The study was designed to investigate
the gender and resource use efficiency
in cocoyam production in Abia State, Nigeria. Socio-economic
characteristics of the farmers were determined as well as the production
problems affecting the farmers in the study Area. The study presents the
results of analysis of data collected on 160 male and female cocoyam farmers
across two Agricultural zones. A multi-stage randomized sampling technique was
used to select the zones, blocks, circles and contact farmers Descriptive
statistical tools such as percentages, frequencies and mean were used in
analyzing farmer’s socio-economic characteristics and production problems. The
result showed that women constituted a greater percentage (68.75%) of those
involved in cocoyam production in the state, which comprises those within who
the age range of 41 to 50 years. The Maximum Likelihood Estimation (MLE)
technique was used in estimating the technical efficiency and determinants of
efficiency of male and female farmers with the Cobb-Douglas production function
as the lead model. The result of estimation of technical efficiency using the
Cobb- Douglas stochastic function showed that the coefficients of male and
female farmers for the production variables used were all positive. Cocoyam
setts, labour and fertilizer use were significant while capital inputs were not
significant for female cocoyam farmers. The result indicates that
socio-economic conditions influenced technical efficiency of both categories of
farmers. The coefficients of determinants of efficiency used were all positive except farm size that was negative and significant
for both male and female cocoyam farmers while
age, level of education, extension contact, knowledge index were all
positive and significant for male farmers while other variables were not
significant. Test of allocative efficiency revealed that none of defined farmer
groups achieved absolute allocative efficiency. Male farmers underutilized
fertilizer and over utilized other inputs in production while female farmers
over utilized all the inputs. This result suggests that there exists the
possibility of increasing output under existing level of technology through the
use of lower levels of all inputs by male and female farmers except fertilizer
for males. There is also scope to use higher levels of fertilizer for the male
farmers. The result shows the mean output/kg of 2,450.20kg and 2,519.09kg with
an average net profit of N62, 592.87
and N88, 378.12 and BCR of N1.85 and N2.16 for the male and female farmers
respectively. This implies that cocoyam production was profitable in the study
area. The results also showed the elasticities of productions of male to be
0.43246 and that of female to be 1.1987, this shows a decreasing return to
scale for male cocoyam farmers and increasing return for female cocoyam
farmers. Finally, the survey revealed that most of the farmers (male and
female) encountered problems of root rot diseases at 90% and 90.91%
respectively.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.1: Background information
3.1 Problem Statement
1.3 Objective
of the study
1.4
Statement of Hypotheses
1.5 Justification of the Study
CHAPTER
TWO
REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE
2.1 Under
Utilization of Cocoyam
2.2 Potentials
of Cocoyam
2.2.1 Nutritive Values of Cocoyam.
2.2.2 Economic Values of Cocoyam
2.2.3 Agronomic Values of Cocoyam
2.3 Gender Issues in Agriculture
2.4 Gender and Farm Input Delivery System,
Supply And Productivity
2.5 Cost and Returns
2.6 Resource Problems and Resource Allocation
of Rural Economies
2.6.1 Resource Problems
2.6.2 Rural Resource Allocation
2.7 Evidence of Resource Productivity and
Efficiency Studies
2.8 Theoretical Framework
2.9 Analytical Framework
CHAPTER THREE
METHODOLOGY
3.1 STUDY AREA
3.2 Sampling procedure
3.2 Sampling procedure
3.3 Data Collection
3.5 Hypotheses
CHAPTER
FOUR
RESULTS
AND DISCUSSION
4.1 SOCIO-ECONOMIC
CHARACTERISTICS OF THE RESPONDENTS BY GENDER.
4.1.1 Marital
Status
4.1.2 Age
4.1.3 House
Hold Size
4.2 COMPARISON OF MEAN OUTPUT
OF MALE AND FEMALE COCOYAM FARMERS.
4.3 ESTIMATION
OF TECHNICAL AND ALLOCATIVE EFFICIENCY IN COCOYAM PRODUCTION.
4.4
COMPARISON OF RETURNS TO SCALE
OF THE MALE AND FEMALE FARMERS
4.5 COST AND RETURN ANALYSIS OF COCOYAM
PRODUCTION BY GENDER.
