Variability of Land Tenure, Land Rights and Land Acquisition Methods Among Male and Female Farmers in Irrigation Sector of Gombe and Bornu States, Nigeria

Abstract This study determined the variability of socio-economic characteristics, land rights, land tenure and method of land acquisition among land users in the Dadin kowa irrigation scheme area of Gombe and Borno States, Nigeria. The study adopted a multi-stage sampling technique; 2 LGAs, 6 villages and 300 households were systematically selected in stages. Households specific information was collected using structured questionnaires. A combination of analytical tools employed in the analyses includes descriptive statistics (means, frequencies and percentages), and inferential statistics (t/z tests). The results showed that 29.0% of the respondents were aged 31–40 years; while those within the ages of 20–30, 41–50, 51–60 and above 60 years age brackets constituted 17.0%, 16.3%, 16.0% and 19.3% respectively. Similarly, the sex segregation of households shows that majority of the respondents (95.3%) were male while 4.7% of the respondents were of the female category. Similarly, 24.7% of the respondents had household size of 7–10 persons while 21.0% and 20.0% had a household size of 3–6 and 11–14 persons respectively. Also, 61.3% of the respondents belong to one form of cooperative body or the other. The results indicated that, the rights include the rights to sell, rent, graze, bequeath, and use as religious center. The land tenure systems include family inheritance (92.3%), individual ownership by purchase (79%), renting (78%); while individual ownership through gift, leasing, and government allocation ranked 4th ,5th and 6th respectively. Land acquisition by inheritance was most common among males than females (69.3 and 27.7% respectively); the chi-square value indicated significant variability at 1% probability level. Similarly, land acquisition through buying, renting and through government allocation was more common among the male users (59.5, 58.8, and 22.3%) correspondingly. Results also indicated an average farm size of 0.9 ha and 0.3ha for male and female respectively, and a significant difference with T-value of -4.231 at 1% probability. The study concluded that women are more involved in agriculture in the considered gender categories. The most common land ownership structure among both females and males is inheritance. Land holding in number of plots and farm size are higher among males than females in the study area. Recommendations include the need for gender mainstreaming in transforming the irrigation systems, enlightenment of land users to embrace membership of farmers associations and more women friendly agro practices should be the focus of extension services.