Women empowerment in Cassava production and processing on household food security in Odeda Local Government area, Ogun State, Nigeria

Abstract

This study analyzed the effects of women empowerment in cassava production and processing on household food security in Odeda Local Government Area. Multi stage sampling technique was used to select 80 respondents. Data were obtained using a structured questionnaire to elicit information from respondents in the study area. Chi- square test and Pearson Product Moment Correlation (PPMC) for the analysis of data in the study respectively.  Results revealed that the average age of the respondents was 37 years and 16.2% had no formal education. Also the respondents had to eat some food that really did not want to eat due to lack of resources to obtain other types of food, (=2.51), reported that there was no food to eat of any kind in their household due to lack of resources to get food (=2.65) and went to sleep at night hungry due to lack of food (=2.55). It is worthy to note that women received empowerment in the area of application of fertilizer ( = 2.85) and in the use of  improved cassava stem  ( = 2.83) which have high effect on cassava production.. The test of relationship between socio-economic characteristics of the respondents and their household food security status revealed that there was significant relationship (p < 0.05) between marital status (χ²= 41.48), educational level (χ²= 15.48) of the respondents and farm size (r = -0.31). Women empowerment in cassava production and processing is crucial for improving household food security in the study area.