Asian Research Journal of Agriculture 11(3): 1-7, 2019; Article no.ARJA.50080 ISSN: 2456-561X Assessment of Constraints to Participation of Rural Women in Technology Dissemination of Women in Agriculture Program in Imo State, Nigeria M. N. Okeke1, E. N. Mbah2* and I. I. Nwoye1 1 Department of Agricultural Economics and Extension, Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu University, Anambra State, Nigeria. 2 Department of Agricultural Extension and Communication, Federal University of Agriculture Makurdi, Nigeria. Authors’ contributions This work was carried out in collaboration among all authors. Author MNO designed the study, performed the statistical analysis, wrote the protocol and wrote the first draft of the manuscript. Authors MNO and IIN managed the analyses of the study. Author ENM managed the literature searches. All authors read and approved the final manuscript. Article Information DOI: 10.9734/ARJA/2019/v11i330057 Editor(s): (1) Dr. Rusu Teodor, Department of Technical and Soil Sciences, University of Agricultural Sciences and Veterinary Medicine, Cluj-Napoca, Romania. Reviewers: (1) Acaye Genesis, Cyan International, Uganda. (2) Juliet Libanda, Jiangsu University of Science and Technology, China. Complete Peer review History: http://www.sdiarticle3.com/review-history/50080 Received 28 April 2019 Original Research Article Accepted 04 July 2019 Published 20 July 2019 ABSTRACT The survey was conducted to identify constraints to participation of rural women in technology dissemination of Women in Agriculture Program (WIA) in Imo State, Nigeria. Questionnaire was used to collect data from a sample of 60 respondents. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics such as frequency, percentage and mean score. Results showed that 33.0% of the respondents were aged between 41 and 50 years, majority (75.0%) were married, 88.0% had formal education and 55.3% engaged in farming and trading, while 56.6% had a household size of 6-10 persons. The respondents participated in the activities like processing and utilization of food crops (16.7%), harvesting and storage of food crops (16.7%), dry season vegetable production (13.3%), processing and utilization of livestock products (10.0%), processing and utilization of soya bean into soya milk and soya meal (6.7%). The study recommended that rural women should be encouraged _____________________________________________________________________________________________________ *Corresponding author: E-mail: evanmbah@gmail.com;  Okeke et al.; ARJA, 11(3): 1-7, 2019; Article no.ARJA.50080 to join co-operative societies in order to pull their resources together. It also highlighted the need for promotion of rural women’s activities through adequate provision of credit facilities by government at all levels for optimum productivity. Keywords: Technology dissemination; women participation; rural women. 1. INTRODUCTION agriculture [12]. It was in response to this situation that the Women in Agriculture (WIA) Agriculture has proven to be an important engine program were introduced. Considering the for growth and poverty reduction in many important economic roles played by women countries of the world [1]. Women who operate at farmers, the Women in Agriculture (WIA) the subsistence level constitute the major food program was introduced as a component of producers in many of these countries. Rural Agricultural Development Program (ADP) to women participate more than men [2]; take the empower women farmers in acquiring knowledge lead in agricultural activities, consisting about 60- and technical skills in the areas of planting 80 percent of the labor force [3,4]. materials, fertilizers, chemicals, technical advice and credit facilities to enhance their profitability Women make essential contributions to and increase income so as to tackle food agricultural and rural economies in all the insecurity in Nigeria [13]. developing countries [5]. They often manage complex households and pursue multiple Access to improved production practices by livelihood strategies [6]. Roles performed by rural women farmers leads to improved yields of women vary considerably between and within crops. Studies have shown positive correlation regions and are changing rapidly in many parts between use of extension recommendations by of the world, where economic and social forces farmers and crop yields which translates into are transforming the agricultural sector. Women increased income and improved quality of life of form the backbone of agriculture in Nigeria, farmers [14]. Technologies that can help comprising the majority of agricultural laborers. enhance food production are meant to improve the efficiency of women in agricultural production and enhance their productivity and expand the According to Auta [7], women in Nigeria produce, areas they use for production. It gives them the process and market about 80% of food and opportunity to participate in their own income manage 70% of all small-scale enterprise. They generating activities and reduce drudgery usually play a vital role in food production and food associated with activities performed by them. security in rural communities, accounting for 70% of agricultural workers, 80% of food producers The improved technologies available to rural and 100% of those who