Assessment Of The Impact Community-Driven Development Project On Rural Farming Communities. A Case Of Fadama Ii In Adamawa State, Nigeria

Fadama II project which is the largest agricultural and rural development project in Nigeria was designed to reduce poverty by providing support to the communities to acquire infrastructure and productive assets, providing demand-driven advisory services and enhancing the capacity of communities to manage economic activities, and reducing conflicts among resource users (Nkonya & Davis, 2008). These laudable objectives were to be achieved by adopting people centered development approach as set against the mandate of the project. It is important to note here that this CDD project is first of its kind in the study area. The focus of this study therefore is to assess the effect of this CDD project on the benefiting rural farming communities in Adamawa State, Nigeri

Assessment of the Adoption Rate of Technologies among Fadama III Farmers in Adamawa State

III project has realized significant impact on household access to new and proven technologies. The results showed adoption rate of technologies among beneficiaries has increased from 43.75% before the inception of the project to 96.255% after the project intervention. This indicates 50% increase against only 20% increase among the non-beneficiaries. This increase is far above the set target of 20% by Fadama III. Plant spacing (43.75%), improved breeds (40.63%) and improved seeds (38.13%) were the most widely adopted technology for both the beneficiaries and non-beneficiaries. Adoption rate of off-farm technologies (agricultural marketing and financial management) was also large. The adoption rate for the all the technologies was significant at p = 0.05, except for fish feed formulation, Cold storage, marketing and fish smoking. Yields among respondents have increased significantly due to adoption of proven technologies. The increase was higher among crop farmers (59.38%) followed by livestock farmers (48.75%). The increase in yields across all the enterprises has exceeded the set target of 20% increase except for fish production (11.25%) and agro-forestry (6.88%). The increase was more among the beneficiaries compared to non-beneficiaries. It can be concluded that project did not only influence the beneficiaries to adopt technologies for the purpose of improving their socio-economic status but it has also influenced the non-beneficiaries living in Fadama III communities to adopt technologies. The adoption rate for fisheries and agro-forestry technologies were low. This raises the need for sensitization on the importance of these technologies that are germane to their activities. It is also important for Fadama III to strengthen its support for ADP because the latter has limited funding to effectively provide its primary role of transfer of technology. Fadama III needs to harmonize existing approaches and need to use complementary systems rather than conflicting ones

Appraisal of the impact of a community-driven development project (Fadama II) in Adamawa state, Nigeria

The community-driven development (CDD) approach has increasingly become fashionable due to its impending capabilities to develop projects that are sustainable, receptive to local priorities, empower local communities and targeting of the poor and vulnerable groups. The purpose of this study is to assess the impact of Fadama II project, which is a CDD project and the first of its kind in Nigeria. It is also the largest agricultural and rural development project in Nigeria. The project focused on increasing the incomes of Fadama Users on sustainable basis via empowerment in terms of capacity building, advisory services, acquisition of productive assets and rural infrastructure development. This study used propensity score matching (PSM) to select 300 comparable project beneficiaries and non-beneficiaries. The study also used double difference methods to compare the impact indicators. T-test analysis was used to compare means and determine impact of the project apart from descriptive statistics used. Net Present Value (NPV) was also used to determine economic viability of the productive assets acquired. The results show that Fadama II project succeeded in targeting the poor and women farmers in its activities. Participation in the project also increased the income of beneficiaries by about 60.8 percent, which is well above the targeted increase of only 20 percent in the six years period of the project. Fadama II has as well successfully implemented its CDD approach, as community members were given voice to decide for the planning and implementation of projects meant to touch their lives. The value of productive assets has increased significantly among the beneficiaries. The value of group assets increased more than individual assets. Regarding rural infrastructure investments, Fadama II project had positive impacts on beneficiaries’ access to market and reduced transportation cost. The study also revealed surprising effects on beneficiaries’ commercial behavior and statistically significant impacts on nonfarm activities. The study observed that Fadama II increased the demand for postharvest handling and marketing information technologies but did not have a significant impact on the demand for financial management. Fadama II reduced the demand for soil fertility management technologies. The decline likely reflects the project’s focus on providing post-production advisory services and suggests the need for the project to increase its support for soil fertility management and thus vi limit the potential for land degradation resulting from increased agricultural production. Conflict has been reduced among the community members as a result of participation. The findings have also revealed that the project has enhanced the capacities of the beneficiaries to cope with their activities. The project has also succeeded in targeting the poor and vulnerable groups and increased short-term household incomes among the core poor group significantly. The unique feature that could have contributed to the significant impact of the project in a short time is its participatory and demand driven approach that gives voice to the communities. It is also attributed to its broad-based strategy of using CDD model, which addresses the major constraints limiting the success of projects that do not take into consideration the interest of the community members. It is concluded therefore, that the strategy of participatory and demand-driven development should take a centre stage in any rural development process. This has implications on planning poverty reduction efforts in low-income countries. CDD project that simultaneously considers communities’ demand and addresses many constraints will likely build synergies that will lead to larger impacts than will a top-down project. This suggests the need for the government and donors to pool resources and initiate multipronged CDD projects rather than many isolated and service oriented projects

The Effect of Agricultural Development Project (ADP) on the Rural Farmers in Adamawa State, Nigeria

Majority of communities in Nigeria are rural dwellers and agrarian by occupation. Development strategy for a country whose rural population are mainly farmers cannot be achieved without first sustained growth in rural income and standard of living primarily from agriculture. It was based on this that the state wide Agricultural Development Project (ADP) was established to raise productivity, income and standard of living of rural farmers in Nigeria. This study assesses the effect of the ADP activities on the wellbeing of the rural farmers in Adamawa State, Nigeria. Data for this study were collect on annual crop output, annual income, farm size, use of improved technology, access to credit among farmers, farmers’ training and rural infrastructure development. The data were sourced using structured questionnaire and personal interviews. The statistical analysis used to determine the effect to the project on the participating farmers include, descriptive statistics and comparability test for difference (T-test) analysis. The results indicates that Adamawa ADP had positive and significant impact on rural farmers productivity, income, access to credit, standard of living as measured by assets ownership. However, the project did not have significant impact on the rural infrastructure, adoption of improved technologies and farm sizes, even though the change from before and after ADP activities was positive. The study recommends that much attention should be paid to the provision of rural infrastructure and the needed improved technologies. The study also recommends that the two tiers of government in Nigeria should adequately fund the project to efficiently cope with its responsibility of developing the rural sector

Evaluation of Fadama II Road Infrastructure among Rural Communities in Adamawa State, Nigeria

This study analyzed the role played by Fadama II on road development in Adamawa State, Nigeria. The data were obtained from 300 respondents who were randomly selected from Fadama II beneficiaries, non-beneficiaries within Fadama II communities and non-beneficiaries outside Fadama II communities. Based on propensity score matching (PSM) and double difference estimator (DD), the data were analyzed using frequencies, percentages and balancing test (t-test). The results showed that 30% of the roads were funded by Fadama II Project. Most of the roads were constructed and rehabilitated after the establishment of the project. Fadama II roads were found to be important for the beneficiaries’ activities. The analysis established that beneficiaries’ travel distance, travel time, waiting time and transport fares were reduced relative to non-beneficiaries. Road development has boosted marketing services for both farm and non-farm economic activities. Spill-over effect also manifests in the adjoining communities