STIMULANTS CONSUMPTION AND PRODUCTIVITY OF HIRED FARM LABOURERS IN SOUTHWESTERN NIGERIA

Abstract

Smallholder farmers who account for 80-90 percent of agricultural production in Nigeria rely mainly on hired labour for farming. In order to enhance work output and attract better wages, hired farm labourers consume large quantities of stimulants which unfortunately have harmful effects on them. Previous research focused on health impacts of stimulant consumption among hired labourers, while data on its influence on their productivity has not been well documented. Hence, the influence of stimulant consumption on productivity of hired farm labourers in southwestern Nigeria was investigated. A five-stage sampling procedure was used. Ogun State, due to high influx of foreign farm labourers through its international borders and Oyo State due to prominence in food production in southwestern Nigeria were purposively selected for the study. Thereafter, 20% of agrarian Local Government Areas (LGA) located around the border in each state (Imeko Afon, Egbado North, Egbado South and Ipokia in Ogun; Irepo, Saki West, Atisbo, Iwajowa, Ibarapa North and Kajola in Oyo) were randomly sampled. Three communities in each LGA were randomly selected, while ten percent of Growth Enhancement Support Scheme Farmers (GESSF) were purposively sampled due to prominence of hired farm labourers. Ten percent of the GESSF hired farm labourers were randomly sampled to give 271 hired farm labourers. Interview schedule was used to obtain data on hired farm labourers’ personal characteristics (age, sex, marital status, nationality, labour experience and labour status), pattern of engagement and reward system, stimulant consumed (types: alcohol, analgesic, caffeine, cannabis based; and quantities), reasons for stimulant consumption, sources of stimulants, common health problems experienced, frequency of visits to health centres, attitude towards stimulant consumption, use of labour-saving devices, and labour productivity using standardised scales. Labour productivity was measured in terms of total daily income per number of hours worked. Indices of visits to health centres (low:1.00-5.99; high:6.00-19.00), attitude towards stimulant consumption (negative:55.00-107.99; positive:108.00-143.00), use of labour-saving equipment (low:0.00-4.99; high:5.00-11.00) and labour productivity (low:90.35-113.99; high:114.00-1375.00) were generated. Data were analysed using descriptive statistics and linear regression at α0.05. Hired farm labourers were aged 32.3±9.6 years, male:96.0%, married:65.2% and non-nationals: 57.4%. They were mostly full-time farm workers:79.0% and received cash:73.9% or motorcycles: 41.7% as reward. Stimulants consumed were alcohol (gegemu:242.2±656.1), analgesic (tramadol:132.6±191.4), caffeine (kolanut:10.7±7.6) and cannabis (marijuana:10.7±8.6) based. Reasons for consuming stimulant included accumulation of labour strength:85.5% and relaxation:81.9%. Major sources of stimulants were hawkers:70.3% and patent medicine stores:59.8%. Common health problems perceived to be associated with stimulant consumption were chronic weight loss (21.44±28.8), stimulant dependency (13.06±22.8) and migraine (5.58±6.9). Proportion (P) of those who had low visits to health centres upon experiencing stimulant-induced health problems was 65.2%, while 48.6% had negative attitude towards stimulant consumption. Hired farm labourers classified into low category of use of labour-saving equipment and labour productivity were 57.6% and 82.6% respectively. Labour productivity was significantly influenced by nationality (β=0.237), attitude to stimulant consumption (β=-0.299), consumption of alcohol (β=-0.372) and analgesic-based stimulants (β=-0.276). The consumption of alcohol and analgesic-based stimulants reduced productivity of hired farm labourers.