Browsing by Author "Lyimo, Nora"

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The extent to which extension services address concerns of women farmers on household food security in Mvomero District
(Sokoine University of Agriculture., 2015) Lyimo, Nora
This study sought to investigate the extent to which extension services address concerns of women farmers in households’ food security in Mvomero District, Morogoro, Tanzania. Like in many parts of the world, women in Tanzania play important role as producers of food and caretakers of household. Women’s roles arc not limited to production as they also work in animal husbandry, although they usually tend small animals for subsistence, and undertake most of the household tasks. Poor access to agricultural extension services is one of the significant factors which affect the agricultural productivity of women farmers. In most cases, agricultural extension services overlook the role of women in food production and often focus on commercial production rather than subsistence crops which are the main concern of women farmers as they contribute to household food security. The study therefore determined to investigate the extent to which extension services address concerns of women farmers in households’ food security. The sample size of the study consisted of 100 women farmers and 10 extension workers. A structured questionnaire was used to collect relevant information from the women farmers and extension workers respectively. In addition, field observation was used to supplement the interviews. The data collected was analyzed using a Statistical Package for Social Science (SPSS) computer software. The findings of this research revealed that agricultural extension services do not address the concern of women farmers on household food security in Mvomero District. Furthermore, the study revealed that government extension services do not address gender issues which could in turn promote women farmers to have opportunity of benefiting from agricultural extension services. This study therefore recommends that the government should identify and address food and nutrition concerns of women farmers and tailor solutions towards these concerns. In addition, extension services should promote effective technology towards household food security. For these recommendation to be well implemented, agricultural training curricula should be redesigned to be gender sensitive which will include women’s concerns and responsibilities, which will ensure that extension service extension service reach women farmer.