GENDER ANALYSIS OF RICE PRODUCTION IN OBAFEMI OWODE LOCAL GOVERNMENT AREA OF OGUN STATE, NIGERIA

Abstract

There is limited information on gender roles and responsibilities in the production of Ofada, a local rice varietyin Ogun State Nigeria. Therefore, a gender assessment study was conducted onOfada rice production inOgunState. A total of 80 and 40 male and female Ofada rice farmers were selected respectively. The resultshowed that 32.5% of male rice farmers were aged 51-60 years while 37.5% of female were aged 31-40 years.The mean age for male and female Ofada rice farmers were 46±13 and 41±12, respectively. Men were moreinvolved in tedious operations, which include land clearing, tree felling, stumping and weeding, as females weremore involved in less tedious activities. The level of involvement in Ofada rice production activities was lowamong more than half of both male (61.2%) and female (51.7%) Ofada rice farmers in the study LGA.Pestattack (42.5%) and inadequate funding (38.8%) were rated verysevere constraints to production of Ofadarice.No significant difference existed between male and female Ofada rice farmers in terms of level ofinvolvement in Ofada rice production (t = 0.471; P > 0.05). For ease of access to credit facilities, farmersshould form themselves into associations and cooperative groups through which members may have access toloans. This will help them prosecute their important farming operations and thereby expand their productionenterprise.