Farm Expenditure Research Articles

Impact of Small Anaerobic Digester on Household Economy of Bangladeshi Livestock Farmers

An extensive survey was performed covering all the regions of the country to find out the overall impacts of bio-digester on the economy of livestock farmers. Five districts were selected; ten farmers with having bio-digester of 3.2 m3 on average and ten farmers who have no bio-digester were selected from each district. Through direct interviewing and farm monitoring, all farm characteristics, i.e., diurnal biogas production, power generation, cooking time, income and expenditures, farmer’s gross earnings, and manure management practices data were collected accordingly. Descriptive statistics and student t-test was made to express the comparison response of the farms by using XL and SPSS software. It was observed that the owners of anaerobic digesters earned significantly (p < 0.001) more than the traditional farmers by selling animals and biogas (1715 & 306; 1146 & 0.00 USD, respectively). Not only that, by selling milk and fresh manure, the owners of bio-digester harvested more (p < 0.05) annual income than non-bio-digester farmers (4162, 3408 & 60.91, 44.63 USD, respectively). Though the expenditure of farmers having digester was high, but in a single fiscal year, they earned more (p < 0.05) profit than the conventional farmers (USD 4329 & 2842, respectively). However, owners of bio-digester used 67.2 % of their produced manure for gas production. Regarding storing manure as biomass and using it for cooking purposes significant difference (p < 0.001) was observed that was also reflected in the total manure management system of a farm. The farmers having no bio-digester stored 71.95% of their total manure in solid form, whereas the farmers who had bio-digester only stored 20.4% of their manure, which made a significant (p < 0.001) difference. From the biogas chamber, in an average one farmer used a gas stove for 4-5 hours and a gas lamp for 6-8 hours, which saved at least the expenditure of 18 USD per month/household. The notable thing was that the bio-digester alone contributed 7% to those farmers’ gross economy by producing gas. It can be recommended that the rural householders could generate power by installing bio-digester and turn a small bio-digester as a beneficial avenue of their household economy.

Māori cultural values and soil fertility management – an exploratory study

Collectively owned Māori farming entities work much of the remaining Māori freehold land in Aotearoa New Zealand (~5% of total) and the majority of these are registered in the Māori Land Court. The effective and sustainable management of these farms is vital tolandowners (e.g., whānau/hapū/iwi) whose prosperity is dependent on the wealth and strength of connection generated from this land (whenua), which is also a source of wellbeing. There are some distinct features of the institutional factors of Māori farms that impact on how they are managed. For example, because Māori land can never be sold (Te Ture Whenua Māori Act 1993), realising capital gain is not an option for Māori farmers. Māori farm managers hence focus on cashflow and profit within the farming operations, which can sometimes put pressure on important yet discretionary investment expenditures, such as fertiliser costs (Cottrell 2016). However, as nutrients are taken off farms through animal products, soil fertility management is fundamental to the replenishing of nutrients on farms to maintain productivity and profitability (Haynes and Williams 1993). Consequently, fertiliser costs take up a significant proportion of farm expenditure for most New ealand farms, impacting on their profitability (Hedley 2015). The retention and control of Māori land remains a top priority for Māori land managers, with whom the continuous provision of return through productivity or profitability is seen as essential for landowners (e.g., whānau), and the long-term sustainable managementand delivery of services is largely driven by cultural values. So, where does the balance lie between ongoing provision and potentially discretionary expenditure? The present research set out to explore the nuances behind such a question.

Reducing antimicrobial use in chicken production in Vietnam: Exploring the systemic dimension of change.

