoo 8). However, it is found that
over time, firms may impede the development of small growers by investing fixed resources into
production or altering crop patterns which results in an over-dependence of these poor farmers
on contracts with large firms (Runsten and Key 6). When this is the case, growers face limited
exit options and reduced bargaining power, which may force them to accept even more
disadvantageous and exploitative contract terms. Also, many of these small, poor farmers depend
on their own cultivation of subsistence crops for survival and an over reliance on cash crops can
make a household more vulnerable to food shortages and price fluctuations (Runsten 6). In this
way, rather than serving as a mode of liberation for small farmers, contract farming systems have
become a more modern form of feudalistic tenant farming.
Another critique of contract farming as a mechanism for development is the prevalence
of contract default. With a lack of institutional enforcement and the presence of regional
monopolies, it is not uncommon for a company to break a contract with a farmer for example by

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failing to deliver inputs and services at the correct time or refusing to receive the product by
arbitrarily raising quality standards (Coulter 2). However, the development of competitive output
markets has transferred the risk to agri- businesses, which has bolstered the incentive for these
firms to maintain good relations with smallholders (Coulter 2). The problem remains then, the
tendency of farmers to default on their contracts with firms. Farmers break contracts due to
production failures or because they have already sold their produce to a competing buyer or have
failed to pay back loans. The problem of deliberate default has been exacerbated by failed
development programs and the continued “absence of effective legal systems, the lack of
collateral held by smallholders, and weak insurance sectors, create considerable risk for
companies entering into contracts” (Coulter 3). The combined problems of exploitative contract
terms and lack of contract enforcement has led to the failure of many contract farming schemes
in the developing world.
The issues of smallholder selection, exploitative contracts and contract default are
particularly important in Latin America where a “heterogeneous rural population characterized
by an unequal distribution of income, productive assets, and human capital presents a diverse
collection of potential growers from which firms can choose their clients” (Runsten and Key 9).
In this next section, I will demonstrate how the theories and critiques of contract farming apply
to the frozen vegetable processing industry in Mexico. I will then compare the success of
contract farming in terms of the prevalence of working with smallholders and equalizing income
distribution.
Contracting in Mexico: Frozen Vegetable Industry
In Mexico, contract farming dominates agricultural farming production. Originally, the
large international firms that contracted with Mexican farmers worked with both large and small

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growers (ejidos), but when economic conditions became less favorable in the 1980’s these firms
shifted their production increasingly to large growers (Runsten and Key 20). U.S. firms such as
Pillsbury—Green Giant and Campbells chose to work exclusively with large growers during this
time due to the high level of transaction costs associated with smallholders. Like most crops
associated with contract farming, the frozen vegetable crop grown in the Bajio region in Mexico
are very risky in that they are more expensive to cultivate and they have greater yield variation
due to frost, hail, pests, and disease (21). In case of crop failure, firms would only be responsible
for a small fraction of the total investment in the crop, which would leave the grower to bear a
considerable portion of the yield risk. As discussed above, larger growers due to their ability to
access credit and insurance systems are generally better able to endure the risk of crop loss. Due
to the lack of credible legal institutions in Mexico, the cost of legal action to enforce contracts in
which the producer has experienced crop loss is very high. In addition, legal action taken by
firms is seen negatively by community members (21). Without legal recourse to ensure against
the issues of contract default and non-payment, firms are forced to write off any lost income.
Without the ability to enforce contracts, many international firms choose to contract with the
grower that has access to credit and insurance or in other words, the grower less likely to default.
In this way, larger growers are more appealing to these firms because they involve the least
amount of risk and can maximize output.
It is very hard to balance the additional costs associated with smallholders. In general,
smaller producers require more inputs and capital from the firm, per unit of product than larger
growers; they tend to borrow/rent more machinery, require more extension services and borrow
more capital pr unit of output (Runsten and Key 29). A greater number of producers means more
trips by extension agents, more monitoring for pesticide violations, more deliveries of inputs, and

