ANALYSIS OF WOMEN PARTICIPATION IN FARMING PRACTICES IN IJERO L EKITI, EKITI STATE.

The study was carried out in Ijero Local Government Area (LGA) was chosen as the study area. Ijero Local Government is located in North senatorial district of Ekiti State on latitude 707100 North and longitude 50300 east. Shows that the model has a good fit. Most of the respondents were illiterate with non-formal educational. This study analysed women participation in farming practices in Ijero Ekiti, Ekiti State Nigeria. It investigated the women’s access to economic resources and examined the influence of selected socio-economic characteristics of women and access to economic resources on their participation in farming practices. Multistage random sampling technique was used to select 120 respondents for this study but 118 was returned. The research was carried out with the use of well structured interview schedule to obtain the necessary data. Both descriptive and inferential analytical tools were employed. Probit analysis was employed to investigate the determinants, problems and challenges of women participation in farming practices in the study area. The results revealed that the mean age, years of experience and farm size of the respondents were 43 years, and 1.6 acres, respectively. Access to farm credit was (54.2%). Inadequate capital, in ability to access credit facilities, lack of market for farm produce, discrimination against women accessing land were the most severe challenges to participation and High cost of transportation and bad road networks which is 71.2% is moderate challenges faced by them. Also the high rate of involvement of women in agricultural production in the study area; hence, the role of variables as well as assets such as social capital, landed property, cash, as well as savings are central in determining the participation level or perception on farming. Government should encourage women farmers by providing infrastructure, regular basic training and increased funding for research and extension. And is also government should help the farmers to solve their challenges such as discrimination against women access to land, inability to assess credit, high cost of transportation and bad road network, inadequate capital.