Role of women in livestock management in the rural area of district Swabi, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan

Abstract

The purpose of this empirical study was to identify the participation of women in livestock management practices and to explore factors determining their engagement in district Swabi, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan. A multi-stage sampling approach was adopted to choose a random sample of 110 women farmers from the union council of village Shewa, and a well-structured questionnaire was designed to accumulate the primary dataset from rural women through face to face interviews. A women's participation index was designed to compute the degree of women's involvement, and a multiple linear regression model was proposed to measure factors influencing women's participation in livestock management practices. The computed value of the mean composite index was 4.81 which showed that women farmers on average engaged for 4.81 hours per day in the livestock management practices. The multiple regression results illustrated that women's education, family size, and livestock income significantly affect women's participation; however, women's age and herd size insignificantly affect women's inclusion in the livestock farming operations. The findings of this study recommend that the importance of rural women's involvement in the livestock sector should be identified in federal and provincial government plans and agricultural policy formulations. The study also recommends that the provision of agriculture credit facilities and livestock training facilities to women farmers could stimulate their involvement in livestock practices and anticipates the decision-making power in livestock management practices.