Rural Small-Scale Women Farmers and Preference for Family Size in South-East Nigeria 


Rural Small-Scale Women Farmers and Preference for Family 
Size in South-East Nigeria 

Samuel O. Okafor, Janefrances C. Onu, Vivian C. Nwaeze

Abstract: Among other things, fertility control in Nigeria may not be feasible without 
recourse to socioeconomic issues such as micro-occupation classifi cation and 
dominant family cultural traditions facing women and their relationship to fertility 
behaviour. Rural small-scale women farmers are a relatively closed group with some 
uniqueness for the understanding of the value of children (VOC) in socioeconomic 
and cultural contexts and its relationship with fertility behaviour in developing 
nations. This study, guided by the VOC model, focuses on determining factors for 
preference for family size (0-4 children) among rural small-scale women farmers 
in Eha-Amufun in Enugu state. 200 married women (mean age = 33.9; mean age 
at marriage = 24.5) from 20 agricultural co-operative societies were selected for 
the study. The study adopted a survey and quantitative research design. Besides 
the sociodemographic information of the study participants, the study elicited from 
the respondents information on their choice of family size, the connection of family 
size with their occupation and the circumstances surrounding son preference and 
son adoption in the family and rural contexts. The collected data were analysed 
using the ordinal logistic regression model. The fi ndings show that economic 
independence, son preference and male child adoption negates limiting family sizes 
to 0-4 (p<.05) however, age, formal education, children as source of labour and 
economic independence were positively correlated with the desire for a family size 
of 4 children and above. In view of the limitations of the study and the ability of the 
VOC model to unveil spurious factors for fertility behaviour among women, there 
is a need for comparative studies of rural closed groups in developing nations and 
their fertility behaviour.

Keywords: Closed group · Desired family size · Rural small-scale farmers · Fertility 
control · VOC · Women’s roles

Comparative Population Studies
Vol. 46 (2021): 35-68 (Date of release: 07.04.2021)

Federal Institute for Population Research 2021 URL: www.comparativepopulationstudies.de
      DOI: https://doi.org/10.12765/CPoS-2021-02
      URN: urn:nbn:de:bib-cpos-2021-02en3
    



•    Samuel O. Okafor, Janefrances C. Onu, Vivian C. Nwaeze36

1 Introduction

At present, the world population is over seven billion with the huge amount of the 
population living in low and middle-income countries of the world (WHO 2015; 
United Nations 2012). The majority of these countries are located in Sub-Saharan 
Africa, such as Nigeria, Niger, Burkina Faso, Mali, etc. (de Carvalho et al. 2017; 
Doepke/Tertilt 2018). Although these nations have subscribed in principle to the 
United Nations global policy objectives on curbing the human population;1 they 
appear to be insensitive to the complications attached to uncontrolled human 
population growth as they are showing laxity in policy implementation or deliberate 
avoidance of the policy objectives. 

Beyond the global policy template on population control and subscription in 
principle, a number of factors come into play so that their ignorance or deliberate 
avoidance compromise the policy objectives and hence render the policy itself 
ineffective in most developing nations (Okafor 2017). These factors, which include 
family’s socioeconomic status, women’s socioeconomic status, education, women’s 
role etc., directly or indirectly infl uence the direction of the future population 
structure of a nation and even regions of the world (Atake/Ali 2019; Apanga/Adams 
2015; Mbacké 2017; Upadhyay/Karasek 2012; Miedema et al. 2018).

While the world population status can be summarised by the crude birth rate 
and crude death rate (Keyfi tz 1971), the components of the population structure 
are scaled down to the indices of population growth and population control from 
which the relationship between the biological and social aspects of fertility are put 
into perspective (Weeks 1986). As far back as 1956, Davis and Blake (1956) pointed 
out the three intermediate variables that play the major roles in human population 
growth, and hence their importance in the population control processes. Among 
these intermediate variables are intercourse, conception and gestation variables, 
which have been narrowed down to the fl uid relationship between socioeconomic 
status and behavioural disposition towards fertility control.

While in general terms, socioeconomic status of the members of the society plays 
a role in determining fertility rates and, in the long run, population growth (DeRose/
Ezeh 2010; Tsui et al. 2017; Ashraf et al. 2014), specifi cally, the socioeconomic 
status of women is more compelling in determining the effectiveness of population 
control (Doepke/Kindermann 2016). Among other things, the socioeconomic status 
of women in developing nations has been observed as a major factor in decisions 
on desired family size at the household analysis level (Bhattacharyya 2013; Field 
et al. 2016; Germain 1975; Tavousi et al. 2016). Women’s empowerment or the 
economic independence of women from the family and male-dominated systems 
in developed and developing nations have consistently predicted the direction of 

1 These policy objectives emanated from the world conferences on population challenges such 
as World Population Conference (1974); Mexico International Conference on Population and 
Development (1984) and the Cairo International Conference on Population and Development 
(1994).



Rural Small-Scale Women Farmers and Preference for Family Size in South-East Nigeria    • 37

fertility rate and population growth (Taylor/Pereznieto 2014; Phan 2016; Upadhyay 
et al. 2014; United Nations 2001).

In past decades, a number of policy strategies, chiefl y to control the fertility 
rate among women, have been adopted to confront population growth by the 
United Nations informing the domestic population policies across the nations of the 
world, especially developing nations such as Nigeria (Shofoyeke 2014). However, 
the fl uctuating results of these policy strategies as refl ected in Nigerian population 
status over the years simply indicate that there are some misplacements between 
population policy initiation processes and their implementation in Nigeria (Okafor 
2017). From the earliest fertility documentations in Nigeria (1965), there has been a 
staggering and fl uctuating high fertility rate among Nigerian women. Total fertility 
rates have hovered between 7.2 and 5.2 between the years 1965-1999 (Federal 
Offi ce of Statistics 1968; Feyisetan/Pebley 1989; Makinwa-Adebusoye/Feyisetan 
1994; National Population Bureau 1984; NDHS 2000). In 2015 the total fertility rate 
was recorded as 5.5 and increased in 2016 to 5.8 (Nigerian Bureau of Statistics 
2017). Evidence from the fl uctuating fertility rates in Nigeria in past decades further 
indicates the existence of unascertained factors in the explanation of fertility control 
in Nigeria (Shofoyeke 2014). In other words, the particular situation of Nigerian 
women such as their socioeconomic conditions in all their facets and their roles 
in the family and society are yet to receive painstaking investigation for proper 
acknowledgement of the fertility control measures being put in place.

Among the particular situations of women in fertility control issues are 
self-perception, family infl uence on fertility choice, extent of economic and 
social empowerment, dominant traditions in the family of marriage and local 
communities, women’s roles and willingness in contributing to the desired family 
size. Underpinning these factors is the concept of the value of children as described 
in the Value of Children theory by Hoffman and Hoffman (1973). Beyond the 
circumstances surrounding women in rural settings, their perceptions of the future 
and the implications of their choice of family size for this play a role in their decisions 
on fertility control at least within their fertile period. As such, while economic 
empowerment may contribute to limited family size among women in developed 
nations, it can work in the opposite direction in developing nations so that the issue 
of inheritance and future wealth secured in the investment in more children can 
lead to the desire for more children (Nauck 2014). To understand this and for an 
empirically informed perspective, the dominant avenues of women’s empowerment 
in some Sub-Saharan African communities, such as small-scale-farming, deserve 
research attention.

Specifi cally, like other Sub-Saharan African nations and other developing nations, 
Nigeria still faces dominant socioeconomic conditions that have characterised the 
strength of women on the social ladder especially in rural settings. One of these 
socioeconomic conditions is agriculture as a mainstay in the Sub-Saharan African 
rural setting. As such, the lives of most women are built and continue to be built 
around this, which is expressed in layers of empowerment and self-assessments 
among these women. In line with this, and coupled with the fact that the majority of 
Sub-Saharan African women who are the major factor in the analysis of fertility rates 



•    Samuel O. Okafor, Janefrances C. Onu, Vivian C. Nwaeze38

are located in rural settings, understanding the layers of empowerment and self-
perception among women in this setting and their implications for the fertility rates 
will contribute to the overall empirical and theoretical unravelling of the spurious 
factors affecting fertility rates in Nigeria and other developing nations.

