Production by smallholders in rural Kenya is limited by institutional, technical and investment constraints. Female farmers are the majority among smallholders and have significant roles in agriculture; nonetheless, they face constraints in accessing resources. Recent primary data of 347 farmers (proportional random sampling) was used to examine: (a) factors affecting women’s participation in agriculture; (b) factors influencing female farmers’ decision to join a farmer group; and (c) the effect of women’s membership in a farmer group on crop yield. We applied Probit and linear regression with endogenous treatment maximum likelihood methods. Results reveal that women’s participation is positively influenced by membership in a farmer group and land ownership. Women’s decision to join a farmer group is positively affected by access to credit, and negatively by limited decision-making power and lack of access to land. Crop yield is positively affected by membership years in a farmer group and ownership of mobile phones, negatively by lack of credit. Farmer groups are a particularly effective platform to improve crop yields and other constraints confronting female farmers. Surprisingly, this platform is under-utilised. Policymakers should invest in human, financial and physical capital of farmer groups as a pathway to rural development, improved rural livelihoods and reduced poverty.

No abstract

This paper set out to show the impacts of COVID-19 and climate change on smallholders through the lens of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and ways to keep smallholders on the 2030 agenda. Descriptive statistical analysis of quantitative secondary data is applied to investigate the issues in question across world regions. Increasing energy and food demand have triggered greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions with effects on the environment, socioeconomic and related sectors. If unchecked, climate change will jeopardize progress towards SDGs' agenda of ending hunger and poverty by 2030. COVID-19 exacerbates the underlying climate change impacts compromising food and water security. The widespread famines of Biblical proportions caused by COVID-19 effects are likely to cause more deaths than the virus. Improvement of water availability and food production is crucial to ending hunger and poverty. There is a need to strengthen smallholders' adaptation and mitigation capacity through cooperatives' platforms thereby reach out to smallholders who are the furthest first. International cooperation is urgent to support smallholders' adaptation of climate-smart agriculture to reduce GHG emissions thereby subdue climate impacts resulting in higher productivity, food security, poverty reduction and sustainable development. Cooperatives need support to facilitate adaptation and mitigation by applying site-specific technology to local needs and possibilities.

4Africa's disadvantaged children are rural, malnourished, out of school, child brides or child labourers 5 and have illiterate mothers who were denied access to productive resources. Our objective is to analyse 6 factors affecting child poverty. Endogenous variables are under five mortality rate, primary school 7 enrolment and child underweight. Endogeneity led to the use of Three Stages Least Squares simultaneous 8 equations and fixed effects methods. The estimated elasticities indicate that female employment in 9 agriculture has the greatest effect on under five mortality rates, while crop production index has the 10 greatest effect on primary school enrolment and child underweight. Elasticity ranking shows that what is 11 at issue is not the effect of education on reducing child poverty or the effect of child poverty on reducing 12 education, but the improvement of women's status particularly in agricultural sector. Policies for long 13 lasting solutions should highlight institutional quality as a prerequisite in child poverty reduction, it 14 presents children and women with equal opportunities to access basic needs and productive resources.15

The Sustainable Development Goals target of leaving no one behind has stalled because out-of-school children (OOSC) in Africa are generally poor, disabled, orphaned, minority, working, overaged, childbrides and are remote. Descriptive statistical analysis of quantitative secondary data was applied to investigate education issues. Comparisons across gender, residence and regions indicate marginalization in education systems characterized by low preschool education, inefficient primary schools evidenced by insufficient inputs, untrained, poorly paid teachers and biased public expenditure. OOSC face a range of circumstances: to meet Sustainable Development Goals targets requires solutions to specific cases; one size will not fit all, since OOSC are trapped in a web of multiple problems.