Effect of Domestic Violence on Women farmer's Livelihood Activities in Ogun State Nigeria.

Effects of Domestic Violence on Women farmers` livelihood activities in Ogun State, Nigeria. Data were collected using structured interview guide. Purposively sampling technique was used to select 220 respondents in two zones of Ogun State Agricultural Development Programme . Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, Pearson Product Moment Correlation (PPMC) and Chi-square. Findings showed that the mean age of respondents was 48.73 years, while the mean household size was 6 persons. Also, 41% of the respondents were Christians, (26.20%) of the women farmers had primary education, qualification 30.80% were into farming and 86.20% of the sampled respondents engaged in cassava production. Only 43.60% of the respondents belonged to cooperative societies. More than half of the respondents (55.38%) agreed that rape is a form of domestic violence. Similarly, 39.00% of the respondents did not have enough money to participate in income generating activities. Chi-square analysis showed that women’s agricultural livelihood activities was associated with religion (χ²=70.29, p<0.05), education (χ²=43.80, p<0.05), occupation (χ²=59.26, p<0.05). Correlation analysis also showed significant relationship between women’s livelihood activities and household size (r=-0.22). Significant differences existed in the effect of domestic violence experienced by women who are into vegetable production (t =26.09), maize production (t=25.91), cassava production (t =17.38), goat rearing (t =24.98) in two zones of the study at p < 0.05. It was concluded that domestic violence limits women’s potentials and hinders their full involvement in livelihood activities. Therefore, there is need for the patriarch structures that promote power imbalance between men and women to be dismantled. Furthermore, women should be empowered through training and access to social assets such as loans and credit.