Impact of HIV/AIDS on household farm labour in rural farming communities

Abstract

This study is based on a survey of 396 farming households from Mabele; Khubu and Nwahajeni communities. The results show that in general, HIV/AIDS status appears to have a significant negative impact on the number of household members working full time on the farm. An indication that households affected by HIV/AIDS are likely to suffer loss of farm labour due to sick household members who cannot work on the farm. Generally, information on HIV/AIDS appears to have a significant positive impact on the number of household members working full time on the farm. An indication that households that are well-informed about HIV/AIDS are likely to have higher number of households members working full time on the farm. The study shows that HIV/AIDS is negatively correlated with household farm income. An indication that the higher the number of household members infected with HIV/AIDS, household farm income is likely to decrease. This may be due to shortage of household farm labour. Farm labour shortage results in the reduction of farming operations and loss of total household farm income. The study shows that the number of household members working full time on the farm is negatively correlated with difficulty to pay for health care; difficulty to pay for agricultural inputs; and difficulty to save money. An indication that as the number of household members working full time on the farm is reduced, it is likely that households will find it difficult to pay for health care, agricultural inputs and saving money.