ABSTRACT

Incidence of malaria attacks constitutes certain drawbacks On the activities of farmers, which in turn negatively affects their output. and well-being of their households. This work vas focused on examining the effect of malaria fever on the productivity and welfare of the farm households in Nwangele LGA of Imo State, Nigeria. Among the objectives of the study were description of the socioeconomic characteristics of farm households in the study area, assessment of vector control methods they use. determination of effect of maIaria attacks on their farm output, and on their welfare. A proportional random sampling was used to select 60 farming households from three communities in the LGA. A structured questionnaire was used to collect information from the representatives of the households. Descriptive and inferential statistics were used to analyze data collected. Majority (80%) of the household heads were males, 60% of whom are married. Mean household size was 9.26 persons, while mean household food expenditure was N9.666.67. On the average, households lost 4.2 hours to malaria illness per week, with an attending treatment cost of N4433.33. Among the vector control methods the households used to check mosquito bites, which is the only precursor to malaria attack, long-lasting insecticide treated nets were used by 66.67% of the households. Six of the seven factors investigated had significant effects on the farmers' output, all at I % level. These were age of the household head, household size, household food expenditure and non-food expenditures, number of days of incapacitation, and income lost due to illness. Malaria negatively affected the output of the households interviewed through loss of active time, labour for farming and money. Also the results show that six factors affected the welfare of the households, and they include age of the household head (1%), his educational attainment (1%), gender of the household head (5%), available household workforce (1 %), households income (1 %) and number of days of incapacitation due to malaria illness (5%). It was recommended among others, that the heads of the farming households should take advantage of adult literacy programmes in the state to lift their educational level; and improvement of healthcare delivery in the rural areas to discourage sell-medication,