Impact of Fadama I Project on Rural Household Income and Poverty in Goronyo Local Government Area, Sokoto

Abstract

The study assess the impact of Fadama I project on income and poverty of beneficiaries in Goronyo Local Government area of Sokoto State, Nigeria. A total of 160 respondents were selected using multistage, purposive and random sampling techniques. The data was analysed using descriptive statistics and Foster, Greer and Thobecke (FGT) poverty index. The findings of the study on the demographic characteristics shows that majority of the beneficiaries are aged (55 – 65years) with no formal education. The project beneficiaries expressed satisfaction with the approach and monitoring methods adopted by Fadama I project in the implementation of the objectives, they also opined that the project had increased their incomes and had succeeded in addressing the farming needs of households in the study area. Moreover, the result revealed that Fadama I project beneficiaries had a mean per capita income of N28,332.86 before and N83,364.47 after Fadama I project intervention. The result of the FGT poverty index indicated that 66 percent of the beneficiaries’ households were poor and 34 percent were non-poor before the project intervention. The result revealed that Fadama I project beneficiaries had increased the beneficiaries’ mean per capita income from N28,332.86 before the project to N83,364.47 after the project intervention. The study also revealed that Fadama I project decreased the number of poor beneficiaries from 66% before to 57% after the project intervention. The study recommends that Governments and Development partners need to continue to support agriculture through project interventions such as Fadama I project using appropriate strategies that suit the beneficiaries’ peculiarities.