Russian Journal of Agricultural and Socio-Economic Sciences, 2013, №9 (21) Сентябр


Russian Journal of Agricultural and Socio-Economic Sciences, 9(21)





                STRATEGY OF DEVELOPING AGRICULTURAL AND OTHER SECTORS OF THE NIGERIAN ECONOMY




Kenneth Chebawaza Baba, Researcher
Economics Faculty, Russian State Agrarian University, Moscow, Russia Email: kenneth.baba@yahoo.com

ABSTRACT
Nigeria as a nation has made progress with economic reforms that are delivering strong economic fundamentals. The macroeconomic policies undertaken by the government to strengthened financial institutions is slow and uneven, is undertaking reforms to transform the economy structurally. The reform has been supported by revenue from high oil prices, has led to significantly improved macroeconomic outcomes, including weaker inflation and strong GDP growth. Real GDP growth rose from 7.0% in 2009 to an estimated 8.1% in 2010 and further rise in the future. Not considering the pro developments and improvement of the Nigerian economy, the economy is still confronted by many serious con challenges. Structural imbalance and lack of diversification, infrastructure, lack of strategic management and enforcement of policies, instability of power supply - with the economy excessively dependent on oil - is preventing the domestic economy from reaching its climax. High youth unemployment, poor infrastructure facilities and widespread insecurity are the key challenges the government will have to take on.

KEY WORDS
Agriculture; Economy; Oil sector strategy; Nigeria; Policy.

     Nigerian Agriculture like any economy system is in a dynamic relationship with the rest sectors of the economy. These relationships determine the course and direction of its development. The list of factors that have a significant impact on the overall situation in the agricultural and other sectors can be divided into internal and external. In turn, the internal factors can be divided into climatic, economic, industrial, administrative and institutional and socio-economic. Base on climatic factors, the most significant is the dependency of the country's agriculture on weather conditions, soil degradation, pests, etc.
     Economic and production factors are set of conditions that impact directly on the production process and have a purely economic nature that can strengthen or weaken the effectiveness of agricultural production. The most important for agricultural development in Nigeria is a credit and monetary policy, market and manufacturing infrastructure, interindustry linkages, illegal export, crop losses, low productivity, the level of application of scientific and technological progress, and others. Administrative and organizational factors, the most important are the institutional system of state regulation, strategy and national future development plans, organization of research, corruption, nepotism, and others. The most highlighted are political and bureaucratic stress factors that have a significant impact on the strategy of agricultural and others development.
     In the aspect of social factors - population growth, food insecurity, the problem of under-employment, out-migration to cities, the backwardness of agricultural structures, poverty, etc. In addition, the beneficiaries of government programs in Nigeria often do not recognize the means and effort because of the socio-cultural beliefs - faith, customs, stereotypes, etc. base on realization of external factors and its implementing its action within the country, Nigeria must play the most important role, first of all, the prices on the world market of oil and other raw materials, as well as agricultural inputs, agricultural products, raw materials and food. It also includes the external debt problem and the intervention of international financial institutions to restructure the national economy, mainly to increase its potential for debt repayment.
     Another reason for the crisis in the sectors of the Nigerian economy is directly related to some special situation, like some other African countries in the world capitalist economy. Unequal exchange, unequal trade and activities virtually block the economic development of


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the region. All of the above factors influences to a greater or lesser extent on the agricultural and other sectors in particular and the national economy as a whole.




                METHODOLOGY




      The information used for the study were collected from the official statistics of Nigeria, the international reference works, the publication of the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) in the U.S., Nigerian central bank annual report.
      The main objective of this research is study the Nigeria's agricultural development strategy, improve the methodology of its design and implementation mechanism, unstable market conditions and map out suggested strategies of improving the economy. Discussing the reform process is clearly necessary. Medium- to long-term prospects hinge on Nigeria's addressing key reforms successfully in order to advance infrastructure development and broaden the economic base through enhanced private-sector participation and attracting investors via improving Marketing infrastructures.




