Mainstreaming gender sensitivity in cash crop market supply chains: the role of CSR in Nigeria's oil producing communities

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to critically examine the multinational oil companies’ (MOCs) corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiatives in Nigeria. Its special focus is to investigate the impact of the global memorandum of understanding (GMoU) on mainstreaming gender sensitivity in cash crop market supply chains in the Niger Delta region of Nigeria.Design/methodology/approachThis paper adopts an explanatory research design with a mixed method to answer the research questions and test the hypotheses. A total of 1,200 rural women respondents were sampled across the Niger Delta region.FindingsResults from the use of a combined logit model and propensity score matching indicate a significant relationship between the GMoU model and mainstreaming gender sensitivity in cash crop market supply chains in the Niger Delta.Research limitations/implicationsThis study implies that MOCs’ CSR interventions that improve women’s access to land and encourage better integration of food markets through improved roads and increased mobile networks would enable women to engage in cash crop production.Social implicationsThis implies that improving access to credit through GMoU cluster farming targeted at female farmers would improve access to finance and extension services for women in cash crop production in the Niger Delta.Originality/valueThis research contributes to the gender debate in the agricultural value chain from a CSR perspective in developing countries and is rational for demands for social projects by host communities. It concludes that businesses have an obligation to help solve problems of public concern.