Economic Analysis of Poverty Status of Small-Scale Farmers in Bayelsa State, Nigeria
Journal Title: Current Investigations in Agriculture and Current Research - Year 2018, Vol 4, Issue 5
Abstract
The study analyzed the household poverty status of small scale farmers in Bayelsa State, Nigeria using a multi-stage random sampling technique to sample six hundred farmers. Data were collected using structured questionnaire and were analyzed using descriptive statistics, FGT [1] index and the logistic regression model. The result revealed that the majority of the farmers 80% were females, while 79% of the respondent was married with 46% of them having no formal education. Twenty-seven (27) percent of the crop farmers are poor while thirtyeight (38) of the livestock farmers were poor. Also, the poverty depth and severity of crop farmers were 0.072 and 0.038 respectively whereas they were 0.098 and 0.052 respectively for the livestock farmers. The logistic regression model revealed that age, educational level, household size, farming experience, farm/herd size, household income, household expenditure and membership of cooperative contributed significantly in determining the poverty status of the farmers. This study therefore recommends measures needed to be put in place to encourage and improve the welfare of the farming household towards productive and sustainable agricultural development for poverty reduction. Nigeria is a vast country endowed with substantial natural resources which include; 68 million hectares of arable land, fresh water resources covering about 12 million hectares, 960 million hectares of coastline and ecological diversity that favor the production of a wide variety of crops, livestock, forestry and fisheries product [2]. These coupled with its 37 million hectares of natural forest and rangeland and total land mass of 923,768km2 [3] makes agriculture one of the prominent sub-sector. In spite of these resources’ endowment, the productivity of agriculture continues to dwindle. One of the major problems confronting Nigeria today is how to improve the quality of life in the rural areas and reduce the level of poverty [4]. Poverty in Nigeria is not only a state of existence but also a process with many dimensions and complexities [5]. The report of the 2006 Nigerian Core Welfare Indicator (CWI) on the poverty profile in the country stated that the dependency ratio, which was defined as the total number of household members aged 0 – 14 years and 65 years and above to the number of household members aged 15 – 64 years was 0.8 Central Bank of Nigeria [6].
Authors and Affiliations
Enimu Solomon
Keywords
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- EP ID EP572427
- DOI 10.32474/CIACR.2018.04.000199
- Views 78
- Downloads 1
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