Compensating wages for agrochemical exposure risks of cocoa farm workers

Accepted 12^th February 2020
 

Fadiji D. M.¹, Okojie L. O.¹, Oluwalana E. O.¹, Akerele D.^1,2 and Okojie J. A.<sup>1

1</sup>Department of Agricultural Economics and Farm Management, Federal University of Agriculture, Abeokuta, Ogun State, Nigeria.
²Department of Natural Resource Management, GeoNET Research Initiatives, Abeokuta, Ogun State, Nigeria.

 

Occupational risk is a major factor reducing productivity of farm workers as it impairs their physical capacity and increase their vulnerability to ill health, diseases and injuries. Agrochemical exposure risk has been attributed to work demand and unhealthy work environment that these workers are subjected to which they are often not compensated. Consequently, this study estimated the compensating wages of life quality for agrochemical exposure risks of cocoa farm workers in Idanre Local Government Area, Ondo State, Nigeria. Multistage sampling technique was used to select 180 cocoa farm workers and the data on factors affecting agrochemical exposure risks. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics and linear hedonic regression. Linear hedonic regression showed that temperature (β = 5.02), health index (β = 9.65) and participating in agrochemical spraying (β = 44.71) had positive and significant (p<0.05) influence on compensating wages, while smoking (β = -41.77) and use of personal protective gadgets during spraying (β =-31.67) had negative and significant (p<0.05) influence. Cocoa farm workers received ₦75.00k per day as compensation for incurring occupational risks. The study concluded that appropriate use of personal protective equipment minimizes agrochemical exposure risks. It is therefore recommended that educational programs that will enhance farmer’s knowledge, skills and attitude to adopt safety measures in pesticide usage should be adequately planned.

Key words: Compensating wages, cocoa farm workers, Hedonic wage approach.