Gender Analysis of Sweet Potato Production in Osun State, Nigeria

Aims: The research investigated the determinants of gender differentials in the output of male and female sweet potato farmers in the study area. Specifically, the study examined the socio economic characteristics of the sweet potato farmers, gender levels of potato production, the efficiency estimates of the farmers and factors that determine gender outputs in the study area.
Study Design: Cross-sectional study.
Place and Duration of Study: Osun State Agricultural Development Programmes (OSADEP) between April 2010 and September, 2011.
Methodology: The sampling frame for this study is the sweet potato farmers in Osun State, Nigeria. The sample of 16 respondents were randomly selected from five (5) Osun State Agricultural Development Programme (ADP) zones giving a sample size of 80.Primary data were collected with the use of structured questionnaireand personal interviews. The data collected were analysed using descriptive statistics and Cobb-Douglas production function.
Results: The result suggests that Land clearing, preparation and ridging were found to be done by 90%, 87.5% and 93.8% of the male and 12.5%, 35.0% and 10.0% of the females, respectively. The analysis of the mean output in kg per hectare of the male and female sweet potato farmers shows the difference in the mean output. The efficiency distribution shows that male operate at the efficiency range lower than that of the females. The study reveals that women are more interested and committed to sweet potato farming. Farm size, quantity of input, depreciation, age, education, farming experience and care economy were found to affect output of all the respondents.
Conclusion: It is therefore pertinent that policy makers should pay attention to the female sweet potato farmers as they are found to be more productive, since it was revealed that the female produced more output than their male counterparts. This implies that the female took sweet potato farming more seriously and did not play a supportive or complimentary role to their male counterparts.