Abstract
The purpose of this study was to assess the gender representation in agricultural extension workforce in Delta State, Nigeria and consider its implication for agricultural advisory service. The employment status of Village Extension Agents(VEAs) on gender basis was sourced from the Delta State Agricultural Development Programme (DTADP) office. A sample population (n = 285) of female farmers was selected randomly from the three agricultural zones of the state. Data were collected using structured questionnaire. Descriptive statistics were used to analyse the data. The study revealed that the male VEAs’ contact with female farmers was inadequate; the spouses of the women farmers had negative disposition to their contact with male VEAs. Male VEAs out-numbered the female VEAs. The implication is that the situation created a dearth of information for the women farmers and therefore a hindrance to increased productivity on the part of the women. It was recommended that more female VEAs should be employed; female VEAs to accompany male VEAs on home and farm visits and scholarship be granted to girls to study extension education in order to encourage girls to take up career in agricultural extension delivery service. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.4038/tare.v14i2.4839 Tropical Agricultural Research & Extension 14(2): 2011 34-37
Highlights
The issue of gender cannot be omitted from the discussion of agriculture in Nigeria, Africa and over the World (Adisa and Okunade 2005)
The sample population constituted of 285 female farmers, randomly drawn from the zones Ninetyfive (95) females farmers on the basis of 19 per sub zone were selected from the lists in each of
This indicates a wide gap between the number of male and female VEAs
Summary
The issue of gender cannot be omitted from the discussion of agriculture in Nigeria, Africa and over the World (Adisa and Okunade 2005). Even in the non Moslem areas the culture in most parts of Nigeria only allows open and limited interaction of wives with people of the opposite sex This has implications for food security as women are more involved in food production than men. It is a concept that has been defined by World bank (1997) as when all According to Meludu et al (1999) three million people in Africa currently face food insecurity and their challenges to meet their food and nutrition needs is likely to become greater years ahead They further postulated that population growth, urbanization and limited potential for increasing production through the expansion of cultivated area imply that for food needs to be met in the future, yields must have to increase
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