Gender Influence on Socio-Economic of Rice Production in Guinea: Case of Promoting Gender Equity in Agriculture, Prefecture of Faranah

Abstract

With the rural exodus of young males between the ages of 20 and 55, over half the agricultural workers left back in rural Guinea are women, FAO calls this the “feminization” of Guinea’s agriculture. The majority (51.6%) of Guinea’s agricultural population is female and 62.6% of them list farming as their principal pursuit. The study aims to assess the economic performance of men and women in terms of productivity and net income accruing from rice production in the study area. Data were collected with 270 respondents (132 men and 138 females) selected in eight rural communes and the Faranah center randomly using quantitative and qualitative methods. The finding revealed that from 2005 to 2015, the amount of rainfall fallen was about 2000 mm³ in 2008 and 1800 mm³ in 2013. The transect was summarized in vegetation, soil, hydrography, distance, cultures, infrastructure, animals, issues and solutions which were described following the relief. The community support network diagram shows 16 external institutions in which we found 11 from the government, 2 from the private sector, and three were NGOs institutions and 7 internal institutions from communities. Women production revealed that, the variables such as household income, capital inputs, fertilizer, labour cost and household size were significant at 1%, 5% and 10% respectively; the responding R and R² values were 0.863and 0.744, and F. Change = 39.383. We found in the men rice production that the corresponding R and R² values were 0.849 and 0.722, F change =38.61value highly significant at 1% level. The variables like household income, experience and labour cost were significant at 1% and 5% level respectively.  Net income females and men were (83,857 US$) and (61,133 US$) inclusively and profitability at 1.68 > 1.54 as average of benefit cost ratio (BCR).

Keywords: gender equity, women rice production, community network, promoting gender. Rainfall