Determinants of Women Involvement in Agro Processing in Owerri Agricultural Zone of Imo State: Implication for Food Security

The study assessed determinants of women’s involvement in agro-processing in Owerri agricultural zone of Imo State. The objectives are: to examine the socio-economic characteristics of the women farmers involved in agro-processing, determine the extent of women’s involvement in agro-processing, and ascertain the reasons for their involvement in agro-processing and the constraints to agro-processing activities. Multi–stage random sampling procedure was used to select 90 rural women farmers for the study. Structured interview schedules through the use of in-depth interviews and focus group discussions were used to collect data. Of all the variables tested: age (2.451***), income (14.237***), marital status (3.259***), farming experience (5.976***), farm size (2.951***) and information sources (1.629*) had a positive relationship with involvement in agro-processing activities. All the respondents admitted that their involvement in agro-processing activities has increased their financial contributions to their families. The major constraints to women’s involvement in agro-processing include inadequate capital, high cost of manual labour and low level of infrastructure (100%), low access to cooperative benefits (77.8%), inadequate processing equipment (67.7%) and poor access to training programs (44.4%). The significance of the regression (F ratio =22.835***) shows that women’s involvement in agro-processing activities is affected by their socioeconomic characteristics. It is strongly recommended that concerted actions should be taken by the government and agricultural institutions to make women-centric policies in the areas of fund availability, availability of infrastructure and extension services.