ASSESSMENT OF THE EFFECTS OF SELECTED RURAL DEVELOPMENT INTERVENTIONS ON RURAL WOMEN IN IMO STATE, NIGERIA

ABSTRACT

The study assessed the effects of selected rural development interventions on rural women in Imo State of Nigeria. The study determined the level of awareness and participation of rural women in the development projects, assessed the extent of intervention by development agencies, analyzed the effects of the selected intervention programmes on rural women’s socio economic conditions and also examined the constraints militating against rural women from benefiting in the interventions. Data for the study were collected using structured and validated questionnaire from 402 rural women in the three agricultural zones of Imo state who were selected through multi-stage random sampling technique. Data were analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics such as mean, frequency distribution, Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) and Ordinary Least Square (OLS) multiple regression technique. The result showed that majority of the rural women (34.3%) had primary education and had spent more than 17 years in their major occupation. Majority (50.2%) have household size of 5 to 8 members. The average monthly income of the rural women was N15,752. Majority of the women (64.2%) had savings while majority (64.9%) did not have access to credit facility. The mean level of participation in development intervention was 1.84 out of acceptable mean level of 2 indicating low level of participation. The

extent of interventions was (X = 2.84) out of 2.5 decision rule which indicated that the development agencies intervened to some extent. The level of perception of the effects

of rural development intervention on women was low (X = 2.38) out of 2.5 decision rule and most of the agencies efforts were directed towards agricultural productivity. The grand mean of constraints limiting women from benefiting from development

interventions was high (X= 3.07), some of the constraints women perceived were lack

of continuity in the program (X = 3.60) and embezzlement of fund meant for

development (X = 3.43) among others. The OLS result showed that women’s age, years of education, household size, major occupation, income and years of experience showed significant contributions in the level of participation in rural development. Also, household size, major occupation, membership of social organization, income and years of experience contributed significantly to the variation in the level of perception of effects of rural development interventions. Therefore, the study recommended among others that government should ensure that the development intervention agencies should be functional and effective in the rural areas since the rural women could not feel the impacts of these interventions. The activities of these development interventions should be well packaged by creating awareness through several seminars, campaigns, meetings, and publicity in order to encourage rural women to participate and benefit from the development interventions.

 

Keywords: Assessment, Effects, Rural development interventions, Women and Participation.

 

TABLE OF CONTENTS

CONTENTS             Page Title Page                i

Certification                                                                                                           ii

Dedication                iii Acknowledgements              iv

Abstract                                                                                                                   v

Table of Contents                                                                                               vi List of Tables                                                                                                                    xi

List of Figures                                                                                                         xiv

CHAPTER ONE

1.0 Introduction                                                                                                           1

1.1 Background of the Study                                                                                     1

1.2 Statement of the Problem                                                                                     8

1.3 Objectives of the Study                                                                                       11

1.4 Hypotheses of the Study                                                                                     12

1.5 Justification of the Study                                                                                    12

1.6 Scope and Delimitation of the Study                                                             14 CHAPTER TWO

2.0     Literature Review                                                                                            15

 

2.1.1  Concept of Rural Development		15
2.1.2  Objectives of Rural Development		19
2.1.3  Rural Development Strategies		20
2.1.4  Rural Development Interventions		22
2.2    Past and Present Rural Development Interventions in Nigeria		27
2.2.1  The Agricultural Development Projects (ADPs)		27
2.2.2  The River-Basin Development Authority (RBDA)		29
2.2.3  Poverty Alleviation Programme (PAP)		29
2.2.4 National Poverty Eradication Programme (NAPEP)		30
2.2.5 National Economic Empowerment and Development
Strategy (NEEDS)		31
2.2.6 Women in Agriculture (WIA)		32
2.2.7  The Subsidy Reinvestment and Empowerment Program		36
2.2.8  National Special Programme for Food Security (NSPFS)		38
2.2.9  Small and Medium Enterprises Development Agency of Nigeria		39
2.2.10  Micro Finance Banks		42
2.2.11  Nigeria Agricultural Cooperation and Rural Development Bank		43
2.2.12  National Enterprise Development Programme (NEDEP)		43
2.2.13  The Root and Tuber Expansion Programme                                               44 2.2.14  Presidential Initiative on Cassava (PIC)                                                      45 2.2.15 European Union Micro-Projects Programme (EU MPP6)                         46 2.3       Interventions from International Development Agencies                          47

 

