Participation of Women in Backyard Farming in Badagry Local Government Area, Lagos State, Nigeria.

This study examined the rural women participation in backyard farming in Badagry Local Government Area, Lagos State, Nigeria. A three-stage random sampling procedure was used to select 200 respondents. Data was collected using an interview schedule and both descriptive and inferential statistics were used for data analysis The average age of the respondents was 50.9 years, and their average household size was 5 persons. Majority of the respondents grew Vegetables (92.0%), Pepper (89.0%), and Tomato (74.5%), and they participated in were land preparation for backyard farming (mean=4.22±0.47) and maintenance of backyard farm (4.04±0.42). The women’s level of participation in backyard farming was high (57.0%) and majority (75.5%) were food secured. Challenges faced in backyard farming by the respondents were labor burden ((=2.14±0.78), financial constraint ((=2.09), and climate change ((=2.09). This study concluded that the level of participation of women in backyard farming was low due to labor burden, limited finance and climate change. Therefore, the study recommends that advocacy should be scaled up for more women participation in backyard farming and establishment of women’s farmer groups and cooperatives to provide support and loan packages, ensure that all agricultural policies and programs consider the specific needs, challenges faced by
women participating in backyard farming.