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smallholders also make more product deliveries of smaller volume” (30). By choosing a larger
grower instead, firms can minimize total costs by minimizing the number of growers with whom
they contract there by maximizing the scale of farmers contracted (29).
“Not only did their [the smaller growers] numbers increase administrative costs, but they
needed more services from the firm. For example: they needed more extension assistance;
communication was costly as they often has no phones; they had to borrow or rent more
specialized machinery (such as roto-tillers or high-pressure sprayers); they wanted to
borrow operating capital in addition to receiving crop inputs; they made more numerous
deliveries of smaller volume; they tried to get the firms to loan them money for tractors and
other machinery; and they required more monitoring for pesticide violations. The director
said they did not want to be an investment bank, did not want to be the patron” (Runsten
and Key 29)
In addition, communication between firm and farmer can be very difficult because smallholders
tended to be more geographically disperse and did not own phones or were not organized in a
way that can easily facilitate communication and cooperation. In theory, firms could circumvent
the additional cost of contracting with smallholders by inflating the price they charge for services
or differentiate the rates for services to large and small growers. However, the former often
discourages large growers to participate and the latter is very difficult to implement (30). For
example, the corporations Birdseye and Green Giant utilized two contracts: one with few
services and one with no services. However, this still attracted mostly large growers, as most
smallholders could not produce without additional inputs (31). Another example of how
smallholders are excluded from the market is Campbell’s offering of seven different contracts.
Even though this system attracted smallholders, there was still an issue of balancing additional
costs. The director of agriculture at Campbells admits he was “pressured by the other plants to
maintain prices at a common level and not to price discriminate and even with the seven
contracts” and claimed that “he was unable to pay the no-service large growers a high enough
price, nor the full-service small producers a low enough price, to account for all costs” (31).

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There are examples of firms contracting with both large and small-scale growers, but this
coalition is not long-term. The examples of Green Giant Green Giant in Irapuato, Campbells in
the Valle de Santiago, and Birdseye in Aguascalientes suggest that when there is weak local
development of the markets for the product and labor the firms needed, firms would contract
with smallholders (Warning and Soo Hoo 12). These case studies lead to the conclusion that
firms are willing to contract with smaller growers only when other alternatives are not available
and the economy permits. However, when the economy declined in the late 1980’s, many of
these firms shifted back to working exclusively with large growers and smallholders were shut
out of contracting. While most firms in Mexico have been unable to work with smallholders in
the long-term, an exception lies with the case of the firm La Huerta, which has successfully
contracted with smallholders for over a decade.
In contrast to these large international firms, the Mexican family-owned frozen vegetable
firm “Frigorizados La Huerta has successfully contracted with smallholders even during
economic downturns. While La Huerta produces much of the vegetables it processes, it also
contracts with 10 large producers and 70 ejidatarios, or smallholders (Warning and Soo Hoo 14).
This case illustrates the potential of contract farming systems to create a contractual arrangement
that “takes advantage of the relative efficiencies of smallholders while minimizing transaction
costs” (Runsten and Key 33). The key to La Huerta’s success is the ability to create contracts that
benefit both the smallholder and the buyer. Working with smallholders can prove to be very
valuable, as they possess several advantages in the land and labor markets. For example, due to
the fact that ejidatarios have access to unremunerated family labor for which markets are
missing, La Huerta estimated that the ejidatarios had per unit costs of producing broccoli that
were only half of the firm’s own costs (33). Another reason costs were low is because ejidatarios

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have lower effective labor. They faced these lower transactions costs such as the cost of
recruiting, supervising and transporting labor, because they did not pay any government benefits
such as social security and are in close proximity to many potential laborers. (Warning and Soo
Hoo 16). Ejidatarios also had lower pest control costs because they managed smaller plots of
land and were therefore able to catch pest and disease problems sooner, thereby limiting the use
of chemicals. In addition to lowering costs, ejidatarios actually had higher average yields then
the firm’s own ranches due to the fact that they are residual claimants of their labor and they
therefore demonstrate more “conscientious” work (34).
In order to take advantage of the relative efficiency of the smallholders without incurring
overbearing transaction costs, La Huerta offered resource-providing contracts that delivered
credit, specialized inputs, and extension assistance. For the ejidatarios who had little access to
formal credit, the availability to access credit without collateral is very important (Runsten and
Key 35). As a result of these in-kind credit contracts, La Huerta was able to balance its expenses
and the overall costs for vegetable crops ended up in the same range as the costs for traditional
crops such as maize (35). Unlike other foreign-owned companies, La Huerta was able to make a
profit from contracting with smallholders by establishing a management strategy with low
transaction costs. This management strategy includes the restriction and the number and location
of the ejidatarios with whom it contracted, choosing only those farms that lie along the main
highway. This prevents any problems associated with communication and makes it possible for
the firm’s agronomist to visit the farms once a week to protect against crop failure and contract
default. (Warning and Soo Hoo 15). In addition, the growers themselves are required to both
pick up the seedlings and fertilizer from the firm, and deliver their harvest to the firm, which

