Poverty reduction efforts in Nigeria 1996 – 2004: a micro level analysis of the relative importance of income growth and redistribution.

A common narrative on Africa’s development process is that specific country policies of income growth and redistribution are necessary for poverty reduction. For growth theoreticians, economic growth must be pursued while for political economists, redistribution is necessary to cushion the detrimental effect of reform policies. These views appear to converge in the many policies and programmes implemented over the years by the Nigerian government. In light of this, we accounted for the effect of these variables using two recent national household survey data sets collected by the National Bureau of statistics in 1996 and 2004 upon which we applied three commonly used poverty indices(FGT) and the Shapely decomposition analytical framework. For robustness, we carried out complementary analysis using the stochastic dominance test and growth incidence curve. Results showed that for the whole country, rural and urban areas respectively, income growth component accounted for -16%, -10% and -10%, while the redistribution component represented -5%, -7% and -4%, suggesting on the average a poverty reducing role. However, a more disaggregated pattern of changes in per capita income reveal that the poor did not benefit much.Income growth, distributional shift, poverty, household, pro-poor growth

Determinants to Soil Water Conservation Techniques Adoption among Farmers in Akwa Ibom State, Nigeria

This study examines soil water conservation techniques adoption as a means towards increased food production, income generation and poverty reduction among farming households in Akwa Ibom State. 90 farmers/respondents were randomly selected from the three Senatorial Districts of Uyo, Ikot Ekpene and Eket that make up the study area. Frequency counts, means and percentages were the tools of analysis using tables to summarize the results. The logit regression model is used to ascertain the determinants to soil-water conservation adoption among farmers in the study location. Findings reveal that most of the farmers have adopted one form of soil water conservation or the other since the inception of their farming business especially in erosion and drought prune locations. A very negligible percentage (8.89%) of the farmers that have not used any conservation method attributed it to their cultural belief, no erosion problem and operating on few and less than 1 hectare of farmland on subsistence level to feed the family. The results also reveal that apart from marital status and farming system all other explanatory variables specified in the models were significant determinants to soil water conservation techniques adoption. More extension contacts, increased micro credit and effective marketing systems are recommended. Keywords: Determinants, Adoption, Farmers, soil water conservation techniques

Farm Level Soil Water Conservation Techniques and Poverty among Farmers in Akwa Ibom State, Nigeria

This study examines soil water conservation techniques adoption as a means towards increased food production, income generation and poverty reduction among farming households in Akwa Ibom State. 90 farmers/respondents were randomly selected from the three Senatorial Districts of Uyo, Ikot Ekpene and Eket that make up the study area. Frequency counts, means and percentages were the tools of analysis using tables to summarize the results. Other analytical tools included the Gross Margin, Profit, Regression models and the Foster, Greer and Thorbecke (FGT) weighted index model to ascertain the performance of the various soil water conservation techniques in terms of income generation, level of adoption and poverty reduction among farmers in the study area. Findings reveal that most of the farmers have adopted one form of soil water conservation or the other since the inception of their farming business especially in erosion and drought prune locations having N7, 549,670 and N7, 297,640 gross margin and profit respectively as returns. A very negligible percentage (8.89%) of the farmers that have not used any conservation method attributed it to their cultural belief, no erosion problem and operating on few and less than 1 hectare of farmland on subsistence level to feed the family. 57.78% of the farmers lived above poverty line while a negligible percentage (14.44%) are the extreme poor. The results also reveal that apart from marital status and farming system all other explanatory variables specified in the models were significant determinants to soil water conservation techniques adoption. More extension contacts, increased micro credit and effective marketing systems are recommended. Keywords: Adoption, Farmers, Poverty, Income, conservation techniques

Poverty reduction efforts in Nigeria 1996 – 2004: a micro level analysis of the relative importance of income growth and redistribution.

A common narrative on Africa’s development process is that specific country policies of income growth and redistribution are necessary for poverty reduction. For growth theoreticians, economic growth must be pursued while for political economists, redistribution is necessary to cushion the detrimental effect of reform policies. These views appear to converge in the many policies and programmes implemented over the years by the Nigerian government. In light of this, we accounted for the effect of these variables using two recent national household survey data sets collected by the National Bureau of statistics in 1996 and 2004 upon which we applied three commonly used poverty indices(FGT) and the Shapely decomposition analytical framework. For robustness, we carried out complementary analysis using the stochastic dominance test and growth incidence curve. Results showed that for the whole country, rural and urban areas respectively, income growth component accounted for -16%, -10% and -10%, while the redistribution component represented -5%, -7% and -4%, suggesting on the average a poverty reducing role. However, a more disaggregated pattern of changes in per capita income reveal that the poor did not benefit much

Remittances and Household Expenditure in Rural Nigeria

This paper examines the relationship between remittances and household expenditures in rural Nigeria by using the 2004 living standard survey to analyse how the receipt of domestic remittances (from within Nigeria) and foreign remittances (from abroad) affects the marginal spending behaviour of households on various consumption and investment goods. Expenditures were categorized into six namely food, education, housing, health, consumer goods and others. Results show that households receiving remittances spend less at the margin on consumption of food, consumer goods and durables than do households receiving no remittances. The analysis further shows that a large amount of remittance money goes into education. At the margin, households receiving domestic and foreign remittances spend 45 and 58 percent more, respectively, on education than do households with no remittances. Like other studies, this paper finds that remittance-receiving households spend more at the margin on housing

Welfare Distribution in Rural and Urban Centres in Nigeria: A Stochastic Dominance Approach

Policy makers are interested in knowing the welfare effect of the many development programmes implemented in rural centres in Nigeria. This study applied stochastic dominance approach to show whether the aggregate welfare in rural centres was better than in urban centres using the household survey data for Nigeria collected by the national Bureau of Statistics. The monetary approach of measuring welfare was adopted and consumption expenditure was chosen over household income following its practicability in a developing country context. Adjustments were also made so as to fit welfare distribution as much as possible. The main findings were that rural centres had better aggregate welfare only for the class of welfare function that is equity loving. For the class of welfare function that is equity and efficiency loving, aggregate welfare dominance of rural centres over urban centres was inconclusive. However, with further imposition of Pigou Dalton transfer condition using the generalized Lorenz curve, rural aggregate welfare showed dominance over urban aggregate welfare. This suggests that redistribution of incomes through rural development programmes may have much more effect on rural aggregate welfare