PAPER TITLE :GENDER ANALYSIS OF COCOA FARMERS’ ACCESS TO PRODUCTION RESOURCES IN EKITI STATE, NIGERIA

APPLIED TROPICAL AGRICULTURE | VOLUME 21 NUMBER 3 2016

Paper Details

  • Author(s) : Ayodele, O.V.1*, Fasina, O.O.1 and Awoyemi, A.O.2
  • Abstract:

The importance of understanding gender relationships in resource allocation is crucial to agricultural development
and hence cannot be overemphasized. The study evaluated farmers’ access and constraints in cocoa production
activities in Ekiti State, Nigeria. Purposive sampling technique was used to select three Local Government Areas with
the highest cocoa production. Data was collected from 117 cocoa farmers with well-structured interview schedules.
Frequencies, mean statistic, percentages and ANOVA were used to analyze the data. The findings affirmed old aged
cocoa farmers with the mean age of 54 years for male and 52 years for female. It also revealed older cocoa farms for
female with an average of 42 years and 35years for male. There was low output for both gender with the mean of 8
bags for male and 7 bags for female. The mostly accessed production resource was water while extension service was
the least accessed. Mean score for access to resources by men was 39.51 and 30.61 for female. The difference of 8.90
was significant at 0.05 level of significance (f = 40.94, p ≤ 0.05). This signifies a gender difference in access to
production resources. However, good market price was the most prominent constraint affecting both genders, while
health, availability of agrochemicals, finance and land among others affected farmers in cocoa production with
women having more health challenges. It was concluded that, there was gender disparity in access to production
resources. Therefore, it was recommended that, there should be gender equity in access to production resources so as
to enable women maximize their full potential in agricultural production.