Effects of Rice Farmers' Socioeconomic Characteristics on Child Labour Use in Imo State, Nigeria

This study investigated the effect of rice farmers' socioeconomic characteristics on child labour use in Imo State of Nigeria. Specifically, the study determined the effect of the socioeconomic factors that affect rice farmers' use of child labour in Imo State. Primary data sources were used. Multi-stage random sampling was employed in choosing the respondents for this study. One local government area (LGA) in each of the three agricultural zones was purposively selected for the study based on suitability for rice production. Communities which are known for rice production were purposively selected from the selected LGAs. The list of rice farmers in each chosen community was obtained from Imo ADP. The list formed the sampling frame from which the respondent rice farmers were selected using random sampling procedure. Thirty rice farmers were selected from each community, making a sample size of 90.Data was analyzed with binary logistic regression technique. The variables namely gender, marital status, farm size, rice farmers' experience and family size were significant at 5% level while age and educational attainment were significant at 1% level. Furthermore, gender, marital status, family size, farm size, educational attainment and rice farm experience were statistically significant variables with negatively effect on the use of child labour. Age though statistically significant, had positive effect on the use of child labour. Efforts aimed at curbing the adverse effects of child labour should to all intents and purposes be fundamentally targeted at the predisposing socioeconomic factors.