Effects of Participation of Women Rice Farmers in the Anchor Borrowers’ Programme on Rice Production in Ekiti and Ogun States

The study examined the effects of the participation of women rice farmers in the Anchor Borrowers’ Programme (ABP) on rice production in Ekiti and Ogun States. A multistage sampling procedure was used to select 143 respondents. Data were collected using a questionnaire and interview schedule to obtain the enterprise characteristics, and level of rice production of women rice farmers while percentage, mean, Chi-square and Pearson Product Moment Correlation (α=0.05) were used to analyse the data. Average farm size, years of experience and rice yield were 2.2±1.3 acres, 17.4±6.8 years and 1.73±0.23 tons, respectively. Unfavourable attitude (61.5%) towards ABP due to inadequate credit facilities ( ¯x=1.89), delay in input supply ( ¯x=1.89) and other rice production incentives ( ¯x=1.66) explained the low level of women participation (55.2%) in ABP. The production efficiency of respondents decreased from 0.69 to 0.37, likewise, the profitability index from 40.0% to 36.8% after participation in ABP. Women rice farmers’ participation in ABP did not affect the level of rice production in the study area. Increasing loan access and other production incentives by the Government and stakeholders in subsequent agricultural intervention programmes will improve women's participation and rice production.