Improvements in Women’s Access to Rural Farmland: The case of Ile-Ife, Nigeria

Olusegun Adebayo Ogunba,Daniel Ibrahim Dabara,Augustina Chiwuzie

doi:10.15641/jarer.v6i1.927

Olusegun Adebayo Ogunba, Daniel Ibrahim Dabara + Show 1 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.15641/jarer.v6i1.927

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Abstract

The study investigates women's access to rural farmlands in Ile-Ife, Nigeria, in the context of land availability, affordability, tenure security and ease of transaction. A qualitative research design was employed. Purposive and stratified sampling were utilised to obtain data from four key informants and 13 rural women farmers in Ajebandele village of Ile-Ife, Nigeria. Themes emerged from the responses through content analysis. Findings revealed that women's access to land has improved over the past four decades. The study concludes that despite the improvements, gender equality had not been fully achieved as rural women farmers lack tenure security.

Highlights

Land remains an essential resource for rural and urban people, in the developing countries where the majority of the population depends on agriculture for their livelihoods (FAO, 2011)
Lastarria-Cornhiel and Frais (2009) asserted that land represents a valuable cultural resource, a productive factor and capital asset, and those who control land rights have a certain amount of power over those who do not, especially in rural agrarian economies
In most of Africa, agricultural landholding is governed by customary land tenure systems

Summary

Introduction

Land remains an essential resource for rural and urban people, in the developing countries where the majority of the population depends on agriculture for their livelihoods (FAO, 2011). According to Pottier (2005), the land was considered a resource that all community members should have access to for Journal of African Real Estate Research Special Issue: Women in African Real Estate and Urban Development. The land is seen as communally owned, and access to land within the customary sector is primarily based on membership in a particular landholding community, kinship or birth right. It has been widely acknowledged that women do not have equal land rights to men under customary land tenure. Women's access to land is dependent upon a relationship with a male donor and can be denied if the relative so wishes.

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Findings

Discussion

Conclusion