Involvement Of Rural Women Research Articles

Problems and suggestions regarding involvement of rural women in farm and home decision making activities in Valsad district of South Gujarat

Problems and suggestions regarding involvement of rural women in farm and home decision making activities in Valsad district of South Gujarat

Involvement of rural women in gathering of forest products as a means of livelihood in South-Western Nigeria

This study evaluated the involvement of rural women in the collection of forest products. Three hundred rural women involved in gathering of forest products were selected by a three stage sampling technique while primary data were collected with the use of interview schedules as well as Focus Group Discussion (FGD). Analysis of data was done using frequency counts, percentages, mean, standard deviation, correlation and Chi-square. The study revealed that majority (61%) of the women were in their economically active ages, married (76.7%), with mean age and household sizes of 39years, 6 persons respectively. Majority (87%), of the women gather vegetables, fruits (77%), snails (76%), and alligator pepper (71%) and herbs (62%) among others. Women gatherers had positive perceptions that gathering of forest produces is a source of livelihood (x̄= 4.42), gathering of forest is profitable, (x̄= 4.36); and gathering business has improved their standard of living (x̄= 4.06) among others. The benefits derived from gathering activities included: provision of foods (fruits, vegetables, and soup condiments) which ranked first and provision of employment and improvement in rural living standards from sustained income among others. Respondents’ age (r=0.201;≤0.05), experience (r=0.694;≤0.01) and household size (r=0.694;≤0.01) had significant relationship with involvement in the gathering enterprise. It is concluded that rural women involvement in gathering of forest products is high enough but may not ensure sustainable livelihood. The study recommends that stakeholders should prioritize programmes that would promote off-farm income- generating diversification activities through technical and financial support.

A Study on Contribution of Women in the Development of Rural Tourism, with Special Reference Selected Rural Tourism Destinations of Malnad Region of Karnataka State

Rural tourism in India is one of the emerging sectors. Rural tourism is one of the major alternative sources of income for rural population. Rural people can use available resources more effectively and efficiently. Contributions of rural women in tourism activities are neglected or not recognized. This paper tries to highlight the problems and prospects of rural women involvement development of rural tourism in Malnad region of Karnataka state.

Socio-economic factors influencing rural women’s involvement in informal economic activities in southwest, Nigeria

The study assessed the socio-economic factors influencing rural women’s involvement in informal economic activities (IEDS) in southwest, Nigeria. It describes the socio-economic characteristics of the rural women, identify the IEAs rural women involved in, determine the level of involvement of the rural women in IEAs and identity the constraints to the involvement of rural women in IEAs in the study area. A multi-stage sampling procedure was employed to select 120 respondents. Data were collected through structured interview schedule and same were subjected to descriptive statistics such as frequency counts, percentages, mean standard devaluation and rank while correlation and chi-square analyses were the inferential tools used. The results show that the mean age of the rural women involved in IEAs was 36.5 years. Majority (87.5%) were married while the mean household size was 5. Also 92.5% of the respondents had formal education and this indicates that the majority could read and write. The mean annual income of the rural women was N168.223.99. Some of the major IEAs which rural women involved in fully are: food fending (x̄=2.2), petty trading (x̄=2.00), hawking (x̄=1.9), sales of farm produce (x̄=1.6) and sales of fruits alone (x̄=1.5). The results of the correlation analysis show that age (r=0.209) and household size (r=0.1412) had significant relationship with the level of involvement of rural women in IEAs. Furthermore, the results of the chi-square (χ2) analysis show that religion (χ2=33.750), marital status (χ2=184.15), educational status (χ2=500.43), credit accessibility (χ2=92.951) and membership of social organization (χ2=249.61) had significant relationships with the level of involvement of rural women in IEAs. It was recommended that government should provide adequate fund in form of loans through cooperative or social organizations to the rural women to boost their IEAs.

