Gender analysis of rice production in Obafemi Owode local government area of Ogun State, Nigeria

There is limited information on gender roles and responsibilities in the production of Ofada, a local rice variety in Ogun State Nigeria. Therefore, a gender assessment study was conducted onOfada rice production in OgunState. A total of 80 and 40 male and female Ofada rice farmers were selected respectively. The result showed that 32.5% of male rice farmers were aged 51-60 years while 37.5% of female were aged 31-40 years. The mean age for male and female Ofada rice farmers were 46±13 and 41±12, respectively. Men were more involved in tedious operations, which include land clearing, tree felling, stumping and weeding, as females were more involved in less tedious activities. The level of involvement in Ofada rice production activities was low among more than half of both male (61.2%) and female (51.7%) Ofada rice farmers in the study LGA.Pest attack (42.5%) and inadequate funding (38.8%) were rated verysevere constraints to production of Ofada rice.No significant difference existed between male and female Ofada rice farmers in terms of level of involvement in Ofada rice production (t = 0.471; P > 0.05). For ease of access to credit facilities, farmers should form themselves into associations and cooperative groups through which members may have access to loans. This will help them prosecute their important farming operations and thereby expand their production enterprise.