Understanding specific gender dynamics in the cowpea value chain for key traits to inform cowpea breeding programs in Malawi, Mozambique and Tanzania

Chipeta, M.M., Kampanje-Phiri, J., Moyo, D., Colial, H., Tamba, M., Belarmino, D., Hella, J., Yohane, E., Mvula, N. and Kafwambira, J. 2024. Understanding specific gender dynamics in the cowpea value chain for key traits to inform cowpea breeding programs in Malawi, Mozambique and Tanzania. Frontiers in Sociology

Cowpea is an important food and nutrition security crop in Malawi, Mozambique and Tanzania and it is mainly produced by women farmers mainly on a subsistence scale. The majority of these farmers use local varieties despite the availability of improved varieties in the region. Low acceptability and adoption of improved varieties have also hampered cowpea breeding efforts. The low adoption, especially among women farmers, has been attributed to the failure by breeding programs to involve farmers in the process of designing and developing improved varieties with a view to meeting their priorities and preferences. Despite women constituting the majority of cowpea farmers in these countries, no comprehensive gender analysis on cowpea value chain had been instituted to understand the traits that are gender and youth responsive and how to incorporate them in the product profiling so that the developed varieties benefit men, women and youth. The main objective of the gender study was, therefore, to identify preferred traits by different gender groups within the whole cowpea value chain to inform cowpea breeding programs in the three countries.