Effects of capacity building on rural women involvement in Climate Smart Agriculture initiatives in Rivers state, Nigeria

Abstract The study assessed the effects of capacity building on rural women involvement in Climate Smart Agriculture (CSA)initiative in Rivers State, Nigeria. Respondents were leaders of rural women cooperative societies in Rivers State who were randomly selected from 23 Local Government Areas in the State. Structured questionnaire administration and Key Informant Interview was used to collect data while frequency counts, mean and percentages were employed to analyze the data collected. Results showed that the rural women interviewed were mostly adults, as majority (71.8%) were within the age range of 40 - 59 years. Majority (62.52%) were engaged in business/trading and other non-agricultural income generating activities, such as civil service (21.89%), income from pensions (3.13%), while 12.5% of the respondents had no other income generating activity aside farming. Some (40.63%) of the rural women had Senior Secondary Certificate as the highest form of education. Only 43.75% were aware of CSA, with 62.51% of them indicating low level of CSA knowledge. The major CSA management practices they know include mixed farming (50.0%), crop management practices (40.63%), application of indigenous knowledge and practices (25.0%) and soil management practices (25.0%). Approximately 84% have not attended CSA training before now. All the rural women (100%) used for the study upheld that CSA training is helpful in improving their CSA knowledge, imparted their readiness to adopt CSA practices (94%) and equipped them to be more involved in CSA initiative (100%). The major effects of capacity building on rural women involvement in CSA initiative are better knowledge of CSA for increased use of CSA practices (X̄ = 3.72), capacity to add value to their farm products (X̄= 3.69) and capacity to train others on CSA practices (X̄= 3.50). Regular training on CSA components by both government and private agencies could help in strengthening and sustaining rural women active participation in CSA initiative in the state and beyond.

Rural Women Involvement in Oil Palm Value Chain in Akwa Ibom State, Nigeria

The study examined the involvement of rural women in oil palm value chain activities in Akwa Ibom State, Nigeria. Data was collected from two hundred and ten (210) respondents purposively selected from rural oil palm women farmers in Akwa Ibom State. Collected data was analyzed using frequencies, percentage and ranking method. The results showed that the respondents were in their prime age (youthful age/active age) 26-50 years of age. Majority of the respondents also had formal education (primary, secondary or tertiary). Furthermore, most of the respondents (63.8%) were married as that served as labor for the oil palm value chain activities. Also, most of the respondents had a household size of 1-5 persons. A greater percentage of the respondents equally had 11-20 years experiences in oil palm business. In assessing the oil palm value activities the respondents were involved in, the result revealed that the respondents were actively involved in the processing, marketing and storage of the oil palm business. They were less involved in the planting and harvesting of the palm fruits which was more cumbersome and manly. Among the constraints, lack of finance was identified as the topmost constraint to risk, high cost of labor, high cost of transportation, theft etc. The study recommended that government/stakeholders should ensure that the rural women have access to credit and technology to make the business more attractive to the young women.

Determinants of Rural Women Involvement in Farming Activities in Akwa Ibom State, Nigeria

The study was conducted to examine the involvement of rural women in farming activities in Akwa Ibom State, Nigeria. The specific objectives were to examine the socio-economic characteristics of the respondents; identify the farming activities involved in and the constraints to women involvement in farming activities. Primary data was used for the study. The primary data were obtained with the aid of structured questionnaires administered to 175 rural women who were randomly selected. Frequency and percentage were used to analyze the objectives (1, 2 and 3) while multiple regression was used to test the relationship between the socio-economics characteristics and the involvement of women in farming activities. The result indicated that rural women were more into planting (39.9%), weeding (36.0%) and harvesting (14.9%) than other farming activities in the study area. On the constraints, the rural women identified lack of finance and poor returns (profit) as hinderance to women active involvement in full time farming activities. Also, the result from the regression analysis at 1% and 5% confidence interval revealed that age, marital status, household size and farm size were positively related to influencing rural women active involvement in farming activities. The study therefore recommended that government and non-governmental organization focus more in empowering rural women to access institutional credit and also build their capacity on the use of modern technology in planting, weeding and harvesting.

