Women in Agricultural Production in Adamawa State of Nigeria: an Assessment of the Performance of Women in Agricultural Production Using Regression Analysis

It is estimated that women produce more than 50% of food production world wide. In Nigeria however, the estimate is that women produce about 80% of food production. There has been an increase in female-headed households along with female-headed farms due to a variety of factors. Wives are left with the responsibility of farm management, family care and household maintenance. Women's performance in agriculture is however poor as a result of unequal privileges and opportunities availed them in contrast to their male counterparts. Theses privileges and opportunities are in the areas of credit facilities, access to land, access to education, labour saving technology and extension services. Others are neglect and absence of support from their spouses and families. Data generated from questionnaires were analyzed using frequency, percentage and regression analysis. It was discovered that age of respondents, farming experience, costs of fertilizer and herbicide were statistically significant at 1% level with respect to the farmers' output values. Access to credit and labour were major problems limiting the agricultural productivity of 77.5% and 70% of the farmers respectively.