Rural Women’s Participation in the Growth Enhancement Support Scheme in Abia State Nigeria

This work assessed the participation of rural women in the Growth Enhancement Support Scheme (GESS) in Abia State. Multistage random sampling procedure was used to select 120 farmers. Results indicated that 35.3% of the registered women participated in the programme while 62.93% rated GESS as moderately effective. However, lack of electricity to power their phone (59.48%), delay in receiving SMS (57.75%) and inadequate quantity of inputs received (62.06%) were constraints to active participation of women in the Scheme .Probit estimate of the relationship between the age, marital status, awareness, level of education, family size, extension contact, membership of social organizations and monthly income of the women and their level of participation in the Scheme showed that coefficient of awareness (0.205) was positive and significant while age (-1.105*) and monthly income (-1.915*) were negative and also significant. It is therefore recommended that the government improve on the technicalities of SMS delivery and quantity of inputs received through the scheme.Keyword: Women, Participation, Growth Enhancement Support Scheme