ABSTRACT
The survey
was undertaken to examine occupational diversification among rural women in
Anambra State, Nigeria. Specifically, the study identified various areas of
occupational diversification among rural women; ascertained reasons for
occupational diversification; ascertained modes of occupational entry for each
occupational area; ascertained the influence of human capital attributes on
occupational diversification; and identified problems faced by rural women in
occupational diversification. Three hypotheses were proposed and tested,
namely; there is no significant relationship between socio-economic factors and
occupational diversification among rural women; there are no significant
differences between farm income and non-farm income of rural women; there is no
significant relationship between occupational diversification and nearness to
urban markets. The survey was carried out in Anambra State, Nigeria. The
population of the study comprised rural women in the four agricultural zones.
All the four agricultural zones were used for the study. Two blocks were
selected from each of the zones, while three (3) circles were selected from
each of the blocks using simple random sampling. In each of the circles, 20
rural women were selected using simple random sampling. Eight (8) blocks and 24
circles, comprising 480 respondents were used for the study. Interview
schedule/questionnaire was used for data collection. Eighteen copies of the
questionnaire were not filled properly and were dropped leaving 462 for analysis.
Data were analysed using percentage, mean score, standard deviation, factor
analysis, students’t-test, correlation and multiple linear regression analysis.
The findings revealed that majority of respondents (88.7%) were involved in
both farm and non-farm occupations such as planting of crops, raising of farm
animals, processing of farm produce, petty trading, tailoring, among others.
The major reasons for occupational diversification were grouped into
infrastructural, production, marketing and socio-economic factors. The study
further revealed that the respondents were constrained by labour,
institutional, technical and social problems. Despite the fact that non-farm
activities yield high returns, farming still remains the primary
occupation of the respondents. The study recommends that government at both
state and federal level should improve the efficiency and performance of the
rural women in occupational diversification by ensuring that adequate rural
infrastructure such as roads, electricity and pipe-borne water are put in place
and highlights the need to establish vocational skill acquisition centres in
rural areas in order to empower women with necessary skills to be gainfully
employed in non-farm occupations for higher returns.
CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.1
Background information
Rural
households diversify income sources by combining two or more jobs (multiple job
holding) to enhance consumption, smoothen and acquire other basic needs
(Oluwatayo, 2009). Rural women need to diversify their occupation since farming
is rain-fed and therefore, seasonal. This is to enable them acquire additional
income and meet up with economic responsibilities during off-season periods.
Rural areas
where these women reside are dominated by the following characteristics:
geographical isolation, low quality physical infrastructure, low human capital,
underdeveloped markets, scarcity of resources or incidence of some natural
disaster (Ranjan, 2006). Occupational diversification becomes pertinent in
order for rural women to cope with the aforementioned characteristics.
Occupational diversification according to Lanjouw and Lanjouw (2001) involves
incorporating all economic activities in rural areas, except crop and livestock
production, fishing and hunting. Tacoli (2004) defines occupational
diversification as non-farm income generating activities undertaken by rural
residents and farming by urban residents. Saith (2002) also defines occupational
diversification in rural areas as the reallocation and recombination of all
economic activities which display sufficiently strong rural linkages,
irrespective of whether they are located in designated rural areas or not.
According to Mukhopadhyay and Lim (2005), occupational diversification
comprises two types, namely: those ventures that are administered on an
approximately steady basis with an objective of generating surplus and
registering growth, hiring labour and with a certain degree of technical sophistication;
and products or activities which are usually seasonal, managed exclusively with
the help of unpaid family labour, relying on primal technology and catering
mostly to the local market characterized primarily by petty production. From
these definitions
The
individualisation of economic activity and the increasing tendency to engage in
non- agricultural income earning have had a dissolving effect on long-standing
agrarian divisions of labour as well as economic rights and responsibilities
within peasant households. Pooling of income within the domestic unit is weakening
as categories of people who formerly were not expected to earn income now
simultaneously receive less from male heads of household, and assert a right to
determine how their own income is spent (Bryceson, 2006). Conversely households
are often pursuing several different non-agricultural activities simultaneously
or at different points throughout the year. Most of the activities are highly
opportunistic in nature, involving quick responses to market demand and supply.
However, changing labour force participation patterns are also readily
apparent. More and more rural women are entering non-agricultural production
and the male household head’s dominant role as family cash-earner is eroding.
Rural women are also earning cash, but largely based on their home-making
skills and generally less remunerative compared with men. Sales of prepared
snacks, beer, hair plaiting, petty retailing, knitting, tailoring, soap making,
midwifery are a few of the many services that they now engage in (Ellis, 1998).
Rural women
are more likely to be self-employed than their urban counterparts. Fourteen
percent of women in rural and small town areas of sub-Saharan Africa were
engaged in non-farm self-employment as compared to 11% of women in urban areas
in 2001 (Leech, 2008). However, there has been a parallel increase in rural
women’s income over the years. In the fifties, it was estimated that women
averaged a contribution of about 20% to family earnings. In the nineties, their
income was estimated to account for at least 40% of total family income
(International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), 1995). Usually,
women’s income tends to rise after about age 30. Before then their child-care
and other domestic......
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