Women Empowerment in Agriculture: A Key to Food Security and Rural Poverty Alleviation in Abuja Municipal Area Council of Nigeria

Abstract

The study was conducted to examine various strategies of alleviating rural poverty through women empowerment in agriculture in Abuja Municipal Area Council of Federal Capital Territory, Nigeria. A survey method was used for the study and primary data were collected using structured questionnaire. Random sampling technique was used in selecting a sample size of 120 respondents from the 12 Wards of Abuja Municipal Area Council. Descriptive statistics and logit regression model were used in analyzing the data. The results of the descriptive statistics showed that majority (30%) of the women sampled were within the productivity ages of 36-45 years, literate (70%) with one or more forms of educational attainment. Majority (41.7%) of the women farmers acquired their agricultural land through leasehold with farm size ranging between 0.5 hectares to 3.5 hectares. The household size ranges from 2-21 persons with a mean household size of 11 persons. Majority (33.3%) are full- time farmers with annual farm income ranging between N10000-N250000. The study revealed that the various strategies women can be empowered in agriculture in the study area include provision of agro-inputs, Modern technology, access to resources, formation of rural co-operative group, provision of storage facilities and recruitment of more extension staff. The results of the logistic regression model showed that cost of food production (-1.528), modern technology (1.399), food storage facilities (1.211) and access to resources (1.574) were the major determinants constraints to women farmers ‘efforts in agriculture in the study area. The study concludes that women farmers in the study area are constrained since they lack access to potential services which could smooth their agricultural production activities and thus recommends that Government and developing practitioners should empower women through access to agricultural production resources such as land ownership rights and other strategies for active involvement in agriculture.