Green Global
Foundation   Journal
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GENDER CONTRIBUTION TO HIGHLAND TEA FIELD AGRONOMIC PRACTICES IN TARABA STATE, NIGERIA (Pages : 71 - 75)

Tea cultivation is a labour demanding activity especially in most of the farm operations. These operations are carried out by both male and female farmers. There is no empirical data on the specific gender roles of tea agronomic practices in Nigeria. The objective of this study was to assess the contribution of gender in tea field farming activities in Taraba State during 2008. One hundred respondents were selected using multi-stage sampling technique. Out of five blocks, one block was purposively chosen and five villages were purposively selected. In the next stage, 50 male farmers and 50 female farmers from the villages with 20 from each village were randomly selected and interviewed using structured questionnaire. Results were analyzed using descriptive statistics and chi-square. About 57% of the respondents were between 30-40 years. Their highest literacy level was Islamic education (28%) meaning they attended Islamic school while (47%) had 12-18 years of farming experience. About 48% of the respondents had an annual output of 1000–1200 kg/ha value at $266.54-398.81 at $0.15/kg of tea. In tea field establishment practices, 39.0-78.3% of the adult males carried out land clearing, pegging, digging of planting holes, transplanting of seedlings, fertilizer application and pruning while 37.6-42.3% of the adult females were involved in weeding, harvesting/plucking as well as fertilizer application. The boys and girls participated least in field practices. Males tend to contribute more in field management practices than their female counterparts in tea production. However, females contribute actively in plucking; this is very vital in tea income generation. Over 90% of the respondents obtained information on tea practices from the Nigeria Beverages Production Company (NBPC) Limited and 98% from CRIN. Gender had a significant effect on tea field practices (p<0.01). Download