GENDER ANALYSIS OF POULTRY FARMERS PARTICIPATION IN NATIONAL AGRICULTURAL INSURANCE SCHEME IN EGBEDA LOCAL GOVERNMENT AREA, IBADAN, OYO STATE

ABSTRACT The study examined gender analysis of poultry farmer's participation in National Agricultural Insurance Scheme in Egbeda Local Government Area, Ibadan, Oyo State. The study describes the socio-economic characteristics of the poultry farmers, ascertain the activities carried out by the National Agriculture Insurance Scheme among male and female poultry farmers, investigate the challenges faced by male and female poultry farmers participating in the National Agriculture Insurance Scheme and identify the factors influencing the male and female poultry farmers to participate in the Insurance Scheme. The data collected were analyzed using descriptive statistics such as frequency count, percentage and mean while inferential statistics that is PPMC and Chi-square was used in analyzing the significant relationship between the socio-economic characteristics of the male and female poultry farmers and the factors influencing the participation in National Agricultural Insurance Scheme in the study area. The mean age of male and female poultry farmers was 52.65 and 48.08 years, 72.9% of the male poultry farmers were married while 62.9% of the female poultry farmers were married, the mean years spent in formal education for the male poultry farmers was 13.60 years while the female poultry farmers was 13.54 years. The mean income of the male poultry farmers was N3,332,941 while the mean income of the female poultry farmers was N2,740,000, 95.3% of the male poultry farmers were members of NAIS while 97.1% of the female poultry farmers were members of NAIS. 82.9% of the female poultry farmers participated mostly in reducing the need for emergency assistance provided by local, state and federal government during the period of agricultural disaster while 76.5% of the male poultry farmers engage in paying appropriate compensation to farmers affected to natural disaster as the activities the genders participated in the NAIS. In addition, provision of compensation for losses in poultry (̅ = 1.85) ranked 1st under perceived benefits of NAIS among the male and female poultry workers. Meanwhile, fears that claim may not be paid (̅ = 1.99) ranked 1st for the constraints facing the male and female poultry farmers. Ease of enrollment in the scheme (̅ = 4.64) ranked 1st for the factors Influencing the male and female poultry workers in Participation of NAIS. The result of the PPMC analysis for the male poultry farmers socio-economic characteristics such as Years spent in formal education, household size and years of poultry farming experience was significant. Meanwhile the socio-economic characteristics variables was not significant for the female poultry workers. The Chi-square analysis revealed a significant relationship with the selected socio-economic variables such as marital status, educational status, primary occupation, member of NAIS and source of capital for both male and female poultry farmers in the study area. It can be concluded from the study that majority of the male and female poultry workers were married, young, had tertiary education and they had experience in poultry farming. provision of compensation for losses in poultry was the major perceived benefit for the male and female poultry farmers while fears that claims may not be paid was the major challenges of the male and female poultry farmers and ease of enrollment in the scheme was the major factor influencing the male and female poultry farmers in participating in the NAIS. Therefore, it is recommended that there should be improvement in the awareness and understanding of the National Agricultural Insurance Scheme (NAIS) among poultry farmers particularly women, to increase participation and the benefits realize