Abstract:
This study analysed the effect of mechanization on income distribution among arable crop farming households in rural and urban areas of Ekiti State, Nigeria. It was carried out using a structured questionnaire to collect data in six local government areas of Ekiti State through a multi-stage sampling technique. Descriptive statistics, gross margin analysis, Gini coefficient, decomposition based on Gini-coefficient, Cross Tabulation and regression analyses were used to analyze the data from the field survey. This study revealed that income inequality is higher among rural arable crop farming households than among urban arable crop farming households in the study area. It was also revealed in this study that educational level, farm size, number of crops grown and secondary occupation all have significant effect on the total household income among the rural and urban arable crop farm households in Ekiti State, while le level of mechanization was significant only among the rural arable crop farming households. The findings of this study however shows that the level of mechanization, total farm size and educational level are higher among urban arable crop farmers than in rural areas; the number of farmers that have secondary occupation is higher in urban areas than in rural areas, while family as labour source is found to be dominant among rural arable crop farming households. With an average total income of N466, 552 per annum, it was concluded that income level of rural arable crop farm households is lower than that of their counterparts in the urban areas who earned almost double of their income on the average. It was recommended that agricultural activities should be promoted among rural households in Nigeria. Policy makers should concentrate on measures to increase agricultural productivity through targeted efforts such as making mechanization facilities available to the rural arable crop farmers. Similarly, increased farm size and mixed cropping system should be
encouraged to further help in increasing the income of the arable crop farm households in rural and urban of Ekiti State, Nigeria.
