Challenges Confronting Urban-women Participation in Agriculture in Makurdi Metropolis

The study examined the challenges confronting urban-women participation in agriculture in Markudi metropolis, Benue state, Nigeria. Three objectives guided the study. The population for the study consisted 150 registered members of women in agriculture (WIA) in the state. The data was collected through the use of validated structured questionnaire with reliability index of 0.87. The data was analyzed using descriptive statistics such as frequency, percentage, mean and correlation analysis. The study found that there is a relationship between socioeconomic characteristics and the participation of the urban women in agriculture, with a positive high correlation coefficient of 0.874. The study also established that there is high level of urban women participation in agricultural activities with mean of 2.85 representing 71.3%. Furthermore, the study established that socioeconomic characteristics have improved family life, food sufficiency and living standard. The challenges confronting urban women participating in agricultural activities had the mean of 3.06 representing 76.5% of urban women face some form of agricultural challenges. It was concluded that Socio-economics characteristics such as food sufficiency, improved standard of living and economic stability of urban women could be stable through effective agricultural practices. The study recommended among others that Women should be encouraged to participate more in agricultural practices most especially urban women due to the demand of family life, this will eventually improve their socioeconomic life towards improved standard of living.