Analysis of the contribution of women in the production of hevea planting materials and latex in the rubber belt of Nigeria

Abstract

The involvement of women in areas of direct production (budding and tapping operations) at Rubber Research Institute of Nigeria(RRIN) main station Iyanomo were evaluated by randomly selecting 37 respondents (20 and 17 from budding and tapping) through a questionnaire survey. Data collected were subjected to descriptive and general entropy class of measures. Result of the analysis indicated women were educated and had one form of formal education or the other and is experienced with large family sizes. Majority of the respondents (62.16%) had income above N50, 000.00 Finding also showed that total of 388 trees were tapped with a total of 34,882 kilogramme of dry rubber for tappers and total planting materials of 36,987 seedlings for budders. The computed value of general entropy (GE) was 130.78 indicated that significant differences exist between households in the income distribution. However, there was no significant difference within group income (0.90374 less than 1).

Keywords: Budders, tappers, contribution, women, descriptive statistics, general entropy class of measures