Rural women’s farmers access to productive resources: the moderating effect of culture among Nupe and Yoruba in Nigeria

Abstract

Background: This paper analyzes ownership and control of productive resources by gender as determined by culture. This is premised on the fact that past researchers have isolated gender and productive resources on one hand and gender and culture on the other. In this paper, the novelty is the exploration of the interplay among culture, gender and productive resources. Using a descriptive quantitative research design, a simple random sampling was used to select 100 households from a sampling frame of 200 households generated through house listing in three villages from Patigi Local Government Area of Kwara State. Data were collected with a structured questionnaire covering ownership, and decision making on selected productive resources and analyzed using Frequency counts, percentages and Chi-square test statistics based on the fact that the variables are categorical. Gender and ownership as well as decision making were cross-tabulated and then layered with culture as a third variable. Results:The results were disaggregated along Nupe and Yoruba culture as well as along gender lines for the selected productive resources covered in this paper. Men predominate in ownership of productive resources among Yoruba than Nupe culture. Women from Nupe culture had higher distribution of ownership in the productive resources than men particularly land, small livestock and non-mechanized farm equipment. The results further show higher proportion of ownership of productive resources among men in Yoruba culture. Women in Nupe culture had greater proportion of ownership of productive resources than Yoruba women. Males make decision to sell all productive resources except small livestock and also make decision in almost all the farming activities listed except when and who will take crop to the market in both Nupe and Yoruba cultures. Conclusion:Culture has a stronger influence on women's access and control of productive resources than the mere biological differentiation of gender into male and female. There is a strong cultural influence among Nupe and Yoruba women as a result of the interplay of gender, ownership and decision making and culture on selected productive resources.

The influence of internationalisation of labour on the performance of small-scale rural-based agricultural firms: A South African perspective

“…The study by Ajadi et al (2015) affirms such gender disparities by demonstrating how the interplay of gender, ownership and decision-making including culture exert a significant influence on women's access and control of productive resources among the Nupe and Yoruba women in Nigeria.…”

Cooperation in Polygynous Households

“…2 Their geographical proximity to the Yoruba, the second largest ethnic group in Nigeria, has led to many cross-cultural influences. Living arrangements among Nupe and Yoruba people in northern Kwara state are comparable, based on patrilineal and patrilocal family structures in which polygyny is common (Ajadi et al 2015).…”

“…The number of wives a man has is an indicator of wealth and status (Nadel 1942). Both deuterogamy (i.e., marrying the wife of a deceased brother) (Ajadi et al 2015) and divorce are common in Nupe culture (Katcha 1978).…”

“…Thirty percent of married women work as farmers or farm laborers, while 60 percent are traders. Despite similarities between Yoruba and Nupe (see also Oni 1996), rural Nupe women have somewhat greater agency over productive resources compared to their Yoruba neighbors (Ajadi et al 2015). Decision-making power is tilted toward Nupe men in what types of crops to grow, which agricultural inputs to purchase, and whether to sell land and large livestock, and toward Nupe women in the sale of smaller animals (goats, chicken) and when to take crops to the market.…”

Building a Resilient and Sustainable Agriculture in Sub-Saharan Africa, edited by Abebe Shimeles, Audrey Verdier-Chouchane and Amadou Boly, Cham, Switzerland, Palgrave Macmillan, 2018, 1-302 pp., € 22.12 (Paperback), ISBN 978-3-319-76221-0

“…In addition, even when women own the land, they tend to have limited access to financing, quality inputs, extension services and knowledge of agricultural practices. Ajadi et al (2015), Soyemi (2014), Adeyemo et al (2015), and Koyenikan and Ikharea (2014) found that women had less access to agricultural resources and information on agricultural technologies. Beuchelt and Badstue (2013) in a study emphasized that the reduction of gender disparities and the empowerment of women leads to better food and nutrition security for households and significantly strengthens other development outcomes such as child education.…”