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Pelita Perkebunan 38(2) 2022, 144
—
154
ISSN: 0215-0212 / e-ISSN: 2406-9574
DOI: 10.22302/iccri.jur.pelitaperkebunan.v38i2.506
Covid-19 Pandemic Awareness and Coping Strategies of
Cocoa Farmers in Ondo State of Nigeria
Foluso Temitope Agulanna
1*)
1)
Cocoa Research Institute of Nigeria (CRIN), Idi Ayunre, Ibadan, Nigeria
*)
Corresponding author: foluagu@yahoo.com
Received: 25 April 2022 / Accepted: 1 July 2022
Abstract
Cocoa ranks first in Nigeria’s agricultural export trade. The study was carried
out because of the understanding that as a major contributor to the nation’s
economy, disruptions to the cocoa sector, such as the one occasioned by Covid-19
will impact not only farmers’ well being but the national economy as well. The
objectives of this study were to determine the socio-economic characteristics of
cocoa farmers in the study area, and to identify their level of awareness and
coping strategies during Covid-19. As location of this study, Ondo is the largest
cocoa producer state, hence, whatever affects the cocoa sector in the state will
have effect on the nation’s cocoa sector as a whole. Random sampling technique
was used to select cocoa farmers in the study area. A total of fifty cocoa farmers
(respondents) were purposively selected from Ile-Oluji/Oke-Igbo local government
area of the state. Information was collected from the selected farmers with the
aid of well-structured questionnaires and the data retrieved from forty-six cocoa
farmers collected were analysed with descriptive statistics and chi-square analysis.
The result of the analysis showed that three-quarter of the farmers are above
the age of 41 years, males and married. Similarly, high proportion of the cocoa
farmers have 4-6 children in the household, a quarter had secondary education,
nearly half have 16 to 20 years farming experience while three-quarter lived in
condominiums or housing units where residents are herded together thereby pre-
disposing them to the risk of the contagion. Most of the respondents had low
income or sales during Covid-19 pandemic, more than three-quarter ate food three
times before Covid-19 while about 15 percent ate three times during the pandemic.
Ninety percent did not have enough food at home during the lockdown and most
of them did not have enough money to buy food during the pandemic. Majority
of the respondents were aware of the occurrence of Covid-19, while 70% of the
respondents coped by relying on less expensive food during the lockdown. Nearly
sixty percent of the respondents reduced their food consumption due to income
loss, and more than sixty percent reduced the number of meals eaten daily and
reduced the portion or size of meal daily during Covid-19. The chi-square test also
showed that a significant relationship exists between farmers awareness and coping
strategies to Covid-19 as well as the quality and type of food they consumed.
Keywords: Covid-19 pandemic, cocoa farmers, awareness, coping strategies
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PELITA PERKEBUNAN, Volume 38, Number 2, August 2022 Edition
Covid-19 pandemic awareness and coping strategies of cocoa farmers in Ondo State of Nigeria
INTRODUCTION
Cocoa is one of the most important peren-
nial tree crops grown in tropical climates
around the equator. It is also a highly valuable
and important economic crop because it
provides employment and income to farmers,
raw materials for industries and foreign
exchange for producing countries such as
Nigeria (Afolayan, 2020). Studies show that
90% of the world’s cocoa beans are produced
in small, family-run farms of less than 6 ha
of acreage, with only 5% yield coming from
big farmsteads of 50 ha or more. In spite of
the neglect of agriculture by many African
nations, cocoa still remains a major export
crop in many of these economies (Akinnagbe
& Ajayi, 2010). Nigeria, alongside Ghana
and Côte d’Ivoire, supplies more than two-
thirds of the world’s yield of cocoa. Social
disruptions such as the Covid-19 pandemic
hampered the cocoa industry in Nigeria.
Historically, cocoa is said to have been first
cultivated in the Delta region of Nigeria before
spreading to the Western region around 1890
where ecological conditions and the soil type
encourages cocoa growing and cultivation.
Cocoa is commonly grown in the southern
belt of Nigeria because of the soil and weather
conditions that are favourable to its cultiva-
tion. It is generally agreed that all the states
in southwestern Nigeria are cocoa producing
states, with the only exception being Lagos,
which according to Afolayan (2020), does
not produce cocoa in “commercial quantity.”