Antibiotic use in livestock production is one of the drivers of antibiotic resistance and a shift towards better and reduced antibiotic usage is urgently required. In Vietnam, where there are frequent reports of the misuse and overuse of antibiotics, little attention has been paid to farmers who have successfully changed their practices. This qualitative study aims to understand the transition process of Vietnamese chicken farmers toward reduced antibiotic usage. We conducted semi-structured interviews with 18 chicken farmers, 13 drug sellers, and 5 traders using participatory tools and a socio-anthropological approach. We explored the farmers' histories, current and past antibiotic usage, methods used to reduce antibiotic use, and motivations and barriers to changing practices. Through the thematic analysis of the farmers' transcripts, we identified technical, economic, and social factors that influence change. Out of eighteen farmers, we identified ten farmers who had already reduced antibiotic usage. The main motivations included producing quality chickens (tasty and safe) while reducing farm expenditures. Barriers were related to poor biosecurity in the area, market failures, and the farmers' lack of knowledge. Innovation led to overcome these obstacles included the local development of handmade probiotics and the organization of farmer cooperatives to overcome economic difficulties and guarantee product outlets. Knowledge was increased by workshops organized at the communal level and the influence of competent veterinarians in the area. We showed that the transition process was influenced by several components of the system rather than by any individual alone. Our study demonstrated that local initiatives to reduce antibiotic use in Vietnamese chicken production do exist. As changes depend on the system in which stakeholders are embedded, systemic lock-ins must be removed to allow practices to change. The promotion of locally-developed solutions should be further encouraged.

Exploring the role of pesticide traders in protecting farmers' benefit

AbstractOwing to the inadequacy of the public extension services, farmers in developing countries often rely on the suggestions of agricultural input traders. As profit‐making agents, these traders, in their turn, may have an incentive to exploit farmers by suggesting relatively expensive inputs. In this study, the Endogenous Switching Regression (ESR) estimation method is applied to demonstrate that input traders in many ways play the substitute role of the public extension agents in a developing country. In the process, this study relied on primary information collected from 379 farmers in Bangladesh in two seasons (N = 758). Then the ESR estimation procedure is applied to predict farmer's expenditure on pesticides, conditional on whether or not they rely on traders' advice. Findings of this study suggest that pesticide expenditures are not statistically different between the farmers that rely on traders' suggestions and those that do not. The study thus concludes that by providing unbiased, useful information to the client farmers, profit‐maximizing agricultural input traders render the services of public extension workers, which corrects possible market failures.

Processing of Corn Weevil and Elephant Grass (Pennisetum Purpureum) to Improve the Quality of Cattle Feed Production

Cows are one of the farm animals that are very popular with farmers. In the villages many people have cattle in their homes. Likewise with the Wono Asri 3 Farmer Group which also has several members who choose to become cattle breeders. Raising cattle is indeed very profitable, but farmers need to have skills and understanding in order to get these benefits. One of the things that needs to be considered in raising cows is feed. Cattle farmers have various types, including some who like to give forage feed (such as grass, weeds, and corn weevils) only, and some like to mix it with concentrate feed. Forage feed is relatively cheaper, but it requires more effort in providing it, while concentrate feed is easier to provide but the price is more expensive. This then affects the farmer's expenditure on feed preparations. Therefore, there is a need for new innovations so that farmers can provide feed at a lower price, but it is easy to provide and of course the quality of the products produced. The activities offered from this PkM are mentoring, and training on processing Corn Weevil and elephant grass (pennisetum purpureum) for members of the Wono Asri 3 Farmer Group. This activity aims to equip the knowledge and skills of processing Corn Weevil and elephant grass into quality animal feed. This activity will be carried out using various appropriate implementation methods such as deliberation, brainstorming, interviews, demonstrations and practices. The planned stages of activities are coordination of teams and partners, identification of target group learning needs including farm conditions and corn weevil processing equipment needed, planning activities involving target groups, training, and mentoring.

