The Influence of Household Decision Making on Vegetable Farming among Rural Women in Kwara State.

The role of women in agricultural production in Nigeria can never be underestimated. Male dominance in decision making in the household and economy as well as agricultural production has continued even in areas where women are the key providers. The study was carried out to analyze the influence of household decision making on vegetable farming among rural women in Kwara state, Nigeria. One hundred and twenty women vegetable farmers were randomly selected from four local government areas in twelve villages across two Agricultural Development Programme Zones in Kwara state. The primary data were collected with the use of structured questionnaire through interview schedule. Both descriptive and inferential statistics were used to analyze the data. The results showed that only few (9.17%) of the women have control over land. Interestingly, unlike land, a large number (71.67%) of the women have access and control over farm inputs such as fertilizer, insecticides etc. Unfortunately, none of the women have access to credit and only 38% of the women have access to extension information. Conclusively, women have limited individual influence on household decision making. However, they have a high level of participation in joint decision making with their husbands and children. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]