Gender Analysis of Agricultural Innovation and Decision Making among Rice Farming Household in Nigeria

Abstract

Rice importance in food security and contribution to Nigeria economy cannot be overlooked, rice is produced in Nigeria but productivity increase has been a challenge due to many factors. Actors involved in the production process include women who are faced with formidable obstacles. This research analyze agricultural innovation, constraints faced by male and female rice farming households and decision making among rice farming household in Nigeria rice hub. A 3-stage stratified random sampling procedure were used, descriptive statistics, Ordinal Ranking, Least Significant Difference and Women empowerment index were the tool of analysis. The study showed that 23.81% of the respondents are female-headed and 76.19% are male-headed; more than half of the women (54.29%) are without formal education as compared to men (25.89%). Only 13.39% and 8.57% of the male and female headed household use rice innovation; access to credit, high cost of input and poor soil fertility are the major constraints; women empowerment results showed 76.60% of decision is made by solely by male head, 7.80% is made by female and 7.09% of decisions are jointly made. The study recommends that; innovation usage should be advocated, subsidy should be intensified and gender consideration in decision making be made a priority.