Agricultural Performance of Irepodun/Ifelodun Local Government Area in Ekiti State: Implications for Health Challenges

Abstract

Recent empirical studies gesticulates that farmers’ in rural communities are often more prone to health challenges which further worsen Agricultural performance in their respective domains. On this notes, this paper is out to investigate the impact of health challenges on agricultural performance of Irepodun/Ifelodun Local Government Area in Ekiti State using micro data analysis. The study used primary data through the use of questionnaires from the sampled population selected for the study. A total of 71 respondents contributed to the findings of the research. The study sampled sixty (60) respondents which are basically the farmers’ to analyze possible health challenges affecting agricultural performance, socio-economic characteristics of farmers’, ill- health cases of farmers’ and farmers’ lost of activities during farming’s seasons. The study showed that the most prominent diseases affecting farmers’ families were tuberculosis, chronic back pains, lungs and eyes problems, tetanus, malnutrition’s among others. Findings also indicates that numbers of days farming activities lost to ill-health in a household might help elicit a clearer picture of the effect of transient ill-health on agricultural production. The study therefore concludes that developmental effort in the provision and accessibility of affordable health care in rural areas should be put in place so as to reduce the incidence of diseases in Ekiti State which can as well be used to justify all other rural area States in the country as a whole. The results further accentuates that good health is more important and major backbones to farmers’ in performing their farming activities effectively. Based on the findings of this study, it is therefore recommends adequate provision and sensitization of health and environmental education for rural dwellers from State Ministry of health, Stakeholders and Non-governmental organization to checkmate and also to impose heavy restrictions to the importation of hard drugs into the country such as cigarette, cocaine, alcohol, Tramadol among others causing huge amount of health-illness for farming activities which in turn affecting the agricultural performance in the country as evidence in Ekiti State serving as one of the States producing food for the nation