EC Nutrition

Sound health is a basic requirement for the farming household to live a productive life. Poor health affects agricultural production as the health status of the farmers affects their physical ability to work, efficient utilization of resources, and the ability to adopt innovations, and by extension impact negatively on the welfare of their household. Malaria, stomach ache, and ringworm were the major ailments complained of by the respondents in the study area. The prevalence of these ailments is in decreasing order. Accessibility, effectiveness, and affordability were the reasons adduced by the majority of smallholder farmers’ households for utilising traditional healthcare services. Most of the respondents who patronized traditional and modern healthcare services were within the range of 50 - 57 years. The users of traditional healthcare services incurred the lowest average cost per cropping season, and there was a significant difference among the average costs incurred (traditional, modern, and trado-modern healthcare) by respondents. Years of education and the cost of medications were the drivers of smallholder farmers’ choice of healthcare services in Ibarapa East Local Government Area. The study recommends that rural communities should organize themselves into Community Development Associations through which corporate organisations can be approached for assistance to build healthcare centers in their respective localities to reduce the problem of accessibility. The need for local government authority to ensure the provision of subsidized drugs and services will increase the smallholders' farmer's patronage of modern healthcare.

 Keywords: Healthcare Service Utilization; Modern Healthcare; Smallholder Farmer; Multinomial Logistic Regression

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