Rural women participation in farm and off-farm activities and household income in Bangladesh

The present study was mainly an impact of farm and off-farm activities on household income and participation of rural women in the Thakurgaon district of Bangladesh. The specific aim was to compare the rural women's participation considering their socioeconomic characteristics, income contribution to household income, and its influencing factors. An Independent Sample T-test was used to compare socioeconomic differences. Pearson's correlation test was used to determine the relationship between women's personal income and household income. The propensity Score Matching (PSM) model was used for impact evaluation of off-farm activities. The result of the t-test showed that off-farm activities were significantly ahead for women from the farm women in terms of socioeconomic variables. There was positive and a strong correlation between women's personal income from off-farm activities and their household income. The result of PSM shows that off-farm activities have a positive and significant impact on rural women's income. Estimation of the binary Probit model and marginal effects of related explanatory variables revealed that educational status, family size, work experiences, personal income, saving, and training, significantly affected rural women's involvement in off-farm activities. Therefore, to increase the pace of work, the participation of rural women in off-farm activities needs to be made more effective and efficient, for which government and non-government organizations need to take necessary steps in area-based development (such as work environment, credit facilities, communication, infrastructure, etc.).

A GENDER PERSPECTIVE ON SOLID WASTE MANAGEMENT PRACTICES: A CLIMATE CHANGE MITIGATION INITIATIVE

This study assessed the extent of involvement of rural women in climate change mitigation initiative through solid waste management practices conducted during the calendar year 2020 in the eight lakeshore towns in the 4th District of Laguna. The study employed descriptive-quantitative correlational design. Employment influenced the extent of involvement of rural women in climate change mitigation initiative in terms of solid management practices who favored that environmental education be taught in schools and educating about proper garbage management to fix garbage crisis, and insisting the local government put recycling laws and program in place. Moreover,they had stance on using alternative energy source such as windmills, solar power and others, learning to make right practical decisions for adapting to climate change, and learning more on climate change response strategy and promoting them to others. Consequently, rural women had utmost involvement in climate change mitigation initiative about health risk related to burning garbage, illegal dumps polluting rivers, streams and wells and about flooding due to garbage blocking drains and gullies.

Role of Income Generating Activities in Empowering Rural Women of Bangladesh

In Bangladesh, women in rural regions are largely responsible for agricultural production, food security, and household upkeep. This study was carried out to examine the variables affecting the income of rural women, gauge women's empowerment, and pinpointthe main issues they confront. Both quantitative and qualitative data were collected through a pre-tested interview schedule from sixty women involved with income-generating activities. The multistage sampling procedure was used, and primary data were collected from Mymensingh Sadar, Muktagacha, and Bhaluka Upazila of Mymensingh district of Bangladesh from April to June 2021. Tabular analysis, Ordinary Least Square (OLS) method, Women Empowerment Index (WEI), and Problem Confrontation Index (PCI) were usedfor data analysis. The result shows that family size, farm size, work experience, and availability of credit have a significant positive influence on rural women's income. The estimated value of the WEI of the respondents is 1.23 which implies that women are empowered in the study area. Their capacity for decision-making has gradually enhanced as they are involved in income-generating activities.The major concerns faced by rural women include lack of capital, training facilities, credit availability and proper education, the higher price of the input, high-interest rates, etc. However, the survey still shows that rural women's involvement in income-generating activities has improved their quality of life more than at any prior point in the past.