Ondo, Osun and Cross River top the list of
producer states with an annual production
of 77,000, 70,000, and 65,000 metric tons
apiece. But of all the cocoa growing states in
the country, Ondo State is the leading producer
of the crop (Oluyole, 2005; Afolayan, 2020; Ajayi
et al., 2010).
The Covid-19 global pandemic had a
negative impact not only on the cocoa sub-
sector but on the agricultural sector generally.
In the context of Nigeria, the pandemic led
to the lockdown of villages, cities and states
in the country, including Ondo State, which
is the study area in this paper. Although Jacobs
& Okeke (2022) claimed that the anti-Covid-19
mitigation strategies adopted by Nigeria were
responsible for the low virus transmission
experienced by the country, the truth still
remains that the pandemic exposed many
rural farmers to debilitating health problems,
and by restricting human and vehicular
movement, led to low agricultural produc-
tivity, which in turn led to low income for
farmers and their households. The pandemic
also disrupted transportation of agricultural
products and supply chains in different parts
of the country due to the travel restrictions
imposed by the government.
It is undeniable that Covid-19 had a
significant impact on the global economy
as well as business operations. Every country
in the world experienced one form of economic
downturn or another as a result of the
Covid-19 pandemic. From early 2020, when
the coronavirus disease emerged, to the year
2021, the pandemic wreaked havoc on almost
every country in the world, causing a global
economic recession. Yeyati & Filippini (2021)
averred that the recession occasioned by
Covid-19, is the most far-reaching humanity
has experienced since the end of the World
War-II. The pandemic also led to a significant
contraction, or decline in growth of the GDP
of many nations. The gross domestic product
(GDP), according to Jena et al. (2021), is
the most widely recognised indicator, it also
accounts for the overall goods and services
produced within a country. A decline or
shrinkage in a nation’s GDP is often a sign
of negative economic growth for that nation.
To minimize the impact of the restric-
tions and other government measures on the
livelihood of their citizens, many governments
all over the world initiated various fiscal inter-
ventions to alleviate the suffering caused by
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PELITA PERKEBUNAN, Volume 38, Number 2, August 2022 Edition
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the pandemic. But as with many government
policies, in Nigeria, many households or busi-
nesses affected by the pandemic, did not benefit
from the credit facility or stimulus package
announced by the national government through
the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN, 2020).
Usually too, rural farmers and their house-
holds are the worse off as neither govern-
ment nor local authorities extend help or fiscal
assistance to them in time of need. As with
other cocoa producing states in Nigeria,
cocoa farmers in Ondo state experienced
great hardship during the peak period of the
global pandemic. The pandemic did not only
affect farmers’ health or farming activities
but also their livelihood (Isere et al., 2021).
Covid-19 was a stochastic event in the sense
that its emergence was sudden and unexpected.
In the words of Platje et al. (2021), the world
was not prepared for such a calamitous event
as the Covid-19 pandemic. Perhaps this uncer-
tainty in its occurrence explains why it created
such huge social and economic costs for
the nations of the world. All through history,
epidemics have been known to decimate
human populations. This is more so when
such epidemics were unexpected.
Hence, the present study examined the
strategies that cocoa farmers in the study area
adopted to cope with the global pandemic.
The objectives of the study were to determine
the socio-economic characteristics of cocoa
farmers in the study area, and to identify their
level of awareness and coping strategies during
Covid-19.
MATERIALS AND METHODS
The study was carried out in Ondo State,
which is also the chief cocoa producing state
in Nigeria. Ondo is one of the six states that
make up Southwestern Nigeria. The state lies
between longitude 4
o
50’ 7.01" East and latitude
7
o
05’ 35.38" North. The state is bordered
in the north by Ekiti and Kogi States, in the
east by Edo State, in the west by Oyo and
Ogun States, and in the south by the Atlantic
Ocean. There are 18 Local Government Areas
(LGA) in Ondo state, out of which Ile Oluji/
Oke-Igbo LGA was purposively selected. Well-
structured questionnaires were administered
to fifty cocoa farmers in six villages/towns out
of which forty-six were used for the analysis,
for the purpose of collecting primary data
on farmers’ socio-economic characteristics,
awareness as well as coping strategies during
the pandemic. The reason is that not all the
questionnaires were retrieved since some
were not properly filled. Data were collected
through in-depth interviews of cocoa farmers
in the study area using both qualitative and
quantitative approach. From the in-depth
interview, information related to occurrence
and nature of sickness, measure(s) adopted
to stay safe from getting infected with the
virus, medications used for protection against
Covid-19 were obtained.
