Exploring the role and lived experiences of people with disabilities working in the agricultural sector in northern Nigeria
Authors
Sango, Precious NonyeBello, Mohammed
Deveau, Roy
Gager, Kevin
Boateng, Belinda
Ahmed, Hauwa K.
Azam, Mohammed N.
Affiliation
University of BedfordshireAfrican Centre for Innovative Research and Development
University of Kent
Propcom Mai-karfi Programme
Issue Date
2022-08-16Subjects
disabilityagriculture
farmers
discrimination
Nigeria
Subject Categories::D490 Agriculture not elsewhere classified
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Background: It is estimated that over 75.0% of households in sub-Saharan Africa are involved in agriculture, and the majority of the poor in rural areas rely on agriculture for their livelihoods. One billion people living with disabilities in low- and middle-income countries are argued to make up the poorest of the poor, yet to our knowledge, no literature has captured the livelihood of people living with disabilities in the context of farming in Nigeria, specifically northern Nigeria where most of the households are involved in agriculture and related activities. Objectives: This article reports on findings from a study that sought to understand disability in the context of northern Nigerian farming, with a particular focus on the role and lived experiences of people living with disabilities working in the agricultural sector. Method: A survey questionnaire was developed and captured the experiences of 1067 people living with disabilities working in the agricultural sector across five states (Adamawa, Bauchi, Jigawa, Kaduna and Yobe) in northern Nigeria. Results: Findings indicate that people with disabilities are actively participating in agricultural activities for several reasons, which specifically included ‘forced to and for survival’. When participants reported needing care, this was predominantly provided by family members. Findings also showed that participants with disabilities experienced several economic and sociocultural challenges because of their impairments. Conclusion: This study adds to the very limited literature on farmers living with disabilities in sub-Saharan Africa and so highlights the need for more research to be conducted with farmers living with disabilities in Nigeria, particularly female farmers living with disabilities. These will provide more evidence pertaining to the experiences of farmers living with disabilities in order to provide effective disability- and gender-inclusive agricultural and entrepreneurship programmes in Nigeria. Contribution: The results of this research reveal important insights relating to the experiences of farmers living with disabilities in northern Nigeria, which can contribute to informing future developmental projects to achieve effective inclusion and actively benefit people living with disabilities.Citation
Sango PN, Bello M, Deveau R, Gager K, Boateng B, Ahmed HK, Azam MN (2022) 'Exploring the role and lived experiences of people with disabilities working in the agricultural sector in northern Nigeria', African Journal of Disability, 11 (a897)Publisher
AosisJournal
African Journal of DisabilityPubMed ID
36092479PubMed Central ID
PMC9453130Additional Links
https://ajod.org/index.php/ajod/article/view/897/1905Type
ArticleLanguage
enISSN
2223-9170EISSN
2226-7220Sponsors
The authors would like to acknowledge DFID (now Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office [FCDO]) for funding the project, which yielded the findings reported in this article, and special appreciation to Palladium/Propcom Mai-karfi for commissioning the study.ae974a485f413a2113503eed53cd6c53
10.4102/ajod.v11i0.897
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Except where otherwise noted, this item's license is described as Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International