*3.1.5 Maize marketing by women farmers*

Maize like most agricultural commodities can be marketed freshly harvested or processed. In Kogi State, local market places which are normally held at an interval of 4–5 days are the points of convergence of the farm produce, including maize. Maize processing would further enhance the chances of success in its marketing. In terms of marketing of maize in study area as reflected in **Table 1**,

**139**

warehouses.

**Figure 6.**

**Figure 5.**

*Wheelbarrow for conveying load.*

of the industrial establishment.

*Women Participation in Post-Harvest Processing of Maize Using Indigenous Technologies…*

19.05, 27.38, 41.76 and 11.91% of the women maize farmers rated their participation as low, moderate, high and no participation respectively. Women in Kogi State were found to be mostly responsible for price taking and giving in maize grain marketing. This does not mean that men do not take part in marketing of maize; but their activities in marketing of maize are minimal when compared to women involvement in same. One important feature of the markets in the study area is the presence of warehouses in and around the market which makes it easier for marketers to store their goods. **Figure 6** depicts a typical market with

*The researcher observing the triple bagging system in front of a warehouse in the market.*

One problem faced by both small and large scale maize farmers in food processing particularly if they are into traditional foods, is how to market their products at a price that will guarantee a reasonable margin of profit. The chances of success of a large scale commercial venture producing traditional food could be further enhanced, especially if they are part of a group or chain of industries, and if some of the materials which they plan to produce will be utilized by one of the other arms

*DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.88517*

*Women Participation in Post-Harvest Processing of Maize Using Indigenous Technologies… DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.88517*

#### **Figure 5.** *Wheelbarrow for conveying load.*

*Maize - Production and Use*

N50 per single ones.

*A woman winnowing and sun drying maize.*

**Figure 4.**

blers) (**Figure 5**).

*3.1.5 Maize marketing by women farmers*

*3.1.4 Transportation of maize by women farmers*

value added products like maize porridge (*ekwo, ogidigbo agidi*) are packaged in banana leaves or other broad leaves that can be folded around the semi-solid porridge. The proportion of the respondents that did not respond may be due to fact that they are used to their indigenous way of grading/sorting/packaging of maize and too, that the improved grading and packaging available may not be cost effective for the farmers. For instance, the improved bagging system (triple bags), at the time of this report were sold at N300 per triple bag as against the

With respect to transportation of maize, 39.88, 26.79, 20.24 and 13.10% of the women farmers said their participation was low, medium, high and no response respectively. This means that the participation of women farmers in Kogi State in the transportation of maize was rated low. Transportation is done indigenously by using their head with a basket or any other container to carry the maize cobs or grains. The load could be transported using wheelbarrow or bicycle to convey harvested maize from farm to home or markets or from stores at home to the market. It is noteworthy, that women are sometimes helped by their men counterpart especially those that are married in terms of transportation of maize particularly in the area of loading and unloading, if the harvested maize is bulky. However, in some cases, improved transportation, such as lorry, pick-up van, trucks, etc., could be employed for bulkier loads especially at farm gate where many small-scale farmers put their produce together for buyers (bulk assem-

Maize like most agricultural commodities can be marketed freshly harvested or processed. In Kogi State, local market places which are normally held at an interval of 4–5 days are the points of convergence of the farm produce, including maize. Maize processing would further enhance the chances of success in its marketing. In terms of marketing of maize in study area as reflected in **Table 1**,

**138**

#### **Figure 6.**

*The researcher observing the triple bagging system in front of a warehouse in the market.*

19.05, 27.38, 41.76 and 11.91% of the women maize farmers rated their participation as low, moderate, high and no participation respectively. Women in Kogi State were found to be mostly responsible for price taking and giving in maize grain marketing. This does not mean that men do not take part in marketing of maize; but their activities in marketing of maize are minimal when compared to women involvement in same. One important feature of the markets in the study area is the presence of warehouses in and around the market which makes it easier for marketers to store their goods. **Figure 6** depicts a typical market with warehouses.

One problem faced by both small and large scale maize farmers in food processing particularly if they are into traditional foods, is how to market their products at a price that will guarantee a reasonable margin of profit. The chances of success of a large scale commercial venture producing traditional food could be further enhanced, especially if they are part of a group or chain of industries, and if some of the materials which they plan to produce will be utilized by one of the other arms of the industrial establishment.


#### **Table 3.**

*Chi-square analysis on the level of women participation in post-harvest operations of maize in the various zones (A, B, C and D) of Kogi State, Nigeria.*


#### **Table 2.**

*Frequency distribution of respondents according to their level of participation in post-harvest operations in the various zones of Kogi State.*

**141**

*Women Participation in Post-Harvest Processing of Maize Using Indigenous Technologies…*

**3.2 Tests for hypothesis on the level of women participation in post-harvest** 

**Table 3** shows the analysis of Chi-square on the level of post-harvest activities among farmers in the various zones (A, B, C and D respectively). This was achieved using the observed frequencies in **Table 2**. The result indicated that there was a significant difference (P ≤ 0.10, P ≤ 0.05 and P ≤ 0.01 respectively) their level of post-harvest operations in storage, transportation and marketing. This implies that the null hypothesis which was stated that 'there was no significant difference in the levels of post-harvest operations of maize in the various agro-ecological zones (A, B, C and D) of the study area' was rejected in each case. This may not be unconnected with the fact that maize thrives well in all the agro-ecological zones of the State and by extension, a high participation of women in the post-harvest activities should be expected across the zones of the state all things being equal. There were no significant differences in in terms of grading/sorting/packaging and transportation. This could be tied to the fact that these marketing functions are activities that relatively depend on the presence of designated market places; hence, these postharvest operations may be higher in the areas where these markets were found, and

It can be inferred that there is generally, a high participation of women farmers in the storage of maize in the study area, but low participation in transportation, grading/sorting/packaging and processing of maize were recorded. This could be due to some factors that might have directly or indirectly affected the participation of respondents. The differences that occurred in the level of participation by women in post-harvest management of maize at the various agro-ecological zones of the State because of the peculiarity of the dominance of some post-harvest handling operation in a particular zone. This can be seen as a point to harness and integrate the indigenous knowledge on post-harvest handling of maize from these areas in order to boost their post-harvest activities. Their low level of participation in some of the post-harvest operations could be tied to the fact that they had inadequate access to information and other productive resources. If they have access to productive resources, they could improve their level of participation in post-harvest activities. The adequate knowledge and attitude about the appropriate indigenous post-harvest technology to be used by the farmers for maize in a particular agro-ecology will go a long way to boost farmers' participation in post-harvest management of maize. It is obvious that despite the existence of various improved post-harvest technologies in Nigeria, most of the women in the study area are still glued to some indigenous technologies for the reason that they might have tested and are familiar with these indigenous technologies and perhaps, they have little or

**operations in the various zones (A, B, C and D) of Kogi State**

*DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.88517*

lower if otherwise.

**4. Conclusion**

no access to the improved or modern ones.

*Women Participation in Post-Harvest Processing of Maize Using Indigenous Technologies… DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.88517*