Data Analysis Method
Data retrieved from the information collected
was analysed with descriptive statistics and
chi-square analysis. A chi-square test was used
to establish the statistical link between cocoa
farmers’ awareness and coping strategies
to Covid-19. The chi-square test used was based
on the formulation of a null hypothesis and
an alternative hypothesis (Bartlett et al., 2018)
whether there is relationship between the
awareness of cocoa farmers and their coping
strategies during Covid-19 pandemic.
RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
In carrying out this study, some limi-
tations were found. Data used in this study
was based on in-depth interview of some
cocoa farmers in the study area as Covid-19-
induced social distancing and lockdown was
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Covid-19 pandemic awareness and coping strategies of cocoa farmers in Ondo State of Nigeria
still in place at the time of data collection.
The data was limited by its convenience sample,
moderate sample size across the LGA in
Ondo state and the amount of information.
The Covid-19 global pandemic disrupted
many national economies, particularly in
Africa. In Nigeria, its effect on the agricultural
sector was grim and dire. The pandemic also
created a public health crisis in the country,
leading to many farmers becoming sick and
unable to perform to their optimum capacity.
The sudden occurrence of Covid-19 caught
many countries off-guard. The infection and
fatality of the virus was very alarming when
it first emerged. In response, many governments
implemented various forms of lockdown to
contain the spread of the disease. It is common
knowledge that most countries in the world
experienced substantial negative economic
and health impacts from Covid-19 pandemic.
As a result, many national economies were
disrupted, resulting in the shutting down of
many industries and rising unemployment
rates (Jena et al., 2021). However, this initial
response of governments to the pandemic
was reactive, not proactive. Now, this way of
reacting to an unexpected event is perfectly
in line with the precautionary principle (PP).
The principle states that when there is uncer-
tainty or lack of information on the impact of
an event, which can lead to serious damage,
measures should be taken to prevent such
a situation to appear. In other words, the
principle is to be applied when events asso-
ciated with calamities can damage the func-
tioning of a system seriously, or even destroy
it (Platje et al., 2020). In the context of Covid-19
pandemic, some of the crisis management
measures adopted by governments included
restrictions on people’s movements, travel
bans and compulsory medical tests, all of
which caused persistent financial stress for
a high proportion of households. Against the
background of public safety measure, the
precautionary principle as an important crisis
management ideal is a sine qua non. How-
ever, a major drawback with the PP approach
to problem-solving is that it often requires
that we act randomly in dealing with uncertain
events or situations. In the context of Covid-19,
this sense of uncertainty was exacerbated by
the paucity of data or information about the
virus.
Several scholarly discussions have largely
focused on the impact of Covid-19 on human
health and business operations. Consequently,
most people get the impression that the
pandemic affected only fiscal or healthcare
issues in society. This perspective is both
narrow and restrictive; because the truth is
that Covid-19 had multi-layered effect on
society. For example, there are several reports
that show that the pandemic severely affected
social infrastructure as well. In Nigeria, for
example, quarantine restrictions hampered
many construction projects thereby leading
to the downsizing of the labor force. The
trimming of the workforce triggered unem-
ployment and loss of income for construc-
tion workers. With particular reference to
social infrastructure, the pandemic affected
such public facilities as water supplies, public
transportation, telecommunications, roads and
even schools. For example, restrictions in vehicular
movement impacted cocoa farmers’ mobility
or ability to convey their crops to markets or
selling points. The ripple effect of such human
immobility on human wellbeing is grim, to
say the least.
Socioeconomic Characteristics
Disruption to the cocoa sector, and impacts
on farmers’ wellbeing and livelihoods
were issues brought into sharp focus by the
Covid-19 pandemic. The pandemic disrupted
cocoa farming and production, sales, prices
and income of cocoa farmers in the study area.
