Assessing the Effect of Women’s Empowerment on Investment in Soil and Water Conservation Strategies in Northern Rwanda

Women’s empowerment and sustainable land management are seen as the best way to combat and reverse land degradation through investment in soil and water conservation (SWC) technologies. Rwanda is one of the countries with a high index score for women’s empowerment in agriculture. However, key constraints for women include workload, access to and decision on credit, and control over the use of income. Despite a wide literature on SWC, studies assessing the effects of individual indicators of women’s empowerment on SWC investment strategies are scanty in the Northern province. Independent t-test and Iterative Seemingly unrelated regression (ISUR) model were used to analyze quantitative data captured through the household and project-level Women’s Empowerment in Agriculture Index surveys from 653 male and female respondents in Burera, Gakenke and Musanze districts. Findings show that females use more hours than males for Invisible SWC investment (221.04) and SC practices (2709.01). As compared to men, women spend few hours for investing in soil fertility management (-17423.46), Integrated soil management and water conservation (-14,210), and Financing SWC (-248.51) than males. Results with ISUR indicate that the effects of women’s indicators related to intrinsic, instrumental, and collective agencies on investment in SWC strategies are gender-differentiated. However, all the indicators do not have effects on Financing SWC. Education, man occupation, access to institutions, and markets influence investment in SWC strategies. Findings are relevant for designing economic strategies and gender transformative approaches to bolster women’s empowerment in SWC and to create just pathways to agricultural transition.