Assessment of Constraints to Participation of Rural Women in Technology Dissemination of Women in Agriculture Program in Imo State, Nigeria

Abstract

The survey was conducted to identify constraints to participation of rural women in technology dissemination of Women in Agriculture Program (WIA) in Imo State, Nigeria. Questionnaire was used to collect data from a sample of 60 respondents. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics such as frequency, percentage and mean score. Results showed that 33.0% of the respondents were aged between 41 and 50 years, majority (75.0%) were married, 88.0% had formal education and 55.3% engaged in farming and trading, while 56.6% had a household size of 6-10 persons. The respondents participated in the activities like processing and utilization of food crops (16.7%), harvesting and storage of food crops (16.7%), dry season vegetable production (13.3%), processing and utilization of livestock products (10.0%), processing and utilization of soya bean into soya milk and soya meal (6.7%). The study recommended that rural women should be encouraged to join co-operative societies in order to pull their resources together. It also highlighted the need for promotion of rural women’s activities through adequate provision of credit facilities by government at all levels for optimum productivity.