Assessment of Gender Participation in Rice Production in Abakaliki, Nigeria

The study investigated the participation of male and female in rice production. Abakaliki Local Government Area was purposively selected because of its dominance and popularity in rice production.  A total of hundred and sixty (160) male and female respondents were randomly selected from registered rice producers. Primary and secondary sources of instruments were employed and data were analyzed using descriptive statistics as frequency counts, percentages mean and standard deviation. T-Test and Product Moment Correlation was used to test the hypotheses. The result of the study showed that female farmers participated more in rice production chain than males in the study area. Activities like weeding, threshing, winnowing, cleaning, parboiling, dehusking etc. were dominated by the female farmers. Educational qualification (r=-0.323**, p˂0.139) had a negative correlation which implies that the less educated participated more in rice production activities. It is therefore recommended that whenever there is the need to build the capacity of rice farmers, female farmers should be trained in simple/local languages that they can easily comprehend in the study area since they are not as educated as their male counterpart. Keywords: participation, gender, rice production, Abakaliki. DOI: 10.7176/JBAH/9-12-04 Publication date:June 30th 201

The Participation of Rice Farmers In Capacity Building Programmes of Agricultural Development Programme in Kwara State, Nigeria

Abstract: This s tudy was carried out to examine the participation of rice farmers in capacity building training programmes organized by Agricultural Development Programme in collaboration with other bodies such as Olam, USAID and First Bank in Kwara State, Nigeria.A sample of 180 contract farmers from two Local Government Areas of Kwara State who participated in the training were randomly selected and interviewed. Descriptive statistics and inferential statistics were employed in data analyses which include the use of frequency count, mean, pie-chart, bar chart, percentages and regression analysis. The findings revealed the level of participation of rice farmers in the two major rice producing Local Government Areas (Edu and Patigi ). The results revealed that the farmers’participation level was high in Patigi Local Government Area with participation mean of 6.189, and low in Edu LGA with participation mean of 3.267.Regression analysis showed that there were positive relationships between participation levels of farmers in capacity building programmes and age , educational levels, household size, years of experience, secondary occupation,farm size and land ownership.It is recommended that the venue of the training should be decentralized for the farmers to have access to the place of training. Keywords:Capacity building, levels, participation, trainin