Currently, there is a gap in the literature in coordinating the general 
socioeconomic status and the narrow space of peasant farmers as a secluded group 
and their behavioural disposition towards fertility control as expressed as desired 
family sizes. Many scholars have approached the issue of women’s empowerment 
and other socio-economic factors such as race, ethnicity, religion etc., and their 
relationship with fertility control decision-making among the women. However, 
the particular situations of some culturally distinct women in parts of the world 
such as the southeast of Nigeria (Eha-Amufu) have not been given attention in 
the light of its weight on the fertility control policy of the Nigerian government. 
In addition, beyond the aforementioned factors on fertility control decisions and 
women’s empowerment in the farming occupations, the factor of a closed group 
as a variable between women’s empowerment and fertility behaviour has yet to be 
empirically substantiated. In the context of the present study, by closed group we 
refer to the group of women born and married within the area of Eha-Amufu with 
similar experiences such as traditional family culture, education, traditional marriage 
culture and heterogeneous age categories but with intergenerational similarity of 
experience. This, according to this study, is one of the extraneous variables in social 
fertility control analysis that has yet to be verifi ed among developing nations. In 
view of the empirical and epistemological importance of the aforementioned issues, 
the present study is interested in self-perception in the lens of socioeconomic 
status among the small-scale women farmers and desired family size in Enugu 
state, southeast Nigeria, with an exclusive focus on the women of agricultural co-
operative societies in Eha-Amufu.

The study is guided by the following research question: What are the determining 
factors for desired family size and preference for limited family size (1-4 children) 
among rural small-scale women farmers? 

2 Theoretical considerations, literature review, background and 
assumptions

2.1 Theoretical Framework

For a theoretical overview of the study’s object of interest, the theory of Value of 
Children (VOC) by Hoffman and Hoffman (1973) was utilised. The central assumption 
of VOC is that the value of children varies. Changing living conditions of social groups 
in societies have various far-reaching consequences for generative decisions and 
parent-child relationships (Nauck 2014).



Rural Small-Scale Women Farmers and Preference for Family Size in South-East Nigeria    • 39

Although the VOC theoretical model was designed as a departure from the 
economics-dominated demographic2 analysis of fertility, there is common ground 
for VOC and economic approaches to fertility such as objective economic and socio-
structural factors like economic development, labour market opportunities and level 
of education. These factors are tied to an implicit decision-making model, while 
the “value of children” is taken as the central mediator variable at the individual 
level (Nauck 2014). The value attached to children in itself is subject to variation 
due to changes in society and culture. As such, the VOC has been observed as an 
important “missing link” between social and cultural conditions on the one hand 
and individual decision-making regarding fertility and child-oriented behaviour 
over the life course on the other. Hence the basic tenets of the VOC model, which 
include sociodemographic factors [education, urban experience, socio-economic 
status and wife’s employment], individual dispositions [basic values, control beliefs 
and information access], value of children [economic, psychological and social 
advantages/disadvantages] and family planning [fertility control]. 

In the central assumption of the model, the value of children varies from society to 
society and has far-reaching consequences for fertility decisions and the prevalence 
of parent-child relationship types (Nauck/Klaus 2007). Hoffman and Hoffman’s (1973) 
model took into consideration the possible existence of alternative sources of value 
for (potential) parents, either individual or institutional. According to Hoffman and 
Hoffman, in spite of the value of children motivating parents to the decision to have 
an additional child, there could be barriers to the value of children such as family 
poverty, inadequate housing or maternal illness. Nevertheless, there are incentives 
as factors that encourage parents to pursue and obtain the desired value of children 
such as wealth, good housing, family support, generally positive attitudes towards 
children in the social context and economic benefi ts from children (Nauck 2014).

The VOC model refi ned in the context of social theories on fertility has refl ected 
the contribution of the Theory of Social Production Function (TSPF) on fertility, 
which is anchored in the basic aspects of children such as comfort, social esteem 
and affect (Nauck 2014). According to the core hypotheses of the TSPF, “the greater 
the expected social approval for any particular action alternative, or the higher the 
expected increase in physical well-being associated with the action alternative, 
the more likely this alternative will be chosen; secondly, the more persistent the 
effi ciency of a production factor in context is, the higher is the probability of its 
intergenerational transmission and of its institutionalization as a routine cultural 
solution” (Nauck 2014: 1801-1802). This is encapsulated in the two dimensions 
of economic values and affect/behavioural confi rmation benefi ts. In essence, if 
economic and traditional cultural values dominate the social sphere, one can assume 
motivation for having many children while the domination of affect and behavioural 
confi rmation of the social sphere will result in the pursuit of a small number of 
children. These two dimensions of the hypotheses are subject to factors such as 

2 Era of demographic analysis of social fertility factors with more emphasis on the economic 
perspective of fertility control (Werding 2014; Leibenstein 1974).



•    Samuel O. Okafor, Janefrances C. Onu, Vivian C. Nwaeze40

education, labour market, dominant career among the women, wealth creation 
and possession, dominant value system in relation to children, etc. Where the 
labour market is accessible via lineage and family ties, the members of the society 
will be interested in having more children to maintain intergenerational links and 
domination (Nauck 2014; Huinink 1995, cited in Nauck 2014). This also applies to 
the concept of inheritance at the communal level where sharing of land properties 
occurs according to the number of males in the community irrespective of the 
number of males coming from one family. In addition, dominant careers among the 
women that require cheap labour from family members will encourage the pursuit 
of more children among these women.

In view of the subjects of interest in this study (socioeconomic status and 
fertility control), the VOC model appeared to foster some explanations requisite 
to the understanding of the rural dwellers and fertility control, at least in Sub-
Saharan African nations such as Nigeria. Although Hoffman and Hoffman (1973) 
and subsequent researchers applying the model did not pay attention to the 
model’s importance for understanding the challenges of fertility control in rural 
settings among developing nations (see Arnold et al. 1975), the design of the model 
and subsequent dimensions developed from the model were all relevant in the 
understanding of fertility issues in rural settings among developing nations. The 
VOC model, addressing three basic aspects of children such as comfort, social 
esteem and affect, all capture the common socio-psychological and economic 
conditions among rural dwellers in Nigeria.

In projecting the VOC model as one of the interdisciplinary theories via the 
elements of social production function, Nauck (2014) maintained that human beings 
strive for two basic goods such as physical wellbeing and social approval. These 
two goods as ends in themselves are realised through other instrumental factors, 
such as the value of children. In essence, having children is important for having 
these goods (physical wellbeing and social approval) while the desire for children is 
encapsulated in the factors surrounding the desire for family, such as the comfort 
that children bring, physical/psychological stimulation derived from children, social 
approval that children bring and status attainment.

The comfort role of the children as it affects the desire for family size is observable 
in their active contribution to household production of the family. This is observable 
among many developing societies where the productive capacity of the society 
is dependent on informal and unskilled labour among members of the immediate 
family. In Eha-Amufu, farming among the women is chiefl y subsistence farming and 
requires all available hands in the family for day-to-day farming activities. As such, 
fertility levels among the women are still being affected by their immediate need 
for informal and unskilled labour on the farm. Among other things, the physical/
psychological stimulation from children is realised at an earlier stage of the marriage 
when the mother and, in some cases, the father derive some amount of stimulation 
from constant interaction with the children. However, this stimulation appears to be 
immediate and can be infl uenced by the level of education of the couples, which 
may trigger an exchange in stimulation especially among the developed nations. In 
the case of developing nations such as Nigeria, the situation seems to be different 



Rural Small-Scale Women Farmers and Preference for Family Size in South-East Nigeria    • 41

considering the demands by the parents-in-law from opposite sides. In certain 
situations, the number of children produced by the couple are infl uenced by the 
parents-in-law who either derive stimulation from their grandchildren or even for 
“omugwo” issue in which the mothers-in-law receive sumptuous packages during 
visitation of their daughters and daughters-in-law after delivering a baby. Social 
approval as one to the factors for fertility decisions in the VOC model can be located 
in the context of creating new relationships for the parents or intensifying the 
existing relationship. While this situation may be fading in some developed nations, 
as Nauck (2014) indicated, in developing nations such as Nigeria it is intensifying 
due to the ethnic ties and the strength derived from larger numbers in the extended 
family networks. This is also connected to the status attainment of the parents in the 
family context as well as the societal context.

