Poverty reduction through agricultural improvement and access to credit: a confirmation from the small-holder farmers in Anambra State, Nigeria

In an attempt to reduce poverty and improve agricultural productivity and therefore income of the rural people (who are mostly small-scale farmers), the federal government of Nigeria and the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) have jointly funded the Rural Finance Institution Building Programme (RUFIN), with the aim to improve agriculture, poverty reduction and employment generation. In Nigeria small-scale agriculture is the main provider to the economic development and food security and this research has provided insight into how the Rural Finance Institution Building Programme (RUFIN) has empowered the target rural poor dwellers who are mostly small-holder farmers in generating sustainable incomes through agricultural activities. The overall objective of this research is to evaluate how the (RUFIN Programme) contributed to the poverty reduction and livelihood improvement of the rural farmers in the study area through agricultural improvement and access to credit. The findings were presented using thematic or content analysis for the summary of the data generated from the study area