INVOLVEMENT OF RURAL WOMEN IN MANAGING ON-FARM SUSTAINABLE DAIRY PRACTICES IN DISTRICT OKARA

In Pakistan, livestock is playing a considerable role in the country’s economy, agricultural development and fulfilling the domestic dairy needs of households. We cannot negate the prominence of females’ participation in this sector. This study is organized to identify the involvement of rural women in managing dairy farm practices. Data was collected from 120 rural women who were participating in dairy farm activities in District Okara through purposive sampling technique with the help of a well-structured interview schedule. The results showed that mostly young women in the age group of 19 to 38 were involved in dairy farm practices. 60.0% of the respondents were illiterate and almost 65.0% family’s occupation was agriculture. 32.5% respondents were involved in dairy farm practice from 6 to 10 years while half of the respondents were spending their 8 to 10 hours in these activities. Their involvement in on-farm activities was unpaid and considered as their domestic duty. Mostly, they were involved in managing on-farm sustainable dairy practices that includes; fodder cutting, watering, cleaning Chad and taking care of animals. Their participation and management of on-farm activities should be documented and acknowledged. The government should focus on female’s education and paid participation in agricultural activities. Keywords: Women participation, On-farm livestock management practices, District Okara, Punjab, Pakistan

ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT AMONG WOMEN IN IKENNE LOCAL GOVERNMENT AREA, OGUN STATE; AN APPRAISAL OF PROBLEMS AND PROSPECTS

Purpose: This paper takes an incisive examination of economic development with specific focus on some of the problems confronting the involvement of rural women in development activities in Ikenne Local Government.
 Methodology: The paper addresses this issue through qualitative methodologies by relying heavily on Primary and Secondary Sources of data collection consisting of oral Interviews with selected rural women in the Local Government. Relevant Text books, Journals, and Internet Sources were consulted to corroborate evidences from the findings.
 Findings: Although women have served as critical agents of rural economic transformation, such roles has been limited by illiteracy, lack of adequate finance, lack of processing and storage facilities, unsteady power supply, poverty. Their impacts have been felt indirectly in subsistent agriculture, and directly at the domestic domain. The role of women in the economic development of Ikenne Local Government Area in Ogun State cannot be overemphasized. This is because, there is basically no aspect of economic development in Ogun State that rural women would not be found. Generally, Ikenne rural women are majorly involved in agricultural activities such as planting, weeding, harvesting, processing and marketing. They also keep some domestic animals and birds. Rural women’s limited access to productive resources, low educational level and illiteracy are contributors to rural women’s poverty. The study discovered that Illiteracy affects extent to which benefits can be accrued from newer, non-traditional methods such as: information and communication technologies.
 Unique Contribution to Practice and Policy: The research therefore recommended that rural women in Ikenne local government should be exposed to various economic platforms for knowledge mobilization, innovation, and partnerships for sourcing funds to carry out their economic activities. The work concluded that promotion of agricultural development should be through the provision of useful and relevant information to the farming communities by the extension services. There are many constraints making rural women farmers to be lagging behind economically, apart from lack of agricultural information. Further main constraints such as the lack of personal land and credit should be enhanced to suit the necessity of the rural women. Rural women are limited in terms of their potential in contributing to agricultural and socio-economic development.

Participation of Rural Women in Rice Farming Activities: Case of a Village in Bangladesh

The objectives of this research were to evaluate the socio-economic features of rural women, determine their participation extent in rice farming activities, and find out relationship between socio-economic features and extent of participation. This survey-based research was conducted in a village called Jahidpur in the Sunamganj district. 80 farm families involved in rice farming were selected by using simple random sampling method. Data were collected from women respondents through direct interviews using questionnaires. To determine participation extent, a rating scale of 5 points was used. Around 22 tasks were categorized into 5 aspects namely pre-planting, planting, intercultural operation, harvesting, and post-harvesting. The report revealed that rural women's participation was maximum in post-harvesting activities. However, no participation was found in some field-level tasks such as seedbed preparation, transplanting, nutrient management, plant protection management, irrigation, and harvesting. A major part of the rural women had medium level participation in rice farming activities 61.25% compared to a low participation rate of 38.75% but nobody had high level participation. Some socio-economic characteristics such as age, farming experience, agricultural knowledge had a significant positive relationship whereas education had a significant negative relationship with rural women's participation in rice farming activities. Tradition (100%), food security (95%), and poverty reduction (92.5%) were the main three reasons for women’s participation while male-dominated society (100%), restricted social interaction (95%), and limited access to resources (86.5%) acted as top three barriers. Rural women's involvement in rice farming was not at a satisfactory level and proper strategy implementation is required for further increasing the participation extent in rice farming activities.