Eco-Efficiency and Its Determinants: The Case of the Italian Beef Cattle Sector

In recent years, eco-efficiency assessment has proven to be an effective tool to reduce the environmental damages of agricultural activities while preserving their economic sustainability. Hence, this paper aims to assess the eco-efficiency of a sample of 148 beef cattle farms operating in the extensive livestock system of Central Italy. The analysis is based on Farm Accountancy Data Network (FADN) economic data in the year 2020 and includes, as environmental pressures, farm expenditure for the use of fuels, electricity and heating, and fertilizers. A two-stage approach was implemented: in the first stage, an input-oriented DEA model including slack variables was used to quantify farm eco-efficiency scores and determine the polluting inputs’ abatement potentials. In the second stage, the influence of possible influencing factors on eco-efficiency scores was tested using a regression model for truncated data. The analyzed farms were found to be highly eco-inefficient, as they could abate their environmental pressures, on average, in a range from 56% to 60% while keeping the value of their global production constant. Fertilizers and fuel consumption were identified as the least efficiently operating inputs, with potential reductions in terms of the related expenditures fluctuating between 9% and 42%. Farms showing a high-intensity livestock system, a low labor intensity, and a larger farm area were recognized as the most eco-efficient. Environmental and animal welfare subsidies were found to not affect eco-efficiency, while a negative influence was estimated for a single farm payment, which does not seem to be an incentive mechanism for farms to operate efficiently.

ANALYSIS OF HOUSEHOLD INCOME AND WELFARE LEVELS IN CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY (CSR) PROGRAMS (CASE STUDY AT PT AQUA GOLDEN MISSISSIPPI TAMAN KEHATI FARMER GROUP)

Companies as national economic development actors must contribute to improving the welfare of the surrounding environment, this form of concern is through the Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) program of companies that have implemented CSR programs, namely PT. Aqua Golden Mississippi is located in Babakan Pari Village, Cidahu District, Sukabumi Regency. Large companies can of course optimize their social assistance to be able to help improve the economy of the community around the company. The aims of this study were (1) to describe the implementation of PT AGM's CSR in Taman Kehati farmer groups, and (2) to analyze household income before and after receiving the PT. ECODEV CSR program. AGM, (3) analyzing the welfare of households receiving the ECODEV PT CSR program. AGM. The research was carried out in the assisted villages as the place for the ECODEV program to be implemented. The method used is an analysis of household income and expenditure using the approach of Sajogyo (1997), the World Bank, and BPS. The results of the study showed that the Taman Kehati farmer group was a group fostered by PT. AGM which is engaged in agriculture, the income of farmer households has increased after participating in the ECODEV CSR program which comes from the main business income. The farmer's expenditure value is above the welfare criteria, therefore, the majority of the Taman Kehati Group farmer households belong to the category of non-poor households.

Economic Wellbeing of Farming Households before and during the COVID-19 Pandemic in Nigeria

The COVID-19 pandemic breakout affected every population and the agricultural sector in Nigeria was not spared from the pandemic. This was due to restrictions on mobility, interaction of people and reduced purchasing power of people. The demand and supply of the agricultural produce internally and externally were affected due to the measures adopted to contain the spread of the virus. Farmers were finding it difficult to obtain farm inputs like seedlings, fertilizers, herbicides etc. The pandemic caused the abundance and availability of these products, making it difficult for farmers to make profit. The paper examined the economic wellbeing of 400 smallholder farmers before and during the COVID-19 pandemic using descriptive statistics and regression. The result from the research indicated that COVID-19 had a positive relationship with monthly farm expenditure, monthly food expenditure, monthly utility expenditure, number of farm visits, cost of fertilizer, number of food consumption per day, quantity of produce harvested, number of farm land cultivated and number of days spent on the farm. Monthly health expenditure, family allowances and cost of transportation were negatively related with the COVID-19 pandemic. In general, there was a significant difference between the economic wellbeing of farming household before and during the covid-19 pandemic in Nigeria.

