LAND DEGRADATION, SOIL CONSERVATION AND POVERTY STATUS OF FARMERS IN OSUN STATE, NIGERIA

Abstract: This study deals with Land degradation and Poverty Status of farmers in Osun State, Nigeria. Data were collected from 105 randomly sampled respondents in the study area. The methods employed in analyzing the data were, Descriptive statistics, FGT poverty index and Probit regression model. The study revealed that averagely they were aged 51.66 years. Majority 79.05 % were male, 73.33 % were married and 46.67 % had household size of 6-10 members with a mean household size of 8 members in the house. The mean farm size was 9.70ha58.48 % of the respondents had between 0.5-2ha of land subjected to fallowing. 9.52 % of the respondents had between 0.5-2ha of land subjected to livestock farming. 78.10 % of the respondents had between 0.5-2ha of degraded cash crop land. 74.29 % of the respondents had between 0.5-2ha of degraded food cropland. 47.62 % of the respondents had between 0.5-2ha of degraded fallow land. 86.67 % of the respondents did not use dung of livestock kept on the farm. 72.38 % of the respondents used bush burning on their farm. 65.71 % of the respondents used mulching on their farm. 85.71 % of the respondents practiced clean clearing on their farm. 63.81 % of the respondents practiced crop rotation on their farm. 66.67 % of the respondents did not use organic manure on their farm. 62.66 % of the respondents did not practice zero tillage on their farm. The study further revealed that poverty incidence (P0) was 51%, poverty depth (P1) was 17 % and poverty severity (P2) was 8%. The determinants of poverty in the study area are; marital status, household size and land area under livestock farming