Male and Female Participation in the Implementation of Fadama III Additional Financing Project among Cassava Farmers in Anambra State, Nigeria

Abstract

Abstract The study examined the level of male and female participation in Fadama III – Additional Financing project among cassava farmers in Anambra State, Nigeria. Multi-stage, purposive and simple random techniques were used to select 120 out of 2,800 cassava farmers that participated in Fadama III – Additional Financing project. Primary data were collected using structured questionnaire while descriptive statistics, paired sample t-test and multiple regression analysis were used to analyze data. Findings reveal that male respondents were mainly active in harvesting of cassava ( =2.65), bush clearing ( =2.65) and ridging activities ( =2.63), while planting of cassava stem ( =2.82), fertilizer application ( =2.72), weeding ( =2.67) and marketing activities ( =2.60) were more actively carried out by the female respondents. Respondents benefited immensely from the project in terms of access to improved farm inputs, access to facilitator, provision of training, increase in standard of living, increase in farm size, adequate information on good production practices and access to market. However, untimely provision of inputs, irregular advisory services, corrupt practices among Fadama staff, lack of access to credit and poor road network were regarded as the major constraints to male and female participation.  There was significant difference (t = 2.50, p< 0.05) in the level of participation between male and female farmers in the project. However, the females participated more in the project’s activities, and the socio-economic characteristics of the respondents did not influence their level of participation. It is recommended that the male and female farmers be empowered toward active participation in the project. Keywords: Cassava Farmers, Participation by gender, Fadama, Additional Financing