A chance-constrained optimization framework for wind farms to manage fleet-level availability in condition based maintenance and operations

Operations and maintenance (O&M) is a key contributor to wind farm expenditures. To increase competitiveness, wind farm operators are increasingly looking into leveraging real-time sensor data from condition monitoring (CM) systems. CM provides significant insights on evolving asset failure risks for wind turbines. To date, these insights have not been fully leveraged in wind farm O&M due to ad-hoc connections to decision-making. Specifically, CM applications in wind farms have been limited to detection of turbines with imminent failure risks that require immediate replacement. In reality, wind farm maintenance requires a careful proactive orchestration of O&M dependencies across turbines along with multiple sources of uncertainty associated with asset availability, operational and market conditions. This paper proposes a unified condition-based maintenance and operations scheduling approach for wind farms that models uncertainties related to turbine availability, wind power output and market price. The proposed formulation explicitly considers the turbine-to-turbine dependencies in operations and maintenance, such as opportunistic maintenance, to identify the O&M decisions that are optimal for multiple wind farms. The problem is formulated as a chance-constrained stochastic programming model to maximize operational revenue while ensuring high levels of turbine availability and generation. To make the chance constraints tractable, two approximations are proposed with a focus on sample average approximation (SAA) and prominent tail inequalities such as Markov’s inequality and Chernoff bound. Our results on a comprehensive set of experiments demonstrate that the proposed approach provides significant improvements in asset availability, market revenue and maintenance costs in large scale wind farms.

KAJIAN KESEJAHTERAAN PETANI SAYUR DI KELURAHAN LINGKAR SELATAN KECAMATAN PAAL MERAH KOTA JAMBI

This study aimed to describe the income of farmers, the expenditure of farmers and assessing the farmers welfare in Lingkar Selatan Village, PaalMerah District, Jambi City. The descriptive method was used in this research both qualitative and quantitative. The method used in data collection was a survey method. Sampling of 15% (40RTP) from the total farmers population (265 RTP) in a manner simple random sampling. Data analysis was performed with subsistence exchange rates (NTS). The result of this research showed that the average farmers income was Rp.18.524.250,-/year. Average farmers expenditure consists of farming expenses was Rp.24.608.476,-/year, while consumption expenditure was Rp.16.932/250,-/year. Farmers welfare in Lingkar Selatan Village, PaalMerah District, Jambi City had not been achieved yet as the NTS value was 0,44 (NTS<1).

Variation in Socio-economic Characteristics and Agricultural Productivity across Farms in Meghalaya

The present study evaluates the variation in socio-economic characteristics and agricultural productivity across various farm sizes in Meghalaya. The study employs primary data collected from 360 farming households in East Khasi Hills District and Ri-Bhoi District of Meghalaya. The study reveals that the age of farmers and the family size is directly proportional with the size of farms. However, regarding the educational attainment of the farmers it is found that farmers with lower educational qualification have large farm size while those with higher educational qualification have small farm size. The study depicts that farm expenditure, gross return and net returns from cultivation of various crops are highest in large farms and lowest in small farms in both the districts of Meghalaya. It is also found that in both the districts the average total factor productivity is highest in small farms and lowest in large farms. Similarly when the two districts are combined, the null hypothesis can be rejected which implies that there is significant difference between the means across the three farm categories. This indicates that the agricultural productivity is distinct for each farm category in the state.

Socio-Economic Characteristics and Present Scenario of Sheep Farmers at Sherpur District In Bangladesh

This study was aimed to investigate the socio-economic characteristics and present scenario of farmers engaged in sheep production at Sherpur district in Bangladesh. Data were primarily collected with a pre-tested interview schedule from the local sheep farmers. Results showed that average family size, male and female ratio and age was 5.58, 3:10, and 45.23 year, respectively. Family size, land size and yearly livestock income was found significant (P<0.01). Most of the farmers belong to primary education (46.70%) and illiterate (30.00%). Maximum numbers of farmers belong to small holder (81.91 decimal of land). The average monthly income and expenditure of farmers was estimated BDT 10123.00 and 11476.00, respectively. The male partner was dominant over female partner in different decision-making process. The co-efficient of family size (-9843.99), land size (404.27) and yearly livestock income (1.02) was significantly different (P<0.05). It is implied that one unit increases of land size and yearly livestock income might help in increasing 404.27 and 1.02 unit in family yearly income, respectively whereas, one unit increase of family size, resulted 9843.99 unit decreases of yearly family income, considering all other variables constant. It is concluded that there is great opportunity to improve livelihood of the small farmers particularly increase family income through sheep farming in the study areas. SAARC J. Agric., 19(1): 185-199 (2021)