While the above factors have been pointed out as the means through which the 
goals of physical wellbeing and social approval can be realised in relation to social 
production function and fertility intentions, Nauck (2014) equally contextualised 
their effi cacies via the basic assumptions of the VOC model. First among the four 
assumptions is, “if the work utility of children is high, then it is an effi cient strategy 
to be rich in children” (Nauck 2014: 1805). In contexts where the work utility of 
the children is highly in demand, the corresponding action is for the young couple 
to increase the number of children in their fertility decision. Work utility, although 
Nauck (2014) presented it in the dimension of employment via lineage, is observed 
in the dimension of family sources of labour in informal employment. This is 
observed among the small-scale farmers in Eha-Amufu where subsistence and 
semi-commercial farming appear to be the dominant informal employment for the 
women and the majority of their families. In the second assumption of the VOC 
model, “if the insurance utility of children is high, then having many children is also 
an effi cient strategy, as it distributes the burden of supplying the insurance utility for 
the parents onto more shoulders, and thus reduces each child’s duty” (Nauck 2014: 
1806). Certainly, among the traditional systems in Nigeria, especially the indigenous 
Igbo people of southeast Nigeria, children appear to be insurance for the parents 
especially when they begin to withdraw from active work, either from the formal 
or informal sector of the economy. During old age, it is the responsibility of the 
children to take care of their parents, hence the high level of dependency on youth 
in the dual dimensions of children and the aged. In addition, the more the number of 
children, the less the load among the children in taking care of their aged parents as 
well as the less the chances of the parents suffering in their old age since there is no 
institutionalised means of helping the aged in the country. This is observed among 
the people of Eha-Amufu located in southeast Nigeria as well as in the history of 
agrarian society. The third assumption of the VOC model is, “if the utility of children 
for social approval or the creation of additional social relationships is high, having 
as many children as possible is not an effi cient strategy, because the number of 
additional social relationships will not increase linearly with the number of children” 
(Nauck 2014: 1806). The assumption here appeared to be more compatible with 
developed nations than developing nations such as Nigeria and the indigenous 
people of Igbo whose survival is ensured by the extent of family, tribal and ethnic 



•    Samuel O. Okafor, Janefrances C. Onu, Vivian C. Nwaeze42

networks. In essence, while the social approval fl ags the relationship benefi ts and 
diminishing returns of having more children at the societal context, among the 
indigenous people of Igbo where Eha-Amufu is located, the more the number of 
children the larger the network of relationships that will indirectly reinforce and 
popularise the social approval of the parents. This is observable sometimes during 
certain activities in the rural settings where the family enjoy more hands in terms of 
labour and other support via the connections of the family’s children. In the fourth 
assumption of the VOC model, “if the utility of children for dialogical interaction 
and the emotional utility of having children are high, then it is also ineffi cient to 
have many children, as emotional benefi ts cannot be accumulated in the same way 
as work or insurance utility” (Nauck 2014: 1806). Perhaps this is the case in most 
developed and even some developing nations, however in the current traditional 
cultural setting among the indigenous people of southeast Nigeria, each incoming 
child is an extension of emotional bonds as each child represents a particular 
experience, especially to the mother. While this may be triggered by the issue of 
“omugwo” among the mothers-in-law who benefi t from the ceremonial care of 
the daughters-in-law, in some contexts, the couple consider having what could be 
considered “late births” to create unforeseen emotional warmth in the family when 
the older children are transitioning to other stages of life such as higher education, 
employment and marriage.

While the obligation to “multiply and fi ll the earth” by the adherents of some 
religions continues to hold sway in the rural communities, some cultural norms 
celebrating the most fertile woman by the number of children are still operational 
in some rural settings. As a way of encouraging fertility among women, some 
communities, especially among the Igbo ethnic group, offer celebrations for women 
who are able to give birth to up to nine children; this is called “igbu-ewu-ukwu.” The 
term signifi es the fertility prowess of a particular woman or women among her 
people (Okafor/Okoye 2019). In essence, this negates the null hypothesis of the 
emotional utility of having more children as Nauck (2014) proposed.

The intermediate variables and the basic assumptions of the VOC model 
as discussed above are connected to the living arrangements and compelling 
socioeconomic circumstances around the people of Eha-Amufu. For instance, in the 
area, which is a rural setting compared to an urban setting; investment in children 
is very low and informs the desire for a greater number of children. Due to the 
socioeconomic arrangements in this rural setting and the dominant logic of passive 
decisions over the form of training the children ought to receive, women within 
this context seem to see no negative implications of poor educational training for 
their children. Rather, they see more benefi ts in the dividends of multiple children, 
which, in this context, is observable in the subsistence and semi-commercial 
farming among them. While the early dividends of multiple children in the farming 
context appears to be a factor in encouraging high fertility rates among most of 
these women, this is extended to the issue of son preference. Although the issue of 
son preference has been connected to social institutions of kinship and inheritance, 
the position of daughters among this people seems to be temporary while that of 
sons is permanent both in wealth creation and labour utility. For instance, according 



Rural Small-Scale Women Farmers and Preference for Family Size in South-East Nigeria    • 43

to Nauck (2014), the males’ duration in the labour market seems to be longer than 
that of the females, and the male children grow up to bring in daughters-in-law who 
eventually come in as another hand for domestic and informal labour in the family. 
Another factor surfaces as confi dence in their economic productivity in facilitating 
the raising of many children to maintain a future wealthy family network (Easterlin 
1968). Basically, son preference among the women in this ethnic group is second to 
none in their marriages because it appears to solidify marriage itself and create a 
proper platform of inheritance of properties as well as lineage maintenance. While 
VOC has been applied by other scholars in testing the implication of value of children 
in some societies, chiefl y in developed nations with some defi ned categories, the 
fl uid nature of the issues raised by the VOC model and the interwoven circumstances 
surrounding women and fertility control deserve scholarly attention for more micro 
indices in this context, which is yet to appear in the framework of the VOC model.

2.2 Literature review

Over the years, scholars have put the issue of women’s empowerment at various 
levels and its connectivity with fertility control into perspective, hence the availability 
of enormous fi ndings from different walks of life. Women’s empowerment per se is 
not independent of other socioeconomic factors found in almost every part of the 
world such as ethnicity, race, religion, local tradition, access to wealth, etc., which 
have shaped the chances of women’s participation in decisions regarding fertility 
control.

Religion across the world has affected the extent of women’s empowerment in 
its different dimensions and belief systems. At the macro level, religions such as 
Christianity, Islam, Hindu, Judaism etc., have all made indelible marks on the extent 
of women’s empowerment and, in the long run, their contribution to decisions about 
family size, such as viewing fertility status as a natural occurrence, a gift from God 
and divine occurrence that does not require interruption of any kind (Al-kandari 
2007; Kohli/Al-Omaim 1986; Dharmalingam/Morgan 2004). 

At the micro level, religion further infl uences women’s freedom and liberty at 
certain levels of decision-making. While the different sects in Islam such as Suni 
Shiite and Alawites further interpret women’s freedom and liberty as it affects their 
fate in fertility control towards the Islamic interpretation of women’s existence, such 
as absolute obedience to the husband in all ramifi cations (Al-kandari 2007; Sueyoshi/
Ohtsuka 2003), among the Christians, the Orthodox, Catholics and Protestants have 
further distinctions in their interpretation of women’s empowerment and the issue 
of family size with special regard for any move to interrupt the initiation of and 
period of gestation (Castro Martín 1995; Kaufman/Meekers 1998; Frejka/Westoff 
2008). As such, the view of these communities towards all available methods of 
family planning but abstinence goes beyond the understanding of the implication 
of women’s empowerment and the right to personal decisions over reproductive 
health. Although these studies connecting religion, women’s empowerment and 
fertility control were all-encompassing, the absence of indices of small-scale 



•    Samuel O. Okafor, Janefrances C. Onu, Vivian C. Nwaeze44

specialised occupations among women and fertility decisions in recent times were 
lacking, creating a gap in the literature. 

Evidence from different parts of the world equally reveals the relationship 
between ethnicity and women’s empowerment as well as fertility control (Trovato 
1981; Dubuc 2009; Amin/Teerawichitchainan 2009; Dudley et al. 2006). Among the 
Igbo, Yoruba and Ijaw people of Nigeria, there is evidence of correlations between 
women’s empowerment and fertility control while in the same country among other 
ethnic groups such as Hausa, Kanuri and Fulani there is a limit to women’s liberty as 
well as their active role in fertility control (Kollehlon 2003; Kritz/Makinwa-Adebusoye 
1995, 1999; Makinwa-Adebusoye 2001). Among the major ethnic groups in Malawi, 
evidence shows generally high fertility rates compared to the global classifi cation 
of high and low fertility rates while internally, the major ethnic groups show further 
differences with women’s empowerment as a third variable in measuring fertility 
rates (Zulu 2001; Palamuleni 2014). In parts of Iran, Kuwait, India and South Asia, 
women’s empowerment has been observed to be positively correlated with fertility 
control in the face of ethnicity as a conjoining variable (Amin/Teerawichitchainan 
2009; Siddiqui 1996; Narayan 2006; Asadi-Aliabadi et al. 2017; Moshfegh/Eshgee 
2013; Froozanfar et al. 2012). By implication, it does not depend only on the 
empowerment of women and their liberty per se, however, it equally involves the 
dominant traditions, which dictate the limits of women’s liberty at certain levels 
of decision-making in the family (Doepke/Tertilt 2009).Race has also surfaced in 
the multilevel analysis of women’s empowerment, fertility control and other factors 
(Hamilton et al. 2003; Alfonso 2000). While the above studies have paid attention 
to the issues of ethnicity and race in connection to fertility control, indicators of 
specialised occupations as a variable between ethnicity, race and fertility control are 
lacking. By implication, the studies appeared to be blanket summaries of the issues 
of ethnicity, race and fertility control of which some factors such as specialised 
occupations and small-scale local enterprises among women may play unknown 
roles in the results.

