Nigeria is the world’s largest cassava producer, hosting a diverse array of cassava farmers and processors. Cassava breeding programs prioritize “common denominator” traits in setting breeding agendas, to impact the largest possible number of people through improved varieties. This approach has been successful, but cassava adoption rates are less than expected, with room for improvement by integrating traits in demand by farmers and processors. This paper aims to inform breeding priority setting, by examining trait and varietal preferences of men and women cassava farmer/processors. Men and women in eight communities in Southwest and Southeast Nigeria were consulted using mixed methods. Women and men had significantly different patterns of cassava use in the Southwest. Fifty-five variety names were recorded from the communities demonstrating high genetic diversity maintained by growers, especially in the Southeast. High yield, early maturity, and root size were most important traits across both regions, while traits women and men preferred followed gender roles: women prioritized product quality/cooking traits, while men placed higher priority on agronomic traits. Trait preference patterns differed significantly between the Southeast and Southwest, and showed differentiation based on gender. Patterns of access to stem sources were determined more by region and religion than gender.

The study examined gender roles in climate change adaptation strategies used by cassavabased farmers in Gokana Local Government Area of Rivers State, Nigeria. It specifically described the socio-economic characteristics of cassava farmers across all gender levels, identified adaptation strategies practiced by these farmers across gender levels and the problems encountered by cassava farmers in the use of adaptation strategies in the study area. Multi-stage sampling technique was used to select 60 respondents in the study area. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics. The results of socio-economic characteristics of the farmers showed that 56.6% of the male farmers were married which is greater than 46.60% of the married females. The males had more average income of N1,620,000.13 compared to N 133,000.66 for the females. The females had more farm experience than the males, while the male cultivated larger farms. The main adaptation strategies used by cassava farmers in the study area were change of planting date, moving to a different site, mixed cropping and changing the timing of land preparation. Irregular extension services were the major constraint faced by the cassava farmers with a mean value of 3.722 for male farmers and mean of 4.411 for female farmers. It is concluded that gender plays several roles in climate change adaptation strategies in cassava-based farming in the study area. Based on the findings, efforts should be made by government and relevant stakeholders to educate cassava farmers on climate change adaptation strategies along gender lines.