Optimization of Profit for Pasture-Based Beef Cattle and Sheep Farming Using Linear Programming: Model Development and Evaluation

A linear programming optimization tool is useful to assist farmers with optimizing resource allocation and profitability. This study developed a linear programming profit optimization model with a silage supplement scenario. Utilizable kilograms of pasture dry matter (kg DM) of the total pasture mass was derived using minimum and maximum pasture mass available for beef cattle and sheep and herbage utilization percentage. Daily metabolizable energy (MJ ME/head) requirements for the various activities of beef cattle and sheep were estimated and then converted to kg DM/head on a bi-monthly basis. Linear programming was employed to identify the optimum carrying capacity of beef cattle and sheep, the most profitable slaughtering ages of beef cattle, the number of prime lambs (sold to meat processing plants), and sold store lambs (sold to other farmers for finishing). Gross farm revenue (GFR) and farm earnings before tax (EBT) per hectare and per stock unit, as well as total farm expenditure (TFE), were calculated and compared to the average value of Taranaki-Manawatu North Island intensive finishing sheep and beef Class 5 farming using Beef and Lamb New Zealand (B+LNZ) data. The modeled farm ran 46% more stock units (a stock unit consumed 550 kg DM/year) than the average value of Class 5 farms. At this stocking rate, 83% of the total feed supplied for each species was consumed, and pasture supplied 95% and 98% of beef cattle and sheep feed demands, respectively. More than 70% of beef cattle were finished before the second winter. This enabled the optimized system to return 53% and 188% higher GFR/ha and EBT/ha, respectively, compared to the average values for a Class 5 farm. This paper did not address risk, such as pasture growth and price fluctuations. To understand this, several additional scenarios could be examined using this model. Further studies to include alternative herbages and crops for feed supply during summer and winter are required to expand the applicability of the model for different sheep and beef cattle farm systems.

ASSESSMENT OF FACTORS AFFECTING THE ADOPTION OF NEW RICE FOR AFRICA (NERICA) TECHNOLOGY IN HAWUL LGA OF BORNO STATE, NIGERIA

The study assessed the factors affecting the adoption of New Rice for Africa (NERICA) technology in Hawul Local Government Area, Borno State, Nigeria. Eight (8) communities were purposively selected based on their being used by Promoting Sustainable Agriculture in Borno State (PROSAB) for the introduction and promotion of NERICA rice varieties. The study used 160 respondents based on 20 respondents randomly selected from each of the communities. Data for the study was obtained from primary sources obtained through the structured questionnaire administered to the respondents. Both the descriptive and inferential statistics were used to analyze the data collected for the study. Logit regression model was used to analyze the factors influencing adoption of NERICA rice technology, while Tobit regression model was used to analyze the level of adoption of NERICA rice among the respondents. The findings revealed that about 74% of the respondents were 43 years or less. Majority (68%) were male and 32% female; 80% of the respondent were married, while 13% were single. The results also showed that age, household size, household members that helped on farm, farm size, farming experience, distance to market and distance to information on the technology, annual farm income, extension contact, membership of association and farm expenditure were found to influence both the likelihood and the level of adoption of the NERICA technology positively, while sex, marital status and access to credit influenced both the likelihood and the level of adoption of NERICA technology negatively. The study concluded that younger farmers participated more in NERICA rice technology than other older farmers. Farming experience, distance to market and distance to source of information on the technology, extension contact, household members that help on farm, annual income and farm expenditure had influenced both the likelihood of adoption and the level of adoption of the NERICA rice technology positively. It was recommended that The Government/agricultural agencies should work closely with farmers to develop farm technologies that will boost food crop production.

