This book takes forward our understanding of agricultural input subsidies in low income countries.

In many developing countries, agricultural extension services are generally biased towards men, with information targeted mainly to male members of a farming household and in formats that are rarely tailored to female members. Nevertheless, female farmers may also benefit from such services as this may affect their ability to make informed decisions, resulting in increased farm productivity, household income, and welfare. We conduct a gendered field experiment among maize-farming households in eastern Uganda to test whether video-enabled extension messaging affects outcomes related to maize cultivation. In this experiment, men, women, and couples are shown randomly assigned videos about improved maize management practices in which male, female, or both male and female actors are featured. We first vary exposure to the videos by gender to test the effects of changes in intra-household information asymmetries, investigating whether involving women as recipients of information increases their ability to participate in household decision-making, and thus their involvement in household production choices. We then vary exposure to the gender of the actors in the videos to test for role-model effects, exploring whether involving women as information messengers challenges the idea that decision-making is a predominantly male domain, in turn affecting women’s outcomes. Results show that targeting women with information increases their knowledge about improved maize management practices, their role in agricultural decision-making, the adoption of recommended practices and inputs, production-related outcomes, and the quantity of maize women sell to the market. Results for the role-model effects are mixed, and are evident more in joint household outcomes than individual women’s outcomes. Overall, our findings suggest that in the context of our study, extension efforts aimed at directly addressing intra-household information asymmetries may be a first-best means of empowering women in agriculture. Other, more subtle means that seek to influence perceptions and norms about gendered roles in the household may not generate expected effects or work via expected impact pathways, though they remain worth further exploration.

Maize is a staple cereal after wheat and rice. It is an important source of carbohydrate, protein, iron, vitamin B and minerals for many poor people in the world. In developing countries maize is a major source of income in resource-poor farmers. As maize is used both as silage and as crop residue and the grains of maize are usually used for food, starch and oil extraction industrially, the demand for maize is rising day by day. Therefore, it is imperative for improvement of maize to meet the increasing demand. This book entitled "Maize - Production and Use" highlights the importance of maize and the improved management approaches for improving the productivity of maize in the era of changing climate.

Climate change has a major impact on food security in Nepal. Almost all women farmers in the country depend upon agriculture as a major source of income to enhance their food security. There has thus far been no systematic study about the impact of climate change on food security of women farmers. Therefore to fill this lacuna, the present study was conducted in five Village Development Committees with 150 households of Udayapur district in Nepal. The present research aims to study the perception of farmers about climate change, the impact of climate change on agriculture and food security. It also documents the adaptation strategies that farmers practice. The study also attempts to study the agricultural policies through a gender perspective and identify the gaps in the policy. Both primary and secondary sources were used for data collection. The production of the major food crops like wheat, maize, rice, fruits fresh vegetables and livestock has been in relative decline since the past several years. Sometimes total crop failure occurred due to drought, excessive rainfall or an epidemic of insects, pests and diseases. The change in the climatic pattern has resulted in decreased crop productivity that increases food insecurity of the people. Farmers use different adaptation measures to cope with the adverse effect of climate change. These helped to minimise crop losses and improve the food security situation of women farmers by preventing crop loss. The national agricultural policy was found lacking in gender sensitivity. Based on the analysis of the data, recommendations have been made to the government.