Households’ Decision to Participate in Cooperative Organizations: Evidence from Farmers in Akwa Ibom State, Southern Nigeria

Farmer organizations are effective mechanisms for increasing agricultural production, income and reducing poverty. Regrettably, farmers have not taken advantage of the lofty benefits accruable to those who voluntarily join these organizations. The study estimated the factors influencing household’s decision to participate in cooperative organizations and also tested the level of agreement among identified constraints linked with participation. Multistage sampling procedure was employed to select 120 farmers for the study. Primary data were obtained using questionnaires. Data were analyzed using Probit model and Kendall’s coefficient of concordance. Results of analyses revealed that the mean age, years of educational attainment household size and years of farming experience were 32, 15, 5 and 7 respectively. Result of probit analysis further indicate that age of the farmer, farm income, household size, participation in meeting, major decision maker, distance of farm to the nearest road and farmers social status were the most critical factors influencing household’s decision to participate in cooperative organizations. Result of Kendall’s coefficient of concordance revealed that there was 0.42 (moderate agreement) between the ranking of constraints associated with farmers' participation in cooperative organizations. Furthermore, findings showed that the top five factors limiting households’ decision to participate in cooperative organizations were inadequate capital accumulation, high embezzlement of funds, poor leadership, recurring internal crises and lack of initiative. Policies to provide good and accessible roads, increase farmers incomes and encourage youths are rational options that will enhance effective participation in cooperative organizations

Analysis of upland farm households’ vulnerability to climate variability in the Niger Delta, Nigeria

Analysis of upland farm households’ vulnerability - Gabriel, Edet, *Valerie, Glory, Godwin, Clement, Nkoyo, E. Bassey and Obot Analysis of upland farm households’ vulnerability to climate variability in the Niger Delta, Nigeria The study analysed the vulnerability of upland farm households to climate variability in the Niger Delta. Three states - Akwa Ibom, Ondo and Rivers were selected from the nine states that make up the Niger Delta region. A total of 120 respondents from upland communities of the Niger delta were used for analysis. Household questionnaire and vulnerability questionnaire using Cost Route method were the instruments used for data collection and analysed using Vulnerability Profile and Vulner-ability / Risk Framework. The results of the analysis show that both male and female headed house-holds in all the upland communities were vulnerable to flooding, windstorm, erosion and drying up of streams. Important factors that made households vulnerable to climate hazards were low agricultural output and income, non-availability of irrigation facilities, insufficient farm labour and lack of storage facilities. Technical capacities of household members were assessed using both science-based knowledge as well as indigenous knowledge of climate change as indicators to adaptation to climate variability. It was assumed that the adaptive capacity of households could be enhanced by the number of persons with either science-based knowledge or indigenous knowledge across the re-gion. Expenditure on carbohydrate was higher across the region during disaster time, followed by expenditure in protein, vitamin/minerals and fat and oil and other classes of food, implying that more carbohydrate food is consumed during disaster period than any other class of food. Certain geo-graphical factors such as distance to coastline and population have direct impact on climate variability in the Niger Delta Region. Recommendations include establishment of emergency evacuation systems, income opportunities and support programmes as well as capacity building on climate change knowledge, enterprise development and management. Key words: Farm households, Nigeria, poverty, rural areas, smallholder farmer

ESTIMATION OF LOAN DEFAULT AMONG BENEFICIARIES OF A STATE GOVERNMENT OWNED AGRICULTURAL LOAN SCHEME, NIGERIA

This paper analyses the extent of default among beneficiaries of government sponsored loan scheme. The loan performance indices estimated reveal that over 75% of the loans disbursed by AKSALB in the period under review were still held by 59 percent of the loan beneficiaries. This situation is an indication of high level of loan defaulting among the benefiting farmers. Certain personal and facility factors are estimated to determine the probability of default among the beneficiaries. Notably among these include sex, household size, farm size, loan from other sources, primary occupation of the beneficiary, time lapse between loan application and disbursement, total farm expenditure and duration of the granted loans. With such high level of default, the Board outreach and sustainability capacity is questionable thus putting a caveat on the relevance of the Board as agricultural micro financing institution

IDENTIFYING SOURCES OF EFFICIENCY AMONG RESOURCE POOR INDIGENOUS VEGETABLE FARMERS IN UYO, NIGERIA

Indigenous vegetables have historically played an important role in farming and consumption systems in Nigeria. Vegetable production like any other farming activity requires the use of inputs as efficiently as possible to optimize production. To identify the sources of efficiency among indigenous vegetable farmers, the stochastic frontier production function which incorporates a model for the technical efficiency effect was employed. Data from 100 indigenous vegetable (waterleaf) producers were obtained through two-stage sampling procedure with the aid of questionnaire. Using the maximum likelihood estimation analysis, asymptotic parameter estimates were evaluated to describe efficiency sources. Results revealed that the average resource use efficiency is 0.81 (81%) leaving an inefficiency gap of 0.19 (19%), indicating that about 19% higher production could be achieved using the same input mix. Land, labour, waterleaf cuttings were evaluated and identified as the most critical efficiency sources. Age, access to credit facilities, and market were identified as the most important explainers of inefficiency. To derive the benefits of economies of scale, indigenous waterleaf producers should increase their farm sizes devoted to waterleaf cultivation either by land consolidation or acquiring new farm plots

