Abstract
This paper aimed to study the gender differentials in agricultural financing in cocoa-based farming systems in Southwestern Nigeria. A multi stage sampling procedure was employed to select 200 cocoa farmers for the study. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics and logit regression model. The results revealed that cooperative societies are dominant sources of finance for both male and female cocoa farmers. The findings also revealed that male cocoa farmers have more sources of finance than their female counterparts in the study area. The determinant of access to finance for both male and female cocoa farmers was age; specific to male cocoa farmers were average income, household size and membership in cooperative societies while level of education and possession of collateral were specific to female cocoa famers. It was concluded that policy strategies aimed at improving access to finance must consider education and ownership of certain resources among female cocoa farmers and formation of cooperative societies among male cocoa farmers.
Highlights
Cocoa-based farming system is the practice in which cocoa trees meant for the production of cocoa beans are the dominant component of the agro-forestry and usually inter-planted with other food crops e.g. cassava, maize and fruits
Source of finance available to cocoa farmers by gender The source of agricultural financing, either in cash or kind, available to cocoa farmers in the study area ranged from family and friends, cooperative thrift associations or cooperative societies, produce buyers or merchants, to commercial banks, microfinance banks, agricultural banks, merchants (Table 1)
Cocoa is one of the major crops vastly produced in the study area with main gender variations in the source of agricultural financing and factors affecting access to credit in the study area
Summary
Cocoa-based farming system is the practice in which cocoa trees meant for the production of cocoa beans are the dominant component of the agro-forestry and usually inter-planted with other food crops e.g. cassava, maize and fruits. In Nigeria, cocoa (Theobroma Cacao) is a welladapted agro-forestry plantation crop grown in hot, rainy climates of Southwestern Nigeria inclusive of Ekiti, Ogun, Ondo, Osun, and Oyo (Cadoni, 2013; Oluwasola et al, 2015; Olaiya, 2016). Cocoa has played significant role in Nigeria economy, especially in providing jobs and income to farmers, raw materials for the industry and foreign exchange for the country (Alamu, 2013). The contribution of cocoa to these producing States is appreciably substantial, hereby boosting the economies of these States (Eze, 2018). Cocoa growth witnessed a downward trend after the 1971 cropping season, and kept on declining till date (FAO, 2016). Several authors (Akinagbe, 2015; Olaiya, 2016; Afolayan, 2017) have
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