Gender participation in commercial poultry enterprises

摘要

A case study for a poverty alleviation programme in various developing countries showed that the production of poultry meat and eggs is seen as an excellent opportunity. A poultry operation can start small scale and grow with the market. Here women can play an important role. In Nigeria the keeping of poultry is an old tradition belonging originally to the women folk. It is rare for a rural family in Nigeria not to keep two or three birds in the compound. Despite their involvement in poultry since early times, today Nigerian women are marginalized in terms of ownership of large-scale poultry businesses. A conservative estimate of Nigerian women's involvement in the economic poultry business is far less than 20 percent, while men control over 80 percent of the business. The question is, do the women find solace in other businesses with higher returns or are they facing serious barriers in the further expansion of their holdings?