This conforms to findings in Oriola (2009)
that, higher productivity leads to higher income,
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PELITA PERKEBUNAN, Volume 38, Number 2, August 2022 Edition
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and in regard to farmers, when productive,
they can easily pay the wages of engaged
laborers and prices will become affordable
for consumers. The findings of this study
further revealed that cocoa farmers were
highly vulnerable in terms of livelihoods, diet
and food intake. To weather the multi-layered
shocks occasioned by the pandemic, farmers
and their households adopted diverse coping
strategies, which are discussed below. Table 1
is an elaboration of the socioeconomic charac-
teristics of cocoa farmers in the study area during
the pandemic. These include age, gender,
marital status, educational status, farming
experience, type of accommodation, and
number of children in the household. The table
reveals that 76.1% farmers (respondents) are
above the age of 41, 78.3% are males while
76.1% are married. It reveals also, that
26.1% of the respondents had secondary
education, 43.5% had 16 to 20 years farming
experience, 78.3% had 4-6 children in the
household while 73.9% lived in condominiums
or living conditions that brought people in
close proximity to each other. Such living
conditions are risk factors for the spread or
transmission of Covid-19 since the possibility
of contracting the contagion increases with
contact or people sharing common facilities
such as conveniences and rooms. What is shown
from the foregoing is that because of their
lifestyle and economic deprivation, farmers,
or in line with the findings of this study, cocoa
farmers were among the most vulnerable
Table 1. Socioeconomic characteristics of cocoa farmers in Ondo State
Variables Frequency Percentage (%)
Age (years)
18-25 1 2.2
26-33 4 8.7
34-41 6 13
>41 35 76.1
Total 46 100
Gender
Male 36 78.3
Female 10 21.7
Total 46 100
Marital status
Single 11 23.9
Married 35 76.1
Total 46 100
Educational status
No formal education 15 33
Primary education 11 23.9
Secondary education 12 26.1
Tertiary education 8 17.4
Total 46 100
Farming experience (years)
1-5 2 4.4
6-10 11 23.9
11-15 13 28.3
16-20 20 43.5
Total 46 100
Type of accommodation
Hut 1 2.2
Bungalow 3 6.5
Face-to-face 34 73.9
Self-contained room 8 17.4
Total 46 100
Children in the household
1-3 8 17.4
4-6 36 78.3
7-9 2 4.4
Total 46 100
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Covid-19 pandemic awareness and coping strategies of cocoa farmers in Ondo State of Nigeria
populations to Covid-19 pandemic. Corrobo-
rating the findings above, Obayelu et al. (2021),
aver that by threatening the food security of
people (especially the rural poor), the pandemic
exposed many households to varying forms
of vulnerabilities. Again, the food demand and
supply shocks caused by Covid-19 outbreak
had effect on agriculture, food and dietary
intake negatively through Covid-19 policies.
In another study that investigated the
strategies used by farm households to mitigate
the impacts of Covid-19 on agricultural house-
holds in India, Harris et al. (2020) arrived at
several findings. The most common strategies
included finding new markets (including
selling door-to-door), reduce prices, and eat
the farm’s own production. To deal with
reduction in sales, most farmers resorted to
leaving harvest in the field, feeding vegetables
to livestock, and sharing vegetables with
others. Some farmers decided to find new
markets and reducing prices, with female
farmers reducing prices more than men, and
small farms more than large farms.
In April 2020, at the peak of the pandemic,
Nigeria’s National Bureau of Statistics (NBS),
in collaboration with the World Bank, carried
out a Covid-19 NLPS (the abbreviations
standing for National Longitudinal Phone
Survey). The survey was a monthly assessment
of a nationally representative sample of 1,950
households, meant to monitor the socioeco-
nomic impact of the pandemic and other
shocks. The first round (baseline) of the survey
was conducted in April/May 2020, during
which a federally mandated lockdown was
in full effect. The survey revealed that: (i)
the pandemic had devastating consequences
on all sectors of Nigeria’s socio-economic
life; (ii) it affected the livelihoods of many
Nigerian households, with many having to
survive by taking out loans to meet their family
obligations, and (iii) about 1 in 4 households
were already indebted prior to the pandemic
while nearly one third had taken out new
loans since the onset of the pandemic (NBS,
2020).
Covid-19 Effect on Small Scale
Enterprises
At the risk of overstating a known datum,
it is common knowledge that Covid-19 had
a destructive impact on the economic or
health care systems of various societies. The
shocks that resulted from the pandemic led
to the closure of many business enterprises.
To safeguard the lives and wellbeing of citizens,
many governments adopted the policy of
lockdown and restrictions on people’s move-
ment; a policy which itself led to people losing
their jobs and means of livelihood. The conse-
quence was a disruption in the global supply
chains. But it is not only that the pandemic
devastated large businesses; its impact on
small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs)
was also severe. Nigeria had its fair share of
disruption to small scale businesses occasioned
by Covid-19.
