Abstract

Lelia Nkechinyere Dongo, Dele Omoyele Adeniyi and Evarestus Uche Asogwa

This study reports possible sources of damages and losses that affect productivity and livelihood of cocoa farmers in Western Nigeria. Primary data were collected through the administration of structured questionnaire and collected data were analyzed. The results of 208 farmers showed that cocoa farming is the primary work of 86.5% in Ondo State and 75.8% in Osun State whilst the rest are either produce buyers or engaged in other businesses. Majority of the farmers are male, literacy level is high as only 2.7 and 3.5% of the farmers did not have formal education in Ondo and Osun States respectively and over 90% of the farmers are member of one association or the other. The losses of cocoa bean by farmers in Ondo and Osun States are significant as about 96% have one loss or the other ranging from 10 to 70 bags annually, out of which 40% of the losses were identified to be due to insect damage, 50% of the losses caused by disease infections, 3.4% jointly caused by insects and diseases and 6.6% of losses could be attributed to other factors. Most (93%) of the non-growers respondents’ dealt with raw cocoa beans of which 43.5% of them export less than 250 tons of cocoa annually and 60% agreed that damages of cocoa beans are of multiple sources. The analysis of data showed negative linear correlation between gender and the level of education, size of farm, farmers’ group and household size and also between size of farm and sex, age category and primary occupation. Significant correlation was observed between age category and age of farm, level of education and primary occupation as well as between size of farm and age of farm and household size and between age of farm and size of farm, age of farm and household size.