ASSESSMENT OF WOMEN INVOLVEMENT IN RICE PROCESSING ACTIVITIES IN JIGAWA STATE, NIGERIA

The study assessed the women involvement in rice processing activities in Jigawa State, Nigeria. A multistage sampling technique was used to get information froma total of 120 respondents through a well structured questionnaire using interview schedule approach. The study revealed that majority (74.2%) were between 31-50 years, (66.7%) were married with average monthly income of N5500.00 (62.5%). Islam predominates amongst the respondents (87.4%) with majority of them (71.0%) having Islamic education and household size of 7-9 (62.5%). Also, more than average of the respondents (56.7%) claimed to have farming experience of above 10 years and 91.7% used family labour. The study revealed further that majority (84.2%) of the respondents involved in the rice processing while 79.2% claimed to be involved in the activities on a daily basis The major source of awareness was through neighbours as claimed by majority (73.3%) and 73.3% of them processed manually. Major constraints of the farmers to rice processing were inadequate capital (96.7%), poor marketing of products (95.0%), inadequate processing (93.3%) and storage facilities (90.0%) and poor contact with extension agents (85.0%). Based on the findings, it was therefore recommended that government at all levels should institute empowerment initiatives, provide loan or credit facilities to women rice processors, and ensure more extension service delivery on awareness campaign on rice processing, food shelf life as well as efficient and effective new rice processing technologies.