Assessment of gender participation in palm oil processing in Etche Local Government Area of Rivers State, Nigeria

The study focused on gender participation in palm oil processing in Etche Local Government Area of Rivers state. The specific objectives  were to: describe the socio-economic characteristics of the respondents, determine the level of gender participation in palm oil  processing, examine the gender preferences in palm oil processing and identify the constraints in gender participation in palm oil processing. A total of 150 palm oil processors were selected from 10 communities using the simple random sampling technique. The data  were collected using structured questionnaire. Collected data were analysed using simple descriptive and inferential statistics such  as Z-Test and regression analysis. The findings of the study revealed that majority (54.0%) of the palm oil processors were in their active  age bracket of 36-45 years with the mean age of 43 years. Married women had the highest respondents of (62.0%). Majority of the palm  oil processors (59.4%) had Senior Secondary School Certificate (SSCE). Most of the palm oil processors (30.6%) had been in palm oil processing business for over 20 years, followed by those in palm oil processing business for 16-20 years, the mean years of participation  was 16 years. The mean household size was 7 persons and majority (19.3%) of the palm oil processors had a household size of 5 to 6  persons. The study showed that both males and females participated actively in palm oil processing. The linear result in hypotheses one  showed a positive significance as the coefficient of determination is 0.9543 while the f-ratio is 0.3176 at a p-value of 0.019. Therefore  marital status (6.45), educational level (0.54), household size (0.23) and years of participation (6.54) significantly influenced gender  participation in palm oil processing. The result of hypotheses two showed that there was a significant difference in gender participation  in palm oil processing since Z-calculated is greater than Z-tabulated (Zvalue (5.50096) > Z-crit(1.6448). The result of hypotheses three  showed that there was no significant difference between the constraint faced by the gender in palm oil processing since Zvalue is less  than Z-tabulated, (Z-value (1.4508) < Z-crit (11.3508). It was recommended that ways to improve and enhance the different gender roles in  Palm oil processing should be implemented.