SOCIAL CAPITAL- A RISK SMART OPTION FOR ADDRESSING RISK ATTITUDES OF WOMEN RICE FARMERS IN NORTH-CENTRAL NIGERIA

Abstract

The present research determined the risk attitudes of women rice farmers in North-central Nigeria. A structured questionnaire complemented with an interview schedule was used to collect field survey data of the 2020 rice cropping season from 376 farmers, and data analysis was achieved using both descriptive and inferential statistics. Generally, the empirical evidence showed that fear of capital loss due to the cultivation of thinly uneconomic holdings given the poor resource capital status of the farmers made most of the farmers caught in the web of risk averse. Furthermore, the gender-wise results showed gender discrimination viz. lack of access to and control of productive resources that owe to cultural and religious barriers makes most women farmers to be risk averter. Besides, diseconomies of scale due to non-utilization of social capital pool affected the disposition of most non-cooperative participating farmers towards risk preference. Based on the findings, it was inferred that gender and co-operative participation differentials impacted the farmers’ risk attitudes. In addition, the empirical shreds of evidenceestablished that the risk gap was majorly due to discrimination effect-structural difference viz. gender and co-operative participation. Therefore, in order to address farmers’ risk apprehension, there is a need for the farmers, especially women farmers, to take advantage of the social capital pool to break the jinx of gender discrimination viz. lack of access to and control over productive resources, thus achieving economies of scale. In addition, there is a need for overall gender budgeting mainstreaming by the policymakers, thus shielding women farmers from the vicious cycle of poverty.

Keywords

• Risk; Gender
• Social Capital
• Rice Farmers
• North-Central
• Nigeria

SOSYAL SERMAYE - KUZEY-ORTA NIJERYA'DAKI KADIN PIRINÇ ÇIFTÇILERININ RISK TUTUMLARINA YÖNELIK RISKLI AKILLI BIR SEÇENEK

Abstract

Bu araştırmada, Nijerya'nın kuzeyindeki kadın pirinç çiftçilerinin risk tutumları belirlenmiştir. 2020 yılı pirinç ekim sezonuna ilişkin araştırma verileri yapılandırılmış bir anketle 376 çiftçi ile görüşülerek toplandı ve veri analizi hem tanımlayıcı hem de çıkarımsal istatistikler kullanılarak gerçekleştirildi. Genel olarak, ampirik kanıtlar ekonomisi zayıf küçük işletmelerin tarıma bağlı sermaye kaybı korkusunun çiftçilerin çoğunun riskten kaçınma davranışına neden olduğunu göstermiştir. Ayrıca, cinsiyet ayrımcılığı, kültürel ve dini engellere bağlı olarak üretken kaynaklara erişim ve kontrol eksikliği, kadın çiftçilerin çoğunu riskten kaçınan kişiler haline getirmektedir. İlaveten, sosyal sermaye fonunun kullanılmamasından kaynaklanan ekonomi ölçekleri, kooperatifi olmayan çiftçilerin çoğunun risk tercihini etkilemiştir. Bulgulara göre, cinsiyet ve kooperatife katılım farklılıklarının çiftçilerin risk tutumları üzerinde etkisinin olduğu sonucuna varılmıştır. Buna ek olarak, deneysel kanıtlar, risk açığının da büyük ölçüde cinsiyete ve kooperatif katılımı gibi etkisel-yapısal farklılıktan kaynaklandığını ortaya koymuştur. Bu nedenle, çiftçilerin risk endişesini gidermek için, özellikle de kadın çiftçilerin cinsiyet ayrımcılığının etkisinden kurtulup, kaynaklara erişim ve kontrol eksikliğini azaltmak için toplumsal sermaye fonundan yararlanması gerekmektedir. Böylece ekonomik ölçekler elde edilir. Ek olarak, kadın çiftçilerin yoksulluğun kısır döngüsünden korunmasında politika yapıcılar tarafından genel cinsiyet bütçelemesinin yaygınlaştırılmasına ihtiyaç vardır.

Keywords

• Risk
• Cinsiyet
• Sosyal Sermaye
• Pirinç Çiftçileri
• Kuzey Orta
• Nijerya

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