ROLE OF FADAMA III PROJECT IN EMPOWERING FADAMA WOMEN FARMERS TOWARD ATTAINING FOOD SECURITY IN
ROLE OF FADAMA III PROJECT IN EMPOWERING FADAMA WOMEN FARMERS TOWARD ATTAINING FOOD SECURITY IN
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Date
2014-12
Authors
BOLUWAJI, Ibitoye Chris
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Abstract
The study assessed the role of Fadama III Project toward women empowerment for household food security in Benue state, Nigeria. The specific objectives were to describe the socio-economic characteristics of the Fadama Women Farmers; determine the food security status of the Fadama Women Farmers; determine the factors influencing the Food Security Status of the Fadama Women Farmers; assess the perception of the Fadama Women Farmers to the Fadama III Project; assess the benefits of the Fadama III project to the Fadama Women Farmers toward attaining food security and examine the constraints of Fadama Women Farmers toward attaining food security in the study area. A multi-stage sampling procedure was used to select 173 farmers randomly for the study. Primary data and secondary sources of information were used and results were collected with the aid of structured questionnaire administered to the Fadama Women Farmers. Descriptive statistics and inferential statistic such as multiple regressions were used to analyze data including food security score tool. The results revealed that 78% of the women farmers were within 31-50 years. Only 4% were below 30 years of age. The mean age of the farmers was 43years. Only 5% of the Fadama Women Farmers were single while 65% of the women farmers were married. A total of 64% of the farmers had 4-6 members in their household and the average household size is 6 members. The result also showed that 79% had between 11-30 years of farming experience while only 2% had farming experience greater than 50 years. Only 25% do not have any form of formal education. All the Fadama Women Farmers had one form of Extension contact during the cropping season. It was found that only 8% had no access to credit. The socio-economic characteristics of the Fadama Women Farmers found to be significantly related to the food security in the study area were: farm size significant at 0.1 or 10%, extension contact, access to credit and membership of association were significant at 0.01 or 1% respectively. The findings revealed that Fadama III project has been highly beneficial in the area of empowering the women farmers through access to credit, service disbursement, capacity building through training, access to farm input and access to market. The study also found out that 25% of the Fadama Women Farmers were highly food secured, 53% were marginally food secured, 19% were low food secured and 3% were relatively low food secured. These results showed the positive impact of the Fadama III project to the women farmers. Major problems encountered by the women farmers in the study area were labour shortage (93%), pest and disease infestation (92%) and poor access to market (32%). The study recommended that Community Driven Development Approach (CDD) of the Fadama III project should be encouraged amongst women farmers as it helps in empowering and building the capacity of the women farmers towards attaining food security.
Description
A THESIS SUBMITTED TO THE SCHOOL OF POSTGRADUATE STUDIES, AHMADU BELLO UNIVERSITY, ZARIA, IN PARTIAL FULFILMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE AWARD OF THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF SCIENCE (M.Sc) IN AGRICULTURAL EXTENSION AND RURAL SOCIOLOGY
DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURAL ECONOMICS AND RURAL SOCIOLOGY,
FACULTY OF AGRICULTURE,
AHMADU BELLO UNIVERSITY, ZARIA
Keywords
FADAMA III PROJECT, FADAMA WOMEN FARMERS, FOOD SECURITY, BENUE STATE