Women’s empowerment and fertility control has been studied in connection 
with the type of employment and contexts. In the mainstream labour force, women 
who felt empowered with regard to family socioeconomic status have been found 
more likely to contribute to the desired family size (Upadhyay et al. 2014; Carr et 
al. 2012; Lee-Rife 2010; Mason/Smith 2000). Contrary to this, more women had 
been found inactive in decisions regarding fertility control irrespective of their 
participation in the mainstream labour force. In comparison to the mainstream 
labour force, women who are informally employed, usually as self-employed or in 
a family venture, have been found to be mostly inactive in fertility control decision-
making (Upadhyay/Karasek 2012; Hindin 2000). More importantly, fi ndings of 
certain studies (Balk 1994; Ali/Sultan 1999) have shown the passivity of women in 
informal employment in fertility control decisions in the family. Similarly, the family 
structure and leadership style in the family such as nuclear and extended family, 
have equally surfaced as predictors of behavioural disposition towards fertility 
control among relatively empowered women in informal employment (El Ghannam 
2005; Amin et al. 1995; Goni/Saito 2010). Employment as a basis of women’s 



Rural Small-Scale Women Farmers and Preference for Family Size in South-East Nigeria    • 45

empowerment has been studied in isolation of ethnicity and fertility control. While 
in most cases studies on employment, empowerment and fertility control have 
focused on formal employment, little or no attention has been given to the fl uid 
relationship between ethnicity and small-scale traditional employment among 
women and fertility control, indicating the need for deeper empirical investigation 
of the relationships of these variables. Meanwhile, the VOC model, which has 
been adopted in a number of studies in connection with fertility and other socio-
cultural factors, has shown some indicators of fertility behaviour in view of values 
attached to children in a number of societies. In East and West Germany, Turkey, 
Israel, Indonesia, India, Republic of Korea, Czech Republic, Ghana and China, the 
VOC model has been applied in the investigation of cross-cultural analysis of values 
attached to children and fertility behaviour. Specifi cally, these studies have focused 
on age cohort and value of children, social disparities and value of children, religion 
and value of children, emotional comfort and value of children, cultural values and 
values of children, economic circumstances and value of children, family formation 
and value of children and economic security and value of children (Trommsdorff/
Nauck 2005). However, the application of the VOC model so far has not included the 
circumstances of small-scale traditional employment and ethnicity in connection 
with fertility control. This is a gap in the literature that this study aims to fi ll.

2.3 Background: Fertility rate in Nigeria and the role of women

Fertility rates in Nigeria since her independence from Britain have yet to stabilise 
and exhibit much upward instability. While the fl uctuation has been between 7.2 
and 5.2 TFR (Federal Offi ce of Statistics 1968; Feyisetan/Pebley 1989; Makinwa-
Adebusoye/Feyisetan 1994; National Population Bureau 1984; NDHS 2000, 2018), 
the upward and downward movements have not been specifi c in the direction of 
global trends in fertility rate changes (Okafor 2017; Shofoyeke 2014). For instance, 
between 1965 and 1982, the Nigerian TFR hovered between 6.5 and 6.43 with an 
increase to 7.0 and 7.30 between 1971 and 1975. After the 1982 downward trend 
in TFR (6.43), between 1983 and 1986, this peaked to 7.40 however, between 1990 
and 1999, the TFR partially moved steadily downwards (6.20-5.20) (Federal Offi ce 
of Statistics/IRD/Macro International 1992; Makinwa-Adebusoye/Feyisetan 1994; 
National Population Commission 2000). 

Between 2003 and 2008, the TFR was at 5.7, while in 2013 this moved to 5.5 and 
5.3 in 2018 (NDHS 2013, 2018). However, the disparity in terms of regions, urban/
rural, ethnic groups, religious groups and state groupings indicates the existence 
of some extraneous variables yet to be identifi ed among the different demographic 
groups. According to further classifi cations by the 2018 National Demographic and 
Health Survey, the TFR in the rural areas was 5.9 while that of the urban areas was 
4.5; regionally, North Central Nigeria has 5.0; North East Nigeria has 6.1; North West 
Nigeria has 6.6; South East Nigeria has 4.7; South-South Nigeria has 4.0; while South 
West Nigeria has 3.9 total fertility rates. By state classifi cation (Fig. 1), some states 
such as Katsina (7.3), Bauchi (7.2), Jigawa (7.1) and Sokoto (7.0) are still at the highest 
rate of TFR. One of the constant factors for higher TFR as far as Nigeria is concerned 



•    Samuel O. Okafor, Janefrances C. Onu, Vivian C. Nwaeze46

is religion. While Islam in Nigeria negates fertility control, Catholicism is sceptical 
towards some family planning methods. Nevertheless, Protestantism, which allows 
some level of family planning in line with church doctrines, only operates chiefl y in 
the urban setting and among the few educated in the rural setting. 

Meanwhile, a study by Ayo Stephen et al. (2019), which focused on the three 
major ethnic groups in Nigeria, revealed the unseen, complex nature of fertility 
rates in Nigeria in connection with other variables. According to their fi ndings, 
the combination of the current TFR of the Igbo, Yoruba and Hausa/Fulani refi ned 
is 6.3. By ethnic group classifi cation, the Hausa/Fulani had the highest TFR (8.4), 
while Muslim women had the highest TFR (7.8) compared to other religious groups. 
While the Hausa/Fulani women were recorded as the group with higher TFR, this 
was followed by Igbo women compared to the Yoruba women (Ayo Stephen et al. 
2019). Also, among the southeast Nigerian states, Enugu state (the location of Eha-
Amufu) is one of the states in the region with higher TFR (NDHS 2018); this is not 
unconnected with the mixed religion in the area and proximity to a high fertility 
region (North Central) and the state with highest TFR in the region of the southeast 
(Ebonyi state). With 5.0 as the mean number of children desired by married women, 
Enugu state is the second to the state (Ebonyi 5.9) with the highest mean number of 
children desired by married women between 15 and 49 years (NDHS 2018).

Fig. 1: Total fertility rate by state, births per woman for the three-year period 
before the survey

 
Source: National Demographic and Health Survey 2018



Rural Small-Scale Women Farmers and Preference for Family Size in South-East Nigeria    • 47

Among other variables, women’s roles in the family and society at large appear 
to be sacrosanct in the understanding and interpretation of fertility behaviour 
among women. While the pre-industrial era when women worked solely on the 
farm is seen as distant history in the developed nations, with the replacement of 
crude implements by mechanical farming (Giuliano 2014), the case is different in 
developing nations such as Nigeria and other Sub-Saharan African nations, at least 
in recent decades. In most rural Nigerian settings, women are largely farmers, still 
operating with crude implements. A larger number of these women sees this as 
their basic means of income while a signifi cant percentage see it as a complement 
to their other means of livelihood such as small businesses and other informal 
employment. According to Alesina et al. (2013), women in most societies are less 
likely to own means of production, participate in politics or control signifi cant 
positions in the society even in this 21st century. An earlier study by Boserup (1970), 
affi rmed that women beyond the pre-industrial era gradually were removed from 
farming because of the plough farming era and thus were unintentionally made 
automatic dependents on the male-dominated system. 

Outside the production niche in societal systems of operation, changes in 
marriage have redefi ned gender roles as it involves entering into marriage, staying 
put and the division of responsibilities in managing the affairs of the family. 
According to Oláh et al. (2014), the post-golden age of family, which began after 
1960 in Europe, has redefi ned orientation towards family and gender roles in 
Europe and other parts of the world. This equally affected the fertility rate among 
the population as the increasing involvement of gender roles in managing the affairs 
of children forced the couples into negotiation of fertility management. Nigerian 
couples are no exception as the changing roles in the family setting has brought the 
implication of fertility rates to the couple involved to the fore. While women’s desire 
to control fertility rates in most societies has been subverted irrespective of the 
fragile reproductive health of the women, the recent breakthroughs in education, 
formal employment and wealth acquisition have revealed the capabilities of women 
to be actively involved in the management of fertility rate in their families (McCleary-
Sills et al. 2013; Malhotra 2012; Kim 2016). 

2.4 Research gap and assumptions

Although there have been done enormous amounts of research on women’s 
empowerment, gender roles and fertility control, to the best knowledge of the 
present study the link between close-group indices, self-perception of economic 
empowerment and fertility control among rural small-scale women farmers has yet 
to be ascertained, especially with regard to a defi ned ethnic group.

