EFFECTS OF INSURGENCY ON CROP FARMING ACTIVITIES OF RURAL WOMEN IN ADAMAWA STATE, NIGERIA

ABSTRACT

The study analyzed the effect of insurgency on crop farming activities of rural women in Adamawa State, Nigeria. Multi-stage sampling technique was used to select 232 rural women involved in agricultural production on which structured questionnaire complemented with interview schedules was employed to collect primary data. Data collected were analyzed using both descriptive statistics (means, percentages and frequency counts) and inferential statistics (multiple regression and Gini Coefficient). The result showed that majority (82.8%) of the respondents were within the age range of 26 – 55 years with mean age of 40 years, Majority (74.6%) were married with a mean household size and farming experience of 7 and 13 years respectively. The results also revealed that majority (59.9%) were full-time farmers with poor access to credits and extension services. The respondents had access to improved seeds, fertilizer, herbicides, cutlass, and hoes. The result of the Gini-coefficient was 0.53 implying that there was inequality in the distribution of income among the rural women in the study area. The effects of insurgency on crop farming activities of rural women were relocation, fear of been killed, loss of farm land, decrease in production, death of many farmers, reduction in contribution to the economy, loss of farm produce in storage, increased food insecurity and low yield of crops. Rural women also reported that ignorance, loose border, poverty, unemployment and religious bigotry were the major perceived causes of insurgency in the study area. Regression analysis revealed that farm land lost (- 0.3001), animals lost (-0.2447), assets lost (-0.5605), relocation (-0.1449), frequency of attack (-0.7582), people displace (-0.1661) and Exposure to bomb (-0.2548) were found to be negative and statistically significant. The major constraints faced by farmers were inadequate access to fertilizer, inadequate access to credit, destruction of farm land, stealing of farm produce and poor access to farm lands. It was recommended that government, policy makers and other stakeholders should put in more effort to end insurgency activities in the study area to improve agricultural activities. It was also suggested that more production inputs should be provided to the rural women who are the most vulnerable and victims of insurgency by Federal and State government, Non- Governmental Organizations (NGOs) and Community-Based Organizations (CBOs).