CONSTRAINTS TO WOMEN EMPOWERMENT IN AGRICULTURE IN JERE LOCAL GOVERNMENT AREA, BORNO STATE, NIGERIA

ABSTRACT This study examined constraints to women’s empowerment in agricultural in Jere Local Government Area of Borno State, Nigeria. The specific objectives of the study were to describe the socio-economic characteristics of the respondents in the study area, to ascertain the ways in which women have been empowered economically, identify those responsible for women empowerment initiatives in the study area and to identify the major constraints to women’s empowerment in agriculture in the study area. Data for the study were obtained from both primary and secondary sources. Primary data used for the study were obtained through the use of structured questionnaire and oral interviews. The population used for the study was women farmers. Sample size of 120 respondents was used for the study. Multi-stage random procedure was used to select samples. Analytical tools used was descriptive statistics such as frequency distribution, percentage and ranking in categorizing the respondents on the basis of their socio-economic characteristics, ways in which women have been empowered economically, organizers of women empowerment initiatives and constraints to women’s empowerment in agriculture. Results of the study revealed that majority (32.5%) of the respondents were between the ages of 26–35 years. Majority of the respondents were married (54.1) and most of the women farmers (34.1%) had non-formal educational level. Majority of the respondents (53.3%) had a family size of 1–5 persons and most women farmers (44.1%) had between 1–10 years farming experience, majority (57.5%) of the respondents obtained less than 1 hectare of land and most of the women farmers in the study area (27.5%) engaged in groundnut farming, whereas (31.6%) of the respondents obtained 6–10 bags. Most of the respondents (70.8%) had 6–10 household size and most of the women farmers (98.3%) do not have access to extension agents while only (6.8%) of the respondents had an extension visit of one to two times. It was evident from the study that the major ways in which women have been empowered economically were the provisions of agricultural productive facilities and skills/technical training (37.8%) each and the major empowerment initiatives are the non-governmental organizations with (53.6%). It was revealed by the study that majority (7.7%) of the women indicated that inability to access formal credit was their major constraints. Other serious constraints include poor educational level/background, inability to have equal access to essential productive resources, services and decision making like their male counterparts. The study recommended that enlightenment programmes should be pursue so that women be educated on the importance and need of accessing formal credit and to ensure that loans are available, accessible and affordable for smallholder farmers.