African Women in Food Processing: A Major, But Still Underestimated Sector of Their Contribution to the National Economy
The paper intends to explore, in several African countries, the real involvement of women in the activities of food processing by screening the whole spectrum of their activities in agriculture, food processing industries, trade of foodstuffs, and catering and selling prepared meals. The countries are selected on the basis of availability of recent and numerous data which can highlight the phenomenon and allow the selection of representative samples in the related activities. Burkina Faso for instance has regularly collected data on secondary activities in its population censuses and household surveys, since 1985 and the secondary activities of women have had a strong impact on the estimates of female contribution in National Accounts. Benin has carried out a comprehensive survey on urban informal sector, including street vendors, in 1992 and has repeated it in 1999. Moreover, it has implemented a national time-use survey in 1998. Kenya carried out a National Baseline Survey on Informal Sector and Micro and Small Enterprises in 1999, which can provide a good basis for further analyses and ad hoc sample selection. Tunisia is also an interesting case because female participation rates are low in this country, but food processing is a kind of home-based work which is extensively undertaken by women and is still poorly documented
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