                RESULTS AND DISCUSSION




      Nigeria, Africa’s largest country with rich natural resources. Oil is the main export product of Nigeria, so any disasters on the world oil market is strongly reflected in the main macroeconomic indicators of the country. The economy of Nigeria, after the colonial period, and especially in the last 30 years, underwent quantitative and partly qualitative change. The most important of them could be a significant quantitative increase in the volume of foreign trade and government revenue. This period is characterized by an underestimation of the importance of agricultural development in various economic development strategies undertaken in the country.
      The task of structural analysis of the agricultural sector of Nigeria is to uncover assumptions and reserves to increase production and reduce the cost of production of the domestic agriculture and achieve harmonious development of the economy, i.e. properly structured national economy, adequately reflects and effectively using specific countryspecific factors of production.


Table 1 - GDP by sector (in percentage)

n/n................................I....2005.....I...2009

            Agriculture              32.8 37.2
        Mining and guarrying          39  29.8
Mining, manufacturing and utilities   -    -  
            Of which oil             38.9 29.6
           manufacturing             2.8  2.5 
     Electricity, Gas and water      0.2  0.3 
            Construction             1.5  1.3 
Transport, storage and communication  -    -  
 Finance, real estate and services   5.8  6.7 
     General government service       1    1  
           Other service             0.1  1.1 

Source: National Bureau of statistics. Figures for 2010 are estimates; for 2011 and later are projections.

        The Nigerian government economic policies should focus on addressing key infrastructural barriers as crucial factors in setting the stage for longer-term strategy of stabilizing growth in an effort to break the past 30 years of uncontrolled economy crises. Recently, the performance of the economy has responded positively to efficiency gains from economic reforms and, with the benefit of high oil prices, has generated strong growth. Nigerian economic has recorded the growth at 7.0% in the year 2009 and at an even stronger estimated 8.1% in 2010 in the aftermath of the global economic crisis underscored the resilience of the economy and reflected the prudence of economic policies. But the questions how long will the government rely or depend on the oil sector in other to strengthen

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the economy? Policies have been written on strategies of developing sectors of the economy but little has been achieve most especially in the agricultural sector. The policies written lack strategic management and enforcement, and that have led to underachievement of these sectors. There is need to check and re-strategize for better effectiveness of result.
      Government in 2009 uplifted the credit crunch by lowering interest rates. In addition, the government recapitalized struggling banks. These policies maintained the confidence of lenders and borrowers in the financial market and stimulated the economy. With the unfolding global economic recovery supporting high oil prices, Nigeria achieved and maintained slight growth in 2011, and expected stronger growth at the end of 2012 and even stronger growth by the end of 2013. Improved access to credit from the reformed banking sector and enhanced provision of domestic energy supplies are also expected to support continued improved performance of the non-oil sector. Real GDP growth is thus projected to remain robust at 6.9% in 2011 and at 6.7% in 2012. The problem still not elevated as small scale and subsistence farmers have little or no chance of benefiting from borrowing from banks as a result of collateral barriers and majority of them can neither read nor write. This is a paramount challenge that needs an urgent attention.
      The strong growth in output recorded in 2010 was supported by the expansion in oil production following relative peace in the Niger Delta region, but the key driver of growth remained the non-oil sector. Non-oil growth averaged 8.3% in 2010 and accounted for 84.8% of total GDP. The main growth drivers in the non-oil sector were telecommunications, general commerce, manufacturing, agriculture and services. The communications sector in Nigeria has boomed in the past five years, with growth averaging around 30% per annum, driven largely by the expansion of the Global System for Mobile (GSM). Large inflows of foreign direct investment (FDI) have played a crucial role. The stock of FDI in telecommunications increased more than 200%, from USD 7.5 billion in 2005 to more than USD 18 billion in 2010. The number of mobile-phone lines has increased from fewer than 19 million in 2005 to nearly 80 million in 2010, with teledensity reaching 54.2 lines per 100 inhabitants. The tremendous progress made in telecommunications has contributed to an overall improvement in the business climate, benefiting in particular the manufacturing sector, which, in 2010, grew by more than 6% even with shortage of electricity and paucity of credit limiting the potential of the sub-sector.
      Nigeria's agricultural sector has also performed remarkably well, with an estimated growth rate in 2010 exceeding 6.0%, reflecting the good weather conditions that boosted crop production. The government's effort to address protracted issues of inadequate credit and high interest rates in agricultural lending through the Commercial Agricultural Credit Scheme (CACS) has also benefited agricultural expansion: in 2009/10 the government made 200 billion Nigerian naira (NGN) available at low interest rates to farmers and other practitioners in the agricultural sector.
      In the oil sector, the previous five years had been characterized by declining output, due largely to militant activities and the accompanying disruption of oil-producing activities. Before militants began attacks and destruction of oil facilities in 2005, Nigeria had been producing about 2.5 million barrels per day (bpd). By 2008, output had been reduced by about 40% to 1.5 million barrels per day. Production appeared to stop declining in 2009, however, following the federal government's amnesty program, which brought relative peace to the Niger Delta area. By the end of 2009, petroleum production had increased to more than 2 million bpd, an output level that was maintained in 2010. Oil GDP, comprising crude petroleum and natural gas, grew by 3.9% in 2010. At the same time, oil production remained the dominant activity for export and government revenues. According to government records, in 2010 oil and gas accounted for about 96% of total export receipts and nearly 66% of total government revenues.
      In line with the high infusion of funds into the telecom and oil industries, total investment in the economy has remained high. In 2010, a 4.5% increase in the volume of investment represented about 1.7% of real GDP growth. The contribution of investment to GDP growth is expected to increase to about 2.5% in 2011, but to fall slightly to 2.3% in 2012 as investor confidence in the economy wanes in the wake of the political process. Indeed,