Rural Women Involvement in Post-Harvest Rice Production Activities in Ekiti State, Nigeria

Women play important roles in food production most especially in the rural areas of Nigeria. The study therefore assessed the involvement of women in post-harvest rice production activities in Ekiti State, Nigeria. A well-structured interview schedule was used to collect primary data from one hundred and twenty (20) women who were rice farmers. The data collected were analyzed using descriptive statistics and inferential statistics. The study revealed that the mean age of the respondents was 41 years. Majority of the respondents were married (90.0%) with an average household size of 6persons. High cost of mechanical threshing machine ( 2.96) and inadequate finance ( 2.66) were the major constraints to respondents’ involvement in post-harvest rice production activities in the study area. The study recommends that women processors should form cooperative societies to procure combined harvesters, de-stoner, threshers and milling machines so as to reduce the drudgery involved in the processing of rice and rice processors should be given opportunity of financial assistance to procure essential storage equipment for their processing activities.

Extent of rural women involvement in agro-based entrepreneurial activities in Imo State Nigeria

The study assessed the extent of rural women involvement in agro-based entrepreneurial activities in Imo state, Nigeria. Data for the study were collected using a structured questionnaire from 120 rural women through random sampling procedure. Data collected were analyzed using frequency, percentages, mean and regression analysis. Majority (73%) of the women were married with an average age and household size of 37years and 7 persons respectively. Approximately 53% had primary education with 52% belonging to cooperative society. Average farming experience and farm income were 8years and N35, 424.74 respectively. A reasonable proportion (60%) had access to credit facilities. Results showedthat the majority (53%) of the women were highly involved in agro-based entrepreneurial activities with crop production (95%), marketing (97%) and land preparation (87%) as the major agro-based entrepreneurial activities they were involved in. Women’s involvement in agro-based entrepreneurial activities was found to be influenced by household size, membership in cooperative society and access to extension contact. The study further showed that inadequate capital (96.67%)), high cost of capital (93.33%) and inadequate skilled labour (91.67%) were major constraints to women’s involvement in agro-based entrepreneurial activities. This research therefore recommends that the women should be encouraged through enhanced access to loans and credit facilities. They should also be encouraged to belong to cooperatives and other societies which can access grants and loans as this would increase the extent of their involvement in agro-based entrepreneurial activities in the area.
 Keywords: Entrepreneurship, Agro-based activities, rural women involvement

Literacy Education and Social Capital: A Study of Women’s Involvement in Community Development Projects in Southwestern Nigeria

The study examines the relationship between social capital and women’s involvement in a community development project; assesses the relationship between rural women literacy level and social capital leverage, and determines the interaction effect of literacy level and social capital leverage on rural women involved in community development projects. This research was conducted in Southwestern Nigeria using a descriptive survey research design followed by qualitative methods for in-depth analysis. A multi-stage sampling procedure was used to select 720 rural women from randomly selected three states in Southwestern Nigeria. Moreover, we also conducted in-depth interviews with 12 women (6 each of literate and non-literate) who had indicated participation in community development projects and conducted a focus group discussion in each of the three selected states. The findings reveal that the most significant predictors of rural women involvement in community development are: participation in adult literacy programme; literacy level; strong interaction with people; membership of community development committees; participation in the decision making process and discussion of development issues with friends. Moreover, the number of literate women who made use of social capital to participate in community development is high. The study, therefore, concludes that the relationship between literacy and social capital is strong.

Decision-making pattern of rural women beneficiaries of National Rural Livelihood Mission in Rewa district of M.P.

