CONTRIBUTIONS OF WOMEN TO HOUSEHOLD FARMING DECISIONS AMONG COCOA-BASED AGROFORESTRY HOUSEHOLDS IN EKITI STATE, NIGERIA

Abstract

This study examined the contributions of women to household farming decisions among cocoa-based agroforestry households in Ekiti state, Nigeria using cross-sectional data. The study used purposive, multistage and random sampling techniques for the selection of 120 cocoa-based agroforestry farm units that constituted respondents for the study. The analytical techniques involved descriptive statistics, exploratory factor analysis and multinomial logistic regression model. With regards to food crop production activities, the contributions of women to decision making were very high with mean values of between 2.48 – 3.19 on a 4-point scale, while that of the men were comparatively low with mean values ranging from 1.85 – 2.66. However, in   the cocoa production activities, the contributions of women to decision making were relatively low with mean ranging between 1.42 – 3.23 compare to high contributions of men with mean values ranging from 2.82 – 3.94 on a 4-point scale. The multinomial logistic regression result comparing high contribution (3) as base outcome, revealed that years of formal education of the women, financial contribution status of the women to farming activities, average number of hours spent on cocoa farm per day were negatively related while years of farming experience of the women and number of adult male farmers in a household were positively and significantly related with the probability of women making low (1) or medium (2) contributions  to  household  farming  decisions.  The  t-test  of  no  significant  difference between the contributions of women and men to farming decisions in the production of the integrated  food  crops  and  the  cocoa  revealed  that,  on  the  average,  women  had significantly higher contributions to decision making in food crop production activities while in  cocoa  production,  men  had  significantly higher  contributions.  The identified constraints militating against women farmers were classified into three major factors using principal component factor analysis with varimax – rotated and factor loading of 0.30. These constraints range from techno-institutional factor (lack of extension programmes directed to women, lack of access to NGOs programmes and low technical- know-how); socio-personal factor (the belief that women are subordinate, low self confidence of women, multiple domestic responsibilities of women farmers) and economic / financial factor which include low/lack of financial contributions by women farmers to farming activities, involvement of the women in off farm jobs, lack of collateral security to secure loans to support farming and so on. The study, therefore, recommends inter alia, socioeconomic empowerment of women farmers, adequate extension services and training to  meet  technological  improvement  needs  of  the  women  and  formulation  of  gender sensitive policies in favour of women in agricultural sector.

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

1.6     Background of the Study

Nigeria, like some other developing countries is principally an agrarian nation with the  greater  percentage  of  her  labour  force  engaged  in  the  agricultural  sector  of  the economy.  The  agricultural  sector  plays  an  important  role  in  Nigeria’s  economy, contributing about 40% of the GDP (Olomola, 2006) and employing 65% of the adult labour force (Adedipe, Okuneye and Ayinde, 2004). Of great significance in agricultural sector in Nigerian economy is the tree crop sub-sector also known as agroforestry. Agroforestry as a farming practice is the integration of trees, shrubs, food crops and/or animals  in  an  interactive  manner  (Okadi,  2007).  Cocoa-based  agroforestry  is  an agroforestry  practice  in  which  cocoa  trees  for  the  production  of  cocoa  beans  are interplanted with arable crops. This is one of the most popular agricultural practices in the southwestern part of the country.

Cocoa is a high valued cash crop among farmers in the major producing areas of the country. Cocoa, Theobroma Cacao belongs to the family Sterculiaceae (Uguru, 1996). According to Guy (1992) and Opeke (1996) varieties of cocoa include; the Criollo, Trinitario and Foresterio Amazona. The Foresterios also called Amelonado is widely grown in Nigeria and Ghana (Olaitan and Austin, 2006). Cocoa originated from Upper Amazon of Latin America from where it spread to all parts of the world. Its cultivation started in Nigeria about 1879 when a local Chief established a plantation at Bonny in Rivers State, Nigeria. However, cultivation in the western Nigeria began afterwards. By 1962, Nigeria has become the world leading producer with about 20% of the world total output of cocoa coming from Nigeria (Amos, 2007).Cocoa was one of Nigeria’s sources of foreign exchange earnings before the oil boom and up till now it is still Nigeria’s largest agricultural foreign trade commodity. The contributions of cocoa to the nation’s economic development are vast  and have been reported by many authors. Its contributions as a foreign exchange earner, employer of labour, source of raw materials, source of revenue to governments of the producing States and components of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) are also well documented in literatures (Adetunji, Olaniyi  and  Raufu, 2007; Folayan,  Daramola and Oguntade, 2006; Nkang, Ajah, Abang and Edet, 2007)

