ABSTRACT
The
study analyzed the effect of economic Empowerment among the women farmers and
agricultural productivity in Abakaliki Local government Area, Ebonyi State,
Nigeria. A multistage random sampling were employed for the study and Data for
the study were collected by the use of questionnaire from 120 women farmers.
These data were analyzed using both descriptive and inferential statistics. The
findings showed that majority (525%) of the respondents were within the age
bracket of 20-39 years. It was equally observed that majority (40%) of the
respondents had household sizes ranging from 1-5 persons and 29.2% had
completion of secondary school education.
Furthermore, the result of analysis
showed had between 6-10 years of experience and earn an average annual income
of N21000-N40000(35.8%). The study also revealed that majority (52%) of the
respondents source their income from farming activities. Meanwhile, 45% of them
fully engaged in farming activities as their major primary occupation in the
study area. The study also identified vegetable, cocoyam, goat/sheep, snail
Livestock feed/product, timber product, fertilizer, veterinary supply, and
cereal as the major economic opportunities in the study area. Again it was
noted that educational status, access to from land, access, to credit
facilities employment status, and women training were identified as women’s
socio economic characteristics that have positively relationship with access to
economic empowerment. Based on he findings of study, Government should make a
prudent policy based women’s economic empowerment, Empowering, women
economically a fundamental human right and government should organize a
programme that will develop women’s skills, knowledge, and technical expertise
through education and training.
DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURAL ECONOMICS
MANAGEMENT AND EXTENSION
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INTRODUCTION
Women entrepreneurs play an important role in the
economies of developing countries. Accessing financial services allows these businesswomen
to invest in their enterprises in order to stay competitive and profitable.
Initiative that support more gender equitable
access to productive resources are significant to women’s economic advancement,
especially for women entrepreneurs and formers. Owing assets such as land,
equipment, or livestock can serve a myriad of purposes, offering women inputs for
production, providing physical security, conferring social identify, and
serving as a source of income and collateral for credit without adequate
resources, women are dependent on their husbands or other relatives for their
economic security.
According to OECD (2012) Economic empowerment
is the capacity of women to participate in, contribute to and benefit from
growth processes in ways which recognize the value of their contributions,
respect their dignity and make it possible to negotiate a fairer distribution
of the benefits of growth. It increases women’s access to economic resources and
opportunities including jobs, financial services, property and other productive
assets, skills development and market information. Women’s economic participation
and empower are fundamental to strengthening women’s rights and enabling women
to lives and exert influence in society (Swedish ministry for foreign affairs,
2010). Increasing the role of women in the economy is part of the solution to the
financial and economic crises and critical for economic resilience and growth
the economic empowerment of women is a prerequisite for sustainable
development, pro-poor growth and the achievement of all the millennium development
goals (MDGs). Gender equality and empowered women are catalysts for multiplying
development efforts. Investment in gender equality yield the highest returns of
all development investment (OECD, 2012). Manerten and swinnen (2008) suggest
the empowerment potential of women’s work in these chains depended on whether
they participated through contract farming or wage labour.
Women therefore participated in
contract farming as unwaged family labour, often diverting their efforts from
family food production and often providing the primary source of labour for
contract farming. Younger and less educated women are also more likely to work
as casual labour, while household wealth and young children decreased the
likelihood.
As men increasingly migrate out of
the agricultural sector in response to rising landless and the possibility of
better jobs in the off-farm sector, it is largely women who make up an
increasing proportion of agricultural wage labour.
However, the wage gap has remained
largely unchanged. Das (2006) found that causal female wage workers earned half
the wages of casual male workers, controlling for differences in their
differences in their individual characteristics. Bridges et al. (2011) found
that women from extremely poor households were most likely to be in paid work
and that both men and women from poor households were concentrated in daily
wage labour.
According to world bank (2002)
suggests that the primary pathways through which gender system affect growth
are by influencing the productivity of labour and the allocative efficiently of
the economy. In terms of women farmers to productive inputs and human capital were
on a par with men’s access, total agricultural output could increase by an
estimated 6 to 20 percent (world bank 2001b). in terms of allocative
efficiently, while increases in household income are generally associated with
reduced child mortality risks, the marginal impact is almost 20 times as large
if the income is in the hands of the mother rather than the father (WBGDG,
2003). Identification of women as being a reliable, productive and cheap labour
force makes them the preferred workforce for textiles and electronic
transnational corporations. Perception of women as I good with money, including
being better at paying back loans, as led them to be targeted in microfinance programmes.