HUBUNGAN VARIABEL PENDAPATAN PETANI ALIH GUNA LAHAN SAWAH KE KARET (Studi Kasus di Desa Nusaraya Kecamatan Belitang III) KABUPATEN OKU TIMUR

<p><em>Analysis of the Correlation between Factors Influencing Farmers' Income to Change the Function of Rice Fields to Rubber in Nusaraya Village, Belitang III District, OKU Timur Regency. The purpose of this study is (1) to identify the process of land conversion to rubber plants. (2) Calculate how much farmers' income after the conversion of rice fields to rubber plants. (3) Analyzing the level of closeness of the income relationship of farmers after transferring the function of paddy fields to rubber trees on factors that affect income. The method used in this research is the case study method, with data analysis using the Spearman Rank Correlation. Based on the results of research that has been done, the following conclusions can be drawn: (1) Identification of the process of changing the function of paddy fields to rubber plants in Nusaraya Village, Belitang III District, Ogan Komering Ulu Timur Regency is determined by the rubber price factor which is higher than the price of rice . (2) The average income of farmers who convert rice fields to rubber is higher because of the two commodities being cultivated, namely rice and rubber. (3) Factors that are highly correlated in influencing the income of the conversion of paddy fields to rubber plants, namely factors of income and amount of rubber production, income and area of rubber land, income and expenditure of farmers, amount of rice production and area of paddy land, amount of rubber production and rubber land area, the amount of rubber production and farmer expenditure, rubber land area and farmer expenditure, while the age of farmers and farmer education are very small correlated with farmers' income to change the function of rice fields to rubber plant.</em></p>

Analysis of income and expenditure of farmers’ household in the rain-fed area of Boyolali district

Farmers usually work in various activities to obtain income and fulfill household demands. The objectives of this study are to determine and investigate the structures and factors influencing farmer households’ income and expenses in the rain-fed areas. This research was conducted in Tegalgiri Village, Nogosari Sub-district, Boyolali District from January to March 2020. The study used survey technique. Data were analyzed descriptively and quantitatively using multiple linear regression analysis. The results showed that the average household income of IDR 5,262,387/month with the largest proportion (65.31%) came from on-farm activities and 34.70% came from non-agricultural activities. Factors influencing household income were rice production and farmers’ education. The average household expenditure was IDR 3,869,634/month consisted of food expenditure 30.17%, 23.94% for non-food expenditure, and 19.42% for farming cost. Factors influencing household expenditure are income and land area. To increase household income and welfare, farmers need to optimize the management of rain-fed lowland and upland fields.

Principal economic effects of cormorant predation on catfish farms

AbstractSubstantial economic losses of farmed catfish to fish‐eating birds such as the double‐crested cormorant, Phalacrocorax auritus, continue to be reported on U.S. catfish farms. An economic analysis was conducted of the on‐farm effects of both the increased expenditures to scare fish‐eating birds from catfish farms and of the value of the catfish that were consumed by cormorants. A survey was conducted of U.S. catfish farmers in the Delta region of Mississippi and Arkansas, to obtain farm‐level data on expenditures to scare birds. Estimations of the lost revenue from catfish consumed by cormorants were developed from a concurrent study on cormorant distribution, abundance, and diet in the region. The economic effects of bird predation in terms of both fish consumption and management costs were evaluated across three farm sizes and nine catfish production practices. Catfish farmers spent on average $704/ha ± $394/ha to scare birds, making bird‐scaring costs one of the top five costs of raising catfish. The greatest cost components of scaring birds were manpower (39% of all bird‐scaring costs) and the variable and fixed costs of trucks used to scare birds (34% of all bird‐scaring costs). Losses were greater on hybrid than channel catfish fingerling ponds. Industry‐wide, the value of catfish losses averaged $47.2 million (range of $25.8–$65.4 million). Total direct economic effects (including both the increased costs to scare birds and the revenue lost from fish consumed by cormorants despite bird‐scaring attempts) averaged $64.7 million (ranging from $33.5 to $92.6 million). Profitability improved by 4% to 23% across the farm size/production strategies analyzed upon removal of the economic effects from bird predation, with greater effects occurring on smaller‐scale farms. One‐third of the farm size and production scenarios analyzed changed from being unprofitable to showing a profit in the absence of such negative economic effects associated with bird depredation. Overall, the combined effects of increased farm expenditures to scare birds from farms and the value of the catfish lost to predation by cormorants caused substantial negative economic effects on catfish farms.

