The study examined gender roles in soybean cultivation in 12 communities in central Benue
State, Nigeria, with the aim of providing an understanding of role differences for planning
gender-sensitive programmes that seek to reduce poverty and malnutrition, and attain food
security. Structured interview schedule was used in collecting data from one hundred and twenty
(84 males and 36 females) soybean farmers randomly selected from the communities.
Percentages and means were employed in data analysis while T-test was used to test significant
difference between males and females in mean roles and constraints in soybean cultivation. The
results showed that male farmers contributed more in heavy tasks of land clearing, land
preparation, fertilizer application, harvesting and bagging/packaging while females were more
engaged in light tasks like seed selection, sowing/planting, weeding and threshing. The study
revealed that female farmers were responsible for almost all domestic activities (cooking, wood
collection, water collection and child care). The results further showed that both gender
perceived lack of improved production methods, lack of farmer participation in technology
generation, inadequate training opportunity, poor extension agent-farmer contact, lack of
access to labour-saving devices, high cost of labour, poor access to credit, poor access to inputs,
and poor pricing of produce as serious constraints to soybean cultivation in the study area. The
findings showed significant differences in roles and constraints of male and female farmers in
soybean cultivation.