Poverty Determinants among Female-Headed Household Rural Farmers in Nasarawa State, Nigeria

The study examined factors influencing poverty and copping strategies methods among female-headed household rural farmers in Nasarawa State, Nigeria. Structured questionnaires were used to collect data from 100 female-headed farmers selected from four villages in Nasarawa Local Government Area using multi-stage random sampling techniques. Descriptive statistics and Cobb-Douglas functional form were used to analyze the primary data obtained. The study revealed that 51 % of the farmers were in age bracket of 21-50 years, 63 % widowed, 64 % with no formal education, 81 % had no access to extension contacts, 100 % small farm sizes, 93% had more than 10 years of farming experience and 42 % earned gross farm income of less than N50,000. OLS estimation showed significant R2 of 0.844 (84.4%) which indicated a good fit of the model. Farm size, years of farming experience, membership of farmers ’ association, cost of production and access to credit were the important significant factors determining poverty level in the study area. Skipping of meals, reduction of quantity of meal and purchased of less preferred food items topped the poverty copping strategies. Lack of right to land inheritance by women, dependent on limited personal savings and inefficient work done by hired labour were some of the factors perpetuating poverty among the farmers. The study concluded that the socio-economic characteristics of the female-headed household farmers determine their poverty levels. It recommended that policy makers should manipulate factors such as farm size, membership of farmers ’ association, cost of production and access to credit to reduce poverty. This could be done by improving extension services, provision of formal source of credit and supply of subsidized farm inputs and legislation on method of land acquisition to do away with blind customs that deprived female access to land. Key words: Poverty, female-headed household, rural farmer