Implications of Empowerment Status in Agricultural Production Capabilities of Rural Women in Selected States of Nigeria

Abstract

This study assessed the implications of empowerment status in agricultural production capabilities of rural women in selected states of Nigeria using five main indicators of empowerment; decision-making status, economic status, social status, political status and time-use status. Multi-stage sampling technique was used to randomly select four States (Oyo, Edo, Benue and Sokoto States) from the six agricultural zones in Nigeria. From each state, 10% of the rural Local Government Areas (LGAs) were purposively selected making a total of nine LGAs. Two communities were randomly selected from each LGA to give 18 rural communities. Rural women were systematically sampled proportionate to the size of each community to give 261 respondents. Data were analysed using descriptive statistics, PPMC and ANOVA. Respondents had low decision-making status (x̄=32.4), high economic status (x̄=83.1), high social status (x̄ =7.6), low political status (x̄ =11.7) and high time-use (x̄ =20.7) status and a low empowerment status (x̄= 155.5) across States. Result shows that there was a significant difference (F=47.615) in the empowerment status of respondents across selected states. Income (r=0.403), educational attainment (r=0.478), household size (r=0.084) and years of experience (r=0.235) had significant positive relationship with empowerment status. Rural women should be empowered by government agencies and NGOs through organising seminars on self-help projects and giving them voice which will enable them to have a sustainable farm enterprise.

Keywords: Capabilities, economic empowerment, production, rural, status.