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further minimizes transaction costs (15). The success of La Huerta can be used as a model of
how large firms can make a profit without exploiting smallholders.
Conclusions: Contracting with Smallholders
The key to securing all the potential benefits associated from contract farming lies in the
ability of firms to contract with smallholders. If this is implemented, contract farming has the
potential to both raise incomes of the poor and promote rural development. However, if firms are
unable to manage contracting with smallholders, the opposite will hold true and contract farming
may serve to exacerbate income and asset inequalities (Runsten and Key 35). La Huerta in
Mexico can act as an example of how firms can contract with smallholders and still make a
profit.
“By acting as intermediaries, firms can profit from the willingness of smallholders to pay more
for credit and insurance than would larger landholders. Hence, even if small-scale producers are
not competitive in the open marketplace, they may be the most profitable type of grower with
whom the firms could contract” (Runsten and Key 36).
Simple changes in the institutional structure of contract farming such as differentiated contracts
or working with grower groups or cooperatives can significantly lower transaction costs and
create smallholders more desirable business partners.
The problem remains then, how to ensure that these smallholders in the ejido system are
not being exploited or subject to manipulation by companies. In order to encourage the
development of contract farming as a free labor system, growers must engage in a collective
action to organize themselves or to organize with the help of government agencies, non-profit
organizations or even the agroprocessors themselves (Runsten and Key 40). Also, stronger
institutional development, while disadvantaging smallholders in the short-term, may benefit them
in the long term. Many of the transaction costs that impede from contracting with smallholders
result from weak institutions. For example, if markets for information were better developed,

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growers might directly access important production information rather than relying on the firm
for the high fixed costs of extension services (Warning and Soo 22).
Women’s participation in agriculture has become vital to the success of contract farming
and other systems of export-oriented production. In this next section, I will discuss the
importance of women’s role in agriculture in Mexico and Latin America and their experiences as
agricultural producers. I will then analyze how women’s increased participation in agricultural
production has affected their status and development within in society with reference to both the
WID and GAD approaches. I will conclude with a commentary, which address some solutions to
improve the effectiveness of development policies in advocating female empowerment.
Women and Agriculture: The Feminization of Agriculture
For most of history, women have played a very large, yet unrecognized role in
agriculture. However, in the past decades, women’s work in agriculture has become much more
visible due in part to the improvement of research and data collection that has more accurately
measured women’s participation (Lastarria 1). Over the past decades, women have broadened
their involvement in agricultural production in order to ensure household survival and take
advantage of the opportunities in commercial agriculture (1). This trend is called the
feminization of agriculture. The feminization of agriculture can be described broadly as the
general increase in the proportion of women working in the agricultural sector either as self-
employed or as agricultural wage laborers. This term also refers to the increase in the percentage
of women in the agricultural labor force relative to men either because more women or fewer
men are working in agriculture (Lastarria 2). While this increase is not consistent throughout all
of Latin America, it is known that in general, larger percentages of women are working in
agriculture in both wage work and unremunerated family labor (Katz 36). While women do play

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a significant role in processing plants and factory work, I will focus my analysis on smallholder,
cash-crop production.
In order to understand this growth of women’s work in agriculture, it is important to
consider the larger agricultural context. In Latin America, smallholder agriculture is committed
to producing mostly traditional food crops and animal products either for personal consumption
or for local and national markets. However, increasing relative rural poverty and the economic
crises of the 1970s, 80s, and 90s encouraged family members to seek wage labor and migrate to more
non-traditional agricultural exports (Lastarria 2). Due to the economic liberalization policies, non-
traditional agricultural exports grew from 10%-23% of total exports from 1970 to 1990 respectively,
which created an increasing demand for a wage labor force (4). Due to the increasing demand for
cheap labor, many smallholder agro-export farms are becoming dependent upon female labor.
However, women’s entrance into the export agricultural sector has been complicated by the fact that
women are faced with additional constraints to production. As I examine these constraints and
women’s work in agriculture, gender relations and specifically their influence on the distribution and
allocation of work, income, wealth, and assets become increasingly relevant.
Smallholder Agriculture: The Gender Dimension
In Latin America, due to land concentration and scarcity, many men are forced to diversify
their livelihoods and migrate for extended periods of time or engage in off-farm employment
(Lastarria 8). As a result, many women are increasing their participation in smallholder agriculture
as principle farmers, wage laborers or unremunerated family workers (5).
The increasing presence of women taking charge of farms as principal farmers has resulted in
the increased visibility of women in agriculture. The migration of family members to seek non-farm
work has left women to bear most of the burden of agricultural fieldwork and tasks (Lastarria 9).
Many have assumed the position of independent producers, working long hours on the farm and

