A Historical Re-Assessment of Yoruba Women in Cocoa Production in Nigeria: A Case of Tonkere Farm Settlement in Osun State

Abstract

This paper focuses on the changing role of women in cocoa production in Tonkere farm settlement in Osun State, Nigeria. Cocoa was and still a valuable and important cash crop among the people of Tonkere and Southwest Nigeria at large. Prior to Nigerian independence, cocoa industry was dominated by men while women only assisted their husbands during planting and harvesting periods. The post-independence and new land tenure system that gave equal right to both men and women to own landed properties brought a new development in the agricultural sector. This development led to the emergence of women cocoa farmers in Tonkere and other Yoruba communities in southwest Nigeria. The participation and contribution of Yoruba women in cocoa production are hardly documented and acknowledged. This paper therefore examines the changing role of Yoruba women in cocoa production in Tonkere, explaining the factors inhabiting their performance in cocoa production. This paper will benefit extensively on the oral interview with the major participant in cocoa production in Tonkere most extensively women cocoa farmers.