From the foregoing, the issue of women’s empowerment and reproductive 
behaviour as it affects fertility behaviour has been studied by a number of 
researchers from different parts of the world and in different aspects. These included 
researchers from mostly developing nations where the issue of fertility control 
is still a challenging phenomenon such as the Middle East, Asia, Africa and Latin 
America. However, in the subject matter of the available research documentations 



•    Samuel O. Okafor, Janefrances C. Onu, Vivian C. Nwaeze48

so far, thematic highlights such as women’s economic empowerment and 
attitudes to fertility control use a somewhat blanket approach lacking information 
on specialisation in the traditional employment settings, religious infl uence over 
women and attitude towards fertility control, formal and informal employment and 
women’s attitudes towards fertility control without specifi c attention to the agrarian 
communities in Sub-Saharan Africa and their unique challenges. They also do not 
explore changing family orientations and women’s attitudes towards fertility control 
with a clear focus on the particular situations of the rural and agrarian communities 
in Sub-Saharan Africa. The Nigerian National Demographic and Health Survey 
extended the data-gathering instruments and analysis to include socioeconomic 
status and fertility behaviour such as wealth quartile and fertility rate; however, a 
gap in the literature still needs to be fi lled. Specifi cally, beyond the covert approach 
to the correlation analysis of women’s socioeconomic status and fertility behaviour, 
there is more on self-assessment and individual attitudes to fertility control among 
self-employed women in the informal sectors, especially in the agricultural sector 
where the majority of women fi nd occupations in the rural setting. This is important 
in view of the fact that cumulative income analysis can be viewed differently by most 
women compared to their everyday experience in managing their affairs as it has to 
do with income and socioeconomic environment. At present, no study has focused 
on this aspect of socioeconomic circumstances and fertility behaviour, which the 
present study was designed to investigate. Among other things, self-assessment, 
occupation, family environment, close-group status, educational qualifi cation,3 
etc., have unique impacts on the issue of fertility behaviour and the likelihood of 
controlling it in a clear trajectory of the dominant logic among the population. 

The following hypothesis was tested in the study: Among the rural women 
small-scale farmers in Eha-Amufu, the desire for moderate family size (1-4 children) 
is negatively affected by the dominant value of children among the population, 
observable in the work utility, insurance utility, social approval and emotional utility 
of children. By implication, the work utility value of children on the farm and other 
domestic and informal employment among women as theorised by Nauck (2014), 
negatively affects the desire for family sizes of 1-4 children. Also, insurance utility, 
social approval and emotional utility of children in Nauck’s (2014) theoretical legacy 
negates the choice of family size between one and four children among the rural 
women small-scale farmers in Eha-Amufu.

3 Methods and data

The study focuses on the rural small-scale women farmers in Eha-Amufu in the 
south-east region of Nigeria. Due to the existence of co-operative organisations in 

3 This is the stage at which a person ends their formal education. This is measured here in 
connection with the Nigerian setting as primary education, secondary/high school education, 
National Certifi cate in Education (NCE), Diploma education and university degrees.



Rural Small-Scale Women Farmers and Preference for Family Size in South-East Nigeria    • 49

the area, which are major platforms for recognising the semi-commercial farmers 
(classifi ed as small-scale farmers in this study), the study used the co-operative 
societies/organisations in place of local communities within the area but the 
geographical circle of the study was limited to Eha-Amufu as a local government. 

There are about 20 standard co-operative societies with a minimal connectivity 
of fl uid membership among these farmers. Preliminary investigations show there 
were only few individuals who belonged to more than one standard co-operative 
organisation. At most, the estimate of individuals belonging to more than one 
standard co-operative society was three from a community. This was ascertained 
to minimise the extent of sampling errors in terms of duplication. This effort helped 
the study to distinguish between general and particular co-operative societies. 
While the general co-operative societies in this classifi cation appear to be open to 
all farmers because of the nature and fl uid connectivity with all the types of farming 
activities, particular co-operative societies are mostly open to farmers in line with 
types of agricultural activities and equally gender-based.

The suitability and relevance of Eha-Amufu for this type of study is connected 
with the ages-old farming history of the area, which has made women in semi-
commercial farming identify themselves as class in themselves. Semi-commercial 
farming here was used for want of an empirical classifi cation of semi-organised 
farming in the area at the time of this study. 

Eha-Amufu as a people among the Igbo tribe, located in the south-east region 
of Nigeria, has some particularities, mostly in that their farming practice is different 
in terms of employment and labour force analysis, at least in the Nigerian context. 
While farming is an ages-old practice that has created mechanisms for labour 
market and employment analysis, women in this area have been embedded in the 
system so that they can now assess their wellbeing and place on the social ladder 
in connection with the degree of their participation in agricultural activities in the 
community. Consequently, there is some level of homogeneity in the marriage 
system of the people of the area so that these women are almost a closed group 
within the area in terms of age and similarity in life experience. They practice a 
mostly endogenous marriage system, which involves interconnectivity of people 
within the locality (communal endogamy). However, the cohort here was classifi ed 
as closed-group but as a separate variable in the data collection instrument as well 
as the analysis.

The study was carried out among the 20 standard co-operative societies in the 
area among which are: Zion umu-amu2 co-operative society, the God is great Eha-
Amufu farmers’ co-operative society, Chumansonngeleukwa co-operative society, 
Amechingeleukwa co-operative society, Uchennangeleaguiyi co-operative society, 
green land co-operative society, chibuzorisiuzor ethics and values co-operative 
society, Ogechimgbuji farmers’ co-operative society, Agro mgbuji youths co-
operative society, Cogleelshadai farmers’ co-operative society, Shallomisiuzor ethics 
and values co-operative society, Ifunanyamgbuji women farmers’ co-operative 
society, Oziomaisiuzor ethics and value co-operative society, Chigemezungeleukwa 
co-operative society, Divine prince and princess Eha-Amufu co-operative society, 
Ofuobi farmers’ co-operative society, Chidiebere farmers’ co-operative society, 



•    Samuel O. Okafor, Janefrances C. Onu, Vivian C. Nwaeze50

Chidalungeleukwa co-operative society and Demumisiuzor co-operative society. 
On average, each of the co-operatives has a population of 20 farmers who are not 
members of another co-operative society in the same community.

Ten female members each of the 20 co-operative societies were selected 
using inclusive criteria such as females that married based on the local defi nition 
of marriage, female farmers that are self-employed and at least possess a plot of 
farmland either independently or in connection with her family of marriage and 
those in possession of their own poultry farm or the capital base for their major area 
of farming, etc., in the last fi ve years. The age categories in the study were relaxed 
to involve the women in the circle of childbearing age and women who are in the 
age of menopause.

The study adopted a cross-sectional survey design. The choice of this design 
was in line with the theoretical proposition about the dominant factors in the 
understanding of self-evaluation, economic empowerment and attitudinal 
disposition towards fertility control. In essence, for the possibility of empirical 
evaluation of the theoretical proposition, which is on the value of children (VOC) in 
connection with fertility control among the small-scale women farmers, the logic of 
social survey in data collection and analysis is indispensable.

The study adopted modifi ed random sampling techniques in selecting the 
respondents (using the list of members of the chosen co-operative societies). 
Modifi ed random sampling as used in this study meant choosing the available 
respondents on the list based on random picks from the sampling frame. All of 
the relatively standard co-operative societies selected were equally represented 
in the study by adopting an equal probability sampling technique. In each of the 20 
co-operative societies selected, 10 married female farmers were selected using a 
modifi ed random sampling technique via the registers of active members of these 
co-operative societies. Here, the sex of the farmers, marital status and period of 
membership of the society were screened to select the members within the interest 
of the study. In total, 200 respondents were selected from the co-operative societies 
(i.e. the relatively standard co-operative societies). 

Although there are a few members of these societies who could not be accessed 
during the time of data collection, a replacement was made in cases of rejected 
interview requests and where the name that appeared on the list was obsolete. This 
helped the sampling procedure and data collection among the targeted population 
and representativeness of all the 20 co-operative societies with their heterogeneous 
farming activities and community locations.