2.3.1   New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD)					47
2.3.2   International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD)					48
2.3.3   World Bank 2.4      Evaluation of Performance of Rural Development					52
Interventions in Nigeria					55
2.5      The Role of Women in Rural Development in Nigeria					57
2.6       Participation of Rural Women in Development Interventions					61
2.7      Approaches to Women Development in Nigeria					62
2.8     Constraints Limiting Women in Rural Development					68
2.9      Theoretical framework					74
2.9.1    Rural Economy Theory					74
2.9.2    Feminist Theory					77
2.9.3    Poverty Theory					80
2.10      Conceptual Framework CHAPTER THREE					83
3.0   Methodology						86
3.1   Area of the Study						86
3.2    Sample and Sampling Procedure						87
3.3   Data Collection						88
3.4   Standardization of the Research Instrument						89
3.4.1Validity of Data Collection						89
3.4.2 Reliability of Data Collection						89
3.5    Measurement of Variables						90
3.6    Method of Data Analyses						92

CHAPTER FOUR

4.0     Results and Discussion                                                                                   100

4.1      Socio-Economic Characteristics of Rural Women                                     101

4.1.1  Age of Rural Women                                                                                      101

4.1.2   Marital Status                                                                                                  102

4.1.3   Level of Education                                                                                         104

4.1.4    Rural Women Household Size                                                                    105

4.1.5    Major Occupation of Rural Women                                                         106

4.1.6   Rural Women Farm Size			107
4.1.7   Secondary Occupation of Rural Women			109
4.1.8    Years of Engagement in Primary Occupation			110
4.1.9   Income of the Rural Women			111
4.1.10 Savings Status of Women			113
4.1.11 Rural Women’s Accessibility to Credit Facility			113
4.1.12 Rural Women’s Membership of Social Organization			115
4.1.13 Social Organization			116
4.1.14 Membership Status of Rural Women			117
4.2      Availability of Rural Development Interventions			118
4.3     Awareness and Participation of Rural Development Programmes			121
4.3.1   Awareness of Rural Development Interventions			121

 

4.3.2   Sources of Awareness of Rural Development Interventions					124
4.3.3   Level of Participation in Rural Development Interventions					126
4.3.4   Area of Participation in Rural Development Interventions					131
4.4     Perceived Extent of Interventions by Development Agencies					136
4.5     Effects of the Rural Development Interventions on Women					139
4.6      Constraints limiting Women benefits from the Development
Interventions.					144
4.7    Area of Improvement in Rural Development Interventions					148
4.8    Effectiveness of Rural Development Interventions					150
4.9    Tests of Hypotheses					152
4.9.1 Test of Hypothesis One					152
4.9.2 Test of Hypothesis Two					156
4.9.3 Test of Hypothesis Three					160
4.9.4 Test of Hypothesis Four CHAPTER FIVE					165
5.0 Summary, Conclusion and Recommendation					168
5.1 Summary					168
5.2 Conclusion					173
5.3 Recommendations					174
5.4 Contributions to Knowledge					177
REFERENCES					179
APPENDIX				192

 

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

1.1 Background of the Study

In recent years, the challenge of developing the rural areas through alleviating poverty has been the major concern of both developed and developing countries. Poverty reduction is a significant component of the overall development initiative of various nations. It was in recognition of its importance that it was number one of all the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs); to eradicate poverty and hunger (UNDP, 2004). This goal aimed at improving the quality of rural people and enhancing development of the nations.

It was reported by World Bank (2001) that poverty is a rural phenomenon and about 1.1 billion of the poor live in extreme poverty, poverty is higher in the rural areas than urban areas. People living in extreme poverty often lack opportunities to have their basic needs met. Most of the people lack education and are vulnerable to diseases (Lindsert, 2006). In a similar vein, Momoh (2005) noted that poverty is a multi-dimensional phenomenon related to the inadequacy or lack of social, economic, cultural, and political entitlements. The United Nations Development Project (UNDP) Report (2010) covering a period of 2000-2008 indicated that 64.4% of Nigerians live below poverty line while the country occupies 142^nd position out of 147 countries in human development index. Poverty in Nigeria continues to assume worrisome dimension inspite of several rural development interventions. It is unfortunate that despite impressive growth since democratization, poverty level still remains high in Nigeria. This has continued unabated as indicated in Table 1.1 below.

Table 1.1: Indicative percentage of poverty trends by region in Nigeria.

