Gender Analysis of Agricultural Innovation and Decision Making among Rice Farming Household in Nigeria

Abstract

A B S T R A C TRice importance in food security and contribution to Nigeria economy cannot be overlooked, rice is produced in Nigeria but productivity increase has been a challenge due to many factors. Actors involved in the production process include women who are faced with formidable obstacles. This research analyze agricultural innovation, constraints faced by male and female rice farming households and decision making among rice farming household in Nigeria rice hub. A 3-stage stratified random sampling procedure were used, descriptive statistics, Ordinal Ranking, Least Significant Difference and Women empowerment index were the tool of analysis. The study showed that 23.81% of the respondents are female-headed and 76.19% are maleheaded; more than half of the women (54.29%) are without formal education as compared to men (25.89%). Only 13.39% and 8.57% of the male and female headed household use rice innovation; access to credit, high cost of input and poor soil fertility are the major constraints; women empowerment results showed 76.60% of decision is made by solely by male head, 7.80% is made by female and 7.09% of decisions are jointly made. The study recommends that; innovation usage should be advocated, subsidy should be intensified and gender consideration in decision making be made a priority.

Gender Differentials in Poverty among Crayfish Harvesting Households in Niger Delta Region of Nigeria

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“…This is in support of [36] findings among smallholders' farmers in South Eastern Nigeria and [37] findings among youth farmers in Akwa Ibom State. Conversely, the findings disagrees with [38,39,40] who reported farm and rural household males to be poorer than females in Ogun State, Oyo State and Nasarawa/Benue of Nigeria respectively. This may be due to regional, environmental, job and /or type of farm differences.…”

Gender gap in agricultural productivity in Nigeria: A commodity level analysis

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Situating Political Agronomy: The Knowledge Politics of Hybrid Rice in India and Uganda

“…As propounded by institutions affiliated with the ARC and studies connected to major breeding and dissemination initiatives, it is argued that NERICA varieties have various technical advantages over African and Asian rice counterparts on the basis of nutrient responsiveness, early flowering, grain count, grain weight per panicle, grain resistance to mill shattering, pest and drought resistance, high protein content, along with good taste and aroma (AfricaRice, 1995(AfricaRice, , 2002(AfricaRice, , 2011. On this basis, NERICA has been promoted as a tool for livelihood improvement that can contribute to increased incomes, self-sufficiency and even gender equality (Ajewole et al, 2015;Makosa and Takayanagi, 2014). In a more dramatic fashion, claims of an African 'miracle rice' -echoing those that accompanied the original Green Revolution variety IR-8 in Asia -appeared within the media (Harsch, 2004).…”