Gender Roles and Poverty Determinants of Fish Farmers’ Households in Oyo State, Nigeria

Abstract

Abstract

Aquaculture can be a key engine of growth and poverty reduction in Nigeria. The sector is however underperforming partly because women who are often a crucial resource face constraints that reduce their productivity. Their non-defined roles vary considerably and are changing rapidly leading to greater depth of poverty as economic and social forces transform the aquaculture sector. This study examined gender roles and poverty determinants of fish farmers’households in Oyo State.Amultistage sampling technique was used to select 250 respondents using well-structured questionnaires based on the fourAgricultural Development Programme zoning in Oyo State. Descriptive statistics, t test, Chi square, Harvard gender analysis framework, Foster Greer and Thorbecke poverty measure (FGT) and Probit models were used to analyse the data at á0.05 Result showed that 64.4% of the fish farmers were males, with mean age of 46.27±9.38 years and 55.3% had tertiary education while 35.6% were females with mean age of 41.43±10.42. 55.1% had tertiary education. However, 89.2% had male as household head with mean age 46.56±9.18 while female headed household only 10.8% with mean age of 47.63±14.5. Nineteen fish farming activities were considered and both gender were involved in all. In 15 activities there were significant differences in participation of the roles performed while there was no significant difference in only four roles. FGT for male showed that 70.81% were poor while 29.19% were nonpoor. Poverty index was (0.2919), Poverty depth (0.1673) and poverty severity was (0.1159) while for the female, 74.16% were poor and 25.84 were non-poor. Poverty index was (0.2584), Poverty depth (0.1352) and Poverty severity was (0.0889). There was significant difference between the poor and non-poor in both gender. The result of Probit regression for male indicated that farm size and household size, were the major determinants of poverty in the study area while marital status (married), education (No education and tertiary), household size and fish farming experience were the determinant of poverty for females in the study area. Larger farm size for males and higher educational level for females should be encouraged among the fish farmers to help improve their output and make them less susceptible to poverty as well as to be food and nutrition secure.