Impact assessment of Usaid-Markets Ii Project on Poverty Status of rice farming households in Ebonyi State, Nigeria

Abstract

Poverty is a major menace in Nigeria. There is an increasing concerns by the government, international and local aid donors for concrete evidence to be supplied on the impact of such public programmes that aims at reducing poverty. This research focused on the impact of USAID-MARKETS II project on poverty status of rice farming households in Ebonyi state, Nigeria. Multi-stage sampling procedure was used to select 239 participants and 252 non-participants of USAID-MARKETS II project for the study. Data were collected from primary source with the aid of structured questionnaire and field observations and analyzed using descriptive statistics (mean and standard error) and inferential statistics (FGT Measures, Propensity Score Matching and LATE Model). The result reveals that participation in USAID-MARKETS II project increased the participants monthly per capita income by N5336.9 (45.5% increment) as reveals by PSM (Propensity Score Matching) while the LATE (Local Average Treatment Effect) estimates shows that USAID-MARKETS II significantly, and positively increased per capita income of the participants by N1193.86 (5.4% increment). The result further shows that the increment was more on the poor participants' monthly per capita income than on their non-poor counterpart. The study suggested that USAID-MARKET II project should be replicated in other parts of the state that were not initially involved in the project because of its pro-poor nature and positive impact. In addition, future USAID-MARKET project design should incorporate the socio-economic variables, norms, and culture of Ebonyi people for greater impact.

Estimating the Treatment Effect of Land Degradation on Smallholder Arable Crop Farmers’ Food Security and Productivity in Kwara State, Nigeria

“…The average effect of the treatment (ATE) for arable crop farmers also have a negative difference of -0.200 and -0.090 units, respectively compared to the treated category. The LATE estimate was carried out for food security and productivity indices using WALD chi square estimator proposed by Imbens and Angrist (1994) and adopted by Nwahia (2020). The result of its (LATE) mean difference as shown in Table 6 is that there was a significant difference of 0.318 and 0.408 units in food security and productivity indices respectively between the land degraded and non-degraded arable crop farmers.…”

Perceived effectiveness of Japan international cooperation agency– rice processing technologies utilization among rice processors in Kogi State, Nigeria

“…Rice is gradually becoming the most crucial staple food in Nigeria because it is relatively affordable source of carbohydrate as human food and animal feed (Nwozor and Olanrewaju, 2020). Involvement in rice entrepreneurial activities (production and processing) is capable to alleviate poverty and contribute to sustainable livelihood of small scale farmers (Nwahia et al, 2021;Adesiji et al, 2022). Rice paddy contains the husks, cortex, embryo and endosperm.…”

Pre-breeding of sorghum [sorghum bicolor (L.) moench] for drought tolerance in the semi-arid zones of Nigeria

“…Most Nigerians (64%) live in rural areas and rely on agriculture for their livelihoods (Nwahia et al, 2021). Small-scale farmers make up 80% of the farmers in Nigeria, and food supply comes from domestic production, imports, and food aid (Nwahia et al, 2021).…”

“…Most Nigerians (64%) live in rural areas and rely on agriculture for their livelihoods (Nwahia et al, 2021). Small-scale farmers make up 80% of the farmers in Nigeria, and food supply comes from domestic production, imports, and food aid (Nwahia et al, 2021). Subsistence crop production includes maize, rice, soybean, wheat, and traditional crops such as sorghum, finger millet, groundnut, cassava, green leafy vegetables, and fruits.…”