Gender Differentia Among Fish Farmers Within Ilorin Metropolis, Kwara State, Nigeria

Gender differentia among fish farmers within the Ilorin metropolis, Kwara State, Nigeria was studied with the aim of evaluating the level of involvement of the different gender in fish production activities, accessing their access to credit, and the constraints faced by them. A multistage sampling technique using a structured questionnaire was adopted for this study, the sample size was 210 using a structured questionnaire. Data were analyzed using SPSS 16.0. 61.90% of respondents were male while 52.5% and 49.2% of female and male respondents respectively were in their active age group of < 30 years. Females were more involved in fish marketing (42.90%) and fish processing (48.75%). There exist a significant association (p<0.05) between gender and level of involvement in fish marketing (χ2=9.20, p<0.05), access to land (χ2=10.69, p<0.05), and fish production activities (χ2=11.83, p<0.05). Access to credit was poor. Constraints faced include poor access to credit facilities, inadequate information, high cost of feed production, and poor water quality. It is therefore recommended that access to credit facilities banks of agriculture, microfinance banks, and commercial banks should be improved on while fish farmers are also encouraged to form cooperative societies as it will improve the capacity building of farmers and ease their credit acquisition for farming activities.