Agricultural Economics, 7 (I992) 141-153 Elsevier Science Publishers B.V., Amsterdam Gendered impacts of fertilizer subsidy removal programs in Malawi and Cameroon Christina H. Gladwin Food and Resource Economics Department, lnstitute of Food and Agricultural Sciences, Unirersity of Florida, Gainesville, FL, USA (Accepted 27 September 1991) ABSTRACT 141 Gladwin, C.H., 1992. Gendered impacts of fertilizer subsidy removal programs in Malawi and Cameroon. Agric. Econ., 7: 141-153. Since the early 1980s, development experts and donor agencies have agreed on thc importance of structural adjustment programs (SAPs) aimed at 'getting prices right'. Adoption of reforms were made preconditions for new loans or grants in many sub-Saharan African countries. In both Malawi and Cameroon, one such required reform was govern- ment's eliminating fertilizer subsidies to the small farm sector, previously used to increase the profitability of intensive agriculture while keeping food prices artificially low. The aim of this paper is to review fertilizer subsidy removal programs for their impact on farmers, who in sub-Saharan Africa are women, In theory, SAP programs should benefit women produc- ers, because mueh emphasis is placed on renewing agricultural production and aligning farmgate prices with world prices. But in practice, will they benefit? Are SAPs gender-neu- tral and affect men and women equally, or merely gender-blind? INTRODUCTION Since the early 1980s, development experts and donor agencies have agreed on the importance of structural adjustment programs (SAPs) aimed at 'getting prices right'. Adoption of reforms - devaluation of overvalued currencies, increases in artificially low food prices and interest rates, privatization policies, wage and hiring freezes, removal of subsidies, and the switching of resources from the production of non-tradables to trad- ables - were made preconditions for new loans or grants in many sub- Correspondence to: C.H. Gladwin, IFAS, Food and Resource Economics Department, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL 32611, USA. 0169-S1S0/92/$OS.OO © 1992 - Elsevier Science Puhlishers B.V. All rights reserved