Women's participation in sustainable crop farming activities in Odeda Local Government Area of Ogun State

Abstract

Women have been found to be the key people responsible for providing household food supplies in Sub Saharan Africa but have minimal access to production facilities. This study examined the level of women's participation in sustainable crop farming activities in Odeda local government area of Ogun State, determined various sustainable crop farming activities engaged in y women, categorized them on the basis of their level of participation and identified the various means of improving their level of participation in crop farming activities. A multi-stage random sampling method was used in selecting 150 women farmers from two ADP zones. An interview schedule was designed to obtain data on the respondents' eleven identified sustainable crop-farming activities. Results show that most of the respondents have between 3-10 years of farming experience. Over half of them had average farm size of 2-3 hectares while over one-third had no formal education. The highest mean for each crop farming activity was set at 2.00 crop farming activities such as processing, storage and planting had higher mean scores ( x = 1.81 x= 1.79; x = 1.64 respectively) while ridging, fertilizer application and stumping had lower mean scores (x = 0.82; x = 0.91 x = 0.95 respectively). The respondents were categorized into 3 on the basis of the scores on the level of women's participation in sustainable crop farming activities thus: i. Low level participation Z= (-1.20 to-0.22) 42.7 percent ii. Medium level participation Z = - (0.23 to -0.76) 48.0 percent iii. High level participation Z = (0.77 to 1.75) 9.3 percent There was no significant relationship between respondent's level of participation in sustainable crop farming activities and their religion (2= 0.35,p>0.05) and farm size (2 0.71 p>0.05). A significant relationship however, existed between the level of sustainable crop farming activities and respondents' age (2 = 0.10; p This study recommends that women should be given adequate support in terms of education and production techniques and that decision makers must concern themselves with women's issues. [JEXT Vol.2(1) 2001: 24-31]