Investigating the Impact of Education and Women in Agriculture on Human Capital Outcomes in Africa: An Interaction Analysis

Abstract

Agriculture plays a crucial role in Africa's economy, and women constitute a significant proportion of the agricultural workforce in the region. Impact of women's role in farming and women education in Africa is significant for the human capital development. Furthermore, women's engagement in agricultural activities has increased with time, leading to improved contributions to food security and livelihood. Against this background, this study investigates the impact of women's participation in agriculture and women education interaction on human capital in Africa with the data obtained from the World Development Indicators (WDI) of the World Bank and Human Development Index (HDI) covering 33 African countries for the time frame 2000 to 2018. To control endogeneity that may be present in fixed effects model, the study applied the Generalised Method of Moments (GMM). The results show that, across African sub-regions, while women's participation in agriculture has a significant negative effect, education has a significant positive impact on human capital outcomes. Additionally, the interaction between women participation in agriculture and education has a significant positive impact on human capital across sub-regions in Africa. The findings underscore the need for policies that promote gender equality, as this has the potential to significantly increase human capital formation and sustainable development. The study, through the the interaction between women's in agriculture and education highlights the contribution of these factors to various goals, such as no poverty (SDG 1), zero hunger (SDG 2), quality education (SDG 4), gender equality (SDG 5) and decent work and economic growth (SDG 8).