Gender and Agricultural supply Response to Structural Adjustment Programs: A case study of small holder tea producers in Kerichom Kenya.

Studies on structural adjustment and agricultural sector reform in Africa have generally tended to neglect the gender implications of the market reform process. Yet, for both equity and efficiency reasons, such a neglect is difficult to justify or sustain. By means of a ten-year longitudinal survey achieved by building on empirical material first generated in 1985/86, this study attempts, through a follow up survey in 1995/96, to remedy the gap in knowledge that exists by capturing the gender implications of agricultural sector reform in contemporary Kenya. To achieve this, the author focuses on smallholder tea production with the aim of pinpointing the factors that influence the adoption of tea among male and female farmers, assessing the perceptions held by female farmers of the changes that have taken place in living standards over the research period, and suggesting appropriate policy reforms that would ensure that women's interests are more fully taken into account in the design of agricultural sector reforms.