Description

ABSTRACT

This study focused on the socio-economic characteristics and constraints encountered in cocoa production among the cocoa farmers in Ondo State, Nigeria. Primary data were collected with the aid of structured questionnaire in three local government areas of the State through a multi-stage sampling procedure. Data collected were analyzed using descriptive statistics, and field’s method. The results revealed among others that the modal age range of the respondents was 55-64 years which accounted for 36.2% of cocoa farmers while 94% of the farmers are male. About 94.8% of the farmers were married. Also, 41.4% of cocoa farmers completed secondary school education. The mean household size was 7 with modal household size of 5-9 which accounted for 74.1%. About 31% of cocoa farmers had farming experience of less than 20 – 39 years. Farm size within the range of 1-5 hectares was the dominant farm size among the sampled cocoa farmers, it accounted for 48.3% of the total respondents. Also, a very large proportion (84.5%) of the respondents purchased the land they use for cocoa plantation. The major sources of labour in the study area were hired labour accounting for 95.7% of cocoa farmers. The major problems faced by the respondents in the study area were poor road network and price instability which both accounted for 99.1%.

Keywords: Socio Economic, Cocoa, Industrialization