CHAPTER FIVE
SUMMARY, RECOMMENDATION AND RECOMMENDATIONS
5.1 Summary
5.2 Conclusion
5.3 Policy
Implications and Recommendations
REFERENCES
CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.1: Background information
In Nigeria of about 140 million people, men
constitute about 50.4% and women 49.6%(N.P.C, 2006).Both gender are responsible
for producing nation’s food and one of the major problems confronting mankind
in recent times is food crisis (Ndukwu et
al 2010).Gender has often been misunderstood as being about the promotion
of women only, but it focuses on the relationship between men and women, their
roles, access to and control over resources, division of labour and needs. Men
and Women are affected differently in their operation in factors like markets
and socio- economic environments. Women are more constrained than their men
counterparts in terms of access to credits, agricultural inputs, and
information technology and so on. Some crop are men’s, like yam production,
while others like sweet potatoes and cocoyam production are regarded as women’s
especially in the southeastern Nigeria (Ndukwu et al 2010). Dimelu et al (2009)
reported that women are involved in crop production generally and cocoyam
production in particular
Agriculture
is the largest single sector in the Nigeria economy, providing food, income and
employment for sustainable livelihood of both the rural and urban population
(CBN, 2003). Agriculture is the largest non-oil export earner and the largest
employer of labour accounting for 88% of the non-oil foreign exchange earnings
and 70% of the active labour force of the population. Food crops constitute the
largest component of the crops sub-sector of the Nigeria’s agriculture
(CBN,2003). Root and tuber crops which are among the most important groups of
the staple foods in many tropical African countries(Osagie,1998) Constitutes
the largest source of calories for Nigeria population(Olaniyan et al 2001)
Cocoyam
originated from Asia and about forty (40) species are mostly grown in West
Africa (Asumugha and Mbanasor, 2002).Cocoyam,both Xanthosoma species and Colocasia species belong to the family
(Aracea).The cocoyam specie colocasia
esculata in sub-Sahara Africa was introduced to this continent one thousand
or more years ago from South East Asia while cocoyam specie Xanthosoma Mafafa was introduced more
recently from tropical America (11TA, 1992; FAO, 2005a).
Nigeria
is the largest producer of cocoyam in the world, accounting for about 37% of
the total world output (FAO, 2007b; NRCRI, 2009). From 0.73 million metric
tones in 1990, cocoyam production in Nigeria rose to 3.89million metric tones
in 2000 (Ojiako et al; 2007;) and
further by 30.30% to 5.068 million metric tones in 2007 (FAO, 2007b). Further
estimate in Nigeria, showed a figure of 5,387 million metric tones out of 11.77
million metric tones of world output of cocoyam per annum since 2008 (FAO STAT,
2010).
Cocoyam ranks third in
importance after cassava and yam among the root and tubers crops cultivated in
Nigeria (see Appendix 1) (FAO, 2005a, National Breau of Statistics, 2006, Okoye
et al; 2008). Cocoyam both Xanthosoma sp and colocasia sp is an important staple food in the plant family,
cultivated in South Eastern and South Western part of Nigeria (Onyenweaku et al, 2005; Ojiakor et al, 2007; Chukwu et al, 2009). It is a food security crop variously grown by
resource poor farmers especially women who often intercrop it with yam, maize,
plantain, banana, vegetable (Ikwelle et
al, 2003).
Cocoyam is highly
medicinal for diabetic patients because it has low starch content, is easily
digestible and contains protein more than the other root tubers. The leaves of colocosia esculenta have been shown to
be a rich source of folic acid, ribo flavin, vitamin A and C, calcium and
phosphate (Arene and Ene, 1987). The leaves are consumed because they are rich
in protein and vitamins while the root is rich in carbohydrates and minerals
(Duru and Uma, 2002). Cocoyam is a useful cover crop and the corms are ready to
harvest in 8 – 12 months (Uguru, 1996).
The corms and cormels are boiled, baked and tubers are sometimes ground
to produce paste for use in stews and soups. Also in Southeast Asia, cocoyam
leaves are consumed as a green or dry vegetables and the stem is either cooked
or eaten on its own or together with other dietary staples or pounded into
flour (Serem et al; 2008).The dried
peeled corms are grinded to produce flour which is considered to be as
palatable as cassava flour but more nutritious (Igbokwe, 2004).
In the traditional
farming system women "own" and plant cocoyam after the men have
planted their yam, hence it is regarded as a women's crop (Igbokwe, 2004). As a
result of male out migration into urban and semi urban areas, certain task that
were traditionally done by men (e.g. ridging) are now being done by the women
folk. Thus the gender based differentiation of farm tasks appears to be
disappearing. Some scholars believe and argue that majority of the small scale
farmers who produce the bulk of Nigeria's agricultural output especially
cocoyam are women. It is still their contention that women also play key roles
in storage preservation, processing, utilization and local marketing of
agricultural produce (Dixon, 1983; Ekumankama and Ekumankama, 1996). Females
constitute the greater percentage of the Nigerian population in the rural areas
(Musa, 1987)
Given the importance of cocoyam and
the fact that its cultivation is receeding, it becomes compelling to examine
the production methods, practices and resource inputs for its production
methods, practices and resource inputs for its production in other to identify
opportunities for improvements in terms of cultivation and efficient use of
available resources.
Government
research effort under cocoyam expansion programme had led to development of
several technologies aimed at adding value to cocoyam production (NRCRI, 1999).
Also, dissemination of the improved technologies as well as advocacy supports
for overall development of cocoyam are effective strategies for optimizing
utilization of the abundant potentials associated with cocoyam in Nigeria.
