Gender Resource Acquisition And Use in Cocoa Production In Ondo State, Nigeria

Authors

  • O O Joseph Department Of Agricultural Economics & Extension, Federal University Of Technology, P. M. B. 704, Akure, Ondo State, Nigeria.

Keywords:

Gender Resource Acquisition, Use, Cocoa Production

Abstract

The relevance of this study stemsfrom the need to investigate whether there are gender differences in the managementefficiency offarms at different levels offarmproduction andtofindout howfarm inputs such as land, labour andcreditare acquired, controlled and allocated to both sexes? This paper appraises resource acquisition and use betweengender in cocoa production in Ondo State. The study was conducted in four purposively chosen local governmentareas, each locatedin one of thefour agricultural zones in Ondo State: Owo Local Government Areafrom Owo/AkokoZone. Ondo West Local Government Areafrom Ondo/Odigbo Zone, Okitipupa Local Government Area Okitipupa/IreleZone, Akure North Local Government from Akure/lfedore/Idanre Zone, These areas are recognized as majoragricultural production centres in the State. Also their population represents a socio-economic and cultural crosssection of the major ethnic groups in the State. Also their population represents a socio-economic and cultural crosssection of the major ethnic groups in the state. A multi-stage stratified random sampling technique was used. First thechosen local government area were zoned according to their village listing. In each local government area, a villagewas selected at random. A total of three hundred (300) Randomly Selectedfarmers distributed into seventy five (75)male andfemale respondentsfor each local government area were studied. A structuredititerview schedule was used tocollect informationfrom a total of one hundred andfifty (150) male, and one hundred andfifty (150)femalefarmersrespectively. Data collectedfrom the field were analyzed using descriptive statistics to describe the socio-economiccharacteristics of thefarmers andproductionfunction to determine their technical efficiencies. The results revealedthat the average age ofthe malefarmers is 51years while that of thefemalefarmers is 39 years. However, most ofthefarmers both male andfemalefall within the age bracket of36 to 65 years. About 36percent and51percent of maleandfemale farmers respectively have cocoa farming as their major occupation. Most full time farmers are femalefarmers while majority of thepart timefarmers are malefarmers. The average age ofmalefarming experience was 22years while that of women was 16 years. On the resource usepattern, most of thefarm labour used by both male andfemale farmers were family labour. Farmers tended to employ their opposite sex when they were to pay for farmlabour. Thus gender issues were not generally considered in assigning either male or female farmers particularagricultural tasks. While most males acquired their farmland through inheritance and lease, majority of the womenfarmers acquired theirfarmlandsfrom their husbands andthrough lease agreement. With respect tofarm credit, unlikethe women, the male farmers acquired significant proportion of their farm credit from public credit institutionsprobably because they own and could offer collateral securities usually required by these financial institutions. Themajor source of women credit is informal credit institutions. The average products of all farm inputs used by thefarmers except male hired labour and expenditure onfertilizer were higherfor malefarmers thanforfemalefarmers.Similarly, the values of the Marginal Physical Product (MPP) ofall the resources used exceptfemale hiredlabour andexpenditure onfertilizer were significantly higherfor malefarmers thanfemalefarmers. Thus malefarmers are moretechnically efficient thanfemalefarmers.

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Published

2005-12-01

How to Cite

Joseph, O. O. (2005). Gender Resource Acquisition And Use in Cocoa Production In Ondo State, Nigeria. Journal of Agricultural Extension, 8. Retrieved from https://journal.aesonnigeria.org/index.php/jae/article/view/226

Issue

Section

General Extension and Teaching Methods