Contributions of Small Scale Women Farmers for sustainable Agricultural Production in Jigawa State, Nigeria

Transcription

1 Contributions of Small Scale Women Farmers for sustainable Agricultural Production in Jigawa State, Nigeria 1 Garba, A. 2 Gidado A.S 1 Jigawa Research Institute, P.M.B 5015, Gandu Road Kazaure 2 National Open University of Nigeria, Bauchi ABSTRACT The study examined the contributions of small scale women farmers for sustainable agricultural production in Jigawa state. The study was carried out in the four agro-ecological zones of Jigawa agricultural and rural development authority (JARDA) namely: Birninkudu, Hadejia, Gumel and Kazaure zones. They are all agrarian settlements with significant level of women participation in agriculture. Fifty (50) women farmers were selected at random from each zone giving a total of two hundreds (200) respondents for the study. Questionnaire schedule was designed and administered to the respondents. Data were analyzed using simple descriptive statistics (frequency and percentages). The result shows that 80.80% of the respondents had years farming experience and had one form of education or the other. Primary school education (42.93%), adult and non formal education (65.89%), Secondary school education (8.59%), tertiary education (7.07%) and Arabic school education (2.53%). Also, greater number of women (68.18%) operates on their husband s farm lands. This is a serious implication for sustainable agricultural production. This is because women operating on their husband s farm are vulnerable to the whims and caprices of their husbands in regards to decision over farm operations and fate of the output. While 26.8% operates on the lands they inherited from their parents. most (65.66) of the women farmers operates on less than 2 hectares of land while (34.34) operates on 2-4 hectares. Also, (75.75%) of the respondents source their finance from personal savings, (10.10) women co-operative society, (7.8%) from banks, while relations and money lenders accounted for 4.04% and 2.53% respectively. This has a serious consequence on their productivity because contemporary agricultural practices demands high capital input for any meaningful output to be realized. This is an important pointer for policy makers when designing the modalities to meet the needs of women farmers in the study area. Also the findings of the study revealed that (55.56%) of the women farmers utilizes family/hired labour in their operations, (27.78%) family labour only and (16.66%) hired labour only throughout the production period. The result further disclosed that (37.88%) raised sheep and goats, (27.78%) poultry, (17.68%) crops, (11.62%) cattle while (5.05%) produce crops and sometimes raised livestock. They are entirely responsible for the planting, harvesting and processing of food crops. They also work themselves out in order to feed, support and supplement the household income. Women contribute at least half of the household income and are key actors in production and reproductive activities that provide people with the basic needs for food, shelter and clothing. Despite the roles women played in agricultural productivity, they have remained seriously disadvantaged with respect to access to health, education, credit, agricultural extension services, and opportunities to learn new skills and to acquire affordable technology, limited access to markets for inputs; production and sales as well as other productive resources and training opportunities. Keywords: women, farmers, sustainable, productivity and Jigawa state

