Labour Utilization and Productivity of Primary Health Care Programmes of Beneficiaries in North-East Benue, Nigeria

This study assessed labour utilization and productivity of primary health care beneficiaries in the North-Eastern zone of Benue state, Nigeria. Data where sampled from 140 beneficiaries and 100 non beneficiaries making pooled sample size of 240 respondents. Both secondary and primary data were used for this study. The result revealed that beneficiary respondents recorded higher productivities for maize (1.81 tons/ha), rice (2.84 tons/ha), guinea corn (2.39tons/ha), yam (1.42tons/ha), cassava (2.29tons/ha), pepper (1.49tons/ha), melon (1.87tons/ha), bambaranut (1.81tons/ha) and beniseed (2.42tons/ha) when compared with the output of non beneficiaries in soyabeans (1.21tons/ha), groundnut (0.85tons/ha), potato (1.13tons/ha), tomato (0.52tons/ha) and cowpea (0.94tons/ha). The study further revealed that on the average, beneficiary respondents worked on their farms 10 times/week, while non beneficiary respondents worked for 7 times/week indicating that the beneficiaries worked for higher number of times and hours on their farms per week when compared to non beneficiaries. Beneficiary respondents also worked for higher number of hours (9 hours) when compared to the non beneficiaries (6 hours). Similarly, the number of times sampled respondents had fallen sick within the past three years showed that on the average beneficiary respondents had fallen sick for 5 times, while non beneficiary respondents fell sick for up to 10 times within the past three years. The number of days a farmer stayed at home/hospital on the basis of health stood at an average of 11 days per household for beneficiary respondents, while non beneficiary respondents had 26 days. The result for the study showed that 84% and 68% of beneficiary and non beneficiary respondents used hired labour. Respondents who did not use hired labour made used of family labour or did the farm work themselves. However, a greater majority of sampled beneficiary (66%) and non beneficiary respondents (70%) had malaria attack suggesting that malaria is a major sickness that seriously affected farmers’ health in the study area when compared to other sicknesses. Respondent’s major constraints were high input cost, high cost of tractors and hire services which should be subsidized to encourage mechanized agriculture in the area. Farm inputs such as quality seeds and seedlings and fertilizer should also be sold at a cheaper rate to farmers to further boost their farm outputs. It is recommended that primary healthcare services be extended to all communities at reasonable affordable rate in addition to mechanized tractor hire services along side improved inputs supply for better productivity and healthier rural labour force.