Gender Participation and Agricultural Development Projects in Nigeria

The participation of women in the agricultural sector has over the years been largely informal and unrecognised due to the inherent gender inequality that exists in our larger society. This low participation has been the subject of discourse within the agro space stemming from the understanding that more needs to be done to address it. This is in recognition that the continuous discussion of this low participation within the agricultural sphere is a necessary step towards proposing needed solutions. This discussion not only needs to be continuous but also specific concerning why and how women are underrepresented in order to make the solution phase direct and effective. Hence, this study contributes to the discourse by investigating the representation of women in agricultural development projects in Nigeria in order to chart a way forward. This is in a bid to examine the sheer number of women that are represented in these projects, specifically how many women benefit from them. It will make use of qualitative methodology, critical analysis, and radical feminist theory as its analytical framework. This study finds that several factors impede women's representation in the agricultural sector. It also recommended solutions on how the underrepresentation of women in the sector can be addressed based on a three-way approach.