Factors Affecting Women Labor Utilization in Staple Crops Value Chains Activities in Southeast Nigeria

Abstract

This paper identified socioeconomic, institutional and technological factors affecting women labor utilization in an on-farm and less rewarding staple crop value chain activities such as clearing, cultivation, planting and weeding compared to more rewarding off-farm post-harvest activities that facilitate input and output market such as threshing, shelling, processing, storage and marketing using data collected from 400 randomly selected women farmers in southeast Nigeria during 2019/20 crop year. Multinomial-logit results show that complementary input such as the use of credit, hired labor, fertilizers, agrochemicals, more land, adult men/women and extension services had a negative relationship with women’s engagement in less rewarding farm operations. The constraint militating against women’s labor utilization in staple crop value chain activities were lack of storage facilities, lack of credit, lack of improved input, poor road network and land tenure problems. The paper recommends institutional framework through extension education, technology-supply industries, financial institutions, improved road network to enhance women’s labor engagement in more beneficial value chains activities such as post-harvest operations since women farmer selling to the market are more rewarding than engagement in clearing, cultivation, planting and weeding so that more women will participate in the market.