The social condition of a cohort of peasant farmers in rural community in southwest Nigeria.
This study focused on the psychosocial condition of a cohort of rural farmers, highlighting the social condition of their children, their life style, life events in the past year, the extent of their involvement in farming, the sufficiency of material sustenance from their products, their unmet needs and social aspirations, difficulties encountered in farm work, satisfaction with farming, and psychological distress. In 1992, 186 farmers were interviewed during health education visits at farm villages in Idere town, Oyo State. There were 161 (87%) males and 25 (13%) females mean age 49.9 (sd 11.7) years: who were illiterate, mainly polygamous, with 4-6 children per household. Only two families had a child each in institutions of higher learning. The general picture that emerged was that of a peasant, hardworking (six-day per week) farmer who relaxes with a game of cards in the evenings. His greatest problem is that of transportation and hiring extra hands for work. He is impressed by the yield from his farm. Compared with urban junior civil servants, the farmers had significantly lesser life events and GHQ-12 (psychological symptoms) scores. They had unmet social needs and were not satisfied with their condition of living. Meeting some of the basic needs of these farmers will boost their morale, enhance yield, and lower prices of food for the general population.
Ohaeri
J U
JU
Department of Psychiatry, College of Medicine, University of Ibadan, Nigeria.
Asuzu
M O
MO
Odejide
O A
OA
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000383:Agriculture; D001240:Aspirations, Psychological; D001290:Attitude; D002648:Child; D015331:Cohort Studies; D004522:Educational Status; D005190:Family; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007588:Job Satisfaction; D008016:Life Change Events; D008019:Life Style; D008297:Male; D017533:Marital Status; D008875:Middle Aged; D009013:Morale; D009549:Nigeria; D012424:Rural Population; D012917:Social Adjustment; D012924:Social Conditions; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D013315:Stress, Psychological / Q000523:psychology; D014505:Urban Population