CAPACITY BUILDING NEEDS OF FARMERS FOR SUSTAINABLE POVERTY ALLEVIATION IN NIGER STATE, NIGERIA

Abstract

The study examined the capacity building needs of farmers for sustainable poverty alleviation in Niger State, Nigeria. To achieve the study objective, 375 respondents were randomly and proportionately selected from three Local Government Areas in the State. Validated interview schedule with reliability coefficient of 0.82 was used to collect data. Data collected were analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics. Result of the study revealed that 56.00% of the respondents had no formal education, while crop (96.00%) and livestock farming (67.45%) were the predominant livelihood activities of the respondents for poverty alleviation. The mean annual income of the respondents was N152,436. Major areas of capacity building needs of the respondents for poverty alleviation include crop and livestock farming as well as sustainable fishing strategies. Socio-economic characteristics such as age (r=0.392), family size (r=0.312) and cooperative membership (r=0.307) had significant correlation with involvement of respondents in livelihood activities. Therefore, sensitization of farmers on diverse agricultural livelihoods was suggested to enable them obtain more opportunities for sustainable development and poverty alleviation. Also, the paper drew attention to the need to consider age, family size and cooperative membership of farmers when planning and implementing agricultural poverty alleviation programmes in the State.