The instrument for the study was survey a questionnaire developed on nominal 
and ordinal scales with a specifi c focus on the indices of fertility control (such as 
choice of family size, achieved family size, son preference, child adoption, age 
of marriage, family planning). Choice of family size was operationalised as the 
number of children that a woman desired before she stops giving birth. This was 
added to the questionnaire items to create a background of the dominant fertility 
intention among the women in the area and to help emphasise the antecedents of 
VOC-related concepts among the populations. In our analysis, we use an ordinal 
scaled version of the desired number of children distinguishing between less 



Rural Small-Scale Women Farmers and Preference for Family Size in South-East Nigeria    • 51

than four children, four children and more than four children. Son preference was 
operationalised as the desire to have a son by all means available for the marriage 
among the women such as continuous birth until a male child is born or reaching 
out for male child adoption if allowed by the community/culture. However, in view 
of the VOC concepts captured here (insurance and dialogical utility of children), the 
variable was measured with the questionnaire item on the desire to have a male 
child. Age at marriage was operationalised as the age at which the women were 
married. This was also to create further emphasis on the antecedents to family size 
decision as well as the aspirations towards the insurance utility of children. Family 
planning was operationalised as the willingness among the women to use any form 
of contraceptive method for the purpose of controlling the number of births. This 
also created further emphasis on the women’s willingness to control birth, which 
invariably is connected to the insurance utility of children. These were presented 
in the questionnaire items listed below.4 Another set of variables in the study is 
economic independence (source of labour on the farm and self-perception). Source 
of labour was operationalised considering the situation among the population, 
such as considering children as the basic family members to be involved in the 
farming business by their parents. As such, source of labour was operationalised 
as either the family member or hired labourers helping the women in their farming 
business. This was designed to survey the work utility of children in the VOC 
concept, which viewed the labour need of peasant farmers as encouraging giving 
birth to more children among these women. In addition, economic independence, 
which was operationalised in the women’s self-perceptions of their socioeconomic 
status in their various communities based on the local rating of economic effi ciency 
among the local population, was meant to emphasise the extent of socioeconomic 
upgrading perceived by the women among themselves and how this affected their 
fertility intention. The inclusion of the family and the community was a result of 
the closeness of the family and communal activities among the population; self-
rating at the family level is as good as that of the community level. These were 
captured in the questionnaire items listed below.5 Closed-group as a variable in 
the study was operationalised as women who were born, brought up and married 
in the Eha-Amufu area. This emphasised the dominant fertility attitude among the 
population, which connects with the communal values attached to children. This 

4 How many children do you have or desire to have in your family? Less than 4, 4 children, 
between 4 and 6, 6 and above; Did you stop or will you stop at the earlier number of children 
you have desired for, without a male child? Yes or No; When did you get married? Before 18 
years, between 18 and 23 years, between 24 and 29, 30 years+; Do you use any effective family 
planning for birth control? Yes or No; Do you exercise equal rights with your husband in making 
decisions on the number of children to have? Yes or No.

5 Who helps you in your farming/other businesses you do for a living? Children and family 
members [  ] hired labourers [  ]. Do you feel economically and socially empowered in your 
family and community? Yes or No; Do you see yourself as economically independent in your 
family and community Yes or No.



•    Samuel O. Okafor, Janefrances C. Onu, Vivian C. Nwaeze52

was captured in the questionnaire items listed below.6 The study did not use the 
VOC standard instruments but the dominant concepts, which, by their operational 
defi nitions, aligned with the VOC concepts. The questionnaires were distributed 
to the respondents with some guidance from the researcher when respondents 
requested assistance. 

The data collected were coded and analysed using SPSS version 23 
(Statistical Package for the Social Sciences). This was carried out in two stages to 
comprehensively address the issues raised in the study. While the fi rst stage of the 
analysis involved the descriptive presentation of the responses in percentages, at 
the second stage an ordinal logistic regression was run on the dependent variable 
of interest.

3.1 Limitation of the Study Design

Survey research design no doubt has made a tremendous mark on the demographic 
research landscape. However, there are some gaps always visible in every study 
solely carried out using survey design, especially in some contexts. Among other 
things, a survey design can be leading in the instrument of data collection so that some 
relevant information may be omitted among the study participants. In the present 
study, such a gap cannot be denied as the study believed that the study participants 
could have given more information if the study observed qualitative methodology 
or rather a mixed method design. Again, the 200 women who participated in the 
study were not comprehensive enough to cover the entire Eha-Amufu area in terms 
of information on fertility control in this dimension. This is in view of the fact that 
the co-operative organisations used to reach the women were not liberal enough 
to have included all married women as not all the women in the area are farmers. 
In view of this, the study is not suffi cient enough to predict the attitude of these 
women towards fertility control in general using the Value of Children (VOC) model, 
which invariably required a large sample size and study population. 

4 Empirical results

Table 1 presents the sociodemographic description of the study participants. 
10 percent of the participants completed primary education, 32.5 percent completed 
high school, 22.5 percent were educated up to the National Certifi cate in Education 
while most of the respondents (35 percent) were educated up to Diploma and degree 
certifi cation. Regarding the age distribution, the table shows that the majority of 
the participants (22.5 percent) are in the age category of 42-47 years, while only 
7.5 percent of the participants are below the age of 18 years. The mean age of the 
study participants is 33.9 years. Only 2.5 percent of the participants indicated to 
have married before the age of 18 years, 40 percent married between the ages of 

6 Were you born and married in Isi Uzor local government area? Yes or No.



Rural Small-Scale Women Farmers and Preference for Family Size in South-East Nigeria    • 53

Tab. 1: Frequency distribution on the sociodemographic characteristics of the 
respondents

Variables of interest in %

Completed education
Primary education 20 10.0
High school 65 32.5
National Certifi cate in Education 45 22.5
Diploma/Degree 70 35.0

Age distribution
< 18 15 7.5
18-23 30 15.0
24-29 20 10.0
30-35 35 17.5
36-41 35 17.5
42-47 45 22.5
48-53 10 5.0
54 and above 10 5.0

Age at marriage
< 18 5 2.5
18-23 80 40.0
24-29 80 40.0
30+ years 35 17.5

Born and married in Eha-Amufu (closed group status)
Yes 115 57.5
No 85 42.5

Feeling economically independent
Yes 145 72.5
No 55 27.5

Children as source of labour
Yes 95 47.5
No 105 52.5

Desired family size
< 4 children 60 30.0
4 children 65 32.5
4-6 children 50 25.0
> 6 children 25 12.5

Intention to stop family planning at 4 (or less) children
regardless of male childbirth (self-birth-control measure)

Yes 130 65.0
No 70 35

Access to family planning
Yes 115 57.5
No 85 42.5



•    Samuel O. Okafor, Janefrances C. Onu, Vivian C. Nwaeze54

18-23 years and 24-29 years while 17.5 percent married between the ages of 30 
years and above. The mean age at marriage among the study participants is 25.4 
years. The majority of the participants (57.5 percent) fall into the closed-group 
category, i.e. were born and married within Eha-Amufu. More than 70 percent of 
the participants feel economically independent (self-assessment). About 47 percent 
of the participants consider their children as source of labour in their farm. Most 
of the participants (32.5 percent) indicated a number of 4 children as ideal family 
size, 30 percent desire less than 4 children, 25 percent between 4 and 6 children 
and 12.5 percent would like to have 6 or more children. More than 60 percent of 
the participants intend to stop family planning at 4 (or less) children regardless of 
male childbirth. And 57.5 percent of the respondents state that they have access to 
reliable family planning. Only 40 percent of the participants feel that they have equal 
rights in decision-making on family size compared to their husband. The majority 
of the participants (67.5 percent) believe their family will not accept the adoption of 
a male child.

Table 2 presents the results of the ordinal logistic regression for desired family 
size among rural small-scale women farmers in Eha-Amufu. The overall strength 
of the model in explaining the factors surrounding desired family size according 
to the pseudo R2 (Cox and Snell R2, Nagelkerke R2 and McFadden R2) is between 
92.7 percent and 99.6 percent. Among the variables of interest, age of the women, 
desire for a male child, family members as source of labour and feeling economically 
independent signifi cantly contributed to the explanation of desired family size 
among the women. Specifi cally, according to the model, children as source of 
labour (Wald 11.84, OR = -.894), education up to National Certifi cate in Education 
(Wald 4.232, OR-.734) and preference for a male child (Wald 57.83, OR = -2.29) 
were all signifi cant in the model and in the positive direction (except for education), 
indicating the fact that the presence of the aforementioned factors encourages the 
likelihood of opting for higher family size (4 children and more). 

Women aged between 24 years and above consistently show a positive correlation 
between age and desire for more than 4 children. While the age categories of 23 

Tab. 1: Continuation

Variables of interest in %

Equal rights in decision-making on family size (compared to husband)
Yes 80 40.0
No 120 60.0

Family’s acceptance of male child adoption (self-assessment)
Yes 135 67.5
No 65 32.5

Total 200 100.0

Source:  Field survey 2019 (Primary data collected from the small-scale-women farmers in 
Eha-Amufu by the authors from University of Nigeria, Nsukka)



Rural Small-Scale Women Farmers and Preference for Family Size in South-East Nigeria    • 55

years and below appeared without a signifi cant relationship with the desire for 
family size above four children. When looking at age at marriage only ages between 
18-23 years refl ected a signifi cant (negative) relationship with the desired family 
size. This cannot be explained without referring to the dominant condition of the 
people of Eha-Amufu such as the family and some communal traditions. While 

Tab. 2: Ordinal logistic regression on desired family size among the women

Estimate Std. Error Wald df 95% Confi dence Interval
Lower Upper
Bound Bound

Thresholds
less than 4 children -2.108*** .655 10.359 1 -3.392 -.824
4 children -.590 .646 .835 1 -1.855 .675
more than 4 children 1.299* .643 4.081 1 .039 2.559

Completed Education (ref.: Diploma/Degree)
Primary -.210 .634 .110 1 -1.452 1.032
High school -.409 .405 1.020 1 -1.201 .384
National Certifi cate in
Education -.734* .357 4.232 1 -1.434 -.035

