Abstract
This paper investigates agglomeration economies among Farmers in cluster areas of South Eastern Nigeria as a tool for economic emancipation with a special interest in diversification and growth. It also identified other vital roles agglomeration plays in developing economies like Nigeria. These are not only as tools for poverty alleviation and diversification of sources of livelihood among farmers but also tools for employment generation and sustainable economic growth. This paper was motivated by the quest to provide urgent policy recommendations for a sustainable approach to agricultural development in South Eastern Nigeria. The specific objectives of the study were to: (i) describe the socioeconomic characteristics of the respondents; (ii) ascertain the perception of the farmers on diversification and other benefits from agglomeration locations in the region, and (iii) ascertain the challenges militating against diversification and economic growth as benefits from agglomeration clusters. Descriptive survey research design and structured questionnaire were adopted for this study. Pearson's product moment correlation method and split half technique were adopted to determine the internal consistency of the instrument on 150 questionnaires retrieved and reliability coefficient of 0.91 was obtained. Objective (i) and (ii) were realized using descriptive statistics and charts while Objective (iii) was realized using weighted mean, standard deviation and rankings. Majority of the farmers were within the active age of 40-49 years. Basic education (69.3%) was also pronounced and most farmers operate either medium or large-scale farming. Farmers were of the views that they had benefited immensely from agglomeration economies especially in areas of transportation, diversification, access to information and innovation as well as access to credit. Fear of risks and uncertainties, dependency on rain-fed farming, and limited access to long-term credit ranked highest among the critical challenges limiting them from diversification and economic growth potentials in agglomeration.
Highlights
The primary ideology of agglomeration economies among farmers is that production and processing are facilitated when there is an effective cluster of linked economic activities
While we agree with Edward that transportation benefit is central, we further conceptualized the view that agglomeration economies is capable of influencing diversification and improving economic growth among others
(2002); Rosenthal and Strange (2001, 2003) and Baldwin, Brown, and Rigby (2008, 2010), all keyed on seeking evidence of the relative benefits of labour pooling, buyer/supplier networks, and knowledge spill-over across different industries and regions. This is a major research gap in South Eastern Nigeria. To fill this gap which will assist development stakeholders in making relevant policies, this paper was guided by three relevant research questions which include: what is the socioeconomic characteristics of farmers involved in agglomeration economies or clusters? What are their views regarding benefits of agglomeration to diversification among others? And in their opinion, what are the major challenges facing the practice and its benefits to diversification and economic growth in the area? The broad objective of the study was to ascertain the contribution of economies of agglomeration to diversification and economic growth among farmers in southeastern Nigeria
Summary
The primary ideology of agglomeration economies among farmers is that production and processing are facilitated when there is an effective cluster of linked economic activities. While some economic theories suggest that agglomeration might ease coordination failures in particular sectors or geographic locations, Weber (1909) exploited a neoclassical location approach for industrial companies to find the optimal production location based mainly on regional endowments and transportation costs These regional, cluster or spaceless endowments may be explained to include: a great local market; large supply of labour and the increased chance of supply and demand for labour and lower search costs; the accumulation of knowledge and human capital which lead to knowledge, skills, ideas and information spillovers between firms and individuals; the basis for distribution and growth of diversification; the quicker diffusion and adoption of innovation; and the quicker access to credit facilities among farmers as well as between farmers and formal credit institutions. The specific objectives of the study were to: (i) describe the socioeconomic characteristics of the respondents; (ii) ascertain the perception of the farmers on diversification and other benefits from agglomeration locations in the state; and (iii) ascertain the challenges militating against economic diversification and growth arising from agglomeration or clusters
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