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Nigeria's prospects of enhancing investment contribution to growth will be better served if official policy, which establishes a series of incentives to attract foreign capital, is reconciled with what appears to be popular opposition to the presence of foreign investors in certain sectors of the economy. In 2009, for example, the overturn of several licences and contracts by the government, which it alleged had been improperly awarded by the previous government, dented the country's image amongst international investors.
       Nigeria as a country have been too dependent on petroleum sector and therefore the economy has become shaky whenever there is instability in the international market. Nigeria's external position is heavily influenced by developments in the international oil market. The country is a major exporter of crude oil and a major importer of petroleum products. Nigeria is the world's eighth largest exporter of crude oil but imports almost 90% of domestically consumed petroleum products.
       Total exports rose in 2010 as a result of higher oil prices and increased output. At the same time, a fall in infrastructure outlays brought about a decline in imports, leading to a sharp rise in the trade account. This improvement in the trade account was however offset by higher factor income and lower current transfers. According to the CBN, increased divestment, on the one hand, and repatriation of dividends, portfolio engagements and foreign-investment capital on the other, have exacerbated pressure on the current account. In addition, inward remittances plummeted as a consequence of the lingering effects of the global financial crisis. Accordingly, the current-account surplus was largely unchanged at 13.3% of GDP from 13.1% of GDP in 2009. The outlook on the current account is improvement as merchandise trade surpluses continue to outweigh deficits in services. The current-account surplus is projected to remain at an annual average of around 17.0% between 2011 and 2012.

     Table 2 - Current account (percentage of GDP)             
           n/n            2002  2007 2008  2009 2010 2011 2012
      Trade balance        3.2   23  22.7  17.5 22.4 23.7 22.5
Exports of poods (f.o.b.) 24.5  40.1 40.6  35.6 37.6 38.1 36.3
Imports of poods (f.o.b.) 21.2  17.2 17.9  18.1 15.3 14.4 13.7
        Services          -7.5  -7.9 -10.4 -9.2 -9.2 -7.8 -6.9
      Factor income       -10.8 -7.2  -6    -6   -8  -6.5 -6.3
    Current transfers      2.4  10.9 9.1   10.8 8.1  8.2  7.2 
 Current account balance  -12.7 18.7 15.4  13.1 13.3 17.6 16.6

Source: Data from domestic authorities; estimates (e) and projections (p) based on authors' calculations.
Figures for 2010 are estimates; for 2011 and later are projections.





