Assessing Rural Women Agro-Entrepreneurs' Access to Katsina State Support Interventions for Agro-Enterprise Development in Katsina State, Nigeria

The study examined the awareness, access, and effectiveness of support interventions among rural women agro-entrepreneurs in Katsina State. Using a descriptive survey design, data were collected from women agro-entrepreneurs across three districts: Katsina Central (KC), Katsina North (KN), and Katsina South (KS). Descriptive statistics, ANOVA, and multiple regression were used to data on socioeconomic characteristics, awareness, access and support interventions. Results revealed that 72.7% of the respondents were married with an average age of 35 years and 12.6 years of experience. Religious homogeneity in Islam (100%) and dominance of Quranic education (82.9%) prevailed. Average monthly income was ₦14,979, with district variations ranging from ₦13,256 in KN to ₦17,431 in KS. Enterprise involvement patterns showed concentration in poultry farming (63%) and small ruminant rearing (61%) always, while value-addition activities remained severely underutilized. Fish farming (99.5%) were not involved, while dairy processing (96.8%), and meat processing (98.1%) also showed minimal participation. While 69% demonstrated high awareness of available support interventions, 76.4% had low access to these programmes. Microfinance and credit interventions showed highest awareness (89.4%) but 89.4% never accessed. District level results revealed disparities, with KN and KS showing very high awareness rates (95.8% and 98.6% respectively) with only 16.7% high access each, while KC demonstrated better access (37.5%) despite lower awareness. Effectiveness assessment revealed 78.7% had low programme effectiveness. Technology adoption (87% ) was never effective) while business practice changes (87%), and market access improvements (83.8%) showed poor performance. KC outperformed other districts with 44.4% reporting high effectiveness compared to 13.9% in KN and 5.6% in KS. Policy implementation gaps (94.4%) and political factors (94.4%) were most serious constraints, followed by bureaucratic barriers (93.1%) and information gaps (81%). Multiple regression analysis revealed that awareness had a negative effect on access (-0.503, p<0.001), while information sources positively influenced access (0.44, p<0.05). Educational levels showed negative relationships with access, suggesting that structural barriers outweigh individual capacity factors. Significant differences between districts in awareness (F = 276.027, p < 0.001), effectiveness (F = 26.890, p < 0.001), and challenges (F = 30.095, p < 0.001) occurred. The study concludes that while Katsina State has established various support interventions for rural women agro-entrepreneurs, critical implementation gaps, bureaucratic barriers, and political factors severely limited actual access and effectiveness. The research recommends institutional strengthening, simplified access procedures, and targeted district-specific approaches to bridge the awareness-access gap and improve programme outcomes for rural women agro-entrepreneurs.