GENDERED EFFECTS ON PRODUCTIVITY GAP DUE TO INFORMATION ASYMMETRY

Abstract

According to the Census 2011, about 73% of India's rural workforce is engaged in agriculture. While females make significant contributions to total agriculture production, they contribute to about one-third in India. In rural India, nearly 80 percent of the female workforce and 69 percent of the male workforce are employed in agriculture (Census 2011). Within the households however, gender variations in plot management are widespread. In the last two and half years, India's agri-food system has undergone several changes on due to this pandemic both the demand and supply side, making agriculture more information and knowledge-intensive. Therefore, this paper investigates using a nationally representative sample from the NSSO 70th round that how information asymmetry affects the net returns per Hectare of land between female and male farm managers. Information intensity has a strong beneficial effect on net farm returns per hectare, according to empirical findings. According to the findings, if females have the same access to technical information as their male counterparts, their farm revenue can increase by.96 percentage points when compared to farms led by males. Results also indicate that literate females have higher farm income than non-literate females. The study contributes to the literature by employing gender differentials on farm income due to the information gap.