Implications of Child Labour on Household Resource Management

Abstract

This study investigated the relevance of children in household resource management. Data were collected using interview schedule from 186 randomly selected respondents. Data were described while analysis of variance, correlation and regression analyses were used to establish differences and relationships of variables. Majority (58.1%) of the respondents spent about N10, 000 to operate their farms when children were involved while 45.2 percent spent the same amount when children were not involved. Children’s level of involvement in productive activities as indicated by 46.2 percent was average. Among others, 60.2% of the respondents said there was increase in standard of living, 51.6% claimed timely farming operations and 59.4% reported decrease in cost of production through children involvement in farming operations. There was a significant relationship between number of wives (r =0.21), family size (r = 0.19) as well as benefits derived (r = 0.43) and level of children involvement. There was significant difference in cost of production when children were and were not involved (F = 8.67). Children need to be encouraged and motivated so as to always contribute their quota towards increasing households’ productivity.

Keywords: Child labour, child abuse, resource management, household, productive