RESILIENCE TO SHOCKS OF COVID-19 PANDEMIC AMONG RURAL HOUSEHOLDS IN OGBOMOSO AGRICULTURAL ZONE OF OYO STATE, NIGERIA

Abstract

COVID-19 is pitching the world economy towards a global recession, implying the impact of COVID-19 across the
global economy will be profound. Emerging evidence on the impact of COVID-19 suggests that rural’s economic
and productive lives will be affected disproportionately and differently from urban centres. However, different
efforts had been adopted to curtail this menace but resilience to shocks of Covid-19 pandemic anticipation cost
especially among rural households in Ogbomoso Agricultural zone of Oyo State, Nigeria is yet to be documented.
The study therefore assessed resilience to shocks of Covid-19 pandemic among rural households in Ogbomoso
Agricultural Zone of Oyo State, Nigeria. Multistage sampling procedure was employed to select 90 respondents for
this study. The data were obtained with the aid of a questionnaire and data were analyzed using both descriptive
(frequency count, percentage and mean) and inferential (Linear Regression Analysis) statistics using SPSS version
22. The result of the analysis showed that friends/relatives with a Weighted Mean Score (WMS) of 2.90 was the
major source of awareness of Covid-19 pandemic among the respondents. The finding also revealed the major
flexibility in decision making with a WMS of 2.58, livelihood/income diversification with a WMS of 2.54 and seeking
assistance from government with a WMS of 2.53 were the major adaptive capacities adopted in addressing shocks of
Covid-19 pandemic. Moreover, production of high value added crops with a WMS of 2.82, skills training/acquisition
opportunities with a WMS of 2.40 and the use of remittance with a WMS of 2.34 were the major absorptive
capacities adopted by the respondents. Also, participation in village co-operative society with a WMS of 2.86 and
early warning system with a WMS of 2.47 were the major transformative capacities adopted by the respondents. The
result of linear regression analysis indicated that level of awareness of Covid-19 pandemic (t = 3.436; p = 0.001) is
positively related to resilience to shocks of Covid-19 pandemic among rural households and was statistically
significant at 1% level. It was concluded that different resilience strategies were adopted which had significant
influence on the rural households in addressing the shocks of Covid-19 pandemic in Ogbomoso Agricultural zone of
Oyo State, Nigeria. Moreover, it was found that awareness of Covid-19 pandemic incidences had a decisive
influence on the level of use of resilience strategies thereby cushioning the effects of the Covid-19. There is therefore
need for all stakeholders in rural development to expedite efforts to create more awareness on the existences of
Covid-19 pandemic as well educating them on amiable coping or resilience strategies in tackling the effects.