Gender Differences In Agriculture Extension Services And Training Programmes In Western Kenya

Abstract

It is estimated that women produce more than 60% of the food grown for consumption and sale and a large proportion of the nonfood cash crops in sub-Saharan Africa yet they receive little or no support from mainstream agricultural extension services. This paper reports findings of a study on gender differentials in extension services and training programmes in Western Kenya. Using a cross-sectional study design, data was collected from a random sample of 300 farmers, 85 field extension officers, 16 agricultural officers from 3 Farmers Training Centers (FTC\'s) and one agriculture institute in the province. Over half (78.3%) of the extension staff in the province were men and only 23.5% women. In majority (59.5%) of the households, men owned land compared to 29.5% and 11% that was either jointly owned or by women. Access to extension information was dominated by 47.5% of the men while only 27.5% of the women had access. Over half (65.5%) of the extension staff preferred dealing with women. This was attributed to the presence of women on the farms and their ability to adopt information and new technologies faster than men. Training in the FTC\'s indicated that majority of those trained (62.5%) were men. Student\'s records at Bukura Institute of Agriculture revealed that 69.3% of those being trained were men while 30.7% were women. Findings show that despite the women\'s important role in agricultural production, disparities exist in the delivery of extension services and training programmes in the province. The need to train, deploy and target women and men in extension services is emphasized.

Keywords: gender differences, agricultural extension services, training programmes

Global Approaches to Extension Practice Vol. 3 (2) 2007: pp. 122-130