IDENTIFYING SOURCES OF EFFICIENCY AMONG RESOURCE POOR INDIGENOUS VEGETABLE FARMERS IN UYO, NIGERIA

Indigenous vegetables have historically played an important role in farming and consumption systems in Nigeria. Vegetable production like any other farming activity requires the use of inputs as efficiently as possible to optimize production. To identify the sources of efficiency among indigenous vegetable farmers, the stochastic frontier production function which incorporates a model for the technical efficiency effect was employed. Data from 100 indigenous vegetable (waterleaf) producers were obtained through two-stage sampling procedure with the aid of questionnaire. Using the maximum likelihood estimation analysis, asymptotic parameter estimates were evaluated to describe efficiency sources. Results revealed that the average resource use efficiency is 0.81 (81%) leaving an inefficiency gap of 0.19 (19%), indicating that about 19% higher production could be achieved using the same input mix. Land, labour, waterleaf cuttings were evaluated and identified as the most critical efficiency sources. Age, access to credit facilities, and market were identified as the most important explainers of inefficiency. To derive the benefits of economies of scale, indigenous waterleaf producers should increase their farm sizes devoted to waterleaf cultivation either by land consolidation or acquiring new farm plots

The Determinants of Rural Poverty in Nigeria

Most of the population of Nigeria is rural and agriculture isthe mainstay of the impoverished people’s livelihood. Thispaper estimated the determinants of rural poverty in Nigeria usingthe Tobit regression model. Through the multistage samplingtechnique, primary data were obtained from 150 rural farminghouseholds using a questionnaire. The Result of Tobit regressionanalysis shows that increase in farm income, farm size and amountof agricultural loan led to a decrease in the level of poverty by0.9953, 0.1220 and 0.4016 x 10-6 respectively. Membership ofthe cooperative by household heads, ownership of certain assets,access to extension services, and modern farming inputs, increasein educational attainment and male heads of households decreasedthe likelihood of being poor. Findings also reveal that except foraccess to loan that is elastic, the responsiveness of the probabilityand intensity of poverty to dependency ratio, farming experience,farm size and income are inelastic

The Determinants of Rural Poverty in Nigeria

Most of the population of Nigeria is rural and agriculture is the mainstay of the impoverished people’s livelihood. This paper estimated the determinants of rural poverty in Nigeria using the Tobit regression model. Through the multistage sampling technique, primary data were obtained from 150 rural farming households using a questionnaire. The Result of Tobit regression analysis shows that increase in farm income, farm size and amount of agricultural loan led to a decrease in the level of poverty by 0.9953, 0.1220 and 0.4016 x 10-6 respectively. Membership of the cooperative by household heads, ownership of certain assets, access to extension services, and modern farming inputs, increase in educational attainment and male heads of households decreased the likelihood of being poor. Findings also reveal that except for access to loan that is elastic, the responsiveness of the probability and intensity of poverty to dependency ratio, farming experience, farm size and income are inelastic

Agricultural Credit Policy and Livestock Development in Nigeria

This research aimed to provide empirical information on the relationship between the livestock production index and the credit policy environment in Nigeria. Time series data were used, and an autoregressive distributed lag (ARDL) bound test approach was adopted to establish the presence of co-integration among series. The estimated long and short run models showed stability, best quality, efficiency and unbiased. The findings showed that in the long run, total credit to the agricultural sector from commercial banks and domestic credit to the private sector both had significant positive influence on livestock production, while agricultural credit guarantee scheme loans to livestock units exhibited a negative impact. In the short run, agricultural credit guarantee scheme loans to livestock, lending interest rate, and domestic credit to the private sector negatively relate to livestock production. However, the commercial banks’ total credit to the agricultural sector showed a positive effect on livestock production in the short run. The implication of the findings indicates a need to increase total commercial credit to the agricultural sector and domestic credit to the private sector, to reassess the agricultural credit guarantee scheme, and to lower the lending interest rate for agricultural credit – these as a means for increasing livestock production in the country

Sustaining Small Scale Farming: Evidence of Poverty and income Disparity among Rural Farming Households in South-South Region of Nigeria

The incidence of poverty is evidenced among rural farm households in developing societies. As a result of persistence poverty among rural farm households, there is a sudden upsurge in agricultural livelihood diversification and rural-urban migration resulting in high rate of urban unemployment. To help generate suitable policy variables to help tackle this rampaging issue in the South- south region of Nigeria, this study specifically analyses poverty and income inequality as well as identified determinants of poverty among rural farm households in Akwa Ibom State, Nigeria. Data were collected from 390 rural farm household heads spread across the rural areas of the State. Combination of sampling methods was employed to sample cross-sectional data from respondents. The study used descriptive tools and regression analysis (Tobit regressions) to analyse information collected. The socio-economic analysis reveals that most farming household heads were male; an average of 12.3 years of formal was discovered; social capital formation was poor, while average age stood at 42.5 years. About 33.08 % of male headed households and 22.05 % of female-headed households live below poverty line in the study area. Income inequality index revealed 0.4210 for male headed households and 0.4531 for the female counterpart. The Tobit model estimates revealed that, household head farming experience, years in the social organisation, a level of formal education, farm and non-farm income were negative drivers of rural poverty in the region. Household’s age, household size, structure of land ownership and gender were positive drivers of poverty among rural farming households. It is recommended that sound family welfare packages should be implemented in the rural communities. Also, the social capital formation should be promoted among rural farming households, while adult education policies should be re-visited. The government of the region should also improve educational facilities in the rural areas and make marginal lands available to less privileged farmers