WOMEN FARMERS AND THE CHALLENGES OF FOOD-CROP FARMING IN GIREI, ADAMAWA STATE, NIGERIA: A GEOGRAPHICAL PERSPECTIVE

Agriculture is the main economic activity in many rural communities and women who make upthe majority of the rural dwellers play a focal role in the sector. Despite the efforts aimed atpromoting women's rights, some researches have shown that women are still marginalized andhave less access to productive resources needed for effective agricultural production.This studytherefore evaluates the challenges facing women farmers in Girei Local Government Area ofAdamawa state. The data for the study were obtained from primary source, throughadministration of 300 copies of structured questionnaire using systematic random samplingmethods. Simple frequency distributionin form of cross tabulation using SPSS 20.0was used toanalyze the data.The study revealedthat the major challenges facing women farmers includes,difficulty in accessing land, difficulty in accessing credit facilities, limited access toagricultural inputs and long distance to extension training sites. It was also observed that, lowlevel of education and low usage of fertilizer have lowered their output and effected their activeparticipation in agricultural production.Against this background, it was recommended that,extension services and timely deliverance of credit facilities should be made priority by thegovernment authorities and extended to the women farmers in Girei local government area. Inaddition,new advancement in agricultural technology should be made available to womenfarmers and cooperative society formulation should also be encouraged.