2 INTRODUCTION Women play essential and dynamic roles in societal economic life. They are entirely responsible for the planting, harvesting and processing of food crops. They also work themselves out in order to feed, support and supplement the household income. Women contribute at least half of the household income and are key actors in production and reproductive activities that provide people with the basic needs for food, shelter and clothing. (Atobatele and Amudipe, 1999, Ezeh, 2007). As a consequence, they work more hours and sleep less than men. Women normally work for hours daily with some flexibility for rural women due to seasonality (World Bank 1996). Despite the roles women played in agricultural productivity, they have remained seriously disadvantaged with respect to access to health, education, credit, agricultural extension services, and opportunities to learn new skills and to acquire affordable technology, limited access to markets for inputs; production and sales as well as other productive resources and training opportunities (Adisa and Okunade, 2005). This unequal access to resources has made rural women to be voiceless, poor and powerless. In addition, their schedule is so overloaded with all the traditional female chores such as preparing food, fetching water and wood, pregnant and caring for children and elders. In some households, women have become the sole economic support as a result of death of spouse or of male migration to towns and cities in search of white collar jobs (Yahaya and Olowu, 1998) In Nigeria, there exists enormous disparity in rural sector between opportunities for men and women. The disparities begins in childhood when girls have less access than boys to education and sometimes even less attention from cultural perspectives. This is carried further to their productive years in vocations including agriculture ( Ozo-Eson, 1995). In Jigawa state, the role being played by women in agricultural production and natural resources management are critical to the efficient growth and development of economy of the state. Yet the female gender has often been neglected with respect to agricultural production resources. This has continued to affect their farm productivity. Strengthening the above perception, Chayal and Dhaka (2010) noted that by and large women have remained invisible workers, and that over the years women cultivators are typically and wrongly characterized as economically inactive and women cultivators play only a supportive role in agriculture as farmers wives. It is against this background that the study sought to analyses the role, contribution and constraints of rural women famers in Jigawa State Women in Nigeria form a significant part of the population and are practically involved in food production activities like processing, storage and utilization. It is well known that rural women in Nigeria contribute immensely to the agricultural and income generating activities of the rural families in addition to their traditional roles as home makers. Ephrain and Godiya (2007) stated that women in Nigeria play crucial roles in agricultural production, food processing, household energy supply and child bearing. He went further to state that women were responsible for as much as 70 percent of actual farm work and produced 50 percent of all food grown in Nigeria. They contributed between percent of the labour force required for food and cash crop production and were equally not left out in animal husbandry. With this level of involvement in agriculture, it is expected that women should take part in farm production decision-making without much interference from their husbands but research conducted by Mundi (2009) in Kogi State of Nigeria reviewed that women where restricted from taking farm production decision by their husbands. The report further stated that in most cases, their husbands decided on what to plant, who should weed and who should carry out other farm operations. Earlier report by Reach (1995) indicated also that decisions on family benefits were largely made by men. The report

3 revealed that men controlled the sell and buying of livestock and land, the proceeds from cash crops, equipment and farm implements. Based on similar reports, feminists have agued that women are marginalized in agriculture relative to their male counterparts. They believe that the benefits from agriculture are skewed in favour of men-folk. Since, according to Eric (2008), Nigerian women constitute about percent of the total population (49.70 percent by 2006 population census figure) and are responsible for percent of food produced in the country in addition to their traditional reproductive roles. The roles of women in the development process have been well documented. Everywhere in the world, women have been actively involved in such activities as farming, food processing and preservation, informal education and other numerous domestic chores that help to sustain the family, the community and nation at large (Yusuf and Adenegan (2008). Because of the roles of women in development, promotion of gender equality is now globally accepted as a development strategy for reducing poverty among women and men, improving health, living standard and enhancing efficiency of public investment. The attainment of gender equality is not only seen as an end itself and human rights issues, but as a prerequisite for the achievement of sustainable development (National Gender Policy, 2006). In fact, gender equality and women s empowerment have continued to be central themes in global treaties, covenants, and declarations because they are acknowledged as catalysts to people centred development strategies which focus on poverty reduction, improved standard of living and good government that give men and women equal voices in decision making and policy implementation, good government, attainment of millennium development goals and other global/regional targets, (National Gender Policy, 2006). Focusing on Agriculture, FAO (2005) revealed that women make up more than 40 percent of the developing world s agricultural labour force and grow at least half of the World s food supply. Ekaette and Olowu (2002) stated that they were involved in agriculture as suppliers of labour, food crop and livestock producers, processors of food and fish products, marketers of peasant farm surplus and transport of farm supplies and farm products between the farm and the home. In fact, in India, Vanaja (1999) made a comprehensive contribution of women in agricultural development when he started that: Women play a major role in conserving seeds: they decide the quantity and variety of seeds to be saved and the method of preservation. Seed selection by women is a continuous activity, starting the movement the crop begins to flower. Working in the field, they observe the plants and decide which seeds to select. They identify plants of good quality on the basis of size, grain formation and their resistance to pests and insects. To cover the risk of drought, women select enough seed to see them through two seasons. Similar report documented by SPORE (1993) revealed that women in Africa make up more than one third of the workforce and accounted for 70 percent agricultural workers, 80 percent of food producers, 100 percent of those who process basic food stuffs and percent of the marketing. In Nigeria, the story is the same. Research has shown that women provided over 60 percent of the agricultural labour force. They engage on a continuous basis, in home related and income generating activities and often spend between hours of their time in a day in both productive and reproductive activities (Azubuike, 2005). In Mangu Local Government Area of Plateau State, for example, research conducted by Dikwal and Jirgi (2001) on the Role of Women in Agriculture showed that majority (75 percent) of the women respondents spent 6-8 hours on the farm each day and only 5 percent spent 2-4 hours. About 71 percent of the women farmers spent 4-6 hours in the domestic front. On average, according to the report, the women used to spend 12 hours daily on both farm and domestic activities. It was concluded in the research report that the women farmers hardly had

