BENEFICIARIES’ PERCEPTION OF THE EFFECT OF IFAD-COMMUNITY BASED NATURAL RESOURCE MANAGEMENT PROGRAMME ON THEIR LIVELIHOOD IN EDO STATE, NIGERIA

The study examined the beneficiaries’ perception of the effect of IFAD-Community-Based Natural Resource Management Programme (CBNRMP) on their livelihood in Edo State. CBNRMP is one of many effort aimed at improving the livelihood of rural dwellers, it is important to examine how far this has been achieved from the beneficiaries’ perspective. The main objective was to ascertain project beneficiaries’ perception of the effectiveness of the programme on their standard of living and assess their satisfaction. Data were collected from 82 CBNRMP beneficiaries randomly sampled from the three agro-ecological zones in the State. Structured questionnaire and interview schedule were employed as instruments of data collection. Data collected were analyzed using frequency counts, means, percentages and satisfaction indices. Perception was rated using the scores from a Likert- type scale. The study found that most beneficiaries in the CBNRM programme were males (80.5%), small scale operators (average = 2.9ha) with their average age being 49 years (46.3%). About 50% of beneficiaries felt they benefited more regularly from the agricultural credit than other activities undertaken ( X = 3.27). Respondents claimed that many of the trainings given and inputs provided were not regular. Most programme beneficiaries agreed that their participation in the programme positively enhanced their living standards in areas such as farm expansion (X =3.49), improved household feeding (3.44) among others. A grand mean satisfaction index of 3.05 indicated general satisfaction. It was recommended that the programmes be adopted to transform agriculture in Edo State in line with the Agricultural Transformation Agenda because of its effect on the livelihood of beneficiaries Keywords : Perception, beneficiaries, community-based, natural resource, management