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Agricultural development projects usually channel benefits to M household heads on the assumption that they control the land, labor, crops, & finances. This assumption is challenged for the Gambian Mandinka: women cultivate rainfed rice, having ownership or use rights to rice land, while men control upland & grow groundnuts & millets. Both cultivate household & personal crops. Three development projects introduced irrigated rice to men, who consequently control this land & crop. Failure to involve women in rice development has not only increased their economic dependence on men but is also a major reason for deficiencies in these projects & low national rice production. HA.

This paper was prepared initially for presentation at the International Conference on Women in Rice Farming Systems, organized by the International Rice Research Institute, Los Banos, Laguna, The Philippines, 26-30 September 1983. The paper focuses on women's role in rice production, post-harvest work and marketing and looks into the implications for expanding production and raising productivity and incomes under different cultivation conditions

The paper reviews women's responsibilities for cash and staple crop production, for secondary and gathered foods, for animal production, fisheries, and food handling within the context of food security. The constraints are examined, possible remedies delineated for each of these sectors and policy implications considered