EFFECT OF ACCESS TO INFRASTRUCTURE ON PRODUCTIVITY AND EMPOWERMENT OF RURAL WOMEN FARMERS IN SOUTHWESTERN NIGERIA

Abstract

Ineffective time allocation, reduced productivity and unempowerment among women have been linked to limited access to infrastructure. Empirical evidence linking infrastructure, productivity and women empowerment is scanty. Therefore,effect of infrastructure access on productivity and empowerment of rural women farmers in Southwestern Nigeria was investigated. A four-stage sampling procedure was used. Ogun, Ondo, and Osun States were randomly selected from the six states in Southwestern Nigeria. Twelve Local Government Areas (LGAs) were selected from Osun, ten from Ogun and eight from Ondo. A total of thirty rural LGAs and sixty villages were randomly selected from sampled states proportionate to size. Ten women farmers were randomly selected from each village to give a total of 600 respondents, out of which 575 were used. Structured questionnaire was used to collect data on socio-economic characteristics (age, household size, marital status, educational status, farming experience, type of farming, and access to credit); infrastructure components (physical infrastructure - electricity, Motorable Road (MR), Potable Water (PW), telecommunication, Modern Storage (MS), Modern Market (MM); and social infrastructure - health and education). Others were value of farm inputs and output, and domains of empowerment in agriculture (production, resources, income, leadership and time allocation). Empowerment was measured using the women empowerment in agriculture domains and was categorised into empowered (1) and unempowered (0), while the level of access to infrastructure was classified into low (0.0-33.9), moderate (34.0-67.9) and high category (68.0-100.0)using composite score measure. Data were analysed using descriptive statistics, truncated regression, ordinary least squares regression, total factor productivity and instrumental variable regression at α0.05. Age and household size were 47.7±7.1 years and 5.5±1.6 persons, respectively. Most women (67.8%) were married and had primary education (67.1%). Most households were male headed (65.7%), with farming experience of 19.84±7.9 years among women farmers. Telecommunication (0.95) was the most accessed infrastructure, followed by electricity (0.93), MM (0.72), education (0.67), MR (0.66), health (0.58) and PW (0.35), while MS facility was the least (0.03). The infrastructure access index was 0.61±0.1. Most (84.0%) of the women had moderate access to infrastructure, while 7.5% of women had high access to infrastructure. Productivity was high among the women (0.81±0.3), but most women (74.7%) were unempowered. The time domain (36.7%) contributed most to unempowerment, while the income domain contributed the least (1.3%). Age square (β=0.001), divorce (β=0.046), farming experience (β=0.002), preference for animal husbandry (β=0.129), and access to credit (β=0.052) increased access to infrastructure, while age (β=-0.018) and household size (β=0.008) decreased it. Access to infrastructure (β=0.216), household size (β=0.012), farming experience (β=0.031), female household head (β=0.021) and crop farming (β=0.050) increased the productivity of women. Infrastructure access (β=1.436) and productivity (β=1.641) increased women empowerment while having a partner (β=-1.144) and wage employment (β=-0.950) decreased women empowerment.

Access to telecommunication was very high among the women. Access to infrastructure increased productivity and empowerment of rural women farmers in Southwestern Nigeria.