Level	1996	2002	2004	2010	2014	2016
National	65.6	51.6	54.4	69.0	33.10	62.6
Sector Urban Rural	58.2 69.3	40.1 60.6	43.2 63.3	61.8 73.2	12.6 44.9
Geopolitical zone South-South South-East South-West North-Central North-East North-West	58.2 53.5 60.9 64.7 70.1 77.2	47.6 31.2 40.2 58.6 64.8 61.2	35.1 26.7 43.0 67.0 72.2 71.2	63.8 67.0 59.1 67.5 76.3 77.7	24.2 28.8 16.0 33.1 50.2 45.9

Source: British Council Nigeria (2012), World Bank (2014) and National Human Development Report, 2016.

 

Given the table above, (the trend of poverty rates in Nigeria) every year there is increase in the poverty level of the various geo- political zones in the country, and the poverty in the rural areas is higher than that in the urban areas. Also, poverty rate increase in 2016 to 62.6% (National Human Development Report, 2016). Abiola and Olaopa (2008) states that the scourge of poverty in Nigeria is an incontrovertible fact which results in hunger, ignorance, malnutrition, disease, unemployment, poor access to credit facilities, and low life expectancy as well as a general level of human hopelessness.

Rural communities are seriously marginalized in terms of most basic elements of development and this explains their high level of vulnerability.  In addition, the inhabitants tend to live at the margin of existence and opportunities. Most rural communities lack potable water, electricity, health care, educational, recreational facilities and motorable roads. They experience high population growth rates, high infant and maternal mortality, low life expectancy and a peasant population that lacks modern equipments that can guarantee sustainable exploitation of the natural resources on which they live (Oyeranti and Olayiwola, 2005). Rural poverty is related to food insecurity, inaccessibility to assets, services and markets, incomeearning opportunities, and the organisational and institutional means for achieving those ends (Prakash, 2003). In a bid to overcome rural poverty, rural development initiatives are pursued.

Rural development generally refers to the process of improving the quality of life and economic wellbeing of people living in relatively isolated and sparsely populated areas.  Jibowo (1992) defines rural development as the transformation of rural community into socially, economically, politically, educationally, orderly and materially desirable condition with the purpose of improving the quality of life of the rural population. Therefore rural development is a good strategy for poverty reduction and achievement of economic prosperity at the grassroots since majority of the people in Nigeria live in rural areas. The concept of rural development as embraced by most countries connotes a process through which rural poverty is alleviated by sustained increases in the productivity and incomes of low – income workers and households. The true success of any comprehensive, economic and social development programme in Nigeria is primarily dependent upon the extent to which it contributes to the well being of the ruralites. This is because the bulk of the country’s population, resources, particularly land and mineral resources are in these areas and agriculture remains the principal source of livelihood in Nigeria. This sector employs nearly three quarters of the nation’s workforce (Phillip et al, 2008).

In the rural areas, we find the poorest of the poor; the most vulnerable of all, the landless and powerless, most of whom are women. Most rural women are known to face greater and worsening dimensions of poverty over time, than men in areas of social, economic, political, human rights and security (Afro-Asian Rural Development Organization (AARDO), 2011). Rural women play a key role in supporting their households and communities in achieving food and nutrition security, generating income, and improving rural livelihoods and overall well-being.

They contribute to agriculture and rural enterprises while adding to local and global economies. With unsatisfactory agricultural productivity and rising poverty, rural women farmers in Nigeria increasingly have to bear with hunger and malnutrition. This is because they are the mainstay of small-scale agriculture, the farm labour force and day-to-day family subsistence. They bear more of the burden of providing food as plant, plough, harvest and fish, gather fuel wood, fetch water, cook, and breastfeed and sell foodstuff. Yet rural women are faced with a number of constraints, especially since they have more difficulties than men in gaining access to land, credit and extension services. Also, although they are the main actors in feeding their families and fighting hunger and malnutrition, they are grossly under equipped to carry out these roles and little attention is paid to alleviating women’s drudgery in the rural areas (Egbuna, 2005).

