Constraints to Commercial Agricultural Production by Women in Agriculture in Benue and Nasarawa States, Nigeria

The study was on constraints to Commercial Agricultural Production by Women in Agriculture in Benue and Nasarawa States, Nigeria. Specific objectives were to identify cultural and socio-economic constraints to commercial agricultural production by women in these states. The study adopted survey research design. Two research questions and two hypotheses guided the study. The population for the study was 6,742 registered women in Benue and Nasarawa States. The sample was 361 registered women. 208 and 153 women across selected wards in Benue and Nasarawa States respectively. Data was collected using a self-structured instrument titled Commercial Agricultural Production by Women Questionnaire (CCAPWQ). Three exerts, one from department of Agricultural Extension and Rural Sociology, one from Test and Measurement and one from Agricultural Education, all from Joseph Sarwuan Tarka University Validated the Instrument. Cronbach alpha method was used to determine the internal consistency of the instrument and a reliability of 0.76 was established. Data was collected and analyzed using mean and standard deviation for research questions while hypotheses were tested using t-test at 0.05 level of significance. The result revealed that all the items on cultural constraints such as belief system, religion, values impeded commercial agricultural production. The result again showed that socio-economic constraints such as education, non-availability of infrastructural facilities among others affected commercial agricultural production by women. Based on the findings, it was recommended that cultural aspects constraining commercial agricultural production be relegated to the background. Again, infrastructural facilities such as schools, portable water, good roads among others be provided in the rural areas to enhance production and good health and agricultural policies formulated by the government should give due recognition to women for ease of production.