Gender And Land Acquisition: Implications For Agricultural Development In Nigeria
Balogun, Olubunmi Lawrence ; Ayo-Bello, Taofeek Ayodeji; Ayantoye, Kayode
Babcock University, Ilishan Remo, Nigeria: Kwara State University Malete, Ilorin, Nigeria
Commercial land possession for large scale farming has become a major cause of concern for agricultural development in developing countries. Gender roles in land acquisition are manifested in social rights and privileges in a form which denies women equal opportunities to own land. The effect of women’s discrimination in land use right constitutes a major barrier to their wealth creation and economic empowerment, makes them prone to vulnerability to avoidable poverty. The manifestation of gender discrimination originates from the household into which family members are born in Nigeria and other societies in Africa. The household serves as the enclave where gender-biased norms, values and prejudices across generations are transmitted. Agriculture sector is important to Nigeria economy and women provides about 60-80 percent of labour needed in food production, food processing and marketing. Unfortunately the contributions of women in agriculture are grossly undermined. Their roles in economic change continued to be inadequately recognized in the development of agricultural policies.
The main problem with respect to land for cultivation in Nigeria is availability most especially for women’ farmers. It involves a complexity of interacting variables such as population, land tenure system, level of technology and the stage of the country’s development (Ojo and Afolabi, 2003). These variables, especially land tenure systems put serious limitations on the amount of land that is available to women for both small and large scale agricultural productions because land is communally owned in the various communities and no single person has exclusive right over the piece of land he is using for agricultural purposes. The community leadership determines what crops (arable or perennial) to cultivate. The plight of the farmers is even worsened if he is not an indigene of the community. Among such efforts was the establishment of the land use decree of 1978 which vested ownership of all lands in the country on the government and its agencies, such that, land acquisition by prospective farmers especially for large scale production would no longer be a problem because the general impression is that large scale farming is the solution to the problem of Nigerian agriculture.
Event: Annual World Bank Conference on Land and Poverty 2019
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