Economics of Child Labour among Farm Households in the Central Region of Nigeria

The study was carried out in Dekina Local Government Area of Kogi State, Nigeria in 2009. Primary data were used for the study. The data were collected from 120 children who were in child labour activities and their parents/guardians. The data were on the socioeconomic characteristics of the parents/guardians and the children. The data were analysed with the use of descriptive statistics such as frequency distribution and percentage. Cobb-Douglas production function was used to determine the effects of some socioeconomic characteristics on the income earned by the child labourers. Results showed that most of the parents/guardians had no formal education and they had large households with an average of 12 persons. Their level of income was low with annual average of about N193,000.00 per household. Children in child labour activities were aged between 6 – 17 years with an average of 12 years. Many of the children did not go to school. Female children were more involved in child labour activities with hawking of food items as the dominant activity. The result of the Cobb-Douglas production function indicated that about 80% of the variation in the income earned by the children was explained by the variables included in the model. The coefficients for household size and number of children from extended family/friends were positive indicating that more children from these sources will be available for child labour activities.The coefficients for educational levels of parents, number of children of school age, number of biological children and income of the parents/guardians were negative meaning less number of children will go for child labour activities for households with high amount of these variables. Recommendations made to reduce the number of children going to work early include establishment of more schools, introduction of board facilities in schools and empowering parents/guardians financially so that they can operate large farms.