Age (ref.: 54+ years)
< 18 years 1.492* .701 4.527 1 .118 2.866
18-23 years .964 .536 3.240 1 -.086 2.014
24-29 years 3.090*** .738 17.546 1 1.644 4.536
30-35 years 1.769** .657 7.252 1 .482 3.057
36-41 years 1.908*** .594 10.308 1 .743 3.072
42-47 years 2.356*** .554 18.111 1 1.271 3.441
48-53 years 2.456** .792 9.623 1 .904 4.008

Age of marriage (ref.: 30+ years)
< 18 years -9.805 2761.562 .000 1 -5422.367 5402.756
18-23 years -.740* .378 3.824 1 -1.481 .002
24-29 years .430 .338 1.621 1 -.232 1.092

Economic independence (ref.: no)
Yes .588* .291 4.093 1 .018 1.159

Source of Labour (ref:. Non family members)
Family members .894*** .260 11.839 1 1.404 .385

Son preference (ref.: no)
Yes 2.287*** .301 57.831 1 2.876 1.698

Access to Family Planning (ref.: no)
Yes -.467 .269 3.006 1 -.995 .061

χ2 = 379.659 (df 87), *p<.05, ** p<.01, *** p<.001, Pseudo R2= Cox and Snell (92.7), 
Nagelkerke (99.6), McFadden (97.9)

Source:  Source:  Field survey 2019 (Primary data collected from the small-scale-women 
farmers in Eha-Amufu by the authors from University of Nigeria, Nsukka)



•    Samuel O. Okafor, Janefrances C. Onu, Vivian C. Nwaeze56

preference for a male child perpetually put women in suspense about sustaining 
their marriage and the continuity of the family, more than 17 percent of the study 
participants indicated that they married between the ages of 30 years and above; 
equally, more than 30 percent of the respondents were concerned that their family 
tradition is against the adoption of a male child in case they managed a limited 
family size without giving birth to a male child. While this is observed in the result 
of age at marriage and partly in the age distribution of the study participants, the 
relationship between the age distribution of the participants and desire for family 
size above four children indicates a deeper understanding of the circumstances 
surrounding fertility control among the population. Although the age categories of 
41 years and above are invariably within the framework of the women who are in the 
fi nal stages of giving birth to children as well as those who have fi nished giving birth 
to children, the appearance of this age category as a signifi cant factor for the desire 
for family size above four children indicates the traditional perception of family size 
dominant among the population.

Similar studies (for example Upadhyay et al. 2014; Carr et al. 2012) have found 
negative correlations between women’s economic independence and desire 
for family size above 4 children, however, in the fi ndings of this study there is a 
positive relationship between the two. In Table 2, children as a source of labour and 
preference for a male child contributed to explaining the desire for family size above 
four children. This can be observed in the positive signifi cance of the source of labour 
among the women and preference for a male child. Economic independence triggers 
the need for cheap labour on the farm and one of the ways of achieving that among 
the women in this rurality is to increase the number of births for more hands and to 
pursue an objective that enhances the cumulative number of the family members, 
such as having a son who will bring in more people in the capacity of daughters-
in-law. While economic independence among the women, the phenomenon of 
inheritance and children as source of future wealth and retirement hope (insurance 
utility of children) (Werding  2014; Nauck 2014), preference for male child(ren) among 
the Igbo ethnic group in particular, also contradicts the determination to have a 
limited family size without a male child. This is more important, especially among 
the economically independent women who fi nd fulfi lment in the dominant family 
and communal traditions; a concept captured in the VOC model as social approval.

More than 60 percent of the respondents indicated that their families would allow 
adoption of a male child, which, in this context, indicates a gradual opening to child 
adoption in the rural settings of Nigeria as well as options for families to satisfy their 
inward desire for family size and ethnic/tradition-related fertility issues. In normal 
circumstances among these rural dwellers, when a woman is not able to give birth 
to a male child, the husband is at liberty to marry another wife to have a male child 
for continuity of the lineage as well as for insurance and dialogical interests as aptly 
described by Nauck (2014) and Huinink (1995, cited in Nauck 2014). However, with 
the gradual transformation in family structure and orientation, a woman with the 
husband can opt for adoption of a male child in order to maintain her marriage as 
well as the husband’s lineage but this is obtainable mostly among the women living 
in the urban setting with their husbands.



Rural Small-Scale Women Farmers and Preference for Family Size in South-East Nigeria    • 57

In the present context, children as source of labour surfaced as a signifi cant 
variable in the model, supporting the fi rst assumption of the VOC model by Nauck 
(2014) on the work utility of children among the parents. Among the rural women 
occupied with agricultural activities, the bond of family relationship and labour 
supply actually affect almost every aspect of their lives including fertility behaviour. 
Although the role of women in agriculture has changed in most nations due to the 
advent of mechanised farming (Boserup 1970; Giuliano 2014), in Nigeria, at least in 
the near future, farming activities will slowly respond to the global status quo and are 
even more manual where they involve women. As such, in most rural communities 
like Eha-Amufu, farming to a large extent requires more hands and where it involves 
women, they largely depend on family members and nearby relatives. With such 
options among the women in this area, limited family size may not be an option 
compared to the option of having more children. In addition, feeling economically 
independent is substantiated by the traditional value system, which in any case is 
subject to methods of inheritance and lineage continuity (dialogical utility). In most 
cases, women who feel fulfi lled in the social system (social approval) here connect 
this with their ability to produce male children who will inherit their wealth and 
maintain the family lineage.

Since the area is under patrilineal descent, women are compelled to produce 
at least one son to make them proud in their marriage as well as to inherit the 
properties and maintain the family lineage. In the face of the unpopularity of male 
child adoption among the group, maintaining a limited family size without a male 
child may not be largely supported among the economically independent women 
here compared to other places in the world where women’s economic independence 
is gradually eroding the idea of large family size. As was pointed out concerning 
women’s economic independence and son preference, no woman in a traditional 
system where patrilineal descent dominates inheritance and lineage continuity will 
risk her marriage and pride in the family. As such, women having opportunities to 
adopt a son will be motivated by factors such as their pride in the marriage and 
family as well as who will protect them during old age and from kinsmen if their 
husbands die before them; a situation seen in the VOC model as insurance utility of 
the children by the parents.

5 Discussion of the fi ndings

Fertility control is one of the issues in the focus of the entire global community with 
different nations facing the issue in different ways. Although the United Nations 
Population Fund has put certain measures in place world over via the member 
nations to slow down the growth of human population, especially in developing 
nations, the implementation of the measures and the unseen factors for population 
growth still put in perspective the need for further empirical investigation; hence 
the present study. Among other things, the micro factors for fertility rate/population 
growth such as self-assessment of socioeconomic status, age before marriage, 
communal and family tradition surrounding the fertility behaviour of the women 



•    Samuel O. Okafor, Janefrances C. Onu, Vivian C. Nwaeze58

deserved attention for a better understanding of micro elements in population 
growth among the inhabitants of Sub-Saharan Africa. Although similar research 
has been carried out in Sub-Saharan Africa, this study went a step further to isolate 
some factors with the help of the VOC model for more advanced information. This 
was done with the aid of the four assumptions of the VOC model according to Nauck 
(2014).

Specifi cally, this study immersed itself in the understanding of the phenomenon 
of women’s economic independence and fertility control issues among rural 
small-scale women farmers with a common history of informal employment and 
communal tradition in Eha-Amufu. The study focused on major issues in relation 
with fertility behaviour and women’s feeling about economic independence. The 
research question focused on the determinant factors for decisions on family size 
above four children among these women.

Based on the issue of fertility-related decisions in the family, a number of factors 
have played roles among these women contrary to assumptions before now. These, 
as seen in the VOC model, point to the elements surrounding women’s decisions on 
fertility issues especially when it lies in their power to make such decisions. While 
there are reservations to the dominant traditional perception on fertility control, the 
women’s experience over time in the system plays a rather minute role compared to 
their goal in life, which is more or less competitive in view of the achievement ladder 
in the society. This indicates that even though women may appear to be passive in 
fertility control decisions in rural settings among developing nations, this passivity 
is for a potential benefi t of children as described in the VOC model. In the VOC 
model, women are seen in the four dimensions of VOC assumptions as inalienable 
factors in family fertility decisions, especially in Sub-Saharan African rural settings.

From the fi ndings of the study, with about 92 percent and 99 percent explained 
by the ordinal logistic regression model, the phenomenon of women’s economic 
independence and desire for family size were probed to further understand the 
phenomenon among the population of women farmers. Specifi cally, according to 
the model (see Table 2), family members as source of labour and desire for male 
child indicated the likelihood of opting for higher family size (4 children and more). 
This confi rmed the fi rst assumption of the VOC model by Nauck (2014,  Nauck/Klaus 
2007), which states that, “if the work utility of children is high, then it is an effi cient 
strategy to be rich in children.” 

