Elements of Rural Economics: Access to Agricultural Information among Rural Women Farmers in Abuja, Nigeria

Abstract

Information is very important for sustainable agricultural development. In order to increase agricultural production, enhance good distribution strategies, achieve improve and efficient marketing system, agricultural information should be at the central position. This study evaluated elements of rural economics: access to agricultural information among rural women farmers in Abuja, Nigeria. The specific objectives are to: identify the socio-economic characteristics of rural women farmers, examine the various ways rural women farmers have access to agricultural information, and evaluate the factors influencing rural women farmers’ access to new agricultural information in Abuja, Nigeria. A sample of 90 rural women farmers was selected through a multistage sampling technique from three selected agricultural extension blocks namely: Byazhin, Kubwa and Bwari Central. The data were collected with the aid of a questionnaire. The analytical tools used were descriptive statistics and Maximum Likelihood Estimates using Logit regression model. The results indicated that about 94 percent of the rural women farmers were less than 55years of age which implies that most of the rural women farmers are in their active age. About 86 percent of the rural women farmers were married. Household sizes were large, 76 percent of rural women farmers had less than 10 members. Furthermore, 97 percent of the rural women farmers had less than 30 years farming experiences. In addition, 92 percent of the rural women farmers realized income less than N 100, 000.00 or 318 US Dollar from the sales of their farm products annually. The results further show that the print media and audio-visuals (radio and television) were the major information sources of rural women farmers. The Logit model results revealed that age, marital status and members of farmer’s cooperative association had positive and significant relationships with access to agricultural knowledge and information atrespectively. The coefficient of Nagelkerke determinant (R2) value was 0.658. The coefficient of Cox and Snell determinant (R2) value was 0.488. The study recommends that well-trained female extension agents should be provided in the study area to train the rural women farmers on modern farming techniques that will increase agricultural productivity or yields.