Economic analysis of malaria affected farming households in Kabba-Bunnu Area of Kogi State, Nigeria

Abstract

The study examined the incidence of malaria, compared input and output levels of household categories, determined the costs and returns of malaria affected households and identified the palliative measures of malaria morbidity on crop output in the study area. Using structured questionnaire, a cohort of 72 farming households were followed up in order to document malaria incidences and farming activities of the households within the 2012 farming season. Households were categorized into low and high incidence based on the proportion of household’s members affected with the malaria. The data collected were analyzed using descriptive statistics, gross margin techniques, t-test and regression analysis. The study revealed that Majority of the households (86.11%) had high malaria incidence while 13.89% had low malaria incidence. There was no variability in the level of variable inputs used by low and high malaria incidence household except for seed. Crop productivity of households with high malaria incidence was about 25% lower than those of households with low malaria incidence (p < 0.05). Though the low incidence malaria households spent more on all variable inputs of seeds/seedlings, fertilizer, agrochemicals and labour they recorded higher gross revenue of ₦59,409.75 than the high malaria incidence households with gross revenue of ₦ 175,319.00. High malaria incidence households lost 39.07% of their gross margin to malaria while low malaria incidence households lost 4.72% respectively. The cost of treatment and prevention had significant and positive effect (P<0.05) on crop output and by extension on their income level. The study concluded that there is a direct link between malaria incidence and profitability as such preventive measures against malaria needs to be addressed in the study area.