Due to the role of women in agriculture and the family in developing nations such 
as Nigeria, children continue to appear as future wealth and a mark of prosperity 
for women. Although mechanisation of farming has changed the involvement of 
women in farming activities and family orientations in most parts of the world (Oláh 
et al. 2014; Giuliano 2014), the fi ndings here negate this understanding in this part 
of the world as more than 47 percent of the women understudy indicated that the 
sources of labour for their farming activities depended on the family members 
including their children. While the concern for the proper training of the children is 
not an issue here due to the level of education among the women, the concept of 
children as future wealth in this context goes beyond the wellbeing of the child. As 
such, most parents simply believe that whether the child is properly trained or not, 



Rural Small-Scale Women Farmers and Preference for Family Size in South-East Nigeria    • 59

when they grow up they will at least add to human resources in the family line. This 
will eventually increase the population strength of the family in question for lineage, 
clan and tribe continuity and expansion. This will of course guarantee the future 
economic security for the nuclear and extended families. These also confi rmed 
the three assumptions of the VOC model by Nauck (2014) on insurance utility of 
children, social approval utility as well as the dialogical utility assumptions. While 
the low investment in the training of children in the rural context can encourage 
higher fertility rates, the early dividends of many children in agrarian societies play 
a role so that the focus for many women in fertility choice decisions is obscured by 
the short-term benefi ts of children on the farm as well as other household chores. In 
addition, in this part of the world most children stop at high school level and engage 
in one artisan work or the other or in trading. In this situation, parents simply look 
to the immediate and short-term dividends from the children without considering 
the future of these children based on the global trend, especially in the face of the 
dominant logic among these women, which upholds the recycling of lower rungs of 
the societal ladder. 

The phenomenon of age at marriage and age of the women can be seen from 
the angle of the mean age and the mean age at marriage among the participants in 
the study, which is 34 and 25.4 years respectively. This indicated more issues about 
age in relationships with desire for family size above 4 children. In southeast Nigeria 
generally, the age of marriage is indirectly connected to the level of development 
found in each subarea so that in some parts of this region, women marry late as a 
result of socio-economic conditions of men as well as some ambitions among the 
unmarried female folks. For instance, Eha-Amufu, though a long-standing agrarian 
community with fertile land, is the home of one of the federal colleges of education 
located in different regions of the country. This in a way has an effect on the age of 
marriage among the women. This can be seen in the description of their educational 
status in this study, where 57.5 percent of the participants have acquired National 
Certifi cates in Education, National Diplomas and other higher qualifi cations. Late 
marriage has a way of disregarding family planning of moderate family size either as 
a result of the desire for male children to secure the marriage or pressure from the 
extended family members for more children.

The link between education, age, age at marriage and desire for a son are equally 
connected to the problem of adoption of a male child in their family of marriage. 
While the age and age at marriage trigger the problem of apprehension over how 
long the women will remain fertile before menopause, the problem of a desire for 
son (which is a traditional thing coupled with the fact that child adoption among the 
communities does not suffi ciently accommodate male child adoption), compels the 
women to overlook the essence of moderate family size (0-4) such as reproductive 
health, quality family life and effi cient upbringing of a few children. These fi ndings 
have put forward further explanations of the factors surrounding fertility control in 
this part of the world beyond the fi ndings of some studies in Sub-Saharan Africa 
and beyond those by Kritz and Makinwa-Adebusoye (1995), Kaufman and Meekers 
(1998); Atake and Ali (2019). Also, the fi ndings here negate the fi nding of the study by 
Klaus et al. 2007  (cited in Trommsdorff/Nauck 2005), which was guided by the VOC 



•    Samuel O. Okafor, Janefrances C. Onu, Vivian C. Nwaeze60

model. While their study found that highly educated and gainfully employed women 
show lower instrumental values of children, the fi nding here indicated otherwise. 
This may, however, be explained by other extraneous variables such as the quality 
of education in the two different contexts and age at marriage in connection with 
communal traditions. 

Although the study was specifi cally seeking the internal logic of choice of 
family size among the women in this setting, the varying ages of the respondents 
highlights the need to consider the women already out of childbirth age who were 
involved in the study. While the study did not include the specifi c number of live 
births among the women understudy as a variable, the information for this was 
gathered under the variable “choice of family size” within which the women were 
asked to indicate their desired family size whether childbirth is in progress or they 
have stopped giving birth to children. From the descriptive statistics, 27.5 percent 
of the participants indicated they have stopped or will stop at 4 children, 20 percent 
(less than 4 children), 30 percent (between 4 and 6 children) and 22.5 percent (6 
children and above). With one of the dominant concepts guiding the study (closed-
group), the varying age of the respondents appeared insignifi cant as the family 
culture and other dominant cultures within the area hold sway on these women in 
view of fertility control among them. And this surfaced in what they viewed as ideal 
family size and when they deemed it necessary to stop or will stop giving birth.

The innovative essence of this study at this point is to unveil salient issues of 
fertility rates that have been unobserved so far. Before now, most research on the 
issue of fertility rates among women have approached it at the macro level where 
a blanket summary is given on the women’s fertility behaviour and socioeconomic 
circumstances. For instance, women in the agricultural sector have been lumped 
together in studies overtime without distillation of their particularities in terms 
of forms of farming, the extent of development of the farming methods, family/
communal traditions and closed-group factors. As a matter of fact, educational 
improvement among women of this pedigree ought to counter the desire for family 
size above 4 children but due to these confounders, education appeared as an 
encouraging factor to desire a family size above 4 children.

Meanwhile, the acceptance of male child adoption is a factor among the 
developing nations especially in the rural setting countering the effort for controlling 
fertility behaviour at the family and communal levels. Although science has improved 
to make selection of the sex of a child before conception and child adoption has 
helped improve the reproductive health of women in many parts of the world, many 
rural settings and local traditions have yet to respond to the global advancement. 
For instance, while it is a taboo among some communities in the developing world 
to have a child from other blood partake in their patrilineal decent, knowledge and 
practices of selection of sex of a child before conception still appears complicated 
to these rural dwellers so that trial and error will compel the woman to continue 
giving birth until there is a male child in the marriage. In addition, a woman among 
the Christian dominated southeast Nigeria will hardly be happy to see her husband 
marry another wife for a male child. It is a slap in most women’s faces and loss 
of their pride as this can relegate them to the background should another woman 



Rural Small-Scale Women Farmers and Preference for Family Size in South-East Nigeria    • 61

come into the marriage and produce a male child. While in some contexts, children 
may be seen as future wealth as well as fulfi lment of religious obligations (Suckow 
2005) and equally as a sign of motherhood (Mares/Mozny 2005), the trend of value 
of children here is different as it is more focused on inheritance and the patrilineal 
tradition, conditioning the women to prioritise children especially the males in their 
marriage. In the social approval and dialogical dimensions of VOC assumptions by 
Nauck (2014), the above conditions of women bring to light the unseen driver of 
fertility among this population captured as variables in the VOC model. 

More than 57 percent of the study participants were born and married in Eha-
Amufu; by implication, these women are playing out the dominant family and 
communal traditions, which are guiding their fertility behaviour. With the typical 
family tradition among the Eha-Amufu people connected to the typical Igbo 
tradition, a male child is a valuable asset to every marriage so that any marriage 
that fails to produce a male child can be viewed as unsuccessful, requiring another 
union with another woman. This situation seems to have abated among those living 
in the city who can adopt children to continue in the marriage. However, the regular 
rural dwellers like these women are under pressure to please their husbands by 
continually giving birth until there is  a male child. The only option besides adoption 
is to marry another woman for a male child. While this situation indicates the 
dialogical/emotional assumption of the VOC model by Nauck (2014) in the short 
term, in the long term, this is connected to the insurance assumption of the model as 
Eha-Amufu has the culture of sharing communal and family lands among the males 
in the community. As such, for inheritance from the family and the community to be 
assured, there is a need for male child or children warranting the ambition for males 
among the families.

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•    Samuel O. Okafor, Janefrances C. Onu, Vivian C. Nwaeze68

Date of submission: 09.04.2020  Date of acceptance: 03.03.2021

Samuel Okafor (). University of Nigeria, Department of Sociology & Anthropology. 
Nsukka, Nigeria. E-mail: samuelokey200@gmail.com 
URL: https://unn-ng.academia.edu/SamuelOkafor
https://www.researchgate.net/profi le/Okafor-Samuel

Janefrances C. Onu. University of Nigeria, School of General Studies. Nsukka, Nigeria. 
E-mail: Janefrancess.onu@un.edu.ng
URL: https://www.researchgate.net/profi le/Janefrances-Onu?ev=brs_highl

Vivian C. Nwaeze. University of Nigeria, School of General Studies. Nsukka, Nigeria. 
E-mail: Chigozie.ishwu@unn.edu.ng



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