Evaluating factors influencing use of maize crop protection equipment by women in Shamva district.

Abstract

The agricultural sector in most developing countries is under performing because the women involved face constraints that reduce their productivity.Women farmers in Shamva District of Zimbabwe are not immune to these constraints and face the challenges of use of crop protection equipment. The study evaluated women’s attitude, assessed knowledge, evaluated socio-economic, cultural and institutional factors determining women farmer’s use of maize crop protection equipment in Shamva District. Purposive sampling Method was used to select 3 wards that are accessible at district level. Random sampling was used to select 400 communal women farmers who are actively involved in maize crop farming at ward level. Pre-tested structured questionnaires were used to collect data from the farmers.The questionnaires had items for evaluating attitude,assessed knowledge, evaluated socio-economic, cultural and institutional factors determining women farmer’s use of maize crop protection equipment The data was analyzed using descriptive analysis tabulations and chi-square test, mode on a 5 point likert and binary logistic regression analysis. We found out that women farmers in Shamva District have significant positive attitudes (p<0.05) towards manually operated tools such as a hand hoe and negative attitudes (p<0.05) on the use of conventional maize crop protection equipment such as boom sprayer. The results indicated that a significant number (58.6%) of the farmers interviewed have adequate knowledge and skills on the use of traditional maize crop protection equipment which is obtained through field days, demonstration sites and Agritex extension workers. However, most women farmers in Shamva have little or no knowledge and skills on the use of conventional maize crop protection equipment. They also do not know channels to follow when looking for credit lines. The binary logistic regression model revealed that source of income (p=0.000), income from the sale of maize (p=0.081), level of income for the farmer (p=0.060), demonstration (p=0.091), Cultural or traditional beliefs (p = 0.084) and advice received from other farmers (p = 0.019) have a positive statistical significance in influencing the use of maize crop protection equipment by women farmers in Shamva. Keywords: Maize Crop Protection Equipment, Knowledge, Attitude, Cultural-Socio-economic-factors, Women.