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| Title |  |
Technology and practice in Africa Chapter 23: Equity and gender consequences of policy for distribution of irrigation technology in Nigeria. (16 pages) |
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| Author | B.O. Oramah and Osita M. Ogbu | |||
| Organisation | International Development Research Centre | |||
| Year | 1995 | |||
| Summary/ Introduction |
This study examined the equity and gender implications of irrigation technology development in Nigeria. Two projects were chosen, one in the high-rainfall area (the LAIP in the lower Anambra Basin) and the other in a relatively dry area (Tungan Kawo project in the lower Kaduna Basin). The two projects are also distinguished by their use of farmer participation in irrigated plot allocation: the Tungan Kawo project has farmers' input in plot allocation. The inequity levels in irrigated plot allocation was determined for the two areas, based on data obtained for 1993. Results indicate that inequity in irrigation distribution was higher in LAIP than for the Tungan Kawo project. This indicates that farmers' participation in irrigated plot allocation probably lowers inequity in distribution. Further, women's access to and role in irrigation were investigated in the LAIP area. The results indicated that it was a recent official policy to restrict women's participation to single women, in response to men's complaint that the economic empowerment engendered by women's access to this technology threatened the men's control over their wives. The officials also argued that allocating plots to women deprived the projects of labour needed to accomplish key tasks in irrigated rice production. It was also observed that less than 10% of the plots were allocated to women. The study revealed that women provide most of the planting, weeding, and harvesting labour, either as hired labour or as family labour. Their efforts in person-days constituted the bulk of labour needed for irrigated rice production (about 70% of the labour required). | |||
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