Contributions of women to household farming decisions among cocoa-based agroforestry households in ekiti state, nigeria

Project Abstract

<p> This study examined the contributions of women to household farming decisions among<br>cocoa-based agroforestry households in Ekiti state, Nigeria using cross-sectional data.<br>The study used purposive, multistage and random sampling techniques for the selection of<br>120 cocoa-based agroforestry farm units that constituted respondents for the study. The<br>analytical techniques involved descriptive statistics, exploratory factor analysis and<br>multinomial logistic regression model. With regards to food crop production activities, the<br>contributions of women to decision making were very high with mean values of between<br>2.48 – 3.19 on a 4-point scale, while that of the men were comparatively low with mean<br>values ranging from 1.85 – 2.66. However, in the cocoa production activities, the<br>contributions of women to decision making were relatively low with mean ranging between<br>1.42 – 3.23 compare to high contributions of men with mean values ranging from 2.82 –<br>3.94 on a 4-point scale.<br>The multinomial logistic regression result comparing high<br>contribution (3) as base outcome, revealed that years of formal education of the women,<br>financial contribution status of the women to farming activities, average number of hours<br>spent on cocoa farm per day were negatively related while years of farming experience of<br>the women and number of adult male farmers in a household were positively and<br>significantly related with the probability of women making low (1) or medium (2)<br>contributions to household farming decisions. The t-test of no significant difference<br>between the contributions of women and men to farming decisions in the production of the<br>integrated food crops and the cocoa revealed that, on the average, women had<br>significantly higher contributions to decision making in food crop production activities<br>while in cocoa production, men had significantly higher contributions. The identified<br>constraints militating against women farmers were classified into three major factors<br>using principal component factor analysis with varimax – rotated and factor loading of<br>0.30.<br>These constraints range from techno-institutional factor (lack of extension<br>programmes directed to women, lack of access to NGOs programmes and low technicalknow-<br>how); socio-personal factor (the belief that women are subordinate, low self<br>confidence of women, multiple domestic responsibilities of women farmers) and economic /<br>financial factor which include low/lack of financial contributions by women farmers to<br>farming activities, involvement of the women in off farm jobs, lack of collateral security to<br>secure loans to support farming and so on. The study, therefore, recommends inter alia,<br>socioeconomic empowerment of women farmers, adequate extension services and training<br>to meet technological improvement needs of the women and formulation of gender<br>sensitive policies in favour of women in agricultural sector <br></p>

Project Overview