Abstract

The economic position of women in agriculture and rural development has been a major concern within the rural communities. Rural women play a significant role in the domestic and socio-economic life of the society such that national development is impossible without developing this important and substantial segment of our society. This study was conducted to examine the economic position of women in agriculture and rural development, the case of the young ladies common initiative group in Tombel.

To attain the objective of the study, data was gotten from primary and secondary sources. Primary data was gotten from a direct interviews of informants, while secondary data involved extensive use of literature review, internet sources, and libraries.

Findings from the study revealed that women’s role within the subsistence economy of Tombel was growing more unsecured though they had critical roles to play in the community. It was equally found that women work on farms and equally manage complex household activities at the same time; they equally had limited access to training and tools. From the findings, it was recommended that women should be included in formulating agricultural policies, the government should provide avenues to strengthen women’s capacity in agriculture, and equally provide access for women to acquire fertilizers, loans, and tools.

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

1.1 Background to the Study

According to Goneen, In Cameroon like in most African countries, women constitute about 52 percent of the population and their contribution to the country’s agricultural and economic development is unavoidable.

According to Amungwa, like most of countries, Cameroon’s economic development is largely based on primary sector activities. In 2005 Cameroon’s statistics on cultivated land and food crop were as follows; cereal production was 1.5 million tones for 1.1 million hectares farmed, tubers 2 million tones for 0.7 million hectares planted, and pulses 0.5 million tones for 0.6 million hectares planted. Harvest of crops has increased by one percent since 2001 making Cameroon’s agriculture the richest.

According to a C.T.A report, Agriculture is seen as the main activity of most rural areas of Africa and the incidence of rural poverty is linked to the structure and performance of agriculture. The bedrock of agriculture and agricultural development in developing countries of sub-Saharan Africa is rural development, without which all efforts at agricultural development will be futile.

A large majority of the farmers operate at the subsistence, smallholder level with -intensive agriculture being uncommon. A characteristic feature of the agricultural system in such countries is that a disproportionately large fraction of the agricultural output is in the hands of these smallholder farmers whose average holding is about 1.0-3.0 hectares.

Furthermore, according to C.T.A, in most sub-Saharan countries women make a significant contribution to food production especially in the processing and marketing of the foodstuffs as the men also take part in other activities on the farm. However, rural women in Africa still face formidable obstacles to their potential role as a major economic and social force in the development of the agricultural sector in their countries. The recognition of the role women play in agriculture and rural society is very important to agriculture and rural development in sub-Saharan Africa. More importantly recognizing and supporting this role is crucial for the development of women and the fulfillment of the economic potential.

According to Ogunlela and Asisha, Women’s roles are also very crucial to the overall success of the efforts directed towards rural development for increased agricultural productivity. They are more involved in agricultural activities than men especially in sub-Saharan Africa and provide most labour for a number of agricultural activities. They constitute about 90 percent of the workforce involve indirect arable crop production.

According to Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, in sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia, women are vital contributors to farm work and typically in charge of selecting food and feeding their families. Yet compared to their male counterparts, women farmers are less productive and unable to reach their full potential.

Yields on women’s plots are typically 20-40 percent less than men, putting rural families and communities of not having enough nutritious food to eat or any extra to sell at the market. The reason for this gender gap is that women have less access to improved seeds and other inputs, training, and market. This gap has real consequences as households are less productive, new approaches and techniques that could increase the amount of food they grow are less likely to be adopted by women, and children in poor households are undernourished.

According to Grieco and N.A.Apt, women shoulder the primary responsibility of food security in Africa, yet development agencies have devoted minimal resources to reach the impact of the agricultural policies and new techniques on the wellbeing of Africa’s women farmers. According to Boserup. A, Gladwin. C, now is the time to push for paradigm shift, the urgent need for a gender approach to agricultural policies in Africa.

The supporting argument is that women are an integral part of the African farming structure and that the dominant agricultural policies developed for Africa with the disproportionate involvement and influence of external export have ignored this gender dimension at the very real cost of African agriculture and to gender equity within the continent.

According to Amungwa, rural women supply 90 percent of the food needed for the subsistence of the population and also participate in the cash crop sector. During the high growing season, women devote 6–8 hours a day to agriculture in addition to their household work.

On the basis of discussion of labour by gender, men work mainly in the cash crop sector, while women bear the entire responsibility of food production and also help men with preparation, harvesting, and other works in the cash crop.

While men are primarily responsible for fishing and livestock, women are in charge of fishing processing and marketing, raising poultry and small livestock, and share in the process of milk production, both for home consumption and for sale. Women are also responsible for domestic tasks, including food processing and the collection of fuelwood and water.

They take important decisions for the sale of crops and livestock products. However, few women hold decision-making positions in government ministries. According to Rahman. S, the role that women play and their position in meeting the challenges of agricultural production and development are quite dominant. Their relevance and significance therefore cannot be over-emphasized.

1.2 Definition of Terms

Agriculture is broadly defined as the production of plants and animals useful to man. It covers not only the cultivation of the soil and the feeding and management of crops and live stocks but also the preparation of plants and animal products for human consumption and marketing. Therefore agriculture involves the cultivation of crops and the rearing of animals for the purpose of producing food and other essential materials that man needs to survive.

Gender equality exists when any distribution is based on an egalitarian relationship. That is the fair distribution of goods and services without tribulation of goods and services, without considering if you are male or female.

Rural development is a process by which a set of technical, social, cultural, and institutional measures are implemented with and for the inhabitants of the rural areas with the aim of improving their socio-economic conditions in order to achieve harmony and balance both on the regional and national levels.

Export-oriented agricultural production refers to cash crop farming designated specifically for international markets.

Farming systems is a resource management strategy to achieve economic and sustain agricultural production to meet diverse requirements of the farm household while preserving the resource base and maintaining high environmental quality.

Traditional agriculture systems are farms that are either located in the peripheries of each compound (home farms) or far afield (distant farms).On the home farms which are small in size (about 600square meters) small quantities of food and cash crops are grown with the keeping of live stocks like fowls and pigs, while on the distant farms ranging from 600square meters to 2000 hectares, larger quantities of food and cash crops are grown.

Plantation agriculture system also known as agro-industrial plantation differs from traditional agriculture system in the way in which factors of production, management and labor are combined. They employ a relatively large number of unskilled labour and are closely supervised.

Gender roles refer to the distribution of roles and responsibilities between men and women and are conditioned by political, sociological, cultural, historical, economic, and geographical factors.

Rural society it is quite small in size and simple in structure. In rural areas, the population is quite sparse and because of the fewer number of people, there is greater interaction between the people in the rural society and also a greater similarity among them.

Food production refers to food crops production like cassava, production of live stocks like fowls, and equally the processing and the preparation of food.

1.3 Statement of Problem

The role of women in agriculture and rural development is surrounded by a large amount of myth and understanding. Significant changes have occurred in the agricultural sector over the past years both in the role played by women and in the understanding of this role, and the continued absence of appropriate policy and program strategy means that women’s role or contribution in agriculture remains invisible.

This persistent failure to recognize and account for the value of women’s knowledge and labour in the agricultural sphere and to integrate the reality of women’s situation into development policies and programs is evident throughout the global economic development environment.

1.3 Research questions

1. What are some of the women’s traditional and contemporary roles in agriculture and rural development?
2. What factors affect these women’s traditional and contemporary roles in agriculture and rural development?
3. How has the government helped in agriculture development?
4. How has agriculture helped in the development of the rural area?