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making most of the decisions (9). However, women are faced with additional constraints to their
production. With the feminization of agriculture, the division of labor has shifted from the traditional
domestic roles of women. When men migrate, women are responsible for the strength-intensive work
traditionally done by the males such as clearing the land for planting in addition to their previous
responsibilities. Also, women who want their children to go to school take on the work children
traditionally did such as caring for small and large livestock (9). In addition to these added duties, a
woman’s role as the provider of food for the household continues to be the social standard. However,
with the increase in women’s participation and responsibilities in agriculture, a new challenge has
arisen in simultaneously providing enough food for the household and making a profit (9). In this
way, some women do not participate in contract farming, as they are unwilling to switch production
on their own plots from food to cash crops. Due to the fact that women are more vulnerable to the
volatility of non-traditional crops, many have taken over production for home consumption rather
than for the market (9). However, there are a number of women that continue to engage in
commercial farming, such as contract farming.
In addition to women working as principle farmers, women have also found work as laborers
in smallholder production of agro-exports. As fruit and vegetable firms have expanded production,
many have shifted to a largely female labor force (Collins 221). In fact, in Mexico’s Bajio Valley,
“75 percent of the workers employed directly by the company were women” and in Sinaloa Mexico,
women compose 50-60 percent of the harvest labor force in vegetable production (222). As stated
earlier these small farms can be very desirable for commercial firms and agribusiness due to the
availability of cheap labor. However, women working as wage laborers are often confronted with
exploitative working conditions with low wages and little job security. Women are seen by firms as
the ideal labor force as they “nimble”, “dexterous” and “docile” allowing them to better meet the
demanding grade and quality standards of non-traditional crops (222). Also many firms consider
women’s work to be temporary, as their primary responsibilities are home and family, which caters

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to the firms labor supply production cycles allowing them to hire workers on a casual or intermittent
basis without long-term contracts (222). Additionally, firms prefer women because of their minimal
risk in that women are observed to be less likely to engage in strikes, join unions or take up activist
leadership roles (223). The fact that women represent quality, flexibility and political stability
combined with the increased migration of males has created smallholder farms producing cash crops
to be increasingly dependent on women’s labor (Lastarria 10).
Land Rights in Oaxaca, Mexico: Case Study
One of the biggest disadvantages women face in the agricultural sector is the lack of land
rights. In Oaxaca Mexico in 1992 the Mexican Government made substantial changes to the
communal agrarian structure that has governed fully half of the country’s agricultural land (103
million hectares) since the land reform that followed the 1910 Mexican Revolution (Brown 1).
These land reforms permitted the once inalienable land parcels of the ejido, or smallholder
communities, to be transferred, leased, used as collateral and privatized. This was good news to
most farmers, as the advantages of these reforms mainly included the ability to privatize their
holdings and potentially increase access to formal credit (1). However, the new ability to use
land to get formal loans has not spurred any further investment in agriculture, as many banks do
not accept ejidal plots as collateral. (1). Despite this setback, many farmers are positive about the
certification program as the reforms allow more control over land and facilitate the ability for
farmers to enter into partnerships with private companies. Unfortunately, these reforms have not
benefited all ejodos equally. Due to the fact that many women are not heads of their households
and do not have access to land rights, the Agrarian Law has undermined women’s rights on
ejidos (1). Women have no administration or disposal of the land they work on and cannot take
advantage of the new Agrarian Law, creating it difficult to compete with their male counterparts.

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In order to understand the disadvantages many women are faced with, it is important to
understand the legal framework behind this law. Only members of ejidos can access the benefits
from the reforms. In general, membership is granted by being born into the community or by
fulfilling the legal residency requirement of 1 year. This membership is recognized by the ejidal
assembly or by the inheritance of land rights (12). However, not everyone who works or lives
inside an ejido is considered a member. Only those who have land rights and have the right to
vote, generally the head of the household are permitted membership (12). Originally, ejido
membership secured family rights, in which all members of the family were entitled to rights over the
land. However, the reforms have converted the rights of ownership solely to individuals, or the heads
of the households (males). In this way, women do not hold land rights and are not considered
voting members of ejidos unless they are widowed or divorced and head their own household
(12). With no voting right or legal rights, most women in ejido society are powerless to stop their
husbands from leasing or selling land.
The marginalization of women in development is a concern that has come to the forefront
of development policies in the last 30 years. There are multiple theories about how to incorporate
women into development, but I will focus on two: Women in Development (WID) and Gender
and Development Approach or Social Relations of Gender approach (GAD). It is within these
two theoretical frameworks that I will analyze the participation of women in agricultural
development.
Women in Development: WID v GAD
WID: the dominant ideology
While not completely absent, sexual rights and women in general have been marginalized
in development thought and policy. One theory, WID, that has arisen in the 1970’s from this
issue is the notion that modernization is a universal solution to the absence of women in

