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Livelihoods and agriculture

The eradication of poverty in rural Nigeria remains a hard challenge for the country to overcome despite the various poverty eradication programmes implementation at different levels of government. This study examines the effects of farmers’ household livelihood assets on poverty.

Evidence in Nigeria shows that the number of those in poverty has continued to increase and the economic situation of the rural population is characterised by a high degree of vulnerability and poverty. The paper presents these findings:

• there are different survival livelihood strategies that rural farmers employ to meet up with their basic needs
• the array of livelihood strategies employed by farmers depends on the level and the kind of resource, (capital asset) that is livelihood assets available to them
• good health condition of household heads will reduce the chance of being poor by 49% 
• those using machinery in the farm production process have 26% lower poverty than those not using farm machinery
  

Recommendations for improved welfare and reduced poverty status include the following:

• access and use of human capital, financial, physical and social capital assets are important to reduce the poverty status of farming households in Southwestern Nigeria
• concerning human assets in particular, achieving better rural health training and education are of great importance
• thus, the government should address the constraint faced by farmer in getting land, machineries, access to credit and accessible health infrastructures in the rural villages
  

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