COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF WOMEN PARTICIPATION IN SMALL RUMINANTS PRODUCTION IN NORTHERN AGRICULTURAL ZONE OF PLATEAU STATE, NIGERIA

Abstract

The study assessed women participation in small Ruminants production in Northern Agricultural zone of Plateau State. Multi-stage sampling technique was used in selecting 198 respondents, Data were collected using structured questionnaire and analysed using both descriptive and inferential statistics. The results of chi-square analysis revealed that 49.1% of respondents raised both Goat and Sheep in Jos north while comparison of Jos north and Jos south shows a systematic association with a χ2 of 6.4287 at less than 10% probability level. The result also revealed that 46.5% of the respondents reared small ruminants’ animals for house consumption, while about 33.8% of the respondents reared goats for sales and 15.2% reared for gift. Furthermore, the result revealed that most (94.4%) of the respondents were involved regularly in cleaning and grooming of animals. These activities had mean score of 0.94 and ranked number 1^st. Similarly, providing feed and water to the animals had 91.9% with mean score of 0.92 and was ranked 2^nd, preparation of concentrate feeds had 90.4% with mean score of 0.90 and ranked 3^rd. The major constraints faced by the respondents in livestock production participation were, communal conflict (97.0%), inadequate fund (96.5%), cultural barriers (91.4%), religious barrier (88.4%), high cost of inputs (87.8%) and inadequate extension services (86.9%) among others. It was concluded that in the study area, no discriminatory provisions preventing women’s participation in small ruminants’ production were in place. However, their participation is limited by pressure from household heads in the study area. Based on the finding, it is recommended that, government should organize women through cooperatives societies to develop ways to encourage women's participation in agriculture. This will increase the women's accessibility to productive resources, credits, ideas, and innovations. Also, education and awareness should be given to the women to address the issues related to cultural barriers and religious belief and credit facilities and grants by government/NGOs, in order to boost the production of livestock and living standard of the women farmers in the study area.