Socio-Economic Lives of Rural Farmers: An Empirical Study of Cocoa Production in Etung and Ikom Communities of Cross River State, Nigeria

Abstract

This paper examines the impact of cocoa production in the socio-economic transformation of the lives of Etung and Ikom rural farmers and producers. Data for the study were collected from a scientifically designed questionnaire and representative size of 400 respondents in eight (8) rural communities of Etung and Ikom local government areas. One hypothesis was formulated to test for socioeconomic lives of cocoa and non-cocoa producers/farmers and also their personal status. Independent t – test was used to test the hypothesis at .05 level of significance. The findings of the study revealed that though the socio-economic lives of cocoa and non-cocoa producers/farmers improved significantly, because of farming, the socioeconomic lives of cocoa producers/farmers were better or improved over their noncocoa  farmers/producers. Our contention is that the agricultural sector in general, and cocoa production, in particular can serve as a catalyst for improved socio-economic lives of rural farmers.