CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.1: Background Information
In Nigeria of about 140 million
people, men constitute about 50.4% and women 49.6%(N.P.C, 2006).Both gender are
responsible for producing the nation’s food and one of the major problems
confronting mankind in recent times is food crisis (Ndukwu et al
2010).Gender has often been
misunderstood as being about the promotion of women only, but it focuses on the
relationship between men and women, their roles, access to and control over
resources, division of labour and needs. Men and women are affected differently
in their operation in factors like markets and socio-economics environments.
Women are more constrained than their men counterparts in terms of access to
credits, agricultural inputs, information technology and so on. Some crop
production are even classified as men’s, like yam production, while others like
sweet potatoes and cocoyam production are regarded as women’s especially in the
southeastern Nigeria(Ndukwu et al 2010).Dimelu et al (2009)
reported that women are involved in crop production generally and cocoyam
production in particular.
Agriculture is the largest sector
in the Nigeria economy, providing food, income and employment for sustainable
livelihood of both the rural and urban population (CBN,2003). FGN(2001),
Agriculture is the largest non oil export earner and largest employer of labour
accounting for 88% of the non oil foreign exchange earnings and 70% of the
active labour force of the population. Food crops constitute the largest
component of the crops sub sector of Nigeria’s agriculture(CBN 2003).Roots
tubers are major sources of dietary carbohydrates and provide food for over 60
million people in Nigeria(Abubakar,2003).Increase in the output of cassava,
yam, potatoes as well as cocoyam will significantly increase the GDP of
Nigeria(Anyanwu et al 2010). The contribution of the food crop sector of
Nigerian Agriculture is significant and well documented in literature (Olomola,
2006).
Cocoyam originates from Asia and
about forty (40) species are grown in West Africa (Asumugha and Mbanasor, 2002).
Cocoyam, both Xanthosoma species and Colocasia species belongs to
the family (Aracea). The cocoyam specie colocasia esculata in subSahara
Africa was introduced to this continent one thousand or more years ago from
South East Asia while
cocoyam specie Xanthosoma Mafafa was
introduced more recently from tropical America (11TA 1992, FAO, 2005).
Nigeria is the largest producer
of cocoyam in the world, accounting for about 47% of the total world output
(FAO, 2007, NRCRI, 2009). From 0.73 million metric tones in 1990, cocoyam
production in Nigeria rose to 3.89million metric tones in 2000 (Ojiako et al,
2007) and further by 30.30% to 5.068 million metric tones in 2007 (FAO, 2007).
Further estimate in Nigeria, showed a figure of 5.387 million metric tones out
of 11.77 million metric tones of world output of cocoyam per annum since 2008
(FAO , 2010).
Cocoyam ranks third in importance
after cassava and yam among the root and tuber crops cultivated in Nigeria (see
Appendix 1)(FAO, 2005, National Bureau of Statistics, 2006, Okoye et al,
2008). Cocoyam is an important staple food in the plant family, cultivated in
South Eastern and South Western part of Nigeria (Onyenweaku et al, 2005,
Ojiakor et al,
2007, Chukwu et al, 2009).
It is a food security crop variously grown by resource poor farmers especially
women who often intercrop it with yam, maize, plantain, banana, vegetable
(Ikwelle et al, 2003).
Cocoyam to an extent is medicinal
for diabetic patients because it has low starch content, is easily digestible
and contains protein more than the other root tubers. The leaves of colocosia
esculenta have been shown to be a rich source of folic acid, ribo flavin,
vitamin A and C, calcium and phosphate (Arene and Ene, 1987). The leaves
are consumed because they are rich in protein and vitamins, while the root is
rich in carbohydrates and minerals (Duru and Uma, 2002). Cocoyam is a useful
cover crop and the corms are ready to harvest in 8 – 12 months (Uguru, 1996).
The corms and cormels are boiled, baked and tubers are sometimes ground to
produce paste for use in stews and soups. Also in Southeast Asia, cocoyam leaves
are consumed as a green or dry vegetables and the stem is either cooked or
eaten on its own or together with other dietary staples or pounded into flour
(Serem et al, 2008).The dried peeled corms are grinded to produce flour
which is considered to be as palatable as cassava flour but more nutritious
(Igbokwe, 2004).
In the traditional farming system women
"own" and plant cocoyam after the men have planted their yam, hence
it is regarded as a women's crop (Igbokwe, 2004). As a result of male migration
into urban and semi urban areas, certain task that were traditionally done by
men (e.g. ridging) are now being done by the women folk. Thus, the gender based
differentiation of farm tasks appears to be disappearing. Some scholars believe
and argue that majority of the
small scale farmers who produce the bulk of
Nigeria's agricultural output especially cocoyam are women. It is still their
contention that women also play key roles in storage, processing, utilization
and local marketing of agricultural produce (Dixon, 1983, Ekumankama and
Ekumankama, 1996). Females constitute the greater percentage of the Nigerian
population in the rural areas (Musa 1987, Fed. Rep. of Nig 1997, 2006).
Given the importance of cocoyam and the fact that
its cultivation is receeding, it becomes compelling to examine the production
methods, practices and resource inputs for its production in other to identify
opportunities for improvements in terms of cultivation and efficient use of
available resources.
Government research effort under
cocoyam expansion programme had led to the development of several technologies
aimed at adding value to cocoyam production (NRCRI, 1999). Also, dissemination
of the improved technologies as well as advocacy supports for overall
development of cocoyam are effective strategies for optimizing utilization of
the abundant potentials associated with cocoyam in Nigeria.
1.2: Problem Statement
The resource allocation to
cocoyam is significantly low when compared to other crops such as yam and
cassava. Technical difficulties involved in managing cocoyam, especially the
post harvest losses usually not encountered in the rival crops have made
cocoyam comparatively less attractive especially among male farmers thereby
affecting productivity (Ekwe et al, 1999). Cocoyam production in South
Eastern Nigeria is seriously threatened by some factors such as the cocoyam
rot, root blight complex, high cost of labour, which is almost entirely manual
(Okoye et al, 2008). Also the preference of other crops to cocoyam in
household production, and consumption decision became fundamental reasons for
its neglect and under utilization. Empirical findings of earlier research like(
Dimelu et al,2008) on cocoyam have reported reasons such as high cost of
labour, disease outbreak etc. for decline in output of cocoyam, non of these
studies tried to explain output decline from point of view of gender use of
production resources nor did they consider that the people (women) who are left
to carry on its production might have some gender-related constraints in
resource utilization which could affect entry into cocoyam farming as well as
productivity.
Hence, there is need to sustain the level of
production through productivity and resource use studies. Agricultural
production in Nigeria has always been seen as dominated by men and this
assumption undermines the women involvement in agricultural production.
4 Okoye et al (2007) pointed out that
woman farmers’ have been the pillars of cocoyam production for several years.
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