Labour Use Pattern among Farmers in Ife Central Local Government Area of Osun State

The inequi Table distribution of income arising from low productivity of labour input and rising labour shortage in Ife Central Local Government area of Osun state, Nigeria has called for a research into the Labour use pattern among farmers in the area. The sample for the study consists of 100 farmers randomly selected from 10 villages in the area. Relevant data needed for the study were obtained from the respondents through the use of questionnaire.

Findings revealed that majority of the respondent (71%) were male, 82% were above 40 years and 75% were married. The study also revealed that 81% employed between 11 to 30 labourers per season while none of the respondents employed hired labourers for the whole farm work. Labour is rarely available (94%) and rarely used (88%) by the respondents. The correlation analysis revealed that farmers’ age (r=0.20), labour cost (r=0.46), labour input productivity (r=0.46) were positively correlated with labour use pattern; with all the relationship in each case being significant at p=0.05. It was also revealed that labour availability (r=0.20) was not significantly correlated with labour use pattern. The relationship between crop types grown by the farmers and labour use pattern was found to be significant (X²=29.68; p=0.05). It is recommended that rural labour market be organized to ensure continuous availability of labour; especially at the peak of production season. There should also be parity in rural wage structure comparable with urban non-skilled wages to reduce rural- urban migration as an impetus for Agricultural development.

Keywords: Labour use, Rural-urban migration, Labour productivity, Wage structure, Agricultural development