DETERMINANTS OF WOMEN’S PARTICIPATION IN AGRICULTURAL EXTENSION SERVICES AMONG RURAL WOMEN FARMERS IN YILMANADENSA DISTRICT, NORTHWEST ETHIOPIA

Abstract
Women play a very significant role in agricultural production in Ethiopia
by contributing between 40-60 per cent of labour to agricultural production.
Despite this, rural women farmers in Ethiopia including Yilmanadensa
district rarely enjoy extension services and have little contact with extension
service organizations. The low participation of women farmers in
agricultural extension services in Yilmanadensa district is the main reason
for conducting this study. Therefore, this study is conducted to investigate
the determinant factors of women’s participation in agricultural extension
services in Yilmanadensa district.The study adopted cross-sectional survey
research design. The paper is based on a review of literature and an
analysis of data collected from127 sample respondents using a semistructured questionnaire. Qualitative data were collected through key
informant interviews and focus group discussions. Binary logit regression
was employed to analyse the collected data. It was found that farming
experience, sex of the development agent and access to credit shows
significant and positive relation with participation whereas, time spent on
domestic activities and sex of the household headship shows significant
and negative relationship with women’s participation.Thus, appropriate
number of female agricultural extension workers should be assigned, labor
saving and women friendly technologies should be promoted and
disseminated through the extension system.
Key Words: Rural Women, Participation, Agricultural Extension Services, Yilmanadensa
District, Ethiopia
1
Department of Rural Development and Agricultural Extension, College of Agricultural and Environmental
Science, Bahir Dar University, Bahir Dar, Ethiopia. Email: [email protected]
2
Department of Rural Development and Agricultural Extension, College of Agricultural and Environmental
Science, Bahir Dar University, Bahir Dar, Ethiopia
Article Received on: 19-06-2019 Accepted on: 17-08-2019
2 Birhane Anagaw Abebe and Biruk Yazie
Journal of Agricultural Extension Management Vol. XX No. (1) 2019
Introduction
Women being an integral part of a farming household provide 60 to 80 per cent
of all agricultural labor. Various researches conducted on the contribution of
women to agricultural development in the developing countries (FAO 2011a)
suggest that women’s contribution to the farm work is as high as between 50
and 75 per cent of the total farm task performed and 79 per cent of women in
least developed countries who are economically active report that agriculture
is their primary economic activity (Doss, 2011). The contribution of the women
ranges from tasks such as land preparation, planting, weeding, fertilizer
application, harvesting, threshing, storing, food processing, milling,
transportation and marketing as well as the management of livestock (World
Bank, 2010, Rahman & Ibrahim, 2007).However, their contribution is often
overlooked due to some social barriers and gender bias.
Rural women in Ethiopia play a dominant and important role in agricultural
production in the country. In Ethiopia, women take the leading role in
agricultural activities, making up to 60-80 per cent of the labour force (FAO,
2010a; Cohen and Lemma, 2011; CSA, 2014). Rural women are intimately
involved in all aspects of agricultural production such as land preparation, hoeing,
weeding, harvesting, threshing, transportation and usage (Cohen and Lemma,
2011; CSA, 2014). This contributes to ensure food security, suppress
inflationary pressure and supply inputs for industry (CFGB, 2015).
They are however accorded little attention. Consequently, there are some
constraints facing the rural women’s adoption of agricultural innovation which
include failure of extension workers to reach them, lack of incentive for adoption
of innovation, limited access to credit inputs and lack of access to membership
in cooperatives and other rural organizations (Ogundiran, 2013; FAO, 2010b).
The role of extension today is not only technology transfer and training of
farmers but also includes food security, empowering farmers, dealing with
marketing issues, addressing resource conservation and nutrition issues.
Moreover, the extension system should tackle the hurdles that women face in
agricultural production, as these services provide a means for women to learn
Determinants of Women Participation in Agricultural Extension Services among rural women farmers… 3
Journal of Agricultural Extension Management Vol. XX No. (1) 2019
new or improved production techniques, empower them to receive training and
advice, to organize themselves ( Ogundiran, 2013; Ijeoma & Adesope, 2015;
apantaku & Oyegunle, 2016).