-
Analysis Of Labor Use And Food Security Among Rural Maize Farmers
[A CASE STUDY OF ODEDE LGA, OGUN STATE.]
CHAPTER ONE -- [Total Page(s) 7]
Page 2 of 7
-
-
-
Food availability means that enough safe and nutritious food either
domestically produced or imported from the international market. Food
availability does not ensure food accessibility. For food to be
accessible individuals or families must have sufficient purchasing power
or ability to acquire quality food at all times the utilization demands
sufficient quality and quantity intake (Omonona et. al, 2007). These
elements availability, accessibility and utilization in a larger
context, embraces the supply, demand and adequacy of food at all times.
Food
insecurity, is a situation of "limited or uncertain availability of
nutritionally adequate and safe foods or limited or uncertain ability to
acquire acceptable foods in socially acceptable ways", according to the
United States Department of Agriculture (USDA). Mohammed (2003) noted
that food insecurity exists when there is physical unavailability of
food, lack of social and economic access to adequate food/or inadequate
food utilization. Food insecure households are households whose food
intake falls below their minimum calorie (energy) requirements, and
those who exhibit physical symptoms caused by nutrient deficiencies
resulting from inadequate diets. The dimensions of food security make it
clear that the concept of food problem is a complex one with many
dimensions. At one level, the concern is with national food security,
which is the ability of countries to produce or increase sufficient food
all the year to meet their requirement for both private and public
distribution. At another level, the concern is more with the problem of
malnutrition which could also affect labor.
Agriculture is an
important tool and vehicle for reducing the effect of household food
insecurity, unemployment and poverty which are major in Nigeria (Moore,
2000). Agricultural productivity is linked to food security as higher
agricultural productivity would translate to larger food supplies, lower
food prices, higher farm income and higher purchasing power for other
basic necessities for the attainment of household food security
(Wunderlich and Norwood, 2006). To have sustainable development in
agriculture there is need to make efficient use of basic production
factors, which include land, labor and capital (Bervidova, 2001). Labor
is one of the most important inputs in agricultural production.
Labor
is a service (person-years per year) and includes all human time-using
activities, including what is sometimes labeled separately as labor and
management. Labor services are perishable and hence cannot be moved to
another period in time for use; workers, on the other hand, are durable,
potentially working for many years as well as being geographically
mobile. Labor plays a central and crucial role in agricultural
production, particularly under small scale peasant production system.
Human labor activates other production factors and transforms other farm
inputs into the required outputs. It is about the only source of labor
available to small-holder farmers in Nigeria. The smallholder farmers
contribute the largest proportion (about 85%) of total domestic
agricultural output in their area. Thus, the hope of continuing supply
of food need of ever growing population anchors very auspiciously on
human labor. How it is measured and valued is critical for establishing
the cost of producing agricultural commodities and accurately portraying
labor's relative share of the total cost of production. Farm labor
includes all hired labor/contract which may be subdivided into; seasonal
labor and task-contracted casual labor, exchange, and unpaid or family
labor used in agricultural production. However, .the contribution of
exchange labor to family’s overall labor input is low (less than 10%).
Some studies (Echebiri & Mbanasor, 2003; King 1972) confirm that
farm labor supplied by humans on the farm is not homogenous and job
content differ. These studies found that in general, men performed heavy
farm operations such as land preparation, staking and harvesting with
women and children performing lighter operations such as planting,
fertilizer application and weeding. Ajibefun et. al., (2000) noted that
hired labor contributes 88.0% [1] of the total use on farms thus
emphasizing its importance in agricultural activities. Other types of
labor that could be found employed are family labor and exchange labor.
Researchers on farm labor supply have observed the total supply of labor
depends on factors such as the size of the population, its age
composition and certain institutional factors (Hardwick, 1994).
CHAPTER ONE -- [Total Page(s) 7]
Page 2 of 7
-
-
ABSRACT - [ Total Page(s): 1 ]The study examined the Analysis of labor use and food security among rural maize farmers in odede lga, ogun state.More specifically, the study sought to assess the labor use and food security among farmers.The study consist of all farmers in Odeda Local government area, Ogun state, a two -Stage sampling procedure was employed in the selection of the respondents’ maize crop farmers within the study area, twenty-five maize farmers was randomly selected from each of the villages which one hu ... Continue reading---