The intrusion of Covid-19 into the Nigerian
social space, and the subsequent implica-
tions and impact adversely impacted busi-
nesses, households and the economy. The
slowdown in farm work and trade activities,
as most finished goods flow through the sector
to final consumers, also affected the manu-
facturing sector, especially for non-essential
goods (PWC, 2020). The shocks occasioned
by the pandemic led to many households losing
their income base. With regards to the cocoa
sector, the coping strategies adopted by farm
households led to higher debt, reduced food
intake/the quality of food consumed. Writing
on Nigeria’s experience with Covid-19, Amuda
(2020) argues that the pandemic impacted
negatively on both the economic and busi-
ness activities in the country. Illustrative
examples in this regard are the small and
medium enterprises (SMEs), which were
badly affected by the corona virus (Covid-19).
The Nigerian cocoa sector falls into this
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PELITA PERKEBUNAN, Volume 38, Number 2, August 2022 Edition
Agulanna
category, and this is for the simple reason
that cocoa is grown almost entirely on
smallholdings. Most cocoa orchards are pri-
vately owned by individuals or families. Sabo
et al. (2017) corroborates this claim by stating
that more than 80% of farmers in Nigeria
are smallholder farmers, who produce about
98% of the food consumed in the country,
with the exception of wheat. By providing
a variety of foods in sufficient quantities,
smallholding helps ensure food security for
vast majority of Nigerians.
Cocoa Farmers Income and Food
Consumption
Table 2 shows the frequency of eating
of food by cocoa farmers before and during
the pandemic. Majority of the respondents
(95.7%) indicated that their income or sale
was low during Covid-19. Covid-19 mitigation
measures also disrupted cocoa production
and farm activities as farmers did not have
access to good quality seeds, tools or agricul-
tural inputs (e.g. pesticides and fertilizers).
About 89.1% of the respondents indicated
that due to Covid-19 policy responses, they
did not have enough food to eat while 95.6%
indicated that they did not have enough money
to buy food. Only about 15.2% could afford
to eat three times a day during the pandemic;
this is in contrast to 78.3% that ate thrice
daily before the pandemic. Many farmers had
to skip meals because of low income/sale,
reduced farm activities, and inability to pur-
chase food items. This is in agreement with
the report of the NBS (2020) which showed
that there was a reduction in food consump-
tion during the pandemic. What this revealed
is that Covid-19 plunged the cocoa sector
into a swirl of uncertainty and economic loss.
Cocoa Farmers’ Awareness and
Coping Strategies
Table 3 reveals the level of awareness
and coping strategies of cocoa farmers to
Covid-19 in the study area. The table shows
that 96% of the respondents were aware of
the existence of the corona virus, 69.6%
relied on less expensive food for their daily
meal during the lockdown, 56.5% reduced
Table 2. Cocoa farmers income and consumption during Covid-19 pandemic
Variables Frequency Percentage (%)
Income or sale during Covid-19
High 0 0
Low 44 95.7
Same 2 4.3
Total 46 100
Eating frequency before Covid-19
1 time 1 2.2
2 times 2 4.4
3 times 36 78.3
More than 3 times 7 15.2
Total 46 100
Eating frequency during Covid-19
1 time 2 4.4
2 times 37 80.4
3 times 7 15.2
Total 46 100
Enough food to eat at home during lockdown
Yes 5 10.9
No 41 89.1
Total 46 100
Enough money to buy food during Covid-19
Yes 2 4.4
No 44 95.6
Total 46 100
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Covid-19 pandemic awareness and coping strategies of cocoa farmers in Ondo State of Nigeria
their food consumption due to income loss,
63% reduced the number of meals eaten
daily while 67.4% reduced the ration of meal
eaten daily during the pandemic. This could
be as a result of low income or sale, reduced
farm activities, inability to purchase food
items due to lockdown or restrictions in
movement. This is also in line with Amare
et al. (2020) where it was discovered that
hours are lost as a result of sickness or care
given to sick ones which brought reduction
in sale and income.
Awareness and Coping Strategies
Relationship
Table 4 shows the result of the chi-square
test analysis on the relationship between
the awareness of cocoa farmers and the
coping strategies adopted by farmers during
the pandemic. The table shows that there
is significant relationship between the aware-
ness of cocoa farmers about Covid-19 and
their reliance on less expensive food, coping
strategies with income loss, reliance on support/
palliatives received as well as the type of
support received during Covid-19.