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development. However, the incorporation of modernization policies alone is not sufficient as women
benefit from modernization differently from men. Boserup, a prominent leader of the WID approach
argues that fundamental changes need to be made in the way women are treated in development
theory and practice. She argues that women have an important, productive role in development
and they cannot be treated as unaffected or “welfare” recipients in development policy (Kabeer
47). Basically, through women-targeted programs, the techniques of modernization can be
implemented to change distortions in sex-role socialization in under-developed countries.
Women are then “free laborers” in that they are liberated from the constraints of patriarchy and
can move in society. In this way, the notions of modernization and development are interchangeable
as women everywhere are considered rational individuals and when given the opportunity to enter
markets as productive agents, women will maximize their productivity and feel empowered in
society.
This theory maintains that the marginalization of women in development is due to the male
dominated institutions such as patrilineal land inheritance laws and family norms, which create
unequal access to resources and opportunities. In the Oaxaca, Mexico case study, failure of
development programs to benefit women is demonstrated. The new Agrarian Law, like most
development programs, is completely gender neutral in its language and does not take into
account women’s disenfranchisement in ejido communities. The liberalization of land policies,
while a positive step, cannot be held as the final goal. Development reforms must consider the
role of women in agriculture and integrate policies that do not further marginalize women in
society. According the 2008 World Development Report, “if agriculture is to be an effective
sector for development, women need to be able to fully participate. That step requires action
across a broad swathe of the policy and institutional domains. Governments will need not only to

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advocate but also to legislate and demonstrate gender mainstreaming in national and local
governance” (WDR 5).
One of WID’s main arguments is that the gender gap in land ownership is the single most
critical contributor of women’s marginalization in development. Women’s land ownership is
critical as land is a valuable asset that enhances security, improves social status and promotes
empowerment (Zoomers 3). With the increased migration of men, the possibility of abandonment or
death has increased and the ability of a women to hold land in her own name (or at least jointly with
her husband) which would provide security in the chance she is deserted or widowed by her husband
and thereby reduces the risk of rural poverty (Brown 18). Similarly, rights to land would facilitate
access to benefits under government programs so that women can more easily manage the greater
responsibilities over the land due to the loss of a husband (19). Also, land is an important and
valuable asset. Land rights for women would mean enhanced access to formal credit and if women
have more access to financial loans, they will be able to engage more in commercial agriculture,
including contract farming. Additionally granting women land ownership provides benefits to the
whole community as “numerous studies have found that children directly benefit from
improvements to their mother’s income to a much greater extent than they do from
improvements to their father’s income (19) Finally, land ownership encourages empowerment as
it places women in a stronger position to demand respect and increases bargaining power within
the family (Jackson 460).
From much of the evidence provided about women’s role in agriculture, it would seem that
what is impeding women from acting as active, equal agents in agricultural production is their
exclusion from markets, both in land and labor. It would seem that an increase in resources such as
women’s access to credit, education, fertility control, technology, agricultural training, through
gender-specific programs would help to elevate women in a patriarchal society and allow them

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access to a more equal playing field. However, this approach to development has its shortcomings.
While women-targeted modernization policies may be beneficial, they are not a universal solution to
the constraints of women in development.
GAD: An alternative approach
Despite the fact that WID is the dominant ideology in development, women’s increasing role
as economic producers does not universally benefit women. This ideology is known as the Social
Relations of Gender Approach (GAD) and critiques the universality of the WID approach to
development. Unlike the WID approach, GAD takes into account the influences of regional
patriarchies, sexuality, intersectionality and the possibility of agency.
A woman’s experience within or exclusion from the agricultural sector is largely dependent upon
regional patriarchies. Patriarchal societies are societies in which social institutions influence
practices and behaviors that are unequal and based upon gender hegemonies, or gender
ideologies that reinforce the subordination of women (Kabeer 48). These social institutions
(sates, markets, civil society, family/kinship) translate into practices and social norms by
providing a predictability and structure to everyday life (48). Institutions govern almost all
aspects of a women’s life including their social role/meaning in society, their ability to
participate in the economy and the division of labor. The degree of inequality of patriarchal
societies differs across regions and over time. In addition the GAD approach takes into account
intersectionality which demonstrates that gender is not solely based upon sexed difference but
intersects with other inequalities such as those relating to class and race (“Intersectionality” 1).
In this way, one cannot group the entirety of the female population into one homogeneous
category (Mohanty 63). The social norms that are translated into society from social institutions
vary considerably and consequently and each woman should be considered in development
policy depending on the specific social/historical context at a specific time.

