Morbidity Cost and Willingness to Pay for Healthcare Insurance among Wheat Farmers in Jigawa State of Nigeria

The study determined the morbidity cost and farmers’ willingness to pay for health insurance in Jigwa State of Nigeria using a cross-sectional data collected from 284 farmers viz. a multi-stage sampling technique. Using an easy-route cost approach, a well-structured questionnaire coupled with interview schedule was used for data elicitation and the data collected were analyzed using both descriptive and inferential statistics. Empirically, majority of the farmers deployed accumulation strategy for livelihood sustenance vis-à-vis enterprise diversification, a catalyst that increased their stocks and consumption outcomes, thus smoothen their income and consumption. However, financial and at worst physical livelihood capitals were the challenges that affected livelihood assets of the farmers in the study area. Furthermore, malaria is the major livelihood health morbidity; consequently, for a healthy livelihood, marginally above half of the sampled population conceded to the idea of social health insurance scheme. However, this intent was largely driven by the relegated or almost neglected social learning aspect of extension service delivery. Thus, as a measure to reduce cost of public capital expenditure on livelihood health care in the study area, the study advises policymakers to extend its health scheme beyond the fold of formal organization by accommodating the farming community, thus enhancing farm family livelihood in particular, and growth and development of the economy in general. Nevertheless, enhancement of institutional factor vis-à-vis social extension, financial and infrastructural facilities are recommended

Morbidity Cost and Willingness to Pay for Healthcare Insurance among Wheat Farmers in Jigawa State of Nigeria

The study determined the morbidity cost and farmers’ willingness to pay for health insurance in Jigwa State of Nigeria using a cross-sectional data collected from 284 farmers viz. a multi-stage sampling technique. Using an easy-route cost approach, a well-structured questionnaire coupled with interview schedule was used for data elicitation and the data collected were analyzed using both descriptive and inferential statistics. Empirically, majority of the farmers deployed accumulation strategy for livelihood sustenance vis-à-vis enterprise diversification, a catalyst that increased their stocks and consumption outcomes, thus smoothen their income and consumption. However, financial and at worst physical livelihood capitals were the challenges that affected livelihood assets of the farmers in the study area. Furthermore, malaria is the major livelihood health morbidity; consequently, for a healthy livelihood, marginally above half of the sampled population conceded to the idea of social health insurance scheme. However, this intent was largely driven by the relegated or almost neglected social learning aspect of extension service delivery. Thus, as a measure to reduce cost of public capital expenditure on livelihood health care in the study area, the study advises policymakers to extend its health scheme beyond the fold of formal organization by accommodating the farming community, thus enhancing farm family livelihood in particular, and growth and development of the economy in general. Nevertheless, enhancement of institutional factor vis-à-vis social extension, financial and infrastructural facilities are recommended

Economic efficiency of small-scale wheat production in Jigawa state, Nigeria

Africa’s most populous country has failed to grow more food for its fast-rising population. With 420,000 metric tons of wheat produced in Nigeria in 2020, the country is still far from bridging its 4.6 million metric tons annual wheat gap. Increasing wheat production is a challenge for the nation to fulfill the food requirements of its growing population. So far literature has shown a rise in research on wheat in different parts of Nigeria, with a paucity of information on the economic efficiency of wheat production in the study area, and the country in general. To bridge these knowledge and empirical gaps, this research investigates the economic efficiency of wheat production in Jigawa State of Nigeria using information gathered from a survey elicited by a well-structured questionnaire coupled with an interview schedule from 341 active wheat farmers selected through a multi-stage sampling technique. Both descriptive and inferential statistics were used to analyze the data collected. Empirically, despite the wheat enterprise being profitable in the study area, farmers didn’t achieve the targeted goals of output maximization, cost minimization, and profit maximization as evident respectively by the technical, cost, and economic efficiency indexes. However, these goals were challenged by induced human risks viz. gender discrimination that affects women’s access to productive resources, poor labor productivity due to diminishing marginal returns associated with old age, capital consumption triggered by increased income, poor prioritization of wheat enterprise as a business, and vulnerable household size. Furthermore, the identified constraints mediating the links that affected the economic efficiency of wheat farmers were price/marketing, technological, managerial, and infrastructural risks. Therefore, for long-run sustainable wheat production, the responsibility lies on policymakers to concentrate more on marketing and technological risks challenging wheat production in the study area as empirically established by this research