Agricultural Credit, A Critical Input on Farmers Income: A Study From Nayagarh District of Odisha

In order to protect agriculture and other allied sectors, credit is indispensable for a farmer to expand and run his business more efficiently and properly which may not otherwise be possible on his savings. In this perspective, an investigation was made to show the weightage of farm credit on the farmers’ income which was designed through a random sample survey of hundred credit availed farmers in the diverse agriculture terrains of Nayagarh block of Nayagarh district and analyzed by statistical tools like regression analysis and descriptive statistics. The statistical analysis indicated that the farm credit per household, land holding have positive and significant relationship with the household income while family size and farm expenditure are negatively related to the household income. The R2 value is 0.74 that indicated 74 per cent of the variation in dependent variable is explained by the independent variables. There is decreasing returns to scale (0.766). The average per acre farm expenses and income from sale of the crop of a sample respondent of the pooled category was Rs 15753 and Rs 31606 respectively. The farmers efficiently utilized the agricultural credit, but at the same time there should be provision for procurement of perishable goods by the government or bank agencies that would secure the income of farm borrowers. In addition, a timely and need based support in creation of quality asset will lead to the overall economic growth of the block as well as the district and ramify business of the banks.

Income and Expenditure Pattern of Marginalised Categories of Rural Punjab

ABSTRACT TThe present study was undertaken to examine the income and expenditure pattern of marginalized categories in rural Punjab. The data were collected from 120 households consisting of agricultural labour, marginal and small farmers of Amritsar and Ludhiana districts. It was concluded that income and expenditure pattern was directly related to farm-size. As the farm size increased the farm expenditure also increased. The proportion of deficit households was more in the agricultural labour category due to their low incomes. In the small farm category, the proportion of deficit households was more as compared to the marginal farm category on account of higher expenditure on non-food items and social ceremonies.

Household Health and Returns of Arable Crop Farming in Osun State, Nigeria

The study examined the effect of household health on returns of arable crop farmers in Osun State, Nigeria. A multi-stage sampling technique was used to select 240 crop farmers from whom data were obtained from February to April 2019. Data collected were analysed with the aid of descriptive statistics and multiple regression analysis. The hypotheses were tested using paired sampled t-test. The result obtained showed that high proportion of the farmers were males with mean age of 44 years. Majority of the farmers were married and educated with mean household size of 8 persons. The average farming experience of respondent was 16 years with mean farm size of 2.28ha.They have average income of N258, 412.5k. The most common illness was malaria. The result showed that 42.1% of farm income was lost to treatment of illnesses. Majority of the people patronize traditional medication whenever they are sick. The variables that had negative and significant relationship with profitability in the model were age, household size, number of time ill, number of days lost and cost of treatment. Farm size and farming experience bore positive sign and had significant relationship with arable crop farmer’s profitability at 1% 5% and 10% probability. The result of the t-test result showed that illness affect number of days worked, output, income and expenditure of farmers. It was recommended that more affordable health service providers should be provided to reduce cost.