process basic food stuff women through the WIA program included milling and undertaking 60% - 90% of the marketing [8]. machine, dried millers, frying machine, solar driers, poultry dispensers, palm oil pressing Women in rural areas are involved in rural machine, melon shelling machine, among others. development ranging from agriculture to Women farmers’ competence to use of these community development program. They perform technologies could be enhanced through farm operations thereby contributing a lot to persuasion to adopt agricultural innovations by improving the economic and social status of their transferring technology and knowledge from families and accelerating the pace of rural scientists to farmers which triggers development development [9]. About 60% of agricultural [15]. operations like sowing seeds, transportation of farm produce, winnowing, storage of grains, etc. Adoption of these innovations are often are handled exclusively by women [10]. Women influenced by some factors such as age, level of are exceptionally responsible for sowing, education, years of farming experience, cost of weeding, transplanting, harvesting, processing, innovation, belief, values, culture, fear and utilization and storage of agricultural anxiety, poor access to formal credit facilities, produce [11]. poor access to market, among others. According to Aniedu and Aniedu [16], education is very Rural women still lag behind in terms of essential in the development process. They extension contact, accessibility to training and reiterated that women’s access to education and other indices of development education for training influences their production while lack of 2  Okeke et al.; ARJA, 11(3): 1-7, 2019; Article no.ARJA.50080 education and training in basic skills contributes area because of proximity. Stage two involved to the vicious circle of underdevelopment, the selection of six communities from the local negative adoption, low productivity and poor government area using a simple random conditions of health and welfare of women. sampling technique. The final stage was the random selection of 10 women farmers from It therefore becomes pertinent to carry out this each of the six communities which gave a study to assess constraints to participation of sample size of 60 respondents used for the rural women in technology dissemination of study. Data for the study were obtained from Women in Agriculture Program (WIA) in Imo primary source through the use of structured State, Nigeria. The following research questions questionnaire. Frequency, percentage and mean were pertinent for this study. What are the socio- score were used for data analysis. economic characteristics of women farmers? What are technologies disseminated by WIA 3. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION program for rural women? And what are constraints to participation of rural women in WIA Table 1 showed that 33.3% of the respondents technologies. were aged 41-50 years, about 28% were aged between 51 and 60 years, among others. This 1.1 Purpose of the Study implied that the respondents were middle aged and in their productive years hence greater The broad objective of the study was to identify participation in activities of WIA program. This constraints to participation of rural women in will enable them to obtain additional income to be technology dissemination of Women in economically strong to take care of their family Agriculture (WIA) Program in Imo state, Nigeria. responsibilities. The specific objectives were to: Majority (75.0%) of the respondents were married while about 18% were widowed, among i. Describe the socio-economic others (Table 1). This implied that the characteristics of the respondents; respondents had family members who are ii. ascertain technologies disseminated by dependents and required additional source of WIA program for rural women; and income in order to meet up with their household iii. identify constraints to participation of rural needs. women in WIA technologies. A greater percentage (88.3%) of the respondents 2. METHODOLOGY had formal education in school while 11.7% did not have formal education (Table 1). This The study was conducted in Imo State, showed that majority of the respondents were Southeast Nigeria. Mbaitoli Local Government literate which will enable them to accept the use Area of the state was selected purposively for the of technologies disseminated by WIA program. study. It shares common boundaries with Orlu, This is in line with the findings of [18] which Njaba and Isu Local Government Areas in the stated that women’s access to education and North while its southern boundaries are shared training influences their production while lack of with Owerri North and Owerri West Local education and training in basic skills contributes Government Areas. In the west and eastern to the vicious circle of underdevelopment, boundaries are Isiala-Mbano and Ikeduru Local negative adoption, low productivity and poor Government Areas. The administrative conditions of health. headquarters of Mbaitoli Local Government Area is Mbieri. It covers an area of 23km square with a Results in Table 1 showed that 56.6% of the population of 237, 655 people [17]. Major respondents had a household size of 6-10 occupation of the people in the area is farming. persons