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ABSTRACT
The study focused on the demand analysis for hired labour among small-scale yam farmers in Edo State, Nigeria.
The primary data used for the study were collected with the use of well- structured questionnaires and interview schedules. A three stage sampling procedure was used to select yam farmers within the study area. Data collected were subjected to both descriptive and inferential statistics. The statistics used were frequency counts, percentage mean scores and Garret Ranking Technique while the inferential statistics employed were Translog Profit Function model and Hotelling’s Lemma to estimate the yam demand function. The result showed that the mean age of the yam farmers was 52 years, mean farming experience was 21 years and mean household size was 8 persons. The result showed that hired labour was mostly utilized alone for land preparation (63.53%) and for heap making/digging (46.47%). The findings of the study showed that family labour was mainly utilized alone for planting of yams (46.47%) as it required specialized skills and for yam storage (54.12%), while a combination of hired and family labour were used for harvesting of yams (50.1%). A total of 171 man-days per hectare were utilized on the average by the farmers for yam production. However, hired labour man-days (55.62%) was more used than family labour man-days (40.44%) and communal labour man-days (3.94%) in the study area. The elasticities coefficients of wage rate (-1.325), price of herbicide (-0.126) and age of farmers (-0.029) showed a negative relationship with the demand for hired labour and were statistically significant to the demand for hired labour. However, the demand for hired labour showed a positive and significant relationship with the elasticity coefficient of farm size, meaning that when the size of this independent variable increases, the demand for hired labour will also increase. The study also showed that the major constrain experienced by the small-scale yam farmers in the use of hired labour in the study area was inadequate farm credit (55.12).
The study has shown that hired labour is relevant for small-scale yam production in Edo State. There is therefore a need for small-scale yam farmers in the state to form cooperatives so they can access farm credit to purchase the amount of hired labour they desire for yam production. There is also a need for increased youth participation in small-scale yam production in the state to increase farm labour due to aging farmers.
