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.