The Nexus Between Farm Productivity, Financing, and Gender Equality: Evidence from Rural Arable Crop Farmers in South-South Nigeria

ABSTRACT: One of the most essential and crucial considerations in the world today is how to afford adequate food for the over seven billion people in the globe. This paper examined the nexus between farm productivity, financing, and gender equality: evidence from rural arable crop farmers in South-South Nigeria. A multi-stage random sampling procedure was employed to select 284 respondents for the study. Primary data was analyzed using descriptive statistics such as frequency, percentage, and mean, as well as econometric models such as z-test and multiple regression. From the results, farmers in the formal credit sector enjoyed a substantially greater levels of farm productivity (with mean productivity level of 6.85) compared to their counterparts who depended on the informal credit sector for farm financing (with mean productivity level of 5.34). In the same vein, the mean level of productivity of male headed farmers and female headed farmers were 8.474 and 5.15 for formal financing category; and 6.377 and 4.972 for farmer categories who only access finance through the unregulated informal sector, implying that the male headed farmers were more productive than their female folks. Factors such as land area, labour, fertilizer-use, age and marital status were found to have significant effects on crop productivity in the study area. For farmers to become more resilient and viable, it is strongly recommended that government and all stakeholders make necessary financial investments to support farmers to obtain greater access to funding opportunities. Also, it is fundamental to ensure that farmers are not discriminated on gender basis when applying for loans and credit facilities.