However, Nigeria in the past has made concerted efforts in increasing the quality of life of the rural people. These can be seen in the plans to alleviate the socio economic status of the rural poor households. Government of various regimes has employed some strategies targeted at developing rural areas. Some of the rural development interventions with their year of establishment include:

1. The Agricultural Development Projects (ADP) (1973)
2. Women in Agriculture (WIA) (1991)
3. Multi-State Agricultural Development Project – Cassava Multiplication

Programme (MSADP-CMP) (1999)

1. Poverty Alleviation Programme (PAP) (2000)
2. Nigerian Agricultural Cooperative and Rural Development Bank (NACRDB)

(2000)

1. National Poverty Eradication Programme (NAPEP) (2001)
2. Root and Tuber Expansion Programme (2001)
3. Special Programme for Food Security (SPFS) (2001)
4. Community Based Agricultural and Rural Development Programme

(CBARDP) (2001)

1. Community Based Natural Resources Management Programme (CBNRMP)

(2002)

1. Small and Medium Enterprises Development Agency of Nigeria (SMEDAN) (2003).
2. European Union Micro Projects Programme (EU MPP6) (2003)
3. Rural Finance Institution- Building Programme (RUFIN) (2006)
4. Rural Micro Enterprise Development Programme (RUMEDEP) (2007)
5. Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) (2007)
6. National Enterprise Development Programme (NEDEP) (2010)
7. Youth with innovation in Nigeria (YOUWIN) project (2011)
8. Subsidy Reinvestment and Empowerment Program (SURE P) (2012)

Furthermore, the Federal government, in order to achieve accelerated rural development in line with the Millennium Development Goals has set out to achieve at the national level; the National Economic Empowerment and Development Strategy (NEEDS) (2004), at the state level; State Economic Empowerment and

Development Strategy (SEEDS), and at local government level; Local Empowerment and Development Strategy (LEEDS). Generally, some of these interventions were meant to improve generally the quality of rural life while some targeted only women, especially the interventions organized by wives of governors in the country.

In Nigeria, the effort of the government in rural development and alleviating poverty is supported by Non Governmental Organizations and international development partners such as World Bank, United Nations Children’s Fund

(UNICEF), United States Agency for International Development (USAID), United

Nations Development Programme (UNDP), International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD)

(2001), etc.

The development of rural areas is of importance to national development since rural development is the pillar in the fight against rural poverty and enhancement of food security. However, it is sad to observe that government effort in developing rural areas has not been fully achieved (Ocheni and Nwankwo, 2012). Therefore, rural development needs to be given priority attention especially issues affecting rural women who form bulk of the food producers.

 

1.2 Statement of the Problem

In Nigeria, about fifty four million of the country’s 80.2 million women live and work in rural areas where they constitute 60-79 percent of the rural work force (British Council Nigeria, 2012). Rural women are involved in both farming and non farming activities and they are the key development actors, playing a significant role in the domestic and socio economic life of the rural society by supporting their households and communities in achieving food and nutrition security, generating income, and improving rural livelihoods and overall well-being. However, despite the contributions of women to development, much attention has not been given to these rural women. These women often face more serious constraints than men; have little or no access to land, credit, health facilities, experience diseases, hunger, and are ignorant. Various rural development interventions have by-passed these women who constitute about half of the population of the country (Onyenechere, 2010). Worse still, these women have not been captured by benchmark surveyors for the attention of development practitioners and interventionists.

Furthermore, inspite of various interventions of international agencies, governmental and non- governmental agencies and the huge budget outlays attached to rural development programmes, only marginal improvement has been recorded among Nigerian rural women (Okoli, 2009). Most of the programmes have failed to ameliorate the working and living conditions of the rural women as the women lagged behind in terms of socio-economic advancement (Onyenechere, 2011).

From the various interventions of the federal government, what is yet to be answered is the extent to which these interventions have impacted the rural poor of which women are the most vulnerable. Some studies showed that there are gaps existing between the financial allocation and achievement of the projects (Ekesionye and Okolo, 2012; Egbuna, 2005; Orji, 2005). Orji (2005) observed that some of these programmes interventions are hijacked by politicians, who make their family members and their loyal friends the beneficiaries of the programmes excluding the genuine, vulnerable members of the society. One of the failures of the rural development interventions is ineffective programmes for the rural women who are seriously marginalized. Also, programmes that impacted the women have not been identified and where identified, the nature of the impact has not been properly ascertained.  Rural development programs are generalized thus subsuming women further and increasing their levels of vulnerability.

It seems that the efforts of various governments are ineffective and not much has been done to actualise the objectives of rural development. When the rural women experience poverty, they get involved in anti social activities like prostitution, child labour trafficking, drug trafficking and these invariably affect their health. Therefore the rural women who would have contributed to the food security and growth of the nation will start migrating to the already populated urban areas. This situation contributes to limiting the rural labour workforce.

