Analysis of gender dynamics in cassava production for resource empowerment among farmers in Oyo State, Nigeria

One of the key hindrances to agricultural advancement is the wide gender gap in agricultural productivity. This study focused on gender dynamics in cassava production towards resource empowerment among farmers in Oyo State, Nigeria. The specific objectives of the study were to determine the level of involvement of cassava farmers based on gender and to determine the empowerment status and gender parity of women and men cassava farmers. Primary data were collected through a structured questionnaire administered to randomly selected 245 cassava farmers made up of 68 adult male, 58 adult female, 61 youth male and 58 youth female cassava farmers. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, and empowerment in agriculture index. Both genders were highly involved in cassava farming. However, results further showed that adult males and females were more involved (x̅ = 2.28 and x̅ =2.3) than the youth male and female cassava farmers (x̅=2.18 and x̅=2.07 respectively). The disempowered headcount ratio was 60.3% for women as against 40.5% for men. This can be attributed to a number of  indicators and domains of the 5DE sub-index in which women were considerably disadvantaged. The average adequacy score reveals that men achieved adequacy in 64% of dimensions of 5DE, while the 5DE adequacy score was 53% for women. The 5DE disempowerment index disaggregated by gender establishes that the domain of production and control over resources were the major contributors to the disempowerment index for both women and men. Within the domain of the resources, the combined influence of ownership of assets and access to credit and associated decisions contributed 26.86 and 31.52 % respectively to women and men disempowerment. Formulation of policies, planning and preparation of projects/programmes that would encourage gender sensitivity on cassava production by relevant agencies is advocated.