                CONCLUSION




       The development of agriculture in the country at the present stage is not possible without addressing the coordination of institutional structures for the development and implementation of agricultural development programs of the country. Their role should be determined by the priorities of national development in the long term. Necessary to minimize the impact of political and other factors in the selection of subjects performance. Emphasis should be placed on team building through mentally sympathetic groups.
       Agro-industrial integration should be an integral part of the strategy of industrialization of the national economy, providing stable employment and higher income population of the country, as well as an increasing share of foreign exchange earnings from exports of agricultural products in processed form.
       The issue of instability of power has affected or rather discouraged a lot of foreign investors from the country, this is an area which need urgent attention in other to strengthen and boost the nation’s economy. Little or no strategic management have been mentioned in the previous policies, this is not astonishing as most of the government strategies have failed to yield result because of deficiency of strategic management lacking.


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Russian Journal of Agricultural and Socio-Economic Sciences, 9(21)

      Marketing facilities are absent and making it far difficult to achieve better result in the economy, also the medium of distribution of goods need to be checked in other to Improve efficiency of distribution of products.




                REFERENCES




1. Daouas M. Africa faces challenges of globalisation. Finance and Development. A quarterly journal of the IMF, December 2001, Volume 38, Number 4. IMF Washington DC 2001.
2. Abdullahi В. Agricultural cooperatives development in Nigeria. Federal Department of Agricultural cooperatives. Ibadan 2001.
3. Ajagu A. Oil Palm Agencies and Sustainable Development. Article in the Vanguard., 21st December 2000.
4. African Development Indicators 1998 - 2001. The World Bank, Washington DC.
5. Awudu, A., Barret, C., and P. Hazell, Food aid for market development in Sub-Saharan Africa discussion paper, IFPRI, Washington, April 2004.
6. De Janvry A., Sadoulet E. World Poverty and the Role of Agricultural Technology: Direct and Indirect effects, The Journal of Development Studies, vol 38(4), pp.1-26, 2002.


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Russian Journal of Agricultural and Socio-Economic Sciences, 9(21)

DETERMINANTS OF WOMEN INTEREST IN AGRICULTURE: EVIDENCE FROM SOKOTO STATE, NIGERIA

Jatto N.A.¹, Galadima Z.I.², Maikasuwa M.A.¹, Jabo M.S.M.¹, Ala A.L.¹, Researchers ¹Usmanu Danfodiyo University Sokoto, Sokoto, Nigeria ²Shehu Shagari College of Education, Sokoto, Nigeria
E-mail: nuayjao@yahoo.com

ABSTRACT
Absence of first hand information regarding women’s interest in agriculture is a major bottleneck to their level of participation which limit the opportunity to predict or formulate appropriate policy to boost their agricultural activities in Sokoto State. Towards this end, a study has been conducted within Sokoto metropolis to analyze the determinants of women interest in agriculture. The targeted populations for this study were women farmers group within Sokoto metropolis of Sokoto State. The data used in this study were primary data administered on a random sample of 60 women within the metropolis. Two local government areas were purposively selected because they form the largest population of Sokoto metropolis (Sokoto South and Sokoto North). Three districts were then randomly selected from each studied local government areas. In each of the districts, 10 women were randomly selected and interviewed. Data analyses were done with descriptive statistics, binary Logit regression and exponential regression. The result showed that variables such as years of education, experience in agricultural activities, family size, farm size, and participation in women group contributed significantly to women’s interest in agricultural production. Participation in women group had the highest influence on women’s interest in agricultural production. The result of the exponential regression showed that Age, years of education, group experience and farm size had regression coefficients that were positive, showing a direct relationship between participation of women in women groups and their interest in agriculture. It was recommended that: in order to improve on women interest in agriculture, more women group should be formed; they should equally be provided with farm inputs, increase their access to credits and be trained through workshops.

KEY WORDS
Women; Interest; Agriculture; Sokoto.

