A Historical Re-Assessment of Yoruba Women in Cocoa Production in Nigeria: A Case of Tonkere Farm Settlement in Osun State

Year 2019, Volume: 4 Issue: 1, 1 - 13, 25.05.2019

Peter Oluwaseun Oyewale

Abstract

This
paper focuses on the changing role of women in cocoa production in Tonkere farm
settlement in Osun State, Nigeria. Cocoa was and still a valuable and important
cash crop among the people of Tonkere and Southwest Nigeria at large. Prior to
Nigerian independence, cocoa industry was dominated by men while women only
assisted their husbands during planting and harvesting periods. The
post-independence and new land tenure system that  gave equal right to both men and women to own
landed properties brought a new development in the agricultural sector. This
development led to the emergence of women cocoa farmers in Tonkere and other
Yoruba communities in southwest Nigeria. The participation and contribution of
Yoruba women in cocoa production are hardly documented and acknowledged. This
paper therefore examines the changing role of Yoruba women in cocoa production
in Tonkere, explaining the factors inhabiting their performance in cocoa
production. This paper will benefit extensively on the oral interview with the
major participant in cocoa production in Tonkere most extensively women cocoa
farmers.

Keywords

Women, Cocoa, Production, Tonkere, Performance, Harvesting

References

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