Comparative analysis of the impact of root and tuber expansion programme on poverty alleviation of peri¬urban and rural communities in Bende state, Nigeria
This study examined the impact of World Bank Assisted Expanded Programme on Root and Tuber, Production (RTEP) on the poverty alleviation of peri-urban and rural communities in Benue State, Nigeria. Data were collected from two hundred and eight (208) respondents randomly drawn from teµ (10) typically rural and ten (10) peri-urban communities. Simple_ descriptive statistics (percentages) and discriminant function analysis wer·e used to analyze the collected data. The discriminant. function was fitted on the poverty alleviation score to analyze causal and effect relationship. The study found income disparity and a homogeneous non-significant age di'stribution in ·both the rural and peri-ui·ban root and tuber crops producer communities. Major contributors to the poverty alleviation were: ·Income i·ealized from marketable surplus (X3), distance in kilometers to the nearest urban market of best sales (X1), the kilometer distance traveled to evacuate produce (X2), with 55%, 15% and 10% contributions respectively in that sequence to the total discriminant score(Z) of 87%. Other contributory indicators were average revenue receipt per unit of root and tuber in the best market (X4), quality of life score (Xs) and mobility score (X6). The study recommends that developing nations should re-focus their policy framework to provide better markets and marketing opportunities as well as improved transportation and communication infrastructures for the typically rural to accelerate poverty alleviation
