Agricultural farming system options for alleviating poverty in Nigeria: A case study of Niger State.

Abstract

This study examined the types of farming system adopted as well as the effect of farming systems on poverty alleviation among farmers in Niger State, Nigeria. The primary data for the study were obtained using structured questionnaire administered to 80 randomly selected farmers from two LGAs. Descriptive statistics and production function using regression model were used to analyze the data. The results revealed that young farmers of working ages dominated the farming process. The regression model estimated revealed double log (Cobb Douglas) as the lead equation with coefficient of determination (R2) value of 0.8440, indicating that 84.4% of the variation in farm output was explained by the independents variables included in the model. The F-ratio estimate of 36.28 was significant at 1% level of probability. The results showed that labour, other input costs, access to credit and farming system adopted were significant at 1% level of probability, while farm size was significant at 5% level of probability. It was therefore recommended that extension workers should educate the farmers to enable them understand the different techniques of different farming systems in order to increase their level of productivity. More so, Government should make agricultural inputs available at subsidized rates so that they can afford them.