3.1 Problem Statement
The
resource allocation to cocoyam is significantly low when compared to other
crops such as yam and cassava. Technical difficulties involved in managing
cocoyam, especially the post harvest losses usually not encountered in the rival
crops have made cocoyam comparatively less attractive especially the male
farmers thereby affecting productivity (Ekwe et al; 1999). Cocoyam
production in South Eastern Nigeria is threatened by some factors such as the
cocoyam root, not blight complex, high cost of labour, which is almost entirely
manual (Okoye et al; 2008). Also the
preference of other crops to seriously cocoyam in household production, and
consumption decision became fundamental reasons for its neglect and under
utilization. Empirical findings of earlier research like (Dimelu et al; 2008)
on cocoyam have reported reasons such as high cost of labour, disease outbreak
etc. for decline in output of cocoyam, none of these studies tried to explain
output decline from point of view of gendered use of production resources nor
did they consider that the people (women) who are left to carry on its
production might have some gender-related constraints in resource utilization
which could affect entry into cocoyam farming as well as productivity.
Hence,
there is need to sustain the level of production through productivity and
resource use studies, agricultural production in Nigeria has always been seen
as dominated by men and this assumption undermines the women involvement in
agricultural production. Okoye et al (2007)
pointed out that women farmers for several years have been the pillars of
cocoyam production. Unfortunately as noted by Durno and Stuart (2005), they are
not recognized as farmers and are not critically involved in the process of farm
problem analysis, planning and decision making, or provided with the training,
credit and support they need. They equally noted that development opportunities
are usually offered to those who are better off and better educated, majority
of whom are men. Many extension programmes are focused on the "family
headed" that is the husband as women are considered as helpers in the
farm.
The presumption is
that women are less economically efficient than men in Agricultural production.
The problems of this
study therefore are to analyze the possible ways in which equitable gender
involvement and resource use will help increase output in cocoyam production in
Abia State.
In
view of this forgoing, this study attempted to answer the following questions:
-
to what extent are men and women
involved/engaged is cocoyam production?
-
do women have access to the same quantity and
quality of resources as men in Cocoyam production?
-
does being a woman influence how resources are
applied for cocoyam production?
-
how efficiently do women farmers employ
resources for cocoyam production?
-
what are the sources of inefficiency in women's
use of cocoyam resources?
1.3 Objective of the study
The
broad objective of this study was to determine by gender the resource use
efficiency in cocoyam production in Abia State.
The specific objectives are to:
(i) examine the socio-economic
characteristics of cocoyam farmers in Abia State (ii) estimate and
compare the mean output of men and women cocoyam farmers.
(iii)
estimate and analyse the technical and
allocative efficiencies of cocoyam farmers by gender
(iv)
compare the technical and returns to scale of
the farmers based on gender.
(v)
determine the profitability of cocoyam farming
by gender.
(vi)
identify the major problems/constraints faced by
the men and women cocoyam farmers.
(vii)
Recommendation based on the research findings
1.4 Statement of Hypotheses
The following hypotheses were
tested:
HO1
There is no significant difference in technical and allocative
efficiency of the cocoyam in the use of farm resources across gender
HO2 There is no significant difference in
the mean output of male and female cocoyam farmers HO3
Cocoyam production is not profitable in the study area
1.5 Justification of the
Study
Improving
cocoyam productivity, achieving self sufficiency in cocoyam production and
other food crops has been a major concern to scholars and policy makers as well
as farmers themselves, majority of who live in the rural areas (Okoye et al; 2007). This is more worrisome
considering the fact that Nigeria is endowed with rich and abundant cocoyam
growing environment and hence has the potential to greatly increase its cocoyam
production.
Women are actively
involved in agricultural production in Nigeria, In Sub Saharan Africa, women
grow 80 percent of the food destined to the Kitchen (Mamman, 1994). They play a
variety of roles in agriculture as farmers in their own rights, working in
their husbands farms and are increasing entering employment in the production
of all kinds of crops for sale. Akanji (1999) pointed out that the current
state of knowledge is limited due to the underreporting of the contributions of
women and children to commercial agriculture, this study will highlight some of
the problems confronting especially women farmers, pointing out the direction
for ensuring higher efficiency in farm resource utilization and productivity in
their operations in cocoyam farms.
This study will be
essential to understand the nature of the constraints women face in order to
effectively help women farmers because failure to take into account gender
relationships leads to the marginalization of the disadvantaged sector of the
society and a large part of the agricultural work force
It will equally provide
the much needed micro level data and the empirical basis for farm planning,
policy formulation and implementation, for no society can afford to neglect the
needs, rights, aspirations and contributions of half of its population. It will
ensure policies that will improve the productivity of male and female cocoyam
farmers as well as information on relative access to and control over resources
will be important in the development of food security strategies.
The study will also
provide a basis for equitability, effective and better allocation of resources
between male and female cocoyam farmers. This study will add to the already
existing literature on production which may aid further researchers in other
geographical areas. It will also be useful to potential investors interested in
cocoyam business in Abia State. It can also provide useful information, which
will help in decision making for improvement of cocoyam business in Nigeria.
The study will also be of immense benefits to researchers as well as policy
makers on the need to keep the government at various levels abreast with the
economic value of cocoyam. It is used for teaching purposes. Finally, in the
developing countries where technologies are rarely developed, efficiency is the
means of improving production and productivity
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