20. Van Houten 20
Land Rights
While the WID approach would argue that land rights are good for equity, welfare and
empowerment, I would argue that while land rights are very important, they are not a universal
answer to women’s improvement in economic well being, social status and empowerment (Jackson
453). As I stated earlier, men and women differ in their response to modernization and what is good
for men is not necessarily completely good for women. While it is possible that land ownership can
make a notable difference to women’s bargaining power within the home and community, it is not
necessarily inevitable. In fact, land rights may not be in the best interest for some women. While
many women may not get their full due of access to resources, they are not necessarily advantaged
by a marriage to a wealthy man or have no interest in their husband’s level of wealth/land ownership.
In fact, many women stand to gain from their husband’s role as a provider and do not wish for this
standard to be challenged. In this way, the interests of women and men within a marriage are both
joint and separate creating gender struggles very complex (473). Changing household arrangements
and gender cultures is a long-term process that is not immediately resolved through government
policies and projects.
With this new perspective, the case study in Oaxaca Mexico can be re-analyzed to
understand that the increased access of women to land ownership is not a sole solution to the
gender inequalities of ejidos. Despite women’s increased participation in the fields, women in
ejidos remain excluded in management decisions and are increasingly alienated from their labor
and community as producers. Jennifer Brown from the Rural Development Institute describes
her experience in two of the mountainous communities in Oaxaca that prohibit women from
attending assembly meetings.
“During our visit to one comunidade the male comunidade members were very upset that five or
six women attended an assembly meeting in place of their husbands. They tried to force the
women to leave but the Agrarian Visitor eventually convinced them to allow the women to stay”
(Brown 14)

21. Van Houten 21
In this way, the inclusion of women in the Agrarian Law will not substantially elevate their
status within society, as there is a crucial difference between formal equity of men and women
before the law and a real equity between them. Collins argues
“'collective land rights do not necessarily guarantee all members of a community secure access
to or control of land. Rather, how collective land is distributed, the rules through which it is
allocated to families and to the men and women within them, and who participates in
determining these rules, are governed by traditional customs and practices, which often
discriminates against the women” (Zoomers 2)
In this way, bargaining positions and material outcomes are not determined solely by asset
acquisition. Resources such as norms, ideas, values, and words are resources that can imbue
power just as much if not more so than means of production or land ownership (Jackson 475). It
is the extent to which a woman can secure a cultural interpretation of her ownership as legitimate
and appropriate that will determine her potential for strengthening her position within the
household and community (475). As a result, the increased inclusion of women in agriculture is not
enough to alter the inferior status of women in ejido society in Oaxaca. Even when women are
granted access to land markets they are still constrained by the disadvantages imposed from regional
patriarchies.
In addition to land rights, work conditions in high-value agricultural exports are strongly
influenced by gender relations and the potential for female empowerment and improved status is
limited by the gender segregation of wage employment. In many cases in Latin America there is
a “gendering” of workers, which demonstrates that even though women are working in a field,
they are still constrained to the social constructions of femininity. There is a strong gender
segregation of tasks in the fields, processing plants, and packing plants. Women usually are assigned
to do the labor-intensive tasks while men do those tasks that entail strength or involve machinery
(Lastarria 1). In addition, women’s wages are generally lower than men’s due to the fact that many

22. Van Houten 22
employers view a woman’s work as secondary or temporary. Also, men predominate in the limited
number of permanent positions and in supervision and management (1). In this way, social
institutions such as agribusiness firms are able to use gender ideologies to reinforce existing
forms of gender subordination.
Another shortcoming of the WID approach is the failure to incorporate the notion of
sexuality and reproductive work into the analysis of women in development. Under WID, all
women are treated as producers or productive agents equally as effective as men. However, in
addition to their role as producers, women must also manage reproductive work. In addition to
the biological reproduction of labor and gendered persons in the family, women must also
manage social reproduction or “the reproduction of the relations between labor and capital that
allow for the extended accumulation of capital” (Ramamurthy 400). In this way, while women
have increased their work time in agricultural production, there has been little change in the gender
division of labor within the household with regard to reproductive work: men are not assuming
reproductive and domestic tasks, even as women are increasing their participation in on-farm and off-
farm productive activities (Lastarria 12). As a result, women’s increased contribution to cash income
in smallholder households does not necessarily alter the gender division of labor. In many cases in
Latin America, women’s work on cash crops increases their overall work burden since they are still
responsible for domestic chores and reproductive work (12). It is important to acknowledge in
development policy that reproductive/domestic work is unpaid and women’s labor time is not
infinitely elastic. In this way agrarian institutions, with their embedded gender norms, demonstrate
how female labor may be allocated between sectors in a skewed and inefficient manner because the
various constraints arising from the gender division of labor (Razavi 6). Policy makers must realize
that biology is socially significant as the prejudices and preconceptions about women and their
labor persist in society in spite of the forces of modernization (Kabeer Reversed Realities 19).

