Research Article
Socio-economic Status of the Fisher Folk of Yuna Adopted Village in Borgu Local Government Area, Niger State
Federal College of Freshwater Fisheries Technology, P.M.B. 1500, New Bussa, Niger State, Nigeria
Overcoming poverty in Nigeria is one of the fundamental challenges confronting the Nigerian government. The existence of wide-spread poverty in the country despite the high food production potentials is inconsistent with the principle of sustainable development (ARCN, 2009).
Knowing poverty levels in fishing communities and the means to address it therefore, requires a good understanding of social structures, social relations and essential elements of governance as well as pattern of change with particular reference to entitlement. In terms of employment and income source, Raji and Ovie (2007) estimated that over 10 million Nigerian are engaged in primary and secondary fisheries activities mainly as fishers, fish processors, fish farmers, marketers and other ancillary activities. However, the fishers themselves are said to constitute the very low income group and yet face the poorest living conditions (Araoye, 2002). Inland fisheries have suffered the vagaries of poor policy, poor management, depletion of resources, poor economic and market infrastructure, which constitute a serious impediment to development of the sector making it less productive (Tafida et al., 2009).
A major goal of fisheries extension programme is high level of adoption of disseminated technologies with an expectation of increased levels of production, better income, better standard of living and sustainability of the productive enterprise by fisherfolks (Bolorunduro and Falaye, 2003). Ogunfowora (1997) opined that the effectiveness of agricultural extension is determined by the rate of adoption of improved technologies and the extent of improvement in the socioeconomic welfare of the adopters. The rate of adoption of a technology is influenced mainly by the perceived attributes of the innovation and socio-economic characteristics of the clienteles (CIMMYT, 1993).
The objective of this study was to assess the baseline socio-economic status of fisherfolks of Yuna adopted village.
Study area: The study was conducted in Yuna Federal College of Freshwater Fisheries Technology (FCFFT) adopted village of Borgu local government area of Niger state. Yuna village is 6.5 km from the FCFFT, New Bussa and 6 km from New Bussa town.
Yuna village located in Borgu local government areas of Niger state in the southern basin of lake Kainji. Details description of the lake has been described by Ahmed et al. (2005).
Data collection: One hundred respondents were purposively selected; purposive selection was employed in the selection of the respondents because not all people in the community were members of association/groups. The list of members was obtained from the college Agricultural Research Outreach Centre Committee, drawn from four farmer groups namely, male, female, youth and mixed. A total of 65 men and 35 women constituted the sample for this project work.
Data analysis: The data obtained in the questionnaires administered was subjected to descriptive statistical analysis in form of frequencies and percentages.
Personal information (Table 1) of fisher folks have key role to play in adoption decision on improved technologies are therefore, important consideration in adoption studies (Bolorunduro et al., 2000). Majority of the male respondents fall within the range of 30-49 years, while female respondents range from 40-49 and 60-69 years of age. Economically active age group of farmers or fisher folks in developing countries has been documented by Vabi and Williams (1991) to be at middle age that is 30-50. Education is a key factor in information dissemination. The distribution of respondents based on educational attainment shows that 92.3% male and 100% female had Quranic education. Although, the proportion of the respondents that may be able to read and write was low, many could read Arabic texts. The possible effects of this is that most fisher folks may not have favorable disposition towards adoption of recommended technologies, since education facilitates learning and acquisition of skills (Bolorunduro and Falaye, 2003; Zaki, 2006). Awareness could determine the level of adoption of technology (Bolorunduro and Falaye, 2003). Therefore, awareness creation is a question of information flow. The information needs of rural stakeholders are both diverse and dynamic fisherfolks generally need adequate information on improved technologies available, if they are to undertake productive initiatives in the most cost effective manner (Bolorunduro et al., 2000).
Table 2 shows the distribution of respondents according to ownership of house, type of house, means of transportation, ownership of radio and television and farm assets. Majority of the respondents (73.8%) male and 65.7% female lives in mud with thatched roof and do not also have radio, television and VCD player. Araoye (2002) was of the opinion that the fisherfolks constitute the very low income and yet face the poorest living conditions.
