Examination of Gender Specific Roles in Sustainable Land Use, Water Management and Agricultural Productivity in Southern Kebbi State (Published)
This study examined gender specific roles for men and women in sustainable land use, water management and agricultural productivity in southern kebbi, Nigeria. The specific objectives were to: describe the socio-economic characteristic of men and women in sustainable land use, water management and agricultural productivity; assess the role of men and women in agro-inputs business; and identify the constraints to sustainable land use, water management and agricultural productivity in the area. Data for the research were obtained from forty eight (48) respondents who were actively involved in land use, water management and agricultural productivity. This included 24 were men and 24 women which were purposively selected for the study. The result revealed that the majority (62.5%) of men and women who were actively involved in sustainable land use water management and agricultural productivity had senior secondary school education. Also, majority (81.3%) of land resources were owed by men. Self-generated income was found to be the major source of fund for sustainable land use, water management and agricultural productivity for both men and women. The types of operations carried out by the male farmers were grouped into three; such as pre-planting operations such as land clearing bush burning, tillage (rigging, harrowing etc), planting operations such as sowing, weeding, fertilizing, etc and post planting operations such as harvesting, threshing, packaging, loading/off-loading and driving, while winnowing, processing, marketing, sales and records keeping were mostly done by women (53%). Major challenges to sustainable land use, water management and agricultural productivity were high taxation (45.1%) and difficulties in sourcing foreign exchange (21.9%). It is concluded that sustainable land use and water management led to improved agricultural productivity in the study area. Agricultural policies aimed at encouraging more men and women participation in land use, water management and agricultural productivity and low taxation were recommended by the research as ways of addressing the challenges affecting men and women in the execution of their specific roles in sustainable land use, water management and agricultural productivity.
Keywords: Gender, specific roles, sustainable land use, water management and agricultural productivity.