Assessment of Peri-Urban and Rural Cassava Farmer`s Perception of Orthodox and Traditional Healthcare Facilities in Enugu State, Nigeria.

Abstract

The study analyzed the perception of peri-urban and rural cassava farmers' perfor- mance of orthodox and traditional healthcare facilities in Enugu State, Nigeria. Multi-stage sampling technique was adopted for this research. Four LGAs out of the seventeen LGAs in Enugu State that produces cassava were purposively se- lected for this research based on their cassava output figures. LGAs were consid- ered peri-urban and rural based on their population, several government parasta- tals and business establishments were found in these LGAs. Four communities were selected using the systematic random sampling technique. In each communi- ty, (15) cassava farmers were also randomly selected, making a total of (60) re- spondents in each LGA and a total of (240) respondents. The age bracket of 41-50 years (44.58%) of the respondents dominated cassava farming in the study area. The major perception problems amongst the respondents were; Inadequate/lack of orthodox healthcare facilities, problems of adulteration of drugs, poor government funding, risk of poisoning associated with overuse of drugs, practitioners not usu- ally cordial and friendly in the handling of patients, the harmful buildup of chemi- cals in the body from drugs, lack of external supervision of healthcare facilities by health inspectors and efficacy of drugs and treatment in the rural LGAs. More so, the result compared the profitability level of the two categories of farmers in the study area. It showed that an average of ₦186,210.56k was incurred as a cost of production per hectare for cassava farms in the rural local government areas compared to ₦183,805.08k per hectare for farmers in the peri-urban local govern- ment areas. An average of ₦288,741.11k was recorded as total revenue per hec- tare for farmers in the rural LGAs compared to ₦296,517.54k recorded per hec- tare for farmers in peri-urban areas. For the peri-urban and the rural LGAs, the double log functional form was chosen as the lead equation based on some signif- icant variables, the R-square, Adjusted-R square, the F-ratio and the conformity to a priori expectations.