Determinants of Poverty among Farming Households in Nigeria

Abstract

This study investigated the determinants of poverty among farming households in Nigeria. The study adopted the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) measure of poverty and employed the logit regression model to estimate the effect of the socio-economic variables on poverty among farming households. The results show high incidence of poverty among farming households. Age, size of household, income, and number of farms are major determinants of poverty among farming households. Further, living in the North-east, North-central, South-east, and South-south geo-political zones relative to North-west are major determinants of poverty. The results of marginal effects analysis reinforces the conclusion that the above factors are major determinants of poverty among farming households. Investing in the agricultural sector to reduce poverty should be a matter of priority. Measures aimed at improving both the quality of land and access to inputs could enhance the productivity of farmers. Though poverty is predominant in all the zones, a flexible approach to address the specific challenges of each zone rather than generalized measures could accelerate the pace of sustainable poverty reduction in the rural areas in particular and the country in general.

DOI: 10.5901/mjss.2013.v4n2p365