Appraisal of the Involvement of Rural Women in Selected Food Crop Production in Umuahia North Local Government Area, Abia State, Nigeria

Abstract

This paper examines the involvement of rural women in selected food-crops production in Umuahia North Local Government area, Abia State, Nigeria. Data were raised with pre-tested questionnaire administered to 150 women farmers using multistage random sampling technique. Data generated were analyzed with descriptive (frequency count, percentages and means) and inferential (regression) statistical tools. The study revealed that 50.0% of the women farmers were within the age range of 41-50 years old; majority (68.0%) were married, 46.7% had basic education while 42.7% had household size of between 10-14 persons. Majority (60.0%) had over 10 years farming experience and over 90% had less than 3 hectares of farm-land. Specifically, they were small-scale farmers. The result also showed that majority of the women farmers cultivated selected food-crops (Cassava 98.7%; maize, 96.7% and cocoyam 80%). The farming activities the women were mostly involved in were processing, harvesting, weeding, storage, stumping, and planning. The women farmers were constrained with inadequate capital (98%); access to land (92.0%); inadequate extension services (88.)%); poor road network (72.0%); lack of storage facilities (66.0%) and incidence of pest and disease (60.0%). The result of the regression analysis shows household size, farm size and level of education were significantly related with the level of women involvement in food-crop production activities. It was recommended that provision of adequate capital, good road network, and farm land will increase women involvement in food-crop production.