Published in Scientific Papers. Series A. Agonomy., Vol. LVI
Written by Muhammad ZAFARULLAH KHAN, Amir KHATAM
The present study was conducted during 2011 to compare the gender participation in decision making regarding crop management in district Swabi of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, Pakistan. For this purpose, six union councils i.e Ganduf, Kabgani, Ganichatra, Gabasni, Nara Amazi and Menai were selected. Data were collected from 240 male and 240 female respondents randomly selected for the purpose and analyzed using a paired t-test for comparison of gender participation in decision making regarding crop management. The results indicate that overall level of women participation in decision making was lower as compare to men in the study area.This situation reflects a male dominated society. However, the highest difference of gender participation was recorded in decision making regarding land preparation which ranked 1st with mean difference 0.71 followed by purchase of inputs and marketing of produce which ranked 2nd and 3rd with mean difference 0.60 and 0.56, respectively. Likewise, there existed a highly significant difference in the aspects of insect/ pests’ identification followed by controlling insect/ pests with local recipes and manually which ranked 1st, 2nd and 3rd with mean difference 0.55, 0.50 and 0.49, respectively. Similarly, there was a highly significant difference between gender decision making in all weed control measures. However, the highest difference was found in the chemical weed control closely followed by manual and cultural weed control measures which were ranked 1st, 2nd and 3rd with mean difference 0.51, 0.50 and 0.47, respectively.However, women enjoyed sufficient authority in decision making regarding some of the farm activities like harvesting of crops, bringing produce to one place, its threshing and storing grain in domestic godowns. The study concludes that overall women participation in decision making regarding crop management was lower than men which may be enhanced by launching development projects
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Crop management