4 time to rest, and it (lack of rest) affected their state of health. It was equally recorded in the National Gender Policy (2006) that women were responsible for 70 percent of agricultural labour, 50 percent of animal husbandry related activities and 60 percent of food processing activities. Kolawole (2003) further added that in Nigeria, as in most developing countries of the world, women perform greater roles in the production, processing and marketing of agricultural produce than is generally acknowledged. STUDY OBJECTIVES The broad objective of the study is to examine the role of women farmers towards sustainable agriculture in Birninkudu and Buji Local Government Areas of Jigawa State. The specific objectives were to: 1. Determine the socio-economic characteristics of women farmers in the study area. 2. Identify the type of agricultural activities practiced by the women in the study area. METHODOLOGY The Study area Jigawa state is one of the thirty six states that constitute the Federal Republic of Nigeria. It is situated in the north-western part of the country between latitude N, to N and longitudes E to E. Kano state and Katsina state border Jigawa to the west, Bauchi state to the east and Yobe state to the north east. To the north, Jigawa shares border an international border with Zinder in the Republic of Niger, which is unique opportunity for crossborder trading activities (JARDA, 2005). The state had a population of 4,348,649 persons (NPC, 2006), with a projected population of 5,064,777.1 in 2012 using 3% annual growth rate. About 96% of the population is Hausa/Fulani and Muslims by religion. It has a land area of approximately 22,210 km 2 or about 2.2 million hectares. Most part of the state lies within the Sudan vegetation zone. On some parts of the southern boundaries some traces of guinea savannah exist. The rainfall is higher in the southern part of the state. Jigawa has an average of about 700mm annual rainfall, (JARDA, 2005). The rainy season periods lasts between May to October in the south while in the north it lasts from June to September, (Garba, et al 2011). The state is considered to be agrarian as more than 90 percent of the working adults engage in agriculture as a means of livelihood (JARDA, 2005). Popular rain fed food crops are Millet, Sorghum, Beans and Rice. Crop production during the rainy season is mainly for subsistence with farmers averagely cultivating about 2.5 hectares (Usman, 2009). Major cash crops include: Sesame, Cowpea, Groundnut, Bambara nuts, Pepper, Bitter melon, and Water melon (JARDA, 2005). Livestock such as Cattle, Sheep, Goats, Poultry and Donkeys are very common in the state. Sampling technique/sample size The study was carried out in the four agro-ecological zones of Jigawa agricultural and rural development authority (JARDA) namely: Birninkudu, Hadejia, Gumel and Kazaure zones. They are all agrarian settlements with significant level of women participation in agriculture. Fifty (50) women farmers were selected at random from each zone giving a total of two hundreds (200) respondents for the study.