Recognition of women as more efficient distributors of goods and services
within the household has led to them being targeted with resources aimed at
alleviating poverty, such as cash transfer programmes. Women have the potential
to change their own economic status, as well as that of the communities and
countries in which they live. Yet more often than not, women’s economic
contributions go unrecognized, their work undervalued and their promise
unnourished. Unequal opportunities between women and men continue to hamper women’s
ability to lift themselves from poverty and gain more researches has shows that
inequalities persist in the way paid and unpaid work is divided between women
and men; in the fact that women remain the sole caregivers at home, and in
their limited access to resources.
Broadly, the objective of the study
was to analyze the effect of economic empowerment of women farmers for
sustainable agriculture in Ebonyi state, Nigeria, specifically, the objective
are; to: describe the socio-economic characteristics of the women farmers in
Ebonyi state, identify and characterize the type and various sources economic
opportunities exists among women farmers in Ebonyi state, and to determine the
effect of socio- economic characteristics of women farmers on their access to
economic empowerment.
CHAPTER TWO
2.0 Methodology
2.1 Study
Area
The study area is Abakaliki Local
Government Area of Ebonyi state.
The Local Government Area is one of
the thirteen (13) Local Government of the state. The headquarters of the Local
Government Area is located at Nkaliki, which is 3km away from the state
capital. It has a land mass of 106 squared kilometers with an estimated
population of 151, 723; made up of 73, 433 males and 79, 280 females (NPC,
2006). Geographically, the study area lies between latitude 40N and
longitude 80E. Majority of the populace of the study area are
predominantly farmers hence, agricultural activities constitutes their economic
activities having good records in rice, yam and cassava production and also
livestock production among others. Other occupation among others. Other
occupation engaged by the people are civil service, teaching, and business.
2.2 Sampling
Technique and Data Collection
In the course of this research work multi-stage random
sampling techniques were employed in selecting the respondent for the study.
The local government area is made up of seven(7) autonomous communities while 4
of them were randomly selected and used for the study. Ten(10) villages were
selected from each autonomous communities giving a total of forty villages.
Three (3) farmers were randomly selected and this gave a total of 120 women
farmers in the area for social, economic and cultural importance of the
agriculture. Data for the study were collected primarily from the respondents
through structured questionnaire and interview schedule.
2.3 Data
Analysis
both descriptive and inferential statistics were
employed in the analysis of the data collected descriptive statistics such as frequently
distribution, tables, and percentages were employed to analyze objectives (i)
and (ii) while objective (iii) was realized using multiple regression analysis.
The regression was stated as:
Y = F(x1,
x2, x3, x4, x5, x6,)
Where
Y = level
of access to economic
X1 = Household
size
X2 = Educational
status (years)
X3 = Access
to farmland (ha)
X4 = Access
to credit facilities (N)
X5 = Employment
status
X6 = Women’s
training
CHAPTER THREE
3.0 RESULT
AND DISCUSSION
3.1 SOCIO-ECONOMIC CHARACTERISTICS OF WOMEN
FARMERS
The result of the socio-economic
characteristics of the women farmers as presented in table 1 shows that
majority (52.5%) of the respondents were within the age bracket of 20-39 years.
This indicates that agricultural activities in the study area were dominated by
the active women farmers the implication is that women farmers. The implication
is that women farmers within this age bracket are more innovative, motivated
and adaptable respondents who can with wisdom knowledge and understanding cope
with farming challenges. It is also means that women farmers within this age
bracket will be looking for economic empowerment opportunities and extensively
utilized it. It was equally observed that majority (40%) of the respondents had
household sizes ranging from 1-5 persons. The analysis on the educational
status shows that majority (29.2%) of the respondents had the completion of secondary
school education. These statistics imply that most women farmers are able to
read and write and can therefore use messages on developmental issues,
including well utilization of economic empowerment opportunities they see.
Most of the women farmers
interviewed in the study area reported that they had 6-10 years of experience
and the women farmers earn an average annual income of N21,000-N40,000 (35.8%)
and seconded by N41,000-N60,000 (25%). The study further shows that most of the
women farmers (52%) source their income from farming activities in the study
area. The findings of the study equally revealed that most of the women farmers
(45%) are highly engaged in farming activities as their major primarily
occupation in the study area. This findings agreed with Bardasi, Blackden, and
Guzman (2006) who reported that women are major players in the private sector,
particularly in agriculture and in informal businesses.