The production of cocoa in Nigeria witnessed a downward trend after 1970/71 season when its export declined from 305,000 metric tons to 216, 000 metric tons in 1975/76; 150, 000 metric tons in 1982/83 and 120, 000 metric tons in 1985/86; thereby reducing the country’s world market share to about 6% and its rank to 5th  world largest cocoa producer till date (Folayan, et al, 2006; Kwanashie, Ajilima and Garba, 1998). The decline in agricultural output in 1970s did not only coincide with end of Nigerian civil war but also with the oil boom and the severe drought of 1972/73. The overall agricultural situation deteriorated, creating a wide gap between the supply and demand for food locally and internationally (Alabi, 2003).

Akinola (2001) also attributed the decline in production of cocoa within the period to a combination of labour shortages and low producer prices. Low producer prices unfortunately resulted from the monopolistic marketing structure erected in the name of commodity board (Cocoa Marketing Board) which served as a great disincentive to cocoa farmers (Idowu, 1986). The internal and external imbalances created as a result of price distortion of the 1980s prompted the introduction of the Structural Adjustment Programme (SAP) in 1986 with one of its major policy objectives being market liberalization of agricultural exports (Idowu, Osuntogun and Oluwasola, 2007). For instance, Nigeria production of cocoa increased from 170, 000 tons in 1999 to 400,000 tons in 2007. This was attributed to the setting up of the National Cocoa Development Committee (NCDC) in 1999 with the main objective of improving the production and consumption of cocoa in Nigeria. NCDC which is made up of the 14 cocoa producing states in the country has since its establishment been distributing new high yield cocoa seedlings to cocoa farmers along with the supply of chemicals and other inputs at 50% subsidy (Tradenet.biz, 2007). The NCDC Chairman declared in 2007 that the federal  government, apart  from providing chemicals and other inputs to cocoa farmers has also earmarked N50 Billion as loans to cocoa  farmers  and  N660  Million  for  Cocoa  Research  Institute  of  Nigeria  (CRIN)  to conduct research on improved cocoa seedlings which mature early and converting cocoa beans and cocoa powder into other useful products (Obada, 2007)The cultivation of cocoa in Ekiti had started about 1895 after its introduction to the district by returning Ekiti freed slaves from Ilesha, Ondo, Ibadan, and Lagos (Peel, 1983 cited in Ojo, 2001). Today, Ekiti State is one of the 14 cocoa producing states in the country and contributes significantly to the national cocoa output. For instance, Ondo and Ekiti States combined account for about 53.32 % of the total Nigeria cocoa output between 1976 to 2003 (Folayan et al, 2006). Cocoa, being a major cash crop in Ekiti State has expanded the  economy  of  the  State  and  provided  employment  for  thousands  of  its  inhabitants. Realizing the contributions of cocoa to the state’s coffer, the state government is continually making  efforts  to  improve  cocoa  output  at  households’  level  by  helping  farmers  to rehabilitate old cocoa farms and expanding the area under cocoa cultivation. To buttress this point, the state government in 2007 had proposed the distribution of 500, 000 improved cocoa seedlings with other chemicals to cocoa farmers at highly subsidized rate (Ekiti State Government, 2007) Cocoa-based agroforestry households are farming households that produce and sell cocoa as their most important crop in terms of revenue. This study focuses on these farm households which according to Koppelman and French (2005) is the level at which all farm resource decisions are made. Decisions have to be made when persons having limited resources have alternative course of action and therefore must make some choice (Oji, 2002). Farmers make daily decisions about inputs use, seasonal decisions about what to plant, annual decisions about farm land rental which according to William (2003) affect agricultural production, prices and costs. Farming decisions are made to maximize farm objectives subject to available material and human resources. Women farmers form the bulk of these local resources (Eboh and Ogbazi, 1990) contributing about 75% of total food production in developing countries (Walker et al, 1985).

FAO (1995); Enete, Nweke and Tollens, (2004) reported areas of significant contribution of women to farming household to include labour supply and production responsibilities. Production responsibilities of women cut-across all farming activities from pre to post-harvest stages including decision making at all the stages. Considering women as major actors in agriculture, there is therefore the need for adequate understanding of the nature and trend of their contribution to farming decisions especially among cocoa-based agroforestry households in Ekiti State.

1.7     Statement of the Problem.

Several efforts have been made over the years towards developing the agricultural sector of the economy through policy institutions and research development without commensurate efforts towards formulating policies that empower women farmers as major actors in agriculture. The key role played by the women in Nigerian agricultural development is vast and can only be revealed through research efforts that are poised towards determining their contributions to major farming activities.

