BARRIERS TO AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTIVE RESOURCES AMONG FEMALE FARMERS IN THE SOUTHEASTERN ZONE OF NIGERIA

Abstract

Women are the most disempowered, experiencing inadequate right to land and decision-making in agricultural production resources. The study analysed barriers in access to productive agricultural resources by women farmers in south-eastern zone of Nigeria. Purposive and random sampling methods were used in selecting 500 respondents. Percentages and Likert-scale were used in analysing the data. The results show that women had little access to most vital productive assets in the following proportion 19.8% (land), 35.4% (credit), 33.3 (extension services, 1.9% (tractor) and 1.9% (insurance). Illiteracy (mean score (MS) of 4.62), poor access to credit (MS of 4.20) and lack of government support/incentives (MS of 3.91) were the major militating factors against women farmers’ access to these productive resources. The study concluded that women were constrained with many problems in accessing productive resources. It is recommended that land tenure policies to be reviewed to favour women's access, acquisition and use of land while moderating the men’s over-hoarding of agricultural productive resources.