Analysis of the Impact of Community Based Poverty Reduction Project on Farming Communities in Kogi State, Nigeria

The study analyzed the impacts of community based poverty reduction project on farming communities in Kogi State, Nigeria. A multistage random sampling technique was used to select 180 farmers, consisting of 90 farmers for each project intervention and non-project intervention communities. Descriptive statistics, FGT model and multiple regression models were used to analyze the data collected. Results showed that most of the farmers were males and married. The average Per Capita Expenditure (PCE) was N85.21($0.54) and N62.28 ($0.4). The poverty line of the farmers was N 56.81 and N 41.52 for farmers in the communities with and without project intervention respectively. The multiple regression result showed that age, gender, secondary occupation storage system, electricity, household income, farming experience and educational level were the factors affecting the poverty level of farmers. FGT index of poverty incidence showed that majority of the farmers fell below the poverty line. It was recommended that farmers and non-governmental organizations should initiate poverty alleviation programmes to reduce poverty trend in the rural areas. Keywords: Poverty, community, project, rural farmers, infrastructure