Urban women participation in fish farming

SUMMARY

According to Hovork, Zeeuw and Njenga (2009) women make up the majority of urban food producers in many cities around the world, especially predominating in household subsistence farming. This is tied to the primary role of women in feeding their families. Women’s participation and influence in the aquaculture, the farming of aquatic organisms, is marginally formally recognized in most African nations as it has always been marred by culture, religion and political factors which are a major stumbling block in addressing gender inequality issues. This study was conducted to examine urban women participation in fish farm ing in Ijebu-Ode Metropolis, Ogun State, Nigeria. The specific objectives were describing the socioeconomic characteristics of urban women fish farmers, ascertain the level of urban women participation in fish farming activities examine the contribution of urban fish farming to the total household income, identify information sources used for fish farming; and ascertain the challenges encountered by women in urban fish farming. The average age of women involved in urban fish faming in the study area was 39 years with a higher proportion (66.7%) of them being married while 25% were single. The average household size was 5 persons with (61.7%) having a farming experience of 3-6 years. 50% of respondents had tertiary education as their highest 80 level of education. Results further showed that 53.3% of respondents earned less than ₦100,000 with an average monthly income per household of ₦124,074. Participation lev el of women in fish farming activities were als o examined. Results showed that women were mostly involved in postharvest activities of urban fish farming such as marketing of fish (x̄ = 3.42), Smoking activities (x̄ = 3.36), Drying of fish (x̄ = 3.31) and feeding (x̄ = 3.13). women contribution to household economy through participation in urban fish farming were through provision of three square meals a day (x̄ = 4.49), household were able to afford public transportation cost (x̄ = 4.48), payment of bills (x̄ = 4.45), payment of house rent (x̄ = 4.41) meeting clothing needs of household (x̄= 4.35), improvement in households nutrition and health (x̄ = 4.15) and sponsoring of children (x̄ = 415). The most used information sources by urban fish farmers were workshops/seminar, Farmers cooperatives and NGOs who provide extension services.