ABSTRACT:
The introduction of new agricultural technologies is never gender-neutral, but the differential changes are not always immediately evident. While the most visible gender gaps between men and women appear in the hands-on use of technologies, in the case of agricultural machinery, gender differences also arise in farmers’ ability to rent and hire machinery. To explore gender dynamics in emerging markets for agricultural machinery service-provision in Bangladesh, the Gender, Climate Change, and Nutrition Integration Initiative (GCAN), the Cereal Systems Initiative for South Asia (CSISA), and CSISA–Mechanization and Irrigation (CSISA-MI) partnered to conduct qualitative research in Faridpur and Jhenaidah districts in October–December 2017. We interviewed husband and wife machine service providers (machine owners who charge affordable fees for machinery services to other farmers) (19 women, 18 men), men and women who hire these machines for their farms (26 women, 17 men), women farmers in nonmechanized farming households (12), and CSISA staff and community leaders (2 women, 7 men).
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