Child Labor Involvement among Food Crop Farmers in Yewa North Local Government Area, Ogun State Child Labor Involvement among Food Crop Farmers in Yewa North Local Government Area, Ogun State

Abstract

This study examined child labor involvement among food crop production in Yewa North Local Government Area, Ogun State, Nigeria. Both primary and secondary data were used for the study. The primary data were collected through the use of well questionnaire. A total number of 120 respondents were selected from the study area through the use of a multistage random sampling technique. The respondents were interviewed using a well-structured questionnaire. Data collected from the respondents were analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics. The summary of the finding on the socioeconomic characteristics of the food crop farmers indicates that 52.5% of the food crop farmers were between 31 and 40 years, 79.2% were male, 83.3% were married, 55.8% had no form of formal education, 43.3% had between 7 and 9 household members in their family, 67.5% were farmers, and 55.0% had been in farming for between 1 and 10 years. The regression analysis result revealed that age, gender, dependency ratio, and number of household children enrolled in school are statistically significant and positive in relation to household child’s involvement in farm labor in the study area. Based on the results of the finding on the problems encountered in production of food crop, the finding indicates that all (100.0%) of the food crop farmers encountered one form of problems to the other, of which insect and pest attacks, inadequate labor, financial crises, and inadequate labor were the most prominent problems. Hence, the study concluded that the food crop farmers utilized their children on the farming activities ranging from weeding, harvesting, and molding among others. Therefore, the study recommended that there should be the provision of enlightenment by the government and other institutions related to food crop production by educating the food crop farmers to desist on the use of their children for farm works.