Hired labor use decisions in cassava‐producing households of sub‐Saharan Africa

Abstract

Sub-Saharan Africa is the only developing region of the world where agricultural output has been trailing population growth for most of the last three decades. Farming systems in the region are inherently risky because they are fundamentally dependent on the vagaries of weather. In addition, it is a region of crises; poverty, civil strife, and HIV/AIDS. Attention must therefore be focused on improving the production of crops that could thrive under these circumstances. Because of its tolerance of extreme drought and low input use conditions, cassava is perhaps the best candidate in this regard. And cassava is a basic food staple and a major source of farm income for the people of the region. The use of hired labor is important for its production growth because cassava root yield responds positively to the application of hired labor. This article, based on farm-level information collected from six major cassava-producing countries of Africa, within the framework of the Collaborative Study of Cassava in Africa, identifies strategic variables affecting the hired labor use decisions of producing households. The characteristics of the household head (age and number of years of formal education), the size of the household farm, good market access, and population pressure are found to motivate households to apply hired labor in cassava production. These observations underscore the need for investing in people-education-and in infrastructure-market access-as possible tools for improving food production in the region. The positive effect of farm size also suggests that some kind of land reform, which would put more farmland at the disposal of farm households, could be favorable to improving cassava production. Copyright 2005 International Association of Agricultural Economics.

Structure of soyabeans markets in Benue and Enugu States, Nigeria

“…Hence, this type of market could be said to be uncompetitive because individual marketers especially company agents had great influence on the market price. This did not agree with the work of Enete (2003) in cassava marketing in Nigeria, Enete and Agbugba (2008) in Charcoal marketing in Abia State and Hayami et al (1999) in rice marketing in Philippines. A high Gini coefficient of 0.68 was obtained by Ike and Chukwuji (2005) which implied that there was significant inequality in the distribution of income among the cashew nut sellers and hence, a high level of concentration.…”

Market Structure, Price Formation and Price Transmission for Wood Charcoal in Southeastern Nigeria

“…This type of market structure is competitive, because the individual agents have little or no influence on the market price. Nweke et al (2002), Enete (2003), and Haggblade (2012), have made similar observations with cassava in Nigeria and several countries in sub-Saharan Africa where the commodity is traded within a perfectly competitive market structure featuring large number of suppliers and buyers of a homogenous product. Akinpelu and Adenegan (2011) and Ugwumba, Okoh and Uzuegbunam (2011) have also conducted price-concentration studies for the sweet potato and live-catfish markets in Anambra and Abia States of Nigeria, respectively.…”

“…Enete (2003) reported marketing margin of 50% for fresh cassava root in Nigeria. Goossens (1996) observed that margins can be as high as 45% for cassava products in Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).…”

“…Riley (1972) had reported that, for the most part, a retail margin of less than 10% of the consumer price seems normative for efficient markets in developing countries for non-perishable goods like charcoal. However, higher marketing margins often occur and reflect poor socio-economic environment of the actors, including other technical and institutional constraints (Goossens, 1996;Enete, 2003).…”

The Structure Of Labour Market And Demand For Hired Labour For Oil Palm Production In The Western Region Of Ghana

“…Conversely, the average household education level of middle school/JSS or lower is expected to exert a negative effect on the farmer's demand for hired labour. Enete et al (2005) estimated a Tobit model for hired labour and found out that the characteristics of the household head (age and number of years of formal education), the size of the household farm, good market access, and population pressure motivate households to apply hired labour in cassava production. Also, Benjamin and Kimhi (2006) from an estimated multinomial model reported that hired farm labour increases with the farmer's qualifications, perhaps substituting for the couple's labour inputs while other adults in the household substitute for the farm labour input of the farm couple and hired workers.…”