Gender matters in seed system assessments: evidence from smallholder farms in Morocco, Senegal, and Madagascar

Despite growing recognition of the importance of involving smallholder farmers in seed systems governance, gender remains a critical but overlooked dimension. Women’s seed practices are often misunderstood, underdocumented, and excluded from policy and research, leading to governance frameworks that fail to address their needs or even exacerbate inequalities. This calls for collecting gender-disaggregated data and developing more inclusive methodologies in seed system assessments. However, the challenges that this raises and the benefits of doing so are as yet unknown. Drawing on surveys from 1,054 smallholder farms in Morocco, Senegal, and Madagascar, this research first identifies the methodological challenges in capturing women’s seed knowledge and practices. It then evaluates gender bias in seed data by comparing responses from male and female household members regarding seeds and their sourcing practices. The findings reveal significant barriers to including women in seed surveys, notably the gendered organization of care work and the limited recognition of women as legitimate holders of agricultural knowledge. These barriers generate systematic biases that under-represent women’s roles in seed systems. The results further reveal significant differences in the crops and seed sources reported by men and women, demonstrating that interviewing only male household heads - a common practice in seed system research- produces substantial biases. Interpreting the findings through the lenses of epistemic justice and social reproduction theory, the study argues that research practices can both reproduce and challenge the systemic devaluation of women’s seed knowledge. It proposes a set of principles to move beyond the productive–reproductive dichotomy and support the collection of gender-disaggregated data for more inclusive seed system research and governance.