Assessment of IFAD/FGN poverty reduction programme among farm households in Ondo State of Nigeria

Household poverty, especially among the farm families which are the highest population in Nigeria is still a major issue of discourse among policy makers and analysts. This study assesses the International Fund for Agricultural Development and the Federal Government of Nigeria (IFAD/FGN) poverty reduction programme among farm households in Ondo State, Nigeria. The study employed a multi-stage sampling procedure. A total of 60 beneficiaries and 60 non-beneficiaries were interviewed using a structured questionnaire. Data were analyzed using a combination of descriptive statistics and Foster, Greer and Thorbecke poverty measure. The study shows that poverty incidence, depth and severity among the respondents were lower among IFAD/FGN beneficiaries than among the non-beneficiaries. Poverty incidence for beneficiaries was (0.66) against (0.79) for non-beneficiaries. This implies that about 66% and 79% of beneficiaries and non-beneficiaries were poor respectively. The poverty depth was (0.16) for beneficiaries compared to (0.24) for non-beneficiaries. The severity of poverty was mild among the beneficiaries (0.017) while it was severe among the non-beneficiaries (0.072). However, the study showed that the poverty measures (incidence, depth and severity) of beneficiaries were lower compared with non-beneficiaries. Poverty related indices were still noticeable among the beneficiaries with poverty incidence of 66%, depth of 10% and severity of 1.7%. This implies that only 34% of the beneficiaries could be said to be non-poor compared with about 20% of the non-beneficiaries. This study recommends that IFAD/FGN project effort should be intensified at reducing poverty rates in the study areas using other measures such as income diversification and establishment of small scale agro-industries. More funds should also be made available for such programme and the programme should be extended to other states and rural areas of the country.