SOCIO-ECONOMIC STUDY OF THREE VILLAGES IN BAUCHI STATE, NIGERIA (WITH EMPHASIS ON LABOR UTILIZATION)

Although agriculture no longer serves as the leading contributor to Nigeria's Gross National Product (GNP) and leading foreign exchange earner, it still is the leading employment sector of the vast majority of Nigerian population. The decline in importance of the agricultural sector in terms of GNP has been partly due to the phenomenal growth in the petroleum sector of the economy. Other factors of relevance to this decline include a long period of adverse weather conditions, negative overall terms of trade in relation to other sectors of the economy as well as a very disturbing rate of farm urban migration. The objectives of this paper stem from the realization that in order to solve the problems plaguing small farmer agriculture, as in the study area, detailed microeconomic studies and analysis of operations are needed. Without detailed information about farm operations, it is unlikely that effective remedial measures could be devised to alleviate the problems. Due to the wide scope of the subject, the paper will mainly concentrate on labor resource availability, use, and productivity.