Gender Based Differences in the Productivity of Grain Legume Farmers in Benue State, Nigeria

The study was carried out to assess the differences in the productivity of grain legume farmers, based on gender in Benue State, Nigeria. A Sample size of 220 grain legume farmers comprising 110 male and 110 females was used. Data were collected with the use of a well structured questionnaire. The collected data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, such as frequency, percentage and mean, as well as inferential statistics, such as t-test and total factor productivity. The results revealed that the mean age of female respondents was 38 years while that of male was 40 years. A larger proportion of the male and female respondents were married (82.7%, and 71.8%-, respectively).The result showed a mean household size of 7 persons for females and 8 persons for males. Also the average annual income was ₦218,309 for females and ₦258,285 for male grain legume farmers. Farming was seen as their major occupation with an average farming experience of 9 years for the females and 10 years for the males. An average farm size of 2.8 hectares for female respondents and 3.4 hectares for the males exists in the study area. Furthermore, result on productivity showed that the mean yield/ha of male respondents was higher (780.28) than the yield of female (696.85) respondents. The t-test result revealed that there was a significant difference in the yield of male and female grain legume farmers (t=1.968, P=0.050), and there was also a significant difference in the productivity of male and female farmers (t=1.648, P=0.041). The study therefore recommends that female farmers should be encouraged to acquire higher education and also female grain legume farmers should be given equal rights as regards productive factors like land.