Gender analysis of cassava based technologies adoption among farmers in Ondo state, Nigeria

The study was conducted to assess the gender analysis of cassava based technologies among farmers in Ondo state Nigeria. The study specifically ascertained the socioeconomic characteristics of cassava farmers, examined the level of awareness of cassava based technologies by male and female farmers, determined the level of adoption of cassava based technologies by male and female farmers, determined the effects of male and female cassava adoption of technologies on the farm and identified the factors influencing the adoption of technologies by male and female cassava farmers. A multi-stage sampling procedure involving purposive random sampling technique was adopted to select 3 Local Government Areas, 2 communities and 12 male and female respondents each to give a sample size of 144 respondents. Primary data were collected through interview schedule using a well-structured questionnaire. Data were analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistical tools. The result of socio-economic characteristics of respondents revealed a mean age of 50.88 years, dominance of male farmers (63.2%), farming experience (22.70 years) land size cultivated (11.26 hectares), cassava output (27.76 tonnes) and annual farm earning (?2,721,333.33). The result of adoption level of cassava based technologies revealed higher awareness among male farmers compared to female farmers. The result of adoption level of cassava based technologies revealed higher adoption among female farmers compared to the male farmers. The analysis of the effect of male and female adoption of cassava based technologies on farm production revealed that a negative effect exists on security and conservation of resource base (p=0.037). The result of factor influencing adoption of cassava based technologies revealed that cultural barriers and lack of storage facilities were seen as major factors to female farmers but minor factors to male farmers. A positive significant relationship exist between adoption of cassava based technologies adoption and the size of land cultivated by the respondent (p=0.034). Furthermore, there is a significant difference between the male and female adoption of cassava based technologies [p=0,726] in the study area. It is recommended that agricultural research institutes take into consideration gender perspective, cultural barriers and regional peculiarities in designing agricultural technologies for farmers.