Gender Differences in Market Participation Among Small Holder Sweet Potato Farmers in South East, Nigeria

The study analyzed gender differences in market participation among small holder sweetpotato farmers in South East Nigeria.A stratified random sampling was used to select 360 respondents (180 male and 180 female) for the studyin 2016.Market participation Index (MPI) and logit model wereused to estimate the level of participation and decision to participate in the sweetpotato market by gender respectively.The results showed that the females farmers tend to participate more in the market more than their male counterparts. The coefficients for age and distance from farm to market were negative, education and market orientation were positive and significantly related with decision to participate in the market for both male and female farmers.The coefficient for household size was positive and transportation cost negative and significant at 5% and 1% level respectively for the male farmers, while area of sweetpotato cultivated and marketing experience were positive and significant for the female farmers at 10% and 5% respectively. The coefficient for gender had a negative sign indicating that female farmers are more likely to participate in the sweetpotato market compared to the male farmers. The results call for policies aimed at investment in rural education, access to land (especially to female farmers) and provision of enabling environment through continuous rural training and provision of incentives like credit and inputs to encourage and attract young male and female farmers to remain in sweetpotato production.