Abstract

Agricultural sector is still the leading sector in Nigeria’s ailing economy as it provides direct employment to about 75% of the population. This paper examines gender involvement in agricultural production as a means towards increased food sufficiency and consequently curbing food crisis. It critically identified the specific gender involvement in agriculture and gender inequality is noticed in the sector and this constitutes a bottleneck to development, calling for a review of government policies on agriculture to all the elements that place women farmers at a disadvantage. The study made use of secondary data which was analyzed by simple descriptive statistics. The result revealed that involvement of both sexes in various field activities may be sex specific, but they are complimentary and reciprocal. The study further revealed that the involvement of women was on the increase (from 32 to 36%), while that of men declined relatively (from 68 to 64%). It was suggested that to curb food crisis and increase the participation of gender in agriculture, there is the need for advocacy for equitable integration of both men and women in agriculture.

Key words: Nigeria, gender, agriculture, food crisis.