while 21.7% had 11-15 persons, among Food crops such as yam, cassava and maize are others. This implied that the respondents had produced in large quantities. fairly large household size which could be a source of labor used in the activities of WIA The population of the study comprised all program. registered women farmers in Mbaitoli Local Government Area of the state. Multistage and Entries in Table 1 showed that 56.6% of the random sampling methods were used to select respondents had a farming experience of 11-20 respondents for the study. Stage one involved years, 31.6% had between 1 and 10 years while the purposive selection of the local government 11.8% had above 20 years. This implied that the 3  Okeke et al.; ARJA, 11(3): 1-7, 2019; Article no.ARJA.50080 respondents have been farming for a long period implied that the respondents were involved in of time which could enable them to acquire farm and non-farm occupations. This is to enable experiences that will help to boost their them to be economically empowered to meet up productivity in WIA program. with their family needs. Table 1 show that 73.3% of the respondents had 3.1 Technologies Disseminated through a farm size of <1 hectare while 26.7% had WIA Program for Rural Women between 1 and 3 hectares. This implied that the respondents had small portions of farm land and The respondents indicated the use of the practice at a subsistence level. following technologies disseminated by WIA which include processing and utilization of food About 55% of the respondents had farming and crops (16.7%), value addition of crops (8.3%), trading as their primary occupation, 26.2% were processing and storage of food crops and engaged in farming, 11.8% were petty traders livestock (6.7%), dry season vegetable while 6.7% were civil servants (Table 1). This production (13.3%), harvesting and storage of Table 1. Distribution of respondents according to socio-economic characteristics (n=60) Socio-economic characteristics Frequency Percentage Age (years) 21 – 30 2 3.3 31 – 40 18 30.0 41 – 50 20 33.3 51 – 60 17 28.4 Above 60 3 5.0 Marital status Single 2 3.3 Married 45 75.0 Widowed 11 18.4 Divorced 2 3.3 Level of education (years) Non-formal education 7 11.7 Primary education 35 58.3 Secondary education 14 23.3 Tertiary education 4 6.7 Household size (numbers) 1–5 12 20.0 6 – 10 34 56.6 11 – 15 13 21.7 Above 15 1 1.7 Farming experience (years) 1- 10 19 31.6 11 – 20 34 56.6 Above 20 7 11.8 Farm size (hectares) <1 44 73.3 1-3 16 26.7 Primary occupation Farming 16 26.2 Petty trading 7 11.8 Civil service 4 6.7 Farming and trading 32 55.3 4  Okeke et al.; ARJA, 11(3): 1-7, 2019; Article no.ARJA.50080 Table 2. Distribution of respondents according to technologies disseminated by WIA program for rural women (n= 60) Technologies Frequency Percentage Processing and utilization of food crops 10 16.7 Processing and utilization of livestock products 6 10.0 Processing and storage of food crops and livestock products 4 6.7 Dry season vegetable production 8 13.3 Harvesting and storage of food crops 10 16.7 Food and nutrition training 3 5.0 Making of soap, pomade and detergent 6 10.0 Value addition of crops 5 8.3 Processing and storage of fresh tomatoes into paste 2 3.3 Processing and utilization of soya bean into soya milk and soya meal 4 6.7 Table 3. Constraints to participation of rural communication between women farmers and women in WIA technologies WIA officials (M= 3.02), poor access to land (M= 3.00), inadequate processing and storage Constraints Mean facilities (M= 3.00), weak extension service score delivery (M= 2.80), increase in family responsibilities and pressure on women (M= Lack of funds 3.10 2.78), , poor training activities of WIA program High cost of farm inputs 3.17 (M=2.63), illiteracy (M=2.60) and poor road Poor access to land 3.00 network (M=2.52). The finding is in line with [20] Inadequate processing and storage 3.00 who noted that lack of funds and high cost of facilities agricultural inputs, among others limit the Weak extension service delivery 2.80 effectiveness of Women in Agriculture (WIA) Illiteracy 2.60 program in Enugu State. Lack of commitment by Poor road network 2.52 WIA officials, lack of encouragement, lack of storage facilities and high cost of labor hinder Increase in family responsibilities and 2.78 effective participation of rural women in WIA pressure on women program [21]. Poor communication between women 3.02 farmers and WIA officials 4. CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDA- Poor training activities of WIA program 2.63 TIONS food crops (16.7%), processing and utilization of The study indicated that the respondents were livestock (10.0%), processing and utilization of middle aged, married, literate and in their soya bean into soya milk and soya meal (6.7%), productive years. The respondents were making of soap, pomade and detergent (5.0%) engaged on the use of technologies (Table 2). This showed that the respondents disseminated by WIA program which enabled were involved in the activities which can them to obtain additional income for economic generate income for economic empowerment. empowerment. They were highly constrained by The finding agreed with a study carried out by high cost of farm inputs, lack of funds, poor Ladele [19] which reported that farmers communication between women farmers and participated in WIA program because it helped WIA officials, poor access to land, inadequate them to acquire more skills on agriculture in processing and storage facilities and weak addition to providing support services. extension service delivery. 