ASSESSMENT OF THE ROLE PLAYED BY FEMALE HEADED HOUSEHOLDS IN AGRICULTURAL PERFORMANCE IN NKWENE, SWAZILAND

Women’s unequal participation in farm organizations, restrictions on women’s ownership as well as control of resources and unjust legislation give female-headed households to face many problems that their male counterparts do not The problems that plague Nkwene female headed households farmers have been identified as issues related to the economic system, declining rural communities and environmental degradation. Therefore this study was design to examine the role played by female-headed households in agricultural performance in Nkwene area. To achieve this objectives fieldwork was conducted to collect data from all 61 farmers, of which 57 were female-headed households and  4 were male-headed households. The result show that the household heads contribute extensively in rural development especially in crop farming.  However it was found that the farmers lack resources and support for agricultural production from the non-governmental organization and Swazi government, which resulted in the slow agricultural development. The study concludes by observing that female-headed households are closely tied to the welfare of people in Nkwene area. Therefore, it is recommended that the Ministry of Agriculture should gather gender- disaggregated data on the access of female-headed households to resources and to extension and training. If the female-headed households do not benefit from the extension and training then constraint assessment should be conducted to see how female-headed households could be reached.