     When focusing on agriculture as an economic activity in Nigeria the role of women cannot be undervalued, as they account for about 49% of Nigeria population (NPC, 2007). Auta et al. (2000) suggested that women’s contribution to farm work is as high as between 60% to 90% of the total farm task performed. The contribution of women ranges from such tasks as land clearing, land tilling, planting, weeding, fertilizer application to harvesting, food processing,threshing ,milling and marketing as well as management of livestock (Damisa et al., 2007).With these, most tasks are supposedly meant for man but the benefits gained by them are not commensurate to the hours women spend on it. Many women believed that agricultural industry is still for men only, making them entrenched in a vicious cycle of poverty that placed them at less advantage vantage of income and resource empowerment (Damisa et al., 2007).
     The national research centre for women in agriculture (NRCWA) stated in their 20032004 report that women are faced with health hazards and about 50% comes from transplanting on farm activities, 50% in post harvest activities comes from threshing and 47% in livestock management comes from shed cleaning, these may be the part of reason while women’s participation in agriculture is impeded. Policy issues in the past failed to address the unpleasant and deploring condition under which women in the country contribute to agriculture. This perception arises because there is limited knowledge among the policy makers about the numerous contributions of women to agriculture especially in the area of food production in the country.


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Russian Journal of Agricultural and Socio-Economic Sciences, 9(21)

      Understanding women interest in agriculture may be difficult for the fact that they might be unwilling to participate in agricultural activities because of traditions or customs that restrict women from feeding the family (Jatto et al., 2013). This has resulted to inadequate information that is necessary to predict the level of women preference in agricultural activities as compared to other non agricultural businesses. In other to address women problems with respect to their participation in agriculture so that their level of interest in agriculture is properly understood; a study has been conducted to ascertain factors that determine the interest of women in agriculture.




                METHODOLGY




      The study was carried out in Sokoto metropolis, the capital of Sokoto state, Nigeria. The state is located in the extreme Northwest of Nigeria and shares a boundary with Niger republic to the north, Kebbi state to the west and Zamfara state to the south. It had an estimated population of about 4,244,399 people as of 2006 (NPC, 2007). It lies within the dry Savannah and isolated hills. The predominant occupation of the people in the area is Agriculture.
      The targeted populations for this study were women farmers group within Sokoto metropolis of Sokoto state. The data used in this study were primary data administered on a random sample of 60 women within the metropolis. Two local government areas were purposively selected because they form the largest population of Sokoto metropolis (Sokoto South and Sokoto North). Three districts were then randomly selected from each of the study local government areas. In each of the districts, 10 women were randomly selected and interviewed.
      A questionnaire was used to obtain information on variables such as farm size, age, and years of experience, income, participation in the group, years of education, credit, marital status, extension visit, household size. Analyses were done using descriptive statistics, binary Logit regression and exponential regression.
      Binary logit model specification:

        Y =    1
         ¹                               1       / z>
X X,,., j = 1 - 8 = F ( Z ) =--=---------; i = 1 - n                  1
/ ⁱj, j             ' i ’ 1 +1 z> I z> +1;       --------------------
Where, z = a ⁺ ^X1 ⁺ ^ Xi2 ⁺ • • • ⁺ ^8 Xi8 ⁺ U 2

F (.)= cumulative logistic distribution.

      Zi is an unobservable variable in the sense that X’¹ * * * s are generated from the field; e’sare not observable. In order to obtain the value of Zi the likelihood of observing the sample needs to be formed by introducing a dichotomous response variable Yi:
Y =/1 if .'^''0
i [ 0 otherwise


      1 = women interested in agricultural activities

      0 = women not interested in agricultural activities

      i = Number of women sampled
      j = 1-8 are the socio economic characteristic of women interested defined as:
      X1 = Farming experience (yrs)
      X2 = Education (yrs)
      X3 = Farm size (ha)
      X4 = Age (yrs)

      X5= Income (N)

      X6 = Extension visit (number of visits)

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Russian Journal of Agricultural and Socio-Economic Sciences, 9(21)