3.2 Type of Economic Opportunities Found
Among the Women Farmers in the Study Area
Economic opportunities found in the
study area is made up of farm production and livestock production, processing
enterprise, farm input supply and distribution/marketing. In Abakaliki Ebonyi
state, farm production such as cocoyam (14.8%) and goat/sheep (14.8%) was found
to be highly dominated by the women while under processing component and farm
input supply such as livestock product/feed (21.9%) and fertilizers (28.9%) was
highly engaged by the women as the major economic opportunities. The
distribution/marketing component of the economic opportunities in Abakaliki
Ebonyi state shows that women are mainly in the distribution and marketing of cereals
(rice), livestock/livestock product and Timber product respectively. This
implies that women with adequate resources will be independent from their
husband and enough economic security. Furthermore, when a women is economically
empowered, she can meaning contribute to and benefit from economic activity occurring
around her in ways that recognize the value of her contribution and make it
possible for her to obtain a fairer distribution of economic gains. Socio-
economic characteristics of women farmers on their access to economic
empowerment.
Multiple regression model was adopted
for the analysis. Based on the analysis, the coefficients of determination R2
was 0.716 or 71.6%. This showed that about 71.6% of the variation in the
dependent variable Y was influenced by the combined effects of the independent
variables, x1-x7, while the remaining 28.4% of the
variation in the dependent variable Y, was due to some other important variables
that were not included in the regression model. The F- value of (90.477)
indicated that the overall equation was significant at (P< 0.01) while Durbin-Waston
(DW) of 1.963, showed the absence of autocorrelation.
Out of the six explanatory variables
specified, fine were statistically significant; these were household size,
educational status, access to farmland, Employment status, and women’s
training. Household size had a negative sign and statistically significant at
1% (P< 0.01). The a priori expectation was not conforms because household size
with large farm size are more likely to have increased output when compared
with households that are constrained by land availability. This finding is in
agreement with that of Babatunde, Omotesho and Sholotan (2007) on socio-
economic characteristics and food security of farming households in Kwara
state, Nigeria where household labour availability improved farm productivity.
Coefficients of educational status and women training had a positive sign and
statistically significant at 10% and 5% respectively. This imply that
development of women’s skill, knowledge and technical expertise through
education and training plays a key role in women’s economic empowerment. This
confirms with the findings of Nwibo and Okorie (2013) that educational
attainment expands knowledge base which makes farmers alert to new
opportunities, and increase in the opportunity cost of being self-employed.
Regression coefficient of access to farmland was significant and positively related
to access to economic empowerment. This means that land availability will
motivated the women farmers to seek for economic empowerment and increase her
capacity to ensure agricultural productivity and food security, and to the
livelihoods of herself and her family.
The coefficient of access to credit
facilities bore positive sign and statistically insignificant. This positive relationship
implies that access to all financial products and services including saving,
insurance, and credit is an additional way for women to assert their in
economic decision making, and will also provide women with a degree of security
in the face of personal or family crisis, in old age, and during economic
shocks. Again, when a women is economically empowered, she can meaningfully
contribute to and benefit from economic activity accruing around her in ways
that recognize the value of her contribution and make it possible for her to
obtain a fairer distribution of economic gains. Empowered women are better able
to break out of the cycle of poverty and exercise a greater voice in political,
economic and cultural spheres.
Employment status had positive sign and
statistically significant at 5% level of significance. The implication is that
expanding women’s employment opportunities for formal employment is crucial to
increasing her income, her conditions of work, and improving her quality of
life. Source of Economic Empowerment among the women farmers.
From the result of analysis shown
that women farmers sources their economic empowerment from their
family/relatives (30.8%) and federal ministry of agriculture (18.3%). Meanwhile
Fadarma (8.3%), financial institution (13.5%), ADPs (12.%) and cooperative
societies (16.7%).
4.0 Conclusion
The research work identified from production
(vegetable and cocoyam), livestock production (goat/sheep and snail), processing
component (livestock feed/product and Timber product), farm input supply (fertilizer
and veterinarian supply) and distribution/marketing (cereal and livestock/livestock
product) as the major economic opportunities in Abakaliki Local Government Area,
Ebonyi state. Again it was observed that Educational status, access to
farmland, Access to credit, Employment and women’s training were identified as
women’s socioeconomic characteristics that have positively relationship with
access to economic empowerment.
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