Abstract:
The study assessed the effects of covid-19 on small scale farming activities among households in
Kwara State. Specifically, the study described socioeconomic characteristics of farmers,
ascertained their level of knowledge about covid-19 and examined attitude of farmers towards
use of preventive practices on covid-19. A two-stage sampling procedure was used to select 120
respondents and data was generated with the aid of structured interview schedule. Descriptive
statistics was used to analyze the objectives while Pearson Product Moment Correlation (PPMC)
was used to test the hypotheses. Results show that 88.3% of the respondents were male, mean
age was 45years, average household size of 8 persons and average farming experience of
12.5years. Most of the respondents heard about covid-19 (99.2%) and farmers practiced safety
preventive measures against covid-19 (66.6%). Major challenges farmers experienced during
covid-19 include inability to go to the farm (75.0%), reduced/low yield as a result of not planting
at the right time (88.8%), increased cost of farm inputs (93.3%) and decrease in income from
lower crop yield (91.7%). There was a positive significant correlation between level of
knowledge and farmers’ perception of covid-19 effects on small scale farming activities
(p=0.000, r=0.370). There was also significant relationship between attitude to use of preventive
practices and their perception of the effects of covid-19 on small scale farming activities
(p=0.001, r=0.082). The study therefore concluded that farmers’ knowledge on covid-19 and
attitude to use of preventive measures are paramount to how they perceive the effects of the
pandemic. It was therefore suggested that timely and adequate information on the incidence,
spread and prevention of diseases should be made available to people to enhance a positive
response towards curbing the pandemic.
|