     X7 = Years participation in the group (years)
     X8 =Household size (numbers)
     в1- в8 = Logit coefficient
     а = Constant term.
      U = error term which will be assumed to be normally distributed with zero mean and constant variance.
      Marginal Probability Estimation. The marginal probability of factor determines the interest of women in agriculture and was estimated based on derived expression from the Logit models as:
d€=j «1 -«]------------------3

     Specified exponential regression equation:

ln y = a + b 1X1 + b 2 X 2 + b 3 X 3 + b 4 X 4 + b 5 X 5 + b 6 X 6 + b 7 X 7 4

      The exponential regression was taking as the lead equation based on the overall goodness of fit as judged by the value of R² , the significant of f-value, and appropriateness of the signs of regression the coefficients.
      Y= Participation in the group (years)
     X1=Farming experience (yrs)
     X2=Education (yrs)
     X3=Farm size (ha)
     X4=Age (yrs)
     X₅= Income (N)
     X6= extension visit (number)
      X7= Household size (numbers) b1- b7 = Regression coefficient ln=logarithm to base 10




                RESULT AND DISCUSSIONS




      Age: Age is one of the factors affecting decisions and actions made in agriculture, because people’s thoughts, behaviors and needs are primarily related to their ages (Simsek and Karkacur, 1996). Age may also influence an individual’s level of participation in agriculture and it could be that older women have access to information from developmental project works within their different groups (Damisa et al., 2007). The results showed that majority of the women were relatively young and are still in their active age. The implication is that younger people are likely to adopt new innovation faster than the older ones. This means that there is high potential for women farmers in the study area which is an assurance for increased food in the state if properly utilized.
      Family Size: The result showed that most of the women have family size range from 4 and above. Generally, an increase family size is likely to increase the chance of participation in agricultural activities (Nkamleu and Adesina, 2000). The implication is that they will spend more on feeding, education, health care and other living expenses on their dependants. These expenses may account for low savings at the end of every harvest season.
      Participation in Women Group: The results showed that majority of the women have been participating in women group for more than six years. The implication of this result is that most of the women will have access to different facilities from the group they belong to enhance their production and productivity in terms of sourcing for credit or other sundries. It also helps them share information and have a common stand on issues affecting their dayto-day farming activities.


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Russian Journal of Agricultural and Socio-Economic Sciences, 9(21)

Table 1 - Socio-economic and institutional variables

          Variables            Freguency percentage
         Age (years)                               
            26-40                 35        58.4   
           41 Above               25        41.6   
            Total                 60        100    
    Family size (numbers)                          
             2-3                  20        33.3   
           4 Above                40        66.7   
            Total                 60        100    
Participation in group (years)                     
             1-5                  24         40    
           6 Above                36         60    

Total                              :           60             :            100

Source: Field survey, 2013.

Table 2 - Maximum likelihood estimate of women in agriculture’s level of interest as related to their socio-economic characteristic in Sokoto metropolis

                         n/n                           i      Coefficient Std. Error     Z    p-value  
                       Constant                        i       10.3433      7.12417   1.4519  0.14654  
..........................Age......................... i     -0.337979     0.236475   -1.4292 0.15294  
                  Years of education                   i      -0.515381    0.296263   -1.7396 0.08193 *
                      Experience                       i        -1.333     0.642829   -2.0737 0.03811  
                     Family size                       i      -1.09637      0.47838   -2.2918 0.02192  
                      Farm size                        ■     0.0541193     0.0241646  2.2396  0.02512  
                Participation in group                 i      2.38963       1.0045    2.3789  0.01736  
                        Credit                         i 1.91721e-06      1.85617e-06 1.0329  0.30166  
                        Income                         i 0.00152139       0.00244992  0.6210  0.53460  
Source: Field survey 2013; *=10%,                      **=5%.                                          

