OUT OF POCKET PAYMENTS AND THE UTILIZATION OF HEALTHCARE SERVICES AMONG FARMERS IN OYO STATE Awoyemi T.T and Omoniwa A.E

The main question addressed here is the effect of Out of Pocket Payments on the Utilization of Healthcare Services among farmers in Oyo State. A multistage random sampling technique was used to solicit responses from 140 farmers on the type and degree of utilization of the various types of healthcare services available to the farmers, the determinants of Out of Pockets Payments and the factors influencing the utilization of six classes of healthcare services. The distance to healthcare services, frequency of visit by farmers, the quality of treatment, cost of treatment, the availability of healthcare services, type of healthcare services and the method of financing healthcare services were found to significantly affect the utilization of healthcare services among farmers in Oyo State while cost of treatment, quality of treatment, distance to healthcare services and age are the factors determining Out of Pocket Payments by the farmers. The study therefore recommends that efforts should be made to provide accessible primary healthcare service centres such that the farmers do not have to walk more than 1 km to access healthcare services. Also, improved healthcare facilities and competent medical personnel should be provided for the farmers at little or no cost so as to improve the utilization rate by farmers who cannot afford medical care. This will in turn increase the productive capacity of the farmers thereby increasing the GDP of Oyo state and Nigeria at large.