Thesis (BS Agribusiness Economics) University of the Philippines Mindanao, 2024

Sugarcane farming is seen as a male-dominated industry in the Philippines. Government policies and extension programs often overlooked the contributions of female farmers. Despite extensive research on sugarcane farming and production procedures, there are not enough studies on how gender dynamics affect family farmers’ day-to-day experiences in the Philippines and this affects the sugarcane. Production process. This study aimed to analyze the women empowerment of sugarcane farmers in the municipality of President Quirino, Sultan Kudarat. Purposive sampling was used to select 200 respondents from 9 rural barangays. The Abbreviated-Women Empowerment Index (A-WEAI) was used to assess the level of women’s empowerment. The A-WEAI score of 0.94 suggests that gender parity is almost attained in President Quirino, Sultan Kudarat. The leading indicators contributing to women’s disempowerment are group membership, access to credit and decisions on credit, input in productive decisions, and control over the use of income. In addition, based on the binary logistic and Tobit regression results in the five domains, production, resource, income, leadership, time allocation, and socio-demographic profile, including gender, occupation, educational attainment, and having land, emerged to affect women’s empowerment significantly. Overall, the engagement of women farmers in the sugarcane sector can be further improved through leadership development access to land and resources, participation in decision-making processes and access to finance and resources. Lastly, the collaborative efforts of the government, policymakers, and even the private sector in creating extension programs can enhance the involvement of women farmers in sugarcane production