ABSTRACT

This study investigated the factors affecting women's participation in the women- in-Agriculture (WIA) programme of Abia State ADP in Umuahia zone. The study aimed at determining the extent of participation of women farmers in WIA programme, the relationship between the socio-economic characteristics of the women and their extent of participation in WIA programme as well as identifying the factors that hinder women's participation in the WIA programme. The study area was Umuahia agricultural zone of Abia State ADP. Ten women groups were randomly selected from the list of twenty registered functional groups in the zone. One hundred and twenty women farmers (twelve from each group) were selected randomly and administered women farmers interview schedule. One set of questionnaire was used to elicit information from all the Block Extension Agents (BEAs) in the seven blocks that make up Umuahia zone. Secondary data were collected from published papers and other relevant materials. Simple statistics like frequencies and percentages, person's product moment correlation coefficient and mean score were used in the analysis. According to the ratings of the women farmers and the BEAs, majority of the women farmers participated actively in the WIA programme. The correlation analysis showed that the socioeconomic characteristics of the women farmers had no significant relationship on their extent of participation excepting age. Ten major factors or problems had serious effect on the women farmers extent of participation in the WIA programme, among which were inaccessibility to credit facilities, recruitment of female staff in extension service, lack of agricultural input and so on. This study recommends that provision of credit facilities to women farmers at a low interest rate, recruitment of more female extension staff and provision of agricultural inputs among others will enhance the extent of participation of women in the WlA programme. This in turn, will ultimately boost the level of adoption of improved agricultural innovations by women farmers.