Changes in the Labour Value of Children in the Agrarian Isoko Community of Delta State, Nigeria

Abstract

The labour value of children has been considered one of the benefits of children especially in agrarian pre-transitional societies. This labour value of children was, among other things, one of the reasons for having large families in these societies. The traditional value of children is undergoing changes with consequences for fertility attitudes and preferences. This paper examines how socio-economic change, especially the advent of schooling, has affected children's participation in agriculture as well as the changing role of children. It is based on information generated from Focus Group Discussions conducted among men and women in two urban and four rural communities in the two Local Government Areas occupied by Isoko people of Delta State, Nigeria.   It was observed that schooling has contributed to the decline in the labour value of children in the study area. In parental calculations, this decline and the higher costs of child rearing are counterbalanced by the benefits they would reap from their educated children in future. Adult children’s contributions to parents’ farming are becoming mainly monetary. They occasionally make remittances to their parents for their upkeep and also for hiring labourers to work on the farm. Farming is perceived by parents as a profession that entails much drudgery and associated with poverty. Rural farmers, therefore, prefer other kinds of job for their children, a situation that has implications for the continuity and sustenance of agriculture in Nigeria. This calls for an intervention programme aimed at changing the attitudes of both parents and children.

Keywords: Value of children, wealth flows, fertility, schooling, old-age support, agriculture