Nigeria shares a similar experience with
Bangladesh with regards to the impact of
Covid-19 on the country’s small- and medium-
sized enterprises (SMEs), or simply, small-
holdings. The Bangladeshi experience is
worth exploring here. Sarker et al. (2022),
remark that the main economic backbone
of Bangladesh is the small- and medium-sized
enterprises (SMEs), which we are told, act as
the key driving factor for economic inclusivity
and socio-economic stability in the country.
The SMEs do this, by increasing national
productivity and creating employment oppor-
tunities throughout Bangladesh. However, as
Table 3. Coping strategies of cocoa farmers during Covid-19 pandemic
Variables Frequency Percentage
Awareness of corona virus (Covid-19)
Yes 44 96
No 2 4
Total 46 100
Relied on less expensive food during lockdown
Every day (7 days) 32 69.6
3-6 days 13 28.3
0-2 days 1 2.2
Total 46 100
Borrowed food from friends during Covid-19
Every day (7 days) 6 13
3-6 days 3 6.5
0-2 days 37 80.4
Total 46 100
Reduced number of meals during the lockdown
Every day (7 days) 29 63
3-6 days 16 34.8
0-2 days 1 2.2
Total 46 100
Reduced portion or size of meals
Every day (7 days) 31 67.4
3-6 days 14 30.4
0-2 days 1 2.2
Total 46 100
Coping strategies with income loss
Relied on savings 12 26.1
Relied on off-farm income 3 6.5
Reduced food consumption 26 56.5
Relied on income from farming 5 10.9
Total 46 100
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PELITA PERKEBUNAN, Volume 38, Number 2, August 2022 Edition
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with other developing economies, SMEs in
Bangladesh were adversely affected by the
Covid-19 pandemic, which destroyed the
stability of economic growth in the country.
Writing in the same vein, Oyewale et al.
(2020) stated that in Nigeria, the lockdown
and mobility restrictions imposed by the
government restricted entrepreneurial economic
activity in the country. In a study undertaken by
the authors to tease out the effect of Covid-19
on Small and Medium Scale Enterprise in
Nigeria, it was revealed that the effect was felt
in both the agriculture and non-agricultural
sectors. Some entrepreneurs who were sampled
in the study stated that the pandemic, along-
side governmental mobility restrictions (i.e.
partial and total lockdowns), both had signifi-
cant effect on Small and Medium Scale Enter-
prise in Nigeria. Specifically, their study revealed
that government-imposed partial and total
lockdowns greatly hindered access to inputs at
the local markets, created difficulty in exporting
and importing goods, thereby affecting invest-
ment. This finding is consistent with other
studies in other developing economies which
indicated that the main impacts of the pandemic
on Small and Medium Scale Enterprise emanated
through lockdown and mobility restrictions
(Seth et al., 2020; UNCTAD, 2020).
CONCLUSIONS
The study revealed that many cocoa
farmers in Ondo State, Nigeria, experienced
monetary hardship; hence their inability to
access basic needs such as good food and quality
healthcare. The study exposed the level of
awareness and coping strategies adopted by
cocoa farmers to Covid-19 in the study area.
It also disclosed the effect of the long neglect
suffered by the cocoa sector especially on the
national economy. It is heartening to note that
the cocoa sector was able to withstand the social
crises caused by the Covid-19 pandemic. It
can be positively asserted, therefore, that the
cocoa sector in Nigeria has been resilient in
the face of the numerous challenges that it has
faced. More importantly, cocoa has contributed
immensely to the growth of the Nigerian
economy; hence government, stakeholders and
all those in the cocoa sector must work in
unison to give cocoa the necessary focus it
deserves in the national scheme of things.
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Table 4. Results of Chi-Square analysis showing the relationship between cocoa farmers’ awareness and their coping strategies
to Covid-19 pandemic
Variables df Chi-square value (÷2) p value
Reliance on less expensive food 3 14.388 *** 0.002
Coping with income loss 5 22.519 *** 0.000
Palliatives supplied 1 7.161 *** 0.007
Reliance on support 2 16.013 *** 0.000
Type of support 3 21.271 *** 0.000
*** Significant at 1%.
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Covid-19 pandemic awareness and coping strategies of cocoa farmers in Ondo State of Nigeria
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