| dc.description.abstract | In an area where majority of the population rely on small scale agricultural production as a source
of livelihood, Sub-Saharan African (SSA) small scale farmers (SSFs) play a pivotal role in ensuring
sustainable agricultural development. These regions are increasingly facing concerns of
population growth, food insecurity and prevailing poverty, and thus targeted SSF development
approaches are becoming widespread throughout the region. This new development approach is
raising questions about how SSFs access and use land, with particular attention being paid to
marginalised groups. Thus, this thesis will narrow its scope onto female SSFs, making the central
research question how do female small scale farmers access and use land in Central Mozambique,
and how do development projects reflect this reality in their work?
Since the dominant literature has often categorized agricultural women as a unified marginalised
group, this thesis uses three inclusive theoretical lenses to ensure an accurate portrayal of female
SSFs, and their ability to access and use land. These lenses are intra-household perspectives,
social-embeddedness and differentiation between women. By integrating these perspectives, and
situating the findings within current development initiatives, this thesis has both practical and
theoretical implications. Theoretically, this thesis investigates the legitimacy of the dominant
narrative surrounding agricultural women and land, by providing empirical evidence that
supports the accurate portrayal of women. In terms of practical contributions, by contextualising
these findings amongst current SSF development initiatives, this thesis investigates to what
extent these projects understand and incorporate the reality of women within their projects,
whilst making recommendations to ensure their projects align with reality.
The dual interest of this thesis, in female SSFs and development approaches, means that both
emic and etic perspectives were gained in the data collection process. The emic SSF perspective
gave two primary findings. First, that female farmers’ ability to access to and use land is far more
dynamic than often assumed. Second, due to their heterogenous nature, women’s experiences
with land are highly diverse, as different intersections create both oppression and opportunity
for the individuals. With regards to the etic investigation, the international development
perspective is aligned with the dominant, marginalised view of women. Thus, their misalignment
with reality has limited their ability to positively impact female SSFs. | |