Table 1: | Personal information of respondents |
Table 2: | Living conditions of the respondents in Yuna adopted village |
*Number not equal to 65 or 35 because of multiple responses |
Table 3: | Main occupation and income generated by respondents in Yuna adopted village |
Table 4: | Percentage distribution of respondents by awareness and adoption levels of technologies in the study area |
AWL: Awareness level, ADL: Adoption level, ADD: Adoption duration |
The incidence of poverty is also reported to be higher among large house hold and those with lower levels of education (Raji, 2008).
The result from Table 3 shows that majority of the male respondents (98.5%) had fishing as main occupation while the main occupation of most of the females was fish processing (88.6%) and Petty trading (14.4%). The male respondents earned more income than the female respondents. Majority of the male respondents (38.5 and 24.6%) generated monthly income of < 111,000 and 111,000- 30,000, while female respondents (34.3 and 22.8%) between 11,000- 30,000 and 6,000.00- 10,000.00 only.
Table 4 present the distribution of respondents by awareness and adoption levels of technologies in the study area. Of all the technologies aware by the respondents only fish farming was adopted by 33.3% of the respondents. Awareness creation often the first step in disseminating a technology-package and to a large extent, the level of awareness could determine the level of adoption of technology (Bolorunduro and Falaye, 2003).
The findings of the study from Table 5 revealed that most of the respondents male (35.0%) in Yuna community faced constraints of lack of fishing/farm and female (41.5%) processing inputs to enhance their productivity and well being, lack of capital to purchase inputs, lack of knitting and sewing machines, high cost of fishing and farm inputs and lack of roads and electricity. Roads for instance play a significant role in collection and distribution of goods and services; it allows access to markets and health centers/hospital and permits easy delivery of fishing and farming inputs (Tafida et al., 2009). Similarly, electricity presents a great impediment to engagement into other livelihood activities like services e.g., barbing, operation of cottage industry, freezing of fish, grinding processing.
Table 5: | Distribution of respondents based on major constraints to agricultural (fisheries) production in Yuna adopted village |
Number not equal to 65 or 35 because of multiple responses |
Table 6: | Distribution of respondents based on suggestion made on how to overcome the constraints in Yuna adopted village |
Number not equal to 65 or 35 because of multiple responses |
Suggestion made by the respondents (Table 6) includes provision of available fishing/farm/processing inputs at subsidized rate (male 43.0% and female 44.1%), loans should be made at low interest rate (male 21.5% and female 23.7%), awareness creation in recent innovation of improved technologies and provision of infrastructural facilities such as roads and electricity. Tafida et al. (2009) observed that deficiency in basic infrastructure such as roads, market, water and electricity often lead to translate into poor marketing, low information and poor ability to diversify into multiple livelihood portfolio, hence reduction in income and well being.
The fisherfolks of Yuna community Borgu local government area of Niger state are faced by constraint on lack of fishing, farm and processing inputs, lack of capital to purchase input, lack of knitting and sewing machines, lack of awareness on improved technology, high cost of fishing and farm input and lack of road and electricity. Based on the above, the following recommendations were made in order to improve the living and income standard of the fisherfolk in Yuna Fishing Community.
• | Government and other financial lending institutions should provide loans to artisanal fishers at low interest rate on single digit |
• | Adequate supply of well subsidized farm, processing and fishing inputs with recommended mesh sizes should be paramount |
• | Government and donor agencies should direct their policies toward provision of rural infrastructure such as road and electricity |
• | ARCN and FCFFT should make concrete arrangement to improve the logistics for their staff so as to motivate them to discharge their duties more efficiently |
• | Thee is the need to intensify more efforts in empowering fisherfolk educationally and economically |
• | There is the need for improvement in the mode of capture, landing, processing, preservation and transportation of fish in inland waters |
• | There is also the need for efficient awareness creation on improved technologies developed by NIFFR and FCFFT |