23. Van Houten 23
One example of the impact of gender relations and sexuality is the non-participation of
female principle farmers from commercial production. As stated earlier, many women in Mexico
and Latin America are forced to convert production on their farms to consumption due to the
social norm dictating the woman as the provider of food. This added responsibility severely
limits a woman’s ability to compete in the labor market and cannot be solved solely by
modernization programs such as training and technology. Conversely, as more smallholder land
is being dedicated to cash crops, such as vegetables in Mexico, many women are losing the land
allocated to them by their husbands where they traditionally grew food crops for subsistence
consumption or sale (Lastarria 14). It is important to note that “gender equality is not simply a
matter of equal numbers of men and women in employment but rather the degree to which their work
contributes to women’s well-being and empowerment” (12). In this way, development must move
beyond the WID focus of formal equality with men as the blind incorporation of women in
development policy does not have universally positive effects (Kabeer Reversed Realities 224)
Agency
In addition, the GAD approach to development recognizes that women’s role in
agriculture is not static and inflexible but can change over time and space. In this way, the
“modernization” of developing societies can have both positive and negative effects depending
upon specific regional/individual constraints such as regional patriarchies and intersectionality.
Despite many negative consequences, participation in the agro-export labor force has not
unambiguously disadvantaged women. The inclusion of women into the labor market can foster
the possibility a positive redefinition of gender identity and what it means to be a woman and a
worker based upon alternative versions of gender roles and expectations (Kabeer Reversed
Realities 67). Within the contradictions proposed by capitalism and patriarchy, women can be
seen as “active agents in the interaction between capital accumulation and the traditional forms

24. Van Houten 24
of gender identities” (Pearson 180). Even the idea of women as agricultural producers has begun
to recompose the traditional forms of gender subordination by changing the notion of femininity
or what is considered “acceptable” woman’s work. In many ways, women have improved their
status in society and reduced existing forms of gender subordination. For example, in relation to
land rights, patterns of change have emerged in which women have used the contradictory nature
of patriarchy to their advantage. It is observed that women can and do displace patriarchal
control of property when opportunities and subjectivities coincide and often “the benefits of wage
employment for women include economic independence, mobility, and increased ability to make
their own decisions” (Lastarria 12). In addition, women working in the non- traditional agricultural
export industry often earn more than women in other rural occupations (12) In this way, there is a
sense of power that comes with the ability to make money for yourself or your family and obtain
an increased voice within the home.
However, the newfound involvement of women in smallholder agriculture presents
contradictory possibilities in that while women are empowered to assert independence by
entering the labor force, they are still in many ways marginalized and confined to the restrictions
of patriarchy. While in some cases increased participation in commercial agriculture may increase a
woman’s self-esteem, self-confidence, and decision-making power in the household, it does not in all
cases. For example, a study in Guatemala indicated that a woman’s increased economic
independence and mobility often contributes to increased conflict and domestic violence in the home
(Lastarria 12). Also, women must deal with the reality of male-controlled income in that even though
they may be the primary income provider, the man still in many cases has control over the allocation
of resources. In this way, women continue to be subordinated despite increased access to markets.
In other words, they are not equal producers as they are only “free” to enter the labor market as
long as they continue to uphold their standard roles in society. Contract farming schemes and

25. Van Houten 25
other forms of commercial agriculture are exploitative of smallholder farmers but especially of
women in that they are constrained by the market in addition to patriarchy. Contract farming
then, results in “unfree” labor, as many women are vulnerable to the manipulation of large firms
and patriarchal institutions. Markets alone do not guarantee equality, justice, or empowerment
for those who are marginalized and subordinated; it is the social forces that shape these markets
that must be examined in order to enact long-term change (Razavi 15)
WID and Discursive Colonization
In general, increasing the trend of commercial firms contracting with smallholders is a positive
improvement however, the blind inclusion of women in commercial agriculture such as contract
farming may have negative effects. Many of the dominant neo-liberal development institutions
do not acknowledge the influence of regional patriarchies and that the subjugation of women
varies due to different social institutions/cultural norms. This Western feminist literature assumes
“women” are the same everywhere in the third world and as such form a coherent homogeneous
group (Mohanty 70). This in turn provides “proof” that women in the third world are connected
universally and cross-culturally by shared oppression despite differences of race, class, or
ethnicity. In this way, universal images of “women” as an ideological “other” are created based
on stereotyping discourses regardless of material reality (74). This framework is called
discursive colonization in that the West’s colonial legacy has influenced the production of
knowledge and seeped into the ideological realm of development thought (75).
In western feminism, the colonial discourse demonstrates that the difference between first
and third world women is constructed upon binary terms creating a hierarchy and a notion of the
western woman as privileged and modern and the average third world woman as underdeveloped

