ABSTRACT
Nigerian agriculture is characterized by small holdings, resulting in most of its farming activities being carried out with the use of labour. This underscores the importance of labour an essential factor in farming. The study was designed to examine the gender use of labour among farmers in cocoa production activities in Ekiti State, Nigeria. Structured interview schedules were used to obtain primary data from 117 cocoa farmers. Descriptive statistics such as frequencies, percentages and means were used for the data analysis. The study revealed that the mean age for male was 54 years, and 52 years for female. Most (70.9%) of the female farmers had cocoa farms over 40 years old, while 31.6% of the males had farms in this category. Both male and female farmers had small cocoa farms of which 84% of the female had farm sizes of 1.0-1.9ha. The study revealed that males used self labour for most cocoa production activities, while females used sharecroppers. The use of hired labour was prominent for both genders in land preparation (52.3% for male and 29.0 % female). Males also had more use of family and communal labour than women in all the activities. The study concluded that males contributed more in physical labour activities. |