       The result indicated that years of education, experience, family size, farm size and participation in group are the factors that influenced women’s interest in Sokoto metropolis in agriculture. Though, years of education, experience and family size have negative coefficients, farm size and participation in group which had positive coefficients. Considering the negative coefficient of years of education it implies that for every additional increase in education acquired it reduces the interest of women to participate in agricultural activities by 0.51538. An increase in years of experience gained it is likely to reduce the interest of women in agricultural activities by 1.333. While an increase in number of family size might reduces women’s interest in agricultural activities by 1.0963. This may be due to the fact that when a woman advances in education she gains more experience on ways to reduce her exposure to hazards and instead pay more attention to her children.
       While for every one unit increase in number of farm size it increases the likelihood of women’s interest in agricultural activities. The implication of this is that increase in farm size is expected to increase the income of the women and participation in group association may increase their income which may increase their interest in participating in agricultural activities.


Table 3 - Predicted marginal Probability

Variables Constant Years of education Experience Family size Farm size Participation in group

Marginal probability ....0.8602............ ....-0.0215899........ ....-0.0862529........ ....-0 6746976........ ....0.00214795........ ....0.139513..........

Source: Field survey, 2013.


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Russian Journal of Agricultural and Socio-Economic Sciences, 9(21)

       The result showed that years of education, experience and family size may not necessary be a factor contributing to women’s interest in agricultural activities. Participation in group associations has the highest extent of influence to which a unit change increases the probability of the women’s interest in agricultural activities. The implication of this is that it may create more opportunity for women to have access to different facilities that may enhance their interest and continuity in agricultural activities. Sometimes the more they tend to participate in the group they belong they tend to have access to credit which may lead to increased farm size, with a tendency to increased income (Jatto et al., 2013).

Table 4 - Effect of participating in women groups on their socio economic characteristics    
    Variables              (3 value               Standard error              f-value       
     constant               -0.983                    0.531                   -1.852*       
       Age                   0.42                      0.11                  3.840***       
Years of education          0.070                     0.029                   2.363**       
 Group experience           0.069                     0.020                  3.431***       
    Farm size               0.000                     0.000                  -3.658***      
   Family size              -0.042                    0.052                  -0.807""       
      Credit              0.00000004                  0.000                   0.980Na       
      Income               0.000011                   0.000                   0.053Na       
     R square               59.8%                  Adjusted R2                 53.4%        
Source: Field survey, 2013;***=1%; **=5%;*=10%.                                              

      The coefficient of determination R² was 59.8%. This implies that the independent variables explain at least 59.8% of the variability in determining the effect of women participation in women groups. Age, years of education, group experience and farm size have regression coefficients that are positive, showing a direct relationship with participation of women in agriculture. This implies that increase in a unit will increase their participation by their respective в units. The results showed that, the age of the women, group experience and farm size are significant at 1% while years of education is significant at 5%. This supports the finding of Henri-Ukoha et al (2011).




                CONCLUSIONS




      It can be deduced from the study that despite gender inequalities, women still have interest in agricultural activities. The variables such as years of education, experience in agricultural activities, family size, farm size, and participation in women group contributed significantly to women’s interest in agricultural production. Participation in women group had the highest influence on women’s interest in agricultural production. The exponential regression showed that increase in age, years of education, group experience and farm size increase participation of women in agriculture. It was recommended that: in order to improve on women interest in agriculture, more women group should be formed; they should equally be provided with farm inputs, increase their access to credits and be trained through workshops.




                REFERENCES





[1]   Damisa, M.A., R. Samadi and M. Yohanna (2007).women participation in agricultural production: A probit analysis. Journal of applied sciences, 7: 412-416.
[2]   Henri-Ukoha A., Orebiyi J. S., Obasi P. C., Oguoma N. N., Ohajianya D. O., Ibekwe U. C. and Ukoha I. I. (2011).Determinants of loan acquisition from the financial institutions by small-scale farmers in Ohafia Agricultural zone of Abia State, South East Nigeria; Journal of Development and Agricultural Economics: 3(2) 69-74,
[3]   Jatto, N. A., U. I. Gunu and A. Alkali (2013).Determining Women Interest in Poultry egg Farming in Ilorin, Kwara State, International Journal of Current Research 5(02): 065067


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