Coping Mechanisms of Rural Women in Poverty Alleviation in Osun State in a Democratic and Deregulated Economy: Implications for Agricultural Extension as a Discipline

The study focused its attention on some of the coping mechanisms of rural women in poverty alleviation in Osun State in a Democratic and Deregulated Economy Implications for Agricultural Extension as a discipline.The population of the study comprised of all the rural women in Osun State. Stratified Random Sampling Technique was used to select 360 respondents usedin the study Descriptive andInferential Statistics were used to analyse the research questions tmd to test the hypotheses stated respectively. It wasfound out among others that to cope with economic difficulties, majority of the rural women resorted to thrift and credit societies (esusu) 95percent, reduce meals (70.3 percent), selling ofassets (60.5percent), consumption ofunconventionalfoods (66.9percent) andlong period of breast feeding (80.3 percent). The chi-square (X2) analyses revealed that there were significant relationships between their coping mechanisms and place of origin of the respondents (X2 = 10.95, P < 0.05), husband’s number of wives (X2 = 20.88, P < 0.05) T-test analysis also showed a significant difference between rural women ofdifferent socio-economic status and their coping mechanisms (t = 7.70, P < 0.05). It then implies among others that Agricultural Extension, as a discipline should be seen as a link of bringing into limelight the predicaments of the rurcd women in Osun State. Development efforts should therefore focus on improving the rural women’s productivity anddetermine alternative ways in which they can break out ofthepoverty cycle