COMPARATIVE SOCIO-ECONOMIC CHARACTERISTICS OF RURAL FARM HOUSEHOLDS THAT USED INSECTICIDE TREATED NETS AND NON-USERS IN AKWA IBOM STATE, NIGERIA

Abstract

The study compared the social and economic features of farm households that utilized insecticide treated nets and non-users in the rural areas of Akwa Ibom State. The cross-sectional data were collected from one hundred and eighty rural farming household heads. The descriptive tests and the bivariate t-test were used to analyze data collected. The result revealed that, about 72.22% of the rural farm households used ITNs in the study area. Moreover, the study established the fact that there were no significant differences between ITNs users and non-users in their gender, marital status, farming experience, social capital accumulation, education, access to extension agent, nature of residential building, value of household asset and non-farm income. Contrary to the above findings, a statistically significant difference was found in terms of age, household size, farm Income and farm size between the two groups. Following the findings, the study recommends a bottom-top approach that takes into consideration the social and economic matters of the rural farmers in planning the transfer of ITNs technology to the rural farmers in the region.