Gender Analysis of Cassava Farmers’ Climate Change Awareness ... 89Gender-Based Cropping System Characteristics of Cassava
Farmers in the Study Area
Table 2 shows the distribution of the respondents in the study area by their
cropping system characteristics otherwise called cultural practices. The
distribution revealed that while more than half of the male cassava famers had
been in cassava cultivation for more than 20 years, only less than a tenth of the
female farmers had cultivated cassava for more than the same number of
years. It is succinct therefore to say, that male cassava farmers had more
experience in cassava cultivation than their female counterparts. Similarly,
male cassava farmers had more hectares of cassava farmlands than female
cassava farmers with about 30% of the male farmers cultivating more than five
(5) hectares. Only about 15% of the female farmers had more than five (5)
hectares of cassava farmlands. This indicates that male farmers produced more
cassava than their fellow female farmers. The reason is not far-fetched, since
cassava cultivation is a pain-staking activity which often require strength and
stamina. For both male and female farmers however, the use of both family
and hired labour remained very popular. Ajayi (2015) had observed that, it is
more cost-effective and labour-efficient to use both family and hired labour.
However, male farmers used more family labour than female farmers while the
female farmers hired more labour. Female farmers also engaged more in
mixed cropping of cassava with other crops particularly vegetable and maize
in the early planting period of cassava. Meanwhile, male farmers used more of
manual weed control than chemical weed control while female farmers used
more of chemical weed control. The more proportion of female farmers using
chemical control of weed was traceable to labour cost minimisation as that
would be expended on manual labour. Extension services and technical advice
were mostly from Agricultural Development Project (ADP) and the
development agencies and research institutes for male farmers. Ajayi (2015)
had observed that, the development agencies and research institutes working
or accessible to cassava farmers in the Niger Delta region of Nigeria included
the World Bank, Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation through the Cassava:
Adding Value for Africa (C: AVA) project, the International Institute for
Tropical Agriculture (IITA) and National Root Crops Research Institute
(NRCRI). On the contrarily, female farmers enjoyed extension services and
technical advice more from farmers associations and fellow farmers.