The effect of the strategies and programmes of various successive governments in Nigeria has remained worrisome. The dearth of empirical data on these has resulted in serious lack of knowledge and these have not armed the government with the right tools to design the right policies and programmes.  It is against this backdrop that this research will therefore attempt to answer the following questions:

1. What are the socio-economic characteristics of rural women in Imo State Nigeria?
2. What are the identifiable rural development interventions for the rural women?
3. What is the level of rural women awareness and participation in the rural development projects/programmes?
4. What is the extent of intervention by development agencies in rural women’s development?
5. What effects have the various rural development interventions made on the socio economic conditions of the rural women?
6. What are the factors limiting rural women from benefitting in development intervention programmes?
7. How can the development agencies reduce the constraints limiting rural women from fully benefitting from development interventions?

1.3 Objectives of the Study

The broad objective of this study was to assess the effects of selected rural development interventions on rural women in Imo State of Nigeria. The specific objectives of the study were to:

1. describe the socio-economic characteristics of rural women in the study area;
2. identify selected development interventions for rural women in the area of study;
3. determine the level of awareness and participation of rural women in the development projects;
4. assess the extent of intervention by development agencies in rural women’s development;
5. analyze the effects of the selected intervention programmes on rural women’s socio economic conditions;
6. examine the constraints militating against rural women from benefiting in the intervention programmes;
7. suggest some strategies that will guide development agencies to overcome the challenges to sustainable rural women development.

 

1.4 Hypotheses of the Study

The following null hypotheses were tested.

1. There is no significant relationship between the rural women’s socioeconomic characteristics and their level of participation in the rural development interventions in Imo State.
2. There is no significant relationship between the rural women’s socioeconomic characteristics and their perceived effects of the rural development interventions.
3. There is no        significant      relationship   between          the       socio-economic

characteristics of rural women and their perceived constraints to the benefits from the rural development interventions.

4. There are no significant differences in the effects of the rural development interventions among rural women in the three agricultural zones of Imo State.

1.5 Justification of the Study

The significant contribution of rural women to development process in Nigeria and increase in poverty among them prompted governments of Nigeria to intervene in improving the socio-economic livelihood of the rural areas. It has been observed that most rural development interventions tend to favour those who are already better off and neglect the disadvantaged rural majority which constitute mainly women, thereby widening the socio-economic gap in the rural areas. Investing in women will improve productivity and growth of the nation; it will also lead to a more peaceful, healthy and skilled work force.

Therefore, this study is to determine if government’s vision of improving the quality of life of rural communities where women are in majority has been achieved through the numerous intervention agencies. Also to ascertain if the programmes actually match with efforts and reality on ground in the rural communities of Imo State. The study will check whether the rural development interventionists are meeting up with their targets and whether the rural women are benefitting from the program interventions.

This research will publicise the activities of Women in Agriculture (WIA) in

Agricultural Development Programme (ADP), NAPEP, SURE P, SMEDAN,

FADAMA II and III and micro finance institutions. The study is further expected to benefit all intervention agencies, programme planners and programme coordinators of rural development to be able to articulate and highlight the challenges, successes and failures of development interventions facing rural women.

Also, this study will help government to understand why most interventions are not producing the expected impact on the rural women, and thus refocus and direct their approaches to combat rural poverty. The study will further help the implementing agencies in designing holistic approaches towards effective women development.

The study will also form a data bank for policy makers in rural development strategies; and contribute further information to the existing body of knowledge while forming basis for further studies.

1.6 Scope and Limitation of the Study

This study focused on the rural women in the three agricultural zones of Imo State, Nigeria. The study identified development interventions in the study areas and determined the extent of participation among the rural women. Also, the study examined the effects of the interventions on the lives of the rural women. However, this research experienced some limitations due to attitudinal disposition towards release of information from some of the women who needed to understand the items in the instrument. The questionnaire was administered to four hundred and five women and it took time to collect the data. Also, in the course of the research, there was inadequate information or data on assessing effects of rural development interventions since many previous studies focused on a particular intervention at a time.

 

ASSESSMENT OF THE EFFECTS OF SELECTED RURAL DEVELOPMENT INTERVENTIONS ON RURAL WOMEN IN IMO STATE, NIGERIAASSESSMENT OF THE EFFECTS OF SELECTED RURAL DEVELOPMENT INTERVENTIONS ON RURAL WOMEN IN IMO STATE, NIGERIA

Sharing is caring!