Involvement of rural women in decision-making process has been of great importance because they perform every household activity and major farm activities with great devotion and excellent capabilities. Keeping this in view, the present study was conducted to know the level of involvement of rural women in the decision-making process in agriculture and allied activities. The present study was conducted in Rewa district of M.P. since the National Rural Livelihood Mission (NRLM) project has been running in the district since 2015 for improving the livelihood and empowerment of women. Hence, the sample of the study was consisted of 120 rural women beneficiaries of National Rural Livelihood Mission. The study revealed that 45.00 per cent of the total respondents exhibited low level of decision making pattern followed by 30.83 per cent had medium and only 24.16 per cent had high decision making ability in farming and allied activities The study suggests that the rural women should be actively involved in awareness and capacity building programmes of rural and agricultural development for enhancing their involvement in decision-making process.

Empowerment of rural women through sericulture

The reduction of rural poverty is a continuous paramount goal of the developing countries like India, so far various strategies (sericulture is most appropriate out of them) have been pursued to address this concern and rural empowerment creation is one of the major aspects. We ought to learn from the past experiences that suggest devising a frame work of equitable and sustainable development of her participation on a consistent basis. Keeping in view the involvement of rural women in sericulture and silk industry, their present status in society and need for their empowerment, strategies to be incorporated in the various developmental initiatives are suggested. The global scenario clearly indicates the enormous opportunities for the Indian silk industry, because India is the second largest producer of silk in the world. Sericulture provides many opportunities to rural women.

A study on extent of involvement of rural women in agro based enterprises

The present study was conducted with 240 rural women who were engaged in both vegetable cultivation and livestock in 24 villages of three agro climatic zones of Assam, to know the extent of involvement of rural women in vegetable cultivation and livestock rearing. Data were collected personally by interview method. The findings revealed that majority of rural women had high involvement in vegetable cultivation and livestock rearing followed by medium and low involvement. The result of the study showed that the involvement of rural women in vegetable cultivation was significantly and positively related with marital status but not with age, caste, education, land holding, family occupation, family type, family size, organizational membership, socio economic status and mass media exposure. The findings revealed that the involvement of rural women in rearing of livestock was significantly and positively related with family occupation, family type and family size whereas there is no significant relationship between involvement of rural women in rearing of livestock and age, caste, education, land holding, organizational membership, socio-economic status and mass media exposure.

Status of rural women in the farm and non-farm activities as well as in the household's decision making process in Gurdaspur district of Punjab

The present study entitled, “Status of rural women in the farm and nonfarm activities as well as in the household’s decision making process in Gurdaspur district of Punjab” was conducted with the specific objectives, namely to examine the involvement of rural women in farm and non-farm activities and to quantify the role of different factors in the decision making process in the family during 2014-15 in the KVK, Gurdaspur’s adopted villages in the district. A total of 100 rural households consisting of 70 farm households, spread over small, medium and large size categories and 30 agricultural labour households were selected at random. Survey method was applied for the collection of primary data. To achieve the objective of the study, various statistical tools like averages, percentages, etc. were used. It has been observed in the study that the female literacy rate was lower than their male counterparts in all the household categories in the study area. Women in the villages have been found to be performing in both the domestic as well as farm activities. In Punjab, farm women, usually, do not work in the fields but they do help in tending of cattle and handling of milk and milk products. However, women of agricultural labour families do work in the fields and also in the farmhouses in the village itself or in the houses of nearby towns/cities as maid servants. The study showed that rural women in the sample villages worked over 4600 to 5700 hours during the year on small farm, medium and large households and agricultural labour households over 5433 hours. Nearly one third of the farm women’s and 18.93 per cent of the agricultural labour household women’s time was used on farm related activities like crop production, cattle tending, mulching and processing, sale of milk, cooking and serving food to the labour, handling and storage of crop produce and other work including work in nearby houses and factories. And, the remaining two third of farm women’s and 81.28 per cent of farm labour women’s’ time was used on non-farm activities such as cooking and serving food to the family, cleaning of the house, utensils, sending children to the school, washing clothes, tailoring, knitting and dari making, going to fairs and other social occasions, visiting relatives, teaching children and some time for recreation activities like viewing T.V. etc. The rural women thus, worked for 12-16 hours a day and performed numerous jobs during the period. The study clearly brought about that, in the farm activities involving financial matters, women had very little say in the family, and they were found to have