3.2 Constraints to Participation of Rural The study recommended that rural women Women in WIA Technologies should be encouraged to join co-operative societies in order to pull their resources together. Results in Table 3 showed constraints to There arose the need for promotion of rural participation of rural women in WIA technologies women’s activities through adequate provision of which included high cost of farm inputs (M= credit facilities by government at all levels to 3.17), lack of funds (M= 3.10), poor enhance increase in production. 5  Okeke et al.; ARJA, 11(3): 1-7, 2019; Article no.ARJA.50080 COMPETING INTERESTS 10. Agarwal M. Economic participation of rural women in agriculture. Empowerment of Authors have declared that no competing Rural Women in India; 2003. interests exist. 11. Mgbada JU. Production of staple crops by rural women in Enugu States, lessons REFERENCES for enhancing poverty alleviation programmes. In: Idowu TA (Eds.), 1. Imonikebe BU. Constraints to rural women Agricultural extension and poverty farmers’ involvement in food production in alleviation in Nigeria, Proceedings of the Nigeria. African Research Review. 2010; Agricultural Extension Society of Nigeria; 4(3):281-288. 2002. 2. Bayeh E. The role of empowering 12. Tologbonse EB, Jibrin MM, Auta SJ, women and achieving gender equality Damaisa MA. Factors influencing women to the sustainable development of participation in Women in Agriculture (WIA) Ethiopia. Pacific Science Review B: Programe of Kaduna State Agricultural Humanities and Social Sciences. Development Programme. International 2016;2(1):37-42. Journal of Agricultural Economics and Extension. 2013;1(7):47-54. 3. Singh S. Contract farming in India: Impacts on women and child workers. International 13. Umeh OJ, Nwachukwu I. Revamping Institute for Environment and grassroots agricultural production through Development, Gatekeeper Series, No. 111, the Agricultural Extension Transformation London; 2003. Agenda. 2015;2-7. 4. Teeken B, Olaosebikan O, Haleegoah J, 14. African Rice Centre. Commodity watch: Oladejo E, Madu T, Bello A, Tufan HA. NERICA contributes to record rice harvest Cassava trait preferences of men and in Africa. New Agricultural Digest Abuja. women farmers in Nigeria: implications for 2007;16-18. breeding. Economic Botany. 2018;72(3), 15. Agbamu JU. Essentials of Agricultural 263-277. Communication in Nigeria. Malthouse 5. Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO). Press Limited, Lagos. 2006;65- The role of women in agriculture. 73. Agricultural Development Economics 16. Aniedu C, Aniedu OC. Gender Division ESA Working Paper No. 2011;11- mainstreaming in agricultural 02;1-48. development in Nigeria. In: Agricultural 6. Jaka H, Shava E. Resilient rural extension and rural development. women’s livelihoods for poverty Nwachukwu (ed.) Lamb House Publisher, alleviation and economic empowerment in Umuahia; 2013. semi-arid regions of Zimbabwe. Jàmbá: 17. National Population Commission (NPC). Journal of Disaster Risk Studies. National population census projected 2018;10(1). figure for Delta state. National Population 7. Auta SJ. Performance of women groups in Commission Publication, Abuja, Nigeria; agricultural activities in kaduna State. 2006. Unpublished Ph. D Thesis, Department of 18. Aniedu C, Aniedu OC. Gender Agricultural Economics and Rural mainstreaming in agricultural development Sociology, Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria; in Nigeria. In: Agricultural extension 2004. and rural development. Nwachukwu 8. Obiora CJ. Need assessment: (ed.) Lamb House Publisher, Umuahia; Overview from women farmers in 2013. Anambra State, Nigeria. Greener Journal 19. Ladele AA. Dynamics of agricultural of Agricultural Sciences. 2013;3(8):618- extension service structure and policy: the 622. need for group extension in 9. Singh S. Contract farming in India: Impacts sustainable agricultural technology transfer on women and child workers. International in Nigeria. In: SQ Afolayan and IA Institute for Environment and Akinbode. (Eds.), Proceedings of the Development, Gatekeeper Series, No. 111, Inaugural Conference of the Agricultural London; 2003. Extension Society of Nigeria; 1994. 6  Okeke et al.; ARJA, 11(3): 1-7, 2019; Article no.ARJA.50080 20. Nwaoha C. Evaluation of women in 21. Nwogu CN. Assessing the impacts of agriculture programme of Imo State Women in agriculture component of ADP agricultural development programme. on female farmers in Umuahia Case study of Owerri Agricultural Zone of agricultural zone of Abia state, Nigeria. Imo State. Michael Okpara University of Michael Okpara University of Agriculture, Agriculture, Umudike, Abia State, Nigeria; Umudike, Umuahia, Abia State, Nigeria; 2008. 2008. _________________________________________________________________________________ © 2019 Okeke et al.; This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. Peer-review history: The peer review history for this paper can be accessed here: http://www.sdiarticle3.com/review-history/50080 7