5 Methods of Data Collection Two hundred (200) questionnaires were administered at the rate of thirty (50) per zones. Two questionnaires were missing in Kazaure zone, therefore responses were analyzed using one hundred and ninety eight (198) of the total questionnaire retrieved from the respondents. Also, During data collection some farmers were personally interviewed and responses were written on their behalf due to their level of education. The administration of the questionnaires is by personal contact with the farmers. The Questionnaire was designed and administered in line with the objectives of the study. RESULT AND DISCUSSION Socio-economic Characteristics of Women Farmers in the study area The different roles people played in life are mostly affected by the socio-economic characteristics such as age, marital status, household size, educational level and primary occupation. The result in table 1 indicated that majority (68.20%) of the respondents fell within the active age brackets of years. This implies that they are at their most productive stage in life and has a high risk bearing ability. However the mean age of the respondents is 35 years. The implication is that most women farmers are faced with challenges of being an active home keeper and active farmer. Also majority (72.22%) are married, in view of this challenges compatible village farm level labour saving technology designed to suit the condition of the women farmers in the study area to enhance productivity of the double role of home keeper and a farmer. The result also revealed that 80.80% of the respondents had farming experience of years. The result further revealed that almost all the women interviewed had one form of education or the other. That is they are literate to some extent, were primary school education (42.93%), adult and non formal education (65.89%), Secondary school education (8.59%), tertiary education (7.07%) and Arabic school education (2.53%). This is an encouraging findings to gender initiatives for development planning particularly with regard to agriculture which can encourage extension packages delivery through media that are accessible to the women and in the form in which is comprehensible to them. Osuji (1998) stressed that rural women farmers in Nigeria are generally low in educational status and this affects farmers decision making process and adoption rate, therefore, any strategy geared towards improving the educational level of women farmers will surely improve agriculture. Agricultural Productivity of Women Farmers in the study area The result in table two showed that greater number of women (68.18%) operates on their husband s farm lands. This is a serious implication for sustainable agricultural production. This is because women operating on their husband s farm are vulnerable to the whims and caprices of their husbands in regards to decision over farm operations and fate of the output. While 26.8% operates on the lands they inherited from their parents. The result further established that most of the women farmers in the study area operates on less than 2 hectares of land (65.66) while (34.34) operates on 2-4 hectares. This is a reflection that shows the small scale nature of operation by the women farmers in the study area. The results agrees with Olayide (1999), who stressed that majority of rural farmers in Nigeria possess farm land less than 1 hectare therefore resulting to the problem of insufficiency in food production. The study shows that most ( 75.75%) of the respondents source their finance for farm operations from their personal savings, (10.10) from women co-operative society, ( 7.8%) from banks, while relations and money lenders accounted for 4.04% and 2.53% respectively. This has a serious consequence on their productivity because contemporary agricultural practices demands

6 high capital input for any meaningful output to be realized. This is an important pointer for policy makers when designing the modalities to meet the needs of women farmers in the study area. Also the findings of the study revealed that (55.56%) of the women farmers utilizes family/hired labour in their operations, (27.78%) family labour and (16.66%) hired labour only throughout the production period. The result further disclosed that ( 37.88%) raised sheep and goats, (27.78%) poultry, (17.68%) crops, (11.62%) cattle while (5.05%) produce crops and sometimes raised livestock Table 1: Distribution of Respondents Based on Socio-economic Characteristics. N = 198 Variable Frequency Percentage Age Less than 20 years years years and above Mean age(x) 35years Marital status Unmarried Married Separated Divorced Widowed Farming Experience (years) 1-10 years years years Mean (x) 10years Education Level Adult/ Non formal education Primary education Secondary education Tertiary education Arabic education only Source: Field Survey, 2013

7 Table 2: Distribution of Respondents Based on Agricultural productivity of the respondents. N = 198 Variable Frequency Percentage Land acquisition Inherited Husbands farm Hired farm Co-operative farm Farm size < 2 hectares hectares Sources of finance Personal savings Relations Money lenders Women co-operatives society Banks Farming Enterprise Crops only Poultry only Sheep and Goat Cattle only Both Sources of labour Family / hired labour Family labour Hired labour Source: Field Survey, 2013 CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS This study was conducted to assess the socio-economic characteristics and agricultural productivity of women farmers in Jigawa State. The result shows that 80.80% of the respondents had years farming experience and had one form of education or the other. primary school education (42.93%), adult and non formal education (65.89%), Secondary school education (8.59%), tertiary education (7.07%) and Arabic school education (2.53%). Also, greater number of women (68.18%) operates on their husband s farm lands. This is a serious implication for sustainable agricultural production. This is because women operating on their husband s farm are vulnerable to the whims and caprices of their husbands in regards to decision over farm operations and fate of the output. While 26.8% operates on the lands they inherited from their parents. most (65.66) of the women farmers operates on less than 2 hectares of land while (34.34) operates on 2-4 hectares. Therefore, effort should be made to minimize the constraints faced by the farmers in the study area such as making credit facilities accessible and affordable to the farmers, access to land and formation of farmer groups or co-operatives to handle the case of supplying farm inputs and marketing of their products collectively among others. The study

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