Gender and Net Farm Income of Cassava Farmers under Individual Land Tenure System in Abia State

Abstract

The study on gender and net farm income of cassava-based farmers under individual land tenure system was done in Abia State of Nigeria. The main objective was to determine the Net Farm Income (NFI) and the Benefit Cost Ratio (BCR) of the cassava farmers by gender vis-aviz their income levels as well as food security in the state. A multi-stage random sampling technique was adopted while data were adopted through the use of structured questionnaire along with interview schedule. Secondary data were collected from relevant journals, internet and current literature on the study. Descriptive statistics, gross margin as well as net return analytical techniques were tools employed for analysing the field data. Results showed that, the mean farm size of the male headed farming households was 1.22ha while that of their female headed counterparts was 1ha. While only 29 members of the female headed households obtained their farmlands through inheritance, 94 of their male counterparts got their own from the same source. The Net Farm Income (NFI) results showed that the female headed households had a mean of ₦124,171 that of the male was ₦184,815 with Benefit-Cost-Ratio (BCR) of ₦1.77 and ₦1.90 respectively. Furthermore, the result also indicate that, women in this area are limited in their access to productive farm resources such as land, credit as well as modern farm implements among others etc. It is therefore recommended that, there is a need for the farmers in this area to have more access to farm productive inputs to enable them increase the scale of their farm operation thus increasing their farm profit as already shown by their BCR and hence, enhancing their farm income as well as achieving food security objective in the long run. [A, Henri-Ukoha et al. Gender and Net Farm Income of Cassava Farmers under Individual Land Tenure System in Abia State.. International Journal of Agricultural Science, Research and Technology, 2011; 1(2):47-54].