Gender time allocation and farming households’ poverty in rural Nigeria

Abstract

This study investigates the influence of gender time allocation on farming households’ poverty. It relies
on primary data collected from 150 rural farming households comprising 150 men and 150 women
farmers in southwest Nigeria during the rainy and dry seasons. The study finds that men’s time
allocation to farm work is significantly higher than that of the women’s, while women’s housework time
is significantly higher than that of the men’s. Furthermore, women committed more time to work than
men did. The incidence of poverty was higher during the dry season than rainy season. Years of formal
education and non-farm work time of both men and women significantly lowers household poverty
during the rainy and dry seasons. Housework time of women aggravates household poverty during the
two seasons. The study recommended: human capacity development, promotion of non-farm work and
reduction in women’s housework time in other to reduce farming households’ poverty in Nigeria.