Abstract
This study was carried out to investigate the determinants of gender productivity among smallholder cowpea farmers in Baga, Kukawa Local Government Area of Borno State, Nigeria. A random sample of 70 respondents comprising 35 male and 35 female cowpea farmers were the source of data for the study. Descriptive statistics and multiple regression analysis were used for the data analysis. The results showed that most respondents were smallholders with about 80% and 86% of male and female respondents respectively having less than 5 ha of farm land. About 74.3% of the male and 71.4% of the female were above the age of 40 years while 74.3% of the male and 82.9% of the female respondents were educated to various levels of schooling. Mean input per hectare used by men exceeded the input used by women and the average output per hectare of the men (1220Kg) exceeded that of the women (1050Kg). Farm size, seed and labor were significant determinants of cowpea production among both men and women respondents. It was recommended that women in the area be given more access to production inputs through grants or loans in cash and kind to help them improve their cowpea production output.
Highlights
Cowpea is the most important food legume grown in the tropical savanna zone of Africa
The objective of this paper is to investigate the determinants of cowpea production among male and female cowpea farmers in Baga, Kukawa L
The analysis of respondents’ responses in Table 1 indicates that 74.3% of the male and 71.4% of the female were above the age of 40 years. This is an indication that cowpea, being a cash crop in the study area, was cultivated by older farmers probably because older farmers were more experienced and financially stable to handle cowpea production
Summary
Cowpea is the most important food legume grown in the tropical savanna zone of Africa. Nigeria is the highest producer of cowpea in the world, producing about 56% of the world’s production It is the largest consumer of cowpea in the world (FAO, 2004). Men are considered the traditional bread winners among households (Springer, 2010) This not withstanding, women play key roles in the bread winning of their families. They are important sources of food for their families (Ibnouf, 2009) so much so that women produce about 60 – 80 percent of the food in most developing countries and are responsible for half of the world’s food production (www.fao) their contributions are often hidden and attributed to men. This has often been reflected in women having less access to information, technology, inputs and credit resulting in women having more depressed productivity than men (Shultz, 1988)
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