26. Van Houten 26
and victimized. For example, the first sentences of the WDR in 2008 depicted this universal
image of the “third world woman.”
“An African woman bent under the sun, weeding sorghum in an arid field with a hoe, a child
strapped on her back—a vivid image of rural poverty. For her large family and millions like her,
the meager bounty of subsistence farming is the only chance to survive” (WDR 1).
The problem with this analytic strategy of development is that it assumes women are already
constituted as sexual-political subjects prior to their entry into the arena of social relations and
does not consider the influences of local historical, material, and cultural contexts (Mohanty 59).
In this way, women are invariably powerless to protest their victimization as this “powerless-
ness is an effect of the analysis” (64). By categorizing women as victims, sexual difference
becomes interchangeable with female subordination and power is automatically defined in binary
terms: oppressed and oppressors (64). This perspective is historically reductive as it serves to
reinforce existing binary divisions between men and women. In addition, the idea that women’s
oppression is universal and cross-cultural denies degree and meaning for women in specific
contexts and therefore denies room for subversion (65). In other words, western feminism does
not take into account the possibility of agency and mobilization that is found when accounting
for differences in women of different social classes and cultures. It is through the contradictions
inherent in women’s location within various structures that women are able to assert “choice”
and the freedom to act (Mohanty 65). In this way, women are not mere victims of the production
process, but rather are capable of resisting and challenging oppression in varying degrees and
levels. Discursive colonization suppresses heterogeneities in women’s lives in the 3rd
world and
this western philosophy is overly simplistic, negative, limited in scope, and often racist and is
therefore ineffectual in designing development strategies to combat oppression (73).

27. Van Houten 27
Rather than adhering to the restrictions of western feminism, one must deconstruct the
effects of discursive colonization and acknowledge the diversity/divergence of development
discourses. Gendered access to assets and resources can have a significant effect on women’s
bargaining position within the household and control over land and income is important in
determining the status of women in society however, women and gender relations are constantly
shifting. Often the division of labor is not clear as men and women negotiate access to and control
over income, assets, labor, and other productive resources (Lastarria 18). The role of women in
development is in constant flux and an alternative development approach should merely
acknowledge the importance of this ambiguity in development policy.
Conclusion
The agriculture sector holds the key in developing methods of generating income and
reducing poverty. However, using agriculture as the basis for economic growth requires a
productivity revolution in smallholder farming (WDR 1). The World Development Report offers
practical, gender inclusive ways to create smallholder farming more productive and sustainable.
It is argued that development policies must improve price incentives for firms to increase the
quantity and quality of contracting with smallholder farmers, stabilize product markets, improve
access to credit and reduce exposure of uninsured risks and promote innovation through science
and technology (WDR 10). Where women constitute the majority of smallholders, it is critical to
release their full potential in agriculture and include them in land reform. In this way,
development policy should reduce inequalities in land distribution, increase efficiency and be
organized in ways that recognize women’s rights (WDR 9).
However, while these policies incorporate the role of women in agriculture, they do not
address regional patriarchies, intersectionality, and other additional constraints to female
productivity. Instead, most dominant development institutions follow comprehensive plans to

28. Van Houten 28
end global poverty and subscribe to the hubristic mentality that outside economic experts can
transform developing societies and change the world. In their efforts to reform “underdeveloped
societies”, these institutions disregard the complexity of socio-economic systems in poor
countries. Rather than taking into account the cultural, social and political difference between
poor nations, they quantify them all into a set of reforms based upon numerical targets that are
not necessarily compatible with all countries, peoples, and genders. In this way, these aid
agencies function as ineffective bureaucracies in that they are not directly accountable for their
actions. Without a well-working feedback system, aid agency bureaucracies are usually
unsuccessful in creating long-term change in developing countries. (Easterly). A more specific
and targeted approach that would ensure real, measured results starts with a “bottom-up”
approach to development.
Grassroots Empowerment
As women take on greater responsibility for agricultural production, they face different
constraints and obstacles than of men. However, the WID approach of merely increasing
women’s access to productive resources, agricultural support services, health, education and
training is not enough to permanently alter women’s position within the household. These
policies are superficial and often reinforce existing forms of gender subordination. Alternative
approaches to development must be implemented that focus on explicit tasks and demands that
are attuned to specific social/cultural contexts and acknowledge the influence of complex
gendered institutions and social norms unique to each region. These alternative development
strategies have evolved out of grassroots experience and are based on “close, face-to-face
interaction between organizations and their constituencies so that ideas and policies are shaped in
the crucible of everyday practice rather than in the upper echelons of remote and rule-bound

29. Van Houten 29
bureaucracies” (Kabeer Reversed Realities 223). They formulate policies based upon calculated,
experiential research and analysis and as a result, agencies that incorporate grassroots strategies
are accountable for their successes and failures and have the means to enact real, tangible
change. Rather than women seen as universal victims of oppression, these agencies consider
women to be competent yet socially constrained actors who are capable of making choices,
articulating priorities and taking responsibility (235). These “participatory methodologies”
provide a space for women’s voices to be heard and promote “empowerment from within” (245).
Additionally, female empowerment strategies must stress the notion of the “collective” as a
means to mobilize for change. Solidarity and alliances enable the disempowered to act in their
own practical and strategic interests as a collective group (256). In this way, this bottom-up
approach recognizes that power is institutionalized and works to alter the underlying structures
or the source of inequality not merely the symptoms.

30. Van Houten 30
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