Current research emphasis on women contributions to agriculture have been on their labour supply to food crop production. However, in cash crop production of which cocoa is one of the leading crops, the contributions of women to farming decision have not been well recognised and therefore have not been widely explored in research. In Ekiti State for instance, farm women are involved in actual cocoa production on the farm, cocoa processing  and  marketing  activities.  Farming  decisions  are  equally  involved  at  these stages; but despite the significant level of importance of the women, there is lack of information on the factors that are important for their success in farm decision making, extent of their leadership, and the problems they face in contributing to household farming decisions.

A good number of studies have been carried out on the contribution of women to household farming and agriculture, most especially in terms of labour supply (e. g Afolabi, 1996; Albright, 2006; Auta, Abubakar and Hassan, 2000; FAO, 1998; Rahman and Alamu, 2003; Sachs, 2001; Unwunedo, 1998), none of these studies have looked into the contribution of women to household farming decision. The only study that attempted to determine the role of women in farm management decision making process is that of Damisa and Yohanna, (2007). The major drawback of their study relative to this is that theirs was not commodity specific. The production of a particular commodity may embody special   characteristics   that   could   necessitate   peculiar   farm   decisions.   Studying contributions of women to farm management decision making in general term is therefore considered too broad for any strong statement to be made as regards to a particular crop or livestock. Also they have not made any effort to investigate problems that could militate against women in contributing to farm decision making. Therefore, this study aims to fill these gaps in knowledge.

1.8     Objectives of the Study

The broad objective of this study is to examine the contributions of women to household farming decisions among cocoa-based agroforestry households in Ekiti State, Nigeria. The specific objectives are to:

i.   assess the socio-economic characteristics of women in cocoa-based agroforestry households in the study area.

ii.  compare the level of contributions of women and their male counterparts to food crop production activities decision making among cocoa-based agroforestry households in the study area.

iii. compare the level of contributions of male farmers and women to cocoa production farming activities decision making among cocoa-based agroforestry households in the study area.

iv. estimate the influence of socio-economic characteristics of the farming households on the contributions of women to farming decision making among cocoa-based agroforestry households in the study area.

v.   identify the major constraints militating against women in contributing to farming decisions among cocoa-based agroforestry households in the study area.

vi. offer recommendations based on the research findings.

1.9     Research Hypothesis

Based on the above stated objectives; the following null hypotheses will be tested:

i.          Ho: there is no significant difference between the contributions of women and their male counterparts to food crop production activities decision making among cocoa-based agroforestry households in the study area.

ii.        Ho: there is no significant difference between the contributions of male farmers and women to cocoa production activities decision making among cocoa-based agroforestry households in the study area.

iv.      Ho: socio-economic characteristics of women in cocoa-based agroforestry households   have   no   significant   relationship   with   their   contributions   to household farming decision.

1.10   Justification of the Study.

Women contributions to agriculture have been established to be of great significance. They form the greater proportion of economically active population in rural Nigeria and play an important role in agricultural and socio-economic life of the society such that national development may not be possible without developing this important and substantial segment of our society (Kishor, Gupta, Yadav and Singh, 1999). Paul and Saadullah (1991) further reported that households without women are not sustainable.

Increase in farm output results from sound decision making as a central role in farm management which deals with effective combination of farm resources. In spite of the major contributions of women to agriculture, their contributions in this major aspect of farming  (decision  making)  has  not  been  given  due  attention  by  government  and researchers. This study is therefore necessitated to bridge the gap that exist with regard to contribution of women to household farming decision marking using cocoa-based agroforestry households in Ekiti State as case study.

The findings of this study will be found useful by the ministries of agriculture and women affairs especially in the review and formulation of gender related policies that will empower and moderate the contributions of women to farm activities and decision making. The research findings will also be useful to NGO’s that are involved in agricultural development and gender related issues at farm household level. This is because with the information that will be obtained from this study, the concerned NGOs and government agencies will find it easier to formulate gender sensitive policies especially those involving farm women and in addition enhance their level of contributions to household farming decision making through necessary empowerment strategies. Policy makers and Extension officers will be more equipped with necessary information that will be made available towards  addressing  the  major  barriers  faced  by  women  in  contributing  to  household farming decision.

Finally,  fellow  researchers  who  are interested  in  the area of farm  households, farming decision and gender related studies at farm households’ level will be guided to be more focused based on the information that will be provided by this study.

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