Tropentag, September 16 - 18, 2026, Göttingen "Towards multi-functional agro-ecosystems promoting climate-resilient futures"

Gender dynamics of the utilisation of iita akilimo tools among cassava farmers in Nigeria and Ghana

¹Federal University Oye Ekiti Nigeria, Agricultural Extension and Rural Development , Nigeria
²Federal University of Technology Akure, Nigeria, Agricultural Extension and Communication Technology
³International Institute of Tropical Agriculture

Abstract

This study was conducted to analyse the gender dynamics of the utilisation of International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA). AKILIMO tools by cassava farmers in Nigeria and Ghana. AKILIMO, is a digital tool developed by the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA), the tool is designed to improve productivity, reduce production costs, and enhance farmers' income by providing tailored advice on planting, fertilisation, weed management, pest and disease control, and other agronomic practices.
Three States were randomly selected in Nigeria, while 3 regions (were purposively selected in Ghana. Trained farmers were chosen using a proportionate systematic random sampling of cassava farmers to include male and female cassava farmers. A total of 500 respondents were finally chosen from the sample frame. Inferential statistics such as Chi-square, ANOVA, T-test, regression and correlation were used for the study. The objective of the study are to ascertain the socioeconomic characteristics of respondents; determine the level of utilisation of IITA AKILIMO tools and examine the challenges faced in the utilisation of the AKILIMO tools. The result of the study showed that majority of respondents are in Nigeria and majority are female in Ghana. Respondents were between the mean range of 45 years in Nigeria and Ghana. The majority (31.5%) of respondents in Nigeria were University graduate while in Ghana (25.2%) were graduate of polytechnic. Male cassava farmers have high level of utilisation of AKILIMO tools in Nigeria, while women faces barriers to utilisation of these tools including limited access to resources, and cultural norms. On the contrary in Ghana, female cassava farmers had high level of utilisation to usage of AKILIMO tools. In Ghana, the major constraint reported poor integration of AKILIMO with other tools. Meanwhile, respondents in Nigeria reported that the tools were too expensive. The result from the hypothesis testing revealed that there's significant relationship between Sex (X2=0.30), marital status(X2=9.89) educational level (X2= 16.56) and utilisation of AKILIMO software in the study area and there's no significant gender differences between the level of utilisation of IITA AKILIMO tools of Cassava farmers in Nigeria and Ghana
(t=0.64 and p =0.52).

Keywords: Akilimo tools, cassava, digital tools, gender dynamics, utilisation

Contact Address: Olufunke Olatunji, Federal University Oye Ekiti Nigeria, Agricultural Extension and Rural Development , Afe babalola way marina avenue lane 9 house 5, 36101 